i think he's been preying on his victims, has a particular victim in mind. every fall as the. >> we figured she had been sexually assaulted and dumped here. Tonight's Dateline episode entitled Miami Heat will focus on the tragic events that led up to the fatal shooting of Orlando Mesa and 18-month old Noah 'Noa' Mesa, who survived the brutal attack. but the detectives knew simply finding the bones in the first place had been an incredibly lucky break. >> what about those last seven girls? it's unlikely that any of the balloonists who float out over the west mesa area spend much time studying the details of the sandy desert floor below. never heard of her before. The case has been covered by numerous crime and news programs in the United States, including: On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. That discovery of a single bone led to a months-long dig, as police used DNA and dental records to identify the women and girls. By (61264) First Published: 1:46 PM PST, February 4, 2022 The mysteries surrounding the West Mesa Murders, an unsolved case of 11 female bodies discovered in a desert graveyard near Albuquerque in 2009. >> this particular individual made sure that he went back each and every time when he was going to dispose of a body and disposed of it in the same area where the other women were. >> reporter: caught between the pressure to keep the public informed and the need to prevent key details from leaking out to cranks and copycats who routinely clogged tip lines, commander feist found himself scheduling sensitive excavation, work in the off hours, when he knew cameras would not be looking over his shoulder. >> reporter: jane doe's number 7 nose had been broken sometime before she died. Dateline is anchored by Lester Holt and features correspondents Andrea Canning, Josh Mankiewicz,. >> there were numerous rumors out there that certain individuals had killed several of them, and then one in particular had been killed by drug dealers. but most of the women who worked albuquerque's war zone, fellow travelers who might have helped ida find the missing, were too drug addled to provide useful leads. "In this case, there was almost nothing but bones.". >> yeah, i think there's no doubt that you're dealing with one guy. a money-making spectacle that draws tourists from all over the world to albuquerque for one week in october. According to Albuquerque's KQRE, Montoya hired a sex worker in December 2006 and took her to his home located less than two miles away from the site where the West Mesa victims were buried. ( Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. by 2Paragraphs in Culture, True Crime Murder TV | July 27, 2019, The Dateline episode Somebodys Daughter shines the light on Albuquerque Detective Ida Lopez. i'm sorry, i think you mean roses. Street Safe was founded in 2009, aiming to ensure volunteers kept a steady presence in an area along Historic Route 66 while handing out clothing and other products each Friday. Ruca found a large bone protruding from the earthen trail. Summary: Josh Mankiewicz puts the focus on the mysteries surrounding the West Mesa Murders, an unsolved case of 11 female bodies discovered in a desert graveyard near Albuquerque in 2009. memories fade, and witnesses disappear, and some just don't, want to be part of it anymore. she struggled to hold it all together. >> reporter: but what kind of man is capable of killing is disposing of 11 women without somebody noticing something. she was at -- you know, at a hurting spot. Dateline covered the murders. >> she was on my list. Plot Twist: With Lester Holt, Josh Mankiewicz, Julie Kibuishi, Sam Herr. "It appears that some of the women may be unconscious, again we . >> reporter: but that unfortunately will never happen. and last longer with fewer pills. >> did you believe her story? they were there constantly. >> he's got me by the throat and he's shaking me and yelling at me telling me not to say a word. the odds were good that syllania edwards, like the others, had simply strolled out into the war zone and climbed into the wrong car. >> reporter: some of the women had been missing for so long that ida started comparing notes with a detective in the department's cold case unit. >> kind of weird to be able to, you know, call a family and say great news -- >> oh, yeah. but guess what? [19] He had twice been arrested for violent attacks on sex workers and had threatened to kill his girlfriend and bury her in lime. >> homicidal violence. >> yeah. The Albuquerque officers did not say that Erwin was a suspect. Albuquerque detective Ida Lopez took it upon herself to uncover the story behind the remains of 11 women and an unborn fetus, which were discovered over 13 years ago, buried in shallow graves in a West Mesa desert. >> i find a girl with the same background. He said. >> yes, he was. a. with xfinity mobile you can bring in your own phone, switch wireless carriers and save hundreds of dollars. you know, it's stuff you read about. This blog features observations from Randy Turner, a former teacher, newspaper reporter and editor. >> i was the only detective in there at the time. >> he was able to define out her ears. [25] In 2015, Blea was also suspected by police of killing a sex worker; his DNA sample was located on the inner waistband and belt of a sex worker found dead on Central Ave, a notorious street for sex work in the eastern part of the city. >> and i had to tell dan. >> yes. and i get to call the dad and