but knew it was reality. There is a reward of up. >> reporter: and as it turns out, jolene gutierrez krueger, a columnist for the "albuquerque journal," had gotten a copy of that list a few years earlier, when she worked the police beat. the money. Furthermore, Police encountered Blea nearly 140 times between 1990 and 2009, often in drug-heavy areas that the victims were known to frequent. and it was here while posing as a decoy during prostitution sting operations that she learned the raw power of their addictions. Her husband, Orlando Mesa, and 18-month-old son were shot just moments after the pair were captured on haunting surveillance camera enjoying the spring evening. [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? was it all hot air, or did someone with knowledge of the murders mix a kernel of truth into those rumors? In 2005, she was handed two missing persons files including missing 25-year-old Michelle Valdez,. That threat and the circumstances of his death led police to suspect that Montoya had been the West Mesa Bone Collector. >> yes. >> then in february 2009 came unsettling news. Police have offered a $100,000 reward for anyone offering evidence leading to the discovery of the person the media came to call the West Mesa Bone Collector. Wozniak led authorities to the area where almost all of Herr's dismembered body was found discarded at El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach. Or, died from other indirect causes, including assault, abuse, or homicide, prior to being funeralized; preped for burial? let's see, aleve is proven better on pain. >> dan, she was i.d. with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, you feel like you're itching all the time. >> well, they were shocked. we don't know. michelle had already been busted for receiving and transported stolen property, drug possession and car theft. everyone. >> reporter: for detectives like todd babcock it all seemed to add up. A sinister force seemed to be snatching women off the streets of Albuquerque. long. n.d then there was the service part, the helping people part of police work. >> hi. The Disturbing Story Of The West Mesa Murders And The Serial Killer Who Remains Uncaught. so you feel refreshed. apoquel is for the control of itch associated with allergic dermatitis and the control of atopic dermatitis in dogs. Like Blea, police also knew Lorenzo Montoya to be violent and hire sex workers in Albuquerque's East Central corridor. A sinister force seems to be snatching women off the streets of Albuquerque. He was sentenced to death in September 2016 before California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on capital punishment in the state. so help heal your skin from within, with dupixent. >> somebody was trying to send a message at some point. Details of Disappearance. >> correct. Then, learn about six serial killers who were never caught. The cases remain unsolved with no arrests. podcast: Casefile True Crime. >> thin, wired out, strung out maybe. their customers. i'll take aleve. >> she was a college student found on a lonely road in texas. [26][27] Blea had women's underwear and jewellery not belonging to his wife or daughter in his home and allegedly told a cellmate that he had hired the West Mesa victims, who he called "trashy". squeeze me tight. With Safe Streets New Mexico, Jaramillo and Barber aim to give women from this vulnerable sector the protection society fails to provide them. >> your typical profile. Ominously, Montoya was holding a flashlight when he died while his victim was wrapped in a blanket near his SUV. The Piketon Massacre. When her boyfriend arrived, he shot and killed Montoya. maybe it was camille saying no or whatever. >> reporter: the families of the 18 women now on ida's list prayed for happy endings like that one. Sorry! definitely. >> the response was amazing. they were there constantly. >> reporter: this killer had seemingly left nothing behind but a pile of dry bones. Her organization recently gathered the notes from the women it meets with weekly. advil pm. an amusement park so he stepped on the dr. scholl's kiosk. >> the xs indicating no -- no knowledge of her, disappeared, nothing.ledi no word. you know, maybe we ought to run that list. For current Fan Club membership options and policies, please . but for the most part the public didn't even know there was a list. If you have any information about the West Mesa murders, or about other missing women related to this case, Albuquerque Police have a dedicated hotline. 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. Your login session has expired. After learning about the West Mesa murders, read about the gruesome cult sacrifice of Mark Kilroy. "You have to know people, their names and what they look like to know people are missing," she said. tired of seeing him hurt. There has been very little publicity. >> reporter: oddly enough, the west mesa investigators' good fortune began thousands of miles to the east, in the fall of 2008. that's when crumbling financial markets on wall street caused home construction on the west mesa to grind to a halt. and a few hold hazy satellite images of tire tracks on the desert sand. The Dateline episode "Somebody's Daughter" shines the light on Albuquerque Detective Ida Lopez. Police haven't ruled out that there might be more victims, and detectives still have multiple suspects, Gallegos said. >> yeah. so i would tell her, you know, mean things. apoquel has helped over 6 million itchy dogs get the relief they deserve. >> reporter: no witnesses. >> you don't remember the last, thing you said to her? [8][9], After repeatedly lying to police, Wozniak finally confessed. 