E.R. Bills has published "Devil of Devils: Unspeakable Crimes in Southwest Texas," an investigative book about two unsolved crimes in the region. According to Texas Standard, one was the 1953 killing of a Mexican-American teenager. The other, 15 years later, was the killing of a Mexican-American family. Both have remained unsolved for decades.
Bills said he first saw a roadside memorial for the Arellano family along US 277 while spending time near the Devils River area. He said he had never heard of the case. Bills said the family, including Juan Arellano, his wife, his sister and their three children, was traveling to San Angelo to visit a relative in the hospital when they had flat tires. He said their bodies were later found along a two-mile stretch of US 277.
Bills said that when he asked people in Sonora about the case, many did not want to talk about it, and only a few returned his calls. The book is described as an attempt at a long-overdue reckoning with the crimes.