say, we found her. it's fast itch relief. >> what we see very often is the women involved in prostitution work in what's called the circuit. Ida Lopez, a missing persons detective from the Alberquerque Police Department, became increasingly attached to the unsolved homicide of 11 women and an unborn fetus, whose remains were discovered in one of the city's deserts back in 2009. love for your gut. >> reporter: though police say they have a half dozen suspects on their radar at any given time, so far they haven't been able to eliminate or arrest any of them. >> reporter: this killer had seemingly left nothing behind but a pile of dry bones. All of the women, except 15-year-old Jamie Barela, had one thing in common: They were all involved in drugs and sex work. [19][21], In August 2010, police searched several properties in Joplin, Missouri associated with local photographer and businessman Ron Erwin in connection with the West Mesa cases. >> do you think we're dealing with one guy here? In the preceding decades he had tortured and killed around 40 other women, and Jaramillo knows her fate would have been the same had she not escaped. >> when you see those satellite photos and you see the scarring on the desert floor, knowing what we know now, it's very obvious that those look like graves. In 2005, she was handed two missing persons files including missing 25-year-old Michelle Valdez,. Known as the West Mesa killings, the victims' deaths have resulted in no arrests, despite the massive homicide investigation police launched after discovering the makeshift graves. Lopezs alma mater) who has written several books on serial killings, said: You cant have a colder cold case, Gibson said. >> reporter: cops call this section of central avenue the war zone. Victims' families weren't involved in planning the event, but relatives who attend will be asked to speak if they wish, said Barber. The fact that all but one of the victims had links to sex work initially helped guide the police investigation for the serial killer they dubbed the West Mesa Bone Collector. But not even FBI profilers were able to find the killer. any trucker initiatives or murderers that the fbi sent us we posted on the wall. maybe we ought to, you know, be a little more proactive. Due to a planned power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services may be impacted. from the moment the west mesa murder case landed in their laps, detectives knew they would be chasing a phantom and grasping at smoke. there could be very realistically a lot of bodies. >> and sometimes they make a a mistake. memorial came to life alongside the wall that bordered the desert crime scene. sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. A sinister force seemed to be snatching women off the streets of Albuquerque. lengthy delays in reporting missing people as missing. Detective Ida Lopez's dedication to finding these missing women is admirable. The only emerging pattern was that 10 of the victims were sex workers or victims of sex trafficking. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. >> reporter: finding a bone, even a human bone, is not unusual out here on albuquerque's west mesa. at 16 weeks, nearly four times more patients taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin compared to those not taking it, and patients saw a significant reduction in itch. It would appear the killings stopped after his death. All they ever found, however, were the bones and DNA of 11 people. New Mexico State University", "Fair prostitutes help West Mesa murders", "The Untold Truth Of The West Mesa Murders", "APD Talks 10-Year Investigation Into West Mesa Murders", "The West Mesa Murders And The Bone Collector Behind Them", "Updated: Seven years later, one detective remains on West Mesa killings", "AMW Fugitives West Mesa Bone Collector Case", "Women's photos may link to mesa murders", "West Mesa Serial Killer--$100,000 Reward", "Lawton girl was only teen in mass grave", "Albuquerque police release photos in West Mesa murders investigation (warning: content may be disturbing for some people)", "Police identify 2 women from photos, both alive", "Dateline To Air Story on West Mesa Deaths", "West Mesa Bone Collector Albuquerque NM", "Police Pursue Possible Leads In West Mesa Cases", "Albuquerque police release photos in West Mesa murders investigation", "Joplin man says he has been cleared of suspicion in serial murders", "Colorado killer quizzed in mesa murders", "Does APD have a suspect in the West Mesa Murders? >> reporter: although 15-year-old jamie barela was not a prostitute, she was last seen with one, her cousin evelyn salazar, whose remains were also found on the mesa. The police launched a manhunt for the prime accused, 45 yo Hemraj , a live-in domestic help employed by her family. that. They think theyre just a bunch of hookers and drug addicts, he said. in the grave of jane doe number 8 investigators found a tiny second set of bones. to states as far away as pennsylvania and florida, where the backgrounds and travel patterns of certain types of men seem to warrant close attention. clustered within 20 yards of each other. not at all. Case 27: The West Mesa Bone Collector. in 2006, years after being caught in the act of choking one prostitute, lorenzo montoya was caught in the company of a dead one. but one name stood out. >> reporter: the resulting column, which for the first time publicly connected the missing women on ida's list with the west mesa