13 years later, Albuquerque Police have never officially or publicly named suspects in the case. Where do they crash? Jamie Barela, 15 - Jamie was not involved with drugs or sex work like the other ten victims. Edwards was classified as an endangered runaway from Lawton, Oklahoma in 2003 and was last seen with three sex workers in Aurora, Colorado in May 2004. Starting tonight at 8 p.m., NBC will air a special two-hour "Dateline" episode dealing with the notorious West Mesa Murder Mystery. >> reporter: no. i said, "detective lopez just told us that your mother has been positively i.d. An unsolved murder case has haunted the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico for more than a decade. They think theyre just a bunch of hookers and drug addicts, he said. The 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. 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. i mean $9000! She was found buried next to her 27-year-old cousin, Evelyn Salazar. but you know what? to her ending up out here. 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. >> the company kind of left town and just kind of left the land the way it was. Although Montoya fit the description, the West Mesa serial killer remains unidentified. it's not the call girl. ida's return to work would have to be gradual, if it was going to happen at all.s >> for a lot of people that would be the end of police work. To this day, law enforcement officials have been unable to discover the true identity of the murderer, despite the fact that they have a list of potential suspects, two of whom are. by 2Paragraphs in Culture, True Crime Murder TV | July 27, 2019, The Dateline episode Somebodys Daughter shines the light on Albuquerque Detective Ida Lopez. it's one of those timing issues we told you about earlier. 2015. After more than five years of court proceedings, Wozniak went to trial and was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder. but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. i don't have a normal, you know, regular address. born to move. career. definitely. hoping that hers had not. >> there's nothing to connect lorenzo montoya to those 11 bodies? >> we don't know if it's somebody that lives here or somebody that would just come back and frequent albuquerque on a regular basis. According to satellite photos, the last victim was buried in 2005. >> and i had to tell dan. not just because of what happens but because of what might have been prevented, missed, or altogether avoided. (danny) every day you're nearly fried to a crisp, professionally! >> reporter: that was true then, and it's true today. Case 27: The West Mesa Bone Collector. Euphoria Star Sydney Sweeneys White Hot Bikini Is Out of Control, Sydney Sweeney, Algee Smith, Euphoria, image: courtesy of HBO, 2012-2023, 2paragraphs Productions, LLC. and now on the cusp of young adulthood michelle looked gaunt. Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com. bring in your own phone, switch to xfinity mobile and save hundreds of dollars a year. >> there are other girls from out of state in the same -- you know, are we going to find another repeat? >> i needed to know where they were all the time. Being a registered nurse, she was able to tell Christine that the bone looked like a human femur, so Christine contacted the police. she made detective, married, another cop, and started a family. so they'll move from albuquerque to phoenix to las vegas to los angeles and maybe not return on that circuit for several years. >> i didn't even -- i didn't even want to be around it anymore. >> yeah. >> and whatever you tell us, it's no judgment at all. >> you look at how many things had to have happened for these victims to be located. those two files would mark the beginning of the biggest case in her career and would turn into pabarmis.markintos most heinouy crime stories. [12] Michelle Valdez was four months pregnant at the time of her death.[13]. spots that weren't there before. 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. happy birthday that september angelica celebrated her sixth birthday. >> fbi's behavioral sciences agents came in, took a look at our crime scene, took a look at what evidence we had. It took nearly a year for medical examiners to identify the decomposing victims, most of whom were Hispanic and all of whom were female. apoquel may increase the chance of developing serious infections and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or pre-existing cancers to worsen. maybe i did something wrong. i know in my heart i didn't do the right thing, but i knew that the common sense of my brain said that i had to. they pick up a lot of girls. and we know a few that have a, history of murdering the girls who frequent the truck stops. One of those suspects was Joseph Blea. >> reporter: then came the teen years.me when life started coming at michelle valdez fast and furious. She was from Lawton, Oklahoma, and was reportedly last seen in Denver, police said. She was released from jail sometime in 2019.