bone field, hit the front page one month after the first bone was found. Edwards was from Oklahoma, but was known to have been in Texas and Colorado before ending up in Albuquerque. That way if women started disappearing again, there might be more advocates who notice and help in raising concerns, Barber said. anybody that was arrested for prostitution, criminal solicitation, anything like. >> reporter: ida says the stories she heard back then were heartbreaking tales of abuse and neglect that almost always had drugs at their core. it recommends our best custom fit orthotic to relieve foot, knee, or lower back pain. In a 2013 interview, Ray Schultz said there was a "conscious shift" in the Albuquerque Police Department to take prostitutes more seriously. The unsolved case received a lot of attention after that. >> several of these victims were missing for months before anyone reported them missing. for police that seemed like a good place to start their search for the killer. >> it was real hard because you know, i'd be circling the block. and thoughts of rare moments together before she went missing. In this Dateline classic, a relaxing vacation turns into a nightmare when Stephen Reitz wakes up to find his girlfriend, Eva Weinfurtner, murdered. The victims' names will be read Saturday at a brief memorial service organized by Street Safe New Mexico next to a place where city officials in June broke ground on a memorial park. when he was active here and, most importantly, when he quit. because deep within your skin an overly sensitive immune system could be the cause. local station as finding a femur bone. The 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. The crime episode will also show how the murder of another man named Ilan Nissim is connected to this case. She was found buried next to her 27-year-old cousin, Evelyn Salazar. Combing the undeveloped West Mesa near 118th Street SW, detectives spent weeks uncovering all 11 graves. then six. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Jun 09, 2022. dateline west mesa murders and this desert doesn't give up its secrets easily. They may have been OD's? Dubbed the West Mesa Murders, they sparked a frenzy of investigations, interrogations, and media attention, but despite the best efforts of police to bring whoever was responsible to justice, the crimes remain unsolved to this day. Blea's wife and daughter claimed to have found jewelry and female underwear that didn't belong to them in their home, and police confirmed this after they searched his home eight months into the West Mesa investigation. though she's not on the street as much these days, she is still busy working missing persons cases. michelle had already been busted for receiving and transported stolen property, drug possession and car theft. >> then in february 2009 came unsettling news. in this 2002 image of the area where the bones were discovered there's nothing unusual. | Dr. Phil", "Dr. Phil | Actress Accused: Was She an Accessory to Murder? you know, it seems like they knew or something. here, hello! [ chuckles ] i'm done with this class. She took a picture and messaged her sister, a registered nurse who confirmed that it was. Ida Lopez was unable to solve the case she was so closely attached to before her retirement and relocation in 2014. >> investigators are extremely tight-lipped at this point, but we do know that this is in connection to the west mesa murders in albuquerque, new mexico. >> yeah. >> it's a lot of people. >> like?wr >> the drugs. Tonight's Dateline http://datl.in/fSpdzC, Anyone with information on the West Mesa murders is urged to contact (505)-768-2450 or. all i want to know is a timeline. Like Blea, police also knew Lorenzo Montoya to be violent and hire sex workers in Albuquerque's East Central corridor. >> reporter: after college ida graduated from the police academy and joined the force as a uniformed officer.ol >> most of my areas that i ce worked, especially patrol, i was assigned working the prostitutes in the area. right. >> there's probably people that, were in albuquerque during the time frame we're looking at and now through investigative leads or other sources we find something that tells us a little bit more about their lifestyle as well, which would give us again that kind of immediate gut reaction, it's got to be. in a sense michelle never was a teenager. i think because for the first time we had started to put faces on these women and we had explained to the citizens of albuquerque that there weren't just two women that were missing. In 2007, before the harrowing discovery, the detective reportedly claimed that she had a file of more than 17 women, whom she referred to as "her girls," with similar backgrounds of addiction or prostitution who went missing between 2001 and 2006 from the Albuquerque streets. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. FULL EPISODE: Somebody's Daughter. At first, it was like any other Monday night, but Feb. 2, 2009, would stick with Christine Ross forever. -he did show us how to bundle home and auto at progressive.com and save a bunch of money. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Awesome. An arrest was made in April 2020, but more people were likely involved. Afterwards, Wozniak dismembered Herrs body by removing his limbs and head. then five. in albuquerque, where the old highway becomes central avenue, the city's decidedly down-scaled drug and prostitution trade flourishes. >> it's kind of eerie looking at those satellite photos. dupixent is not a steroid, and because her wisdom teeth had not fully developed, wendy knew this jane doe was probably only 14 or 15 years old when she, died. A chilling lead came from satellite photos of the West Mesa Murders burial site. >> i just always felt that they were going to be together. how do you keep feeling your best all summer long? Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. if she comes and stays, i'm going to leave. but i get to say this is where she's at. Wozniak lured Kibuishi to Herr's apartment, where he shot and killed her. Reporter Josh Mankiewicz reports from Albuquerque on the story that made national headlinesthe discovery of 11 female bodies buried on the city's West Mesa. a thigh bone had been found out on albuquerque's west mesa. [11], On September 12, 2018, Buffett was convicted on two of those counts with a maximum possible sentence of 44 months and, on November 8, 2018, was sentenced to 32 months minus time served and good behavior. definitely. Josh Mankiewicz reports from New Mexico. and you never know how your skin will look. and looked bad. A life long resident of Albuq., NM. you know, maybe we ought to run that list. the killer, whoever he was, and police naturally assumed the killer was male, had a five-year head start. sure is. >> it's more than just a few. there could be others. Authorities suspect a serial killer could be behind the deaths of 11 women and a yet unborn fetus, who were discovered in New Mexico. and they'd go through the alley, do their tricks in the alley. >> okay. she'd come over and steal my things or, you know, i would se' how upset it would make my dad. for the detective who'd long maintained that everybody counts, the existence of that kind of reward was a sign of progress. and then i'm thinking, okay, is it somebody that's nice at picking them up? they had the big telescoping lenses. detective ida lopez, who would later make it her mission to find michelle and the other missing women, was on medical leave at the time. and the devoutly religious detective knew she needed all the help she could get. and what we hope to happen is that someone that's had an encounter with this killer will. >> we believe that's him. The West Mesa Murders City of Albuquerque The 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. but in the end ida was able to make everybody care. an amusement park so he stepped on the dr. scholl's kiosk. This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code). (danny) every day you're nearly fried to a crisp, professionally! Since 2009, families of some victims have stressed publicly that the women and girls were loved. she hunted the guilty. [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? drive to a remote location. i just could feel all the strength in my body just kind of just drain all of a sudden. a meticulous man whose grim will had brought him back to the mesa again and again to bury his victims. >> you're finding this, and you're just going, i wonder if it's going to be the rest of the girls. the bone could easily have belonged to one of them. with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, you feel like you're itching all the time. The police are reportedly willing to reward $100,000 to anybody who provides information on the West Mesa murders. (danny) after a long day of hard work you have to do more work? >> did you notice when the girls were going missing? i got scared. >> and just depending on where they're at, you wouldn't even see them up there. no fingerprints. >> all six sets of remains were found within 20 yards of each other. Paleontologists In China Just Discovered A Prehistoric Egg Fossil From A Nearly Human-Sized Turtle With A Baby Inside, How A 200 Pound Order Of Meat And A Nosy Upstate Cop Nearly Vanquished The American Mob, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. >> i looked up to her for many things. Who do they party with? Paige Birgfeld: Missing Mother Living a Double Life Was Kidnapped & Murdered. >> reporter: the conclusion was inescapable. >> and i said, "angelica." i noticed when she started seeing one of her boyfriends, you know. >> university of north texas identified jamie barela through dna. starts help healwith -hi!mplewithin. it was comforting that it didn't just happen to me. and it was here while posing as a decoy during prostitution sting operations that she learned the raw power of their addictions. >> the company kind of left town and just kind of left the land the way it was. >> reporter: at 14 most kids rightfully think their best years are ahead of them. >> no. thank you. >> looking at everybody. >> -- your daughter's a prostitute. >> we really can't say why. >> at one point syllania had been arrested up in the denver area for prostitution, going by a different name at the time. West Mesa murder case reaches ten year anniversary. but it didn't turn out that way. The Dateline episode "Somebody's Daughter" shines the light on Albuquerque Detective Ida Lopez. -or maybe he didn't know. >> reporter: michelle valdez. so why am i still thinking about this? An episode of NBC "Dateline" airing Friday will feature the West Mesa murder case. i had to take that avenue. In 2015, Blea was found guilty of sexual assault in charges stemming from incidents in the 1980s and 1990s and was sentenced to 90 years in prison. looking for michelle. shadows prostitutes. >> no.n' not at all. Both had disappeared after walking to a local park in 2004. >> reporter: a time frame, 2003 to early 2005, and 11 sets of bones. that was not the track michelle valdez was on.ra though dan continued to tape all the usual family functions. [1] Police have also suspected the involvement of a sex trafficking ring operating through neighboring Texas that targets sex workers during events throughout the Southwest, Southern, and Western United States, especially regularly scheduled events, such as the New Mexico state fair in this case, to take advantage of reliably heavier traffic. Where do they crash? >> frightening. but ever since her early days in uniformed patrol, ida lopez has called them her girls. TV Archive The Disturbing Story Of The West Mesa Murders And The Serial Killer Who Remains Uncaught. where did she come from? i love you, hon. to this day faded photos of women on her list hang on her wall, alongside a line of scripture that reads, "nothing is hidden, except to be revealed." These unsolved murders remain one of the biggest homidice cases in the Albuquerque Police Department's history. >> probably because he felt safe out here. >> reporter: by now the street alongside the desert crime scene was a media encampment, where reporters were predictably live at 5:00, 6:00, and 10:00. sometimes reporting details that crime scene commander paul feist preferred to keep secret. young hispanic women with arrest records for drugs or prostitution. She took a picture and messaged her sister, a registered nurse who confirmed that it was. Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com. In 2005, she was handed two missing persons files including missing 25-year-old Michelle Valdez, who worked as a prostitute on the streets of New Mexicos largest city. Genres except for one tantalizing tidbit. and all had worked as prostitutes on the mean streets of the city's war zone. long. In addition to Barela, Edwards, Salazar, and Valdez, they are: Monica Candelaria, 22; Victoria Chaves, 26; Virginia Cloven, 24; Cinnamon Elks, 32; Doreen Marquez, 24; Julie Nieto, 24; Veronica Romero, 28. In 1999, a sex worker named Cynthia Vigil Jaramillo was kidnapped and imprisoned in a city south of Albuquerque by a man named David Parker Ray, aka the "Toy-Box Killer." Despite the jewelry, underwear, and other evidence that appeared to connect him to the case including the testimony of a former cellmate who said that Blea claimed to have known and hired the West Mesa victims and called them "trashy" police have still been unable to conclusively tie him to the murders. Dateline Full Episodes. probably had some brush with law enforcement. The toddler peddled a small trike across the couple's driveway and out of view of the camera as Mesaa . i don't remember the last words we spoke. >> reporter: sticking up for victims comes naturally to ida lopez. >> i went to some drug rehab places who were not willing to help me. but that's not what she told the families when they called in, looking to hear something encouraging. The series first aired on July 27, 2009. >> if those houses had been built, they would have been built right on top of that graveyard. no dna. >> it was growing, and i had kidney cancer. Police suspect that the bodies were all buried by the same person or persons, and may be the work of a serial killer, who has since come to be referred to as the West Mesa Bone Collector. According to the El Paso Times, the presence of Syllannia Edwards among the victims has led authorities to believe that sex trafficking gangs could have been involved. Your login session has expired. What appeared to be a human bone was just the beginning. >> reporter: the name, the face, belonged to michelle valdez, one of the first women on ida's list. She said the organization also will highlight the continued struggles of women living on the margins. While the FBI created suspect profiles, Albuquerque police knocked on doors. the position was there. The bodies were discovered a decade ago this weekend, kicking off an investigation into the largest crime scene in Albuquerque's history. if you don't have faith in your law enforcement to treat everybody equal, then what do you have? she started keeping a list of missing women who match that profile.wh that was the easy part. >> so many young women missing. a restless night's sleep. [6], An extensive manhunt for Herr was launched by authorities who at that point still believed Herr was responsible for Kibuishi's murder and was on the run. their lifestyle has been with drugs. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. . it's one of those timing issues we told you about earlier. >> in death as in life? >> we're looking for people who've had histories of showing, violence against prostitutes. bark i wanted to consolidate my credit cards in to a personal loan to pay them off faster. but by 2004 camille, the tag-along little sister, had had enough.on when michelle asked dan if she could move back home for a while, camille put her foot down. and there's a foot chase. A private investigator working on the mystery of 11 female bodies found in the West Mesa desert says he's received another voice message from a man claiming . oh, i've had 17. i've been choked. >> a suspect caught in the act. Albuquerque Police DepartmentJoseph Blea (left) and Lorenzo Montoya (right). According to the Albuquerque Journal, it all began when a woman out for a walk with her dog in a part of the city known as the West Mesa made a grisly discovery in February 2009.