[12][13]. by the fall of 2004 dan valdez's calendar was beginning to fill with xs. Thirteen years ago, the discovery of a femur bone on Albuquerque's west side would lead investigators to a mass grave site where 11 women were buried. The West Mesa murders have yet to be solved. yeah. that's why we're staying with homicidal violence. The killings are called the "West Mesa murders" because the bodies were buried on the west side of Albuquerque. [9] In 2010, a reward of up to $100,000 was being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible.[11]. they had ties to albuquerque. >> since her skull was pretty much intact, one of our senior investigators who is able to do forensic sketching started doing a profile for her. Where do those women congregate. Dateline: Unforgettable airs every Tuesday on Oxygen at 8:00 PM ET. On May 21, 2010, Wozniak shot and killed his neighbor, Private First Class Samuel "Sam" Herr, a 26-year-old Afghanistan War veteran, at a Los Alamitos theater. >> it's kind of eerie looking at those satellite photos. there could be others. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. . when had i last seen her? that changed when michelle failed to show up for angelica's seventh birthday party. our daughters. >> first words out of the girl's mouth was that he was trying to kill her. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. [citation needed], In November 2012, Wozniak's then-fiance, Rachel Mae Buffett, was arrested[10] and charged with three felony counts of accessory-after-the-fact based on allegations that she had lied multiple times to police investigators. >> 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. any signs that the women knew each other. Although the murders stopped after that, police have unfortunately not been able to say without a doubt that Montoya was the serial killer known as the West Mesa Bone Collector. On february 2, 2009, a woman walking a dog found a human bone on the west mesa of albuquerque, new mexico. Downtown Albuquerque as seen from the West Mesa. >> frightening. >> reporter: over the years ida's list of the lost had grown to include close to two dozen women who fit the same basic profile -- young drug-addicted hispanic women who were known to wander the gritty streets of albuquerque's war zone. i have no idea how she got here. southwestern summer heat begins to ease hot air balloons rise like spring flowers over albuquerque and the surrounding desert. >> reporter: a few days later lab work confirmed ida's hunch. One day later, Hemraj's partially decomposed body was found in the terrace of the same home. Several arrests and convictions in El Paso, Texas, indicated that Albuquerque is part of a broader sex trafficking route that includes the states of Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, as well as the Mexican city of Juarez. mind. (danny) after a long day of hard work you have to do more work? The serial murders of 11 women in the West Mesa area of Albuquerque will be featured in a two-hour edition of NBC's Dateline tonight. [ soft piano music playing ] mm, uh, what do you do for fun? their lifestyle has been with drugs. site flooded the new neighborhoods that surrounded it. Flickr/Ken LundOne of the suspects, Joseph Blea, was arrested on Albuquerques Central Avenue for exposing himself to a woman. now, more than five years after the discovery of bones on the west mesa, albuquerque police are certain of only one thing. that christmas angelica opened her presents alone, with no sign of her mother michelle. >> this is michelle. but police think it wasn't just the balloons he was, photographing. and thoughts of rare moments together before she went missing. 'd, and it was her, and they found, you know, she was pregnant. and i carried this little flyer in my pocket and in my car, you know, for the last, you know, four years. In this video we take a look at an infamous killer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, known as the West Mesa Bone Collector. >> she ran up ahead of me, and she was messing with something on the ground. >> we believe so. >> a lot of people said they were drug addicts and prostitutes. sad but common, especially for these dark streets where drug addiction and prostitution literally go hand in hand. The mysteries surrounding the West Mesa Murders, an unsolved case of 11 female bodies discovered in a desert graveyard near Albuquerque in 2009. after years of having only her rap sheet and her father's bittersweet memories to go on, ida lopez was now sure she knew where michelle valdez was. [4] At the time of the murders, Wozniak was deeply in debt and unemployed but planning a lavish wedding and honeymoon. We'll do better next time, I promise! An arrest was made in April 2020, but more people were likely involved. >> kind of weird to be able to, you know, call a family and say great news -- >> oh, yeah. >> i love you, michelle. but other than that it seemed that, you know, that she was on the up and up and that she was doing -- doing what she could, in her power, and the time that she had to go out and -- out to the streets. and we got a list of names. >> 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. They had picked him up in 1998 when he offered an undercover cop $40 for sex. you know, it's stuff you read about. so in ida's absence the valdez family was at the mercy of the police department's bureaucracy. All but one had fallen into prostitution and struggled with drug abuse, according to police. mostly progressive's name your price tool. But most of the other victims vanished with even fewer details. >> reporter: this michelle according to her sister camille was an all-american girl with a future as bright as the new mexico sun. >> yes. i find her months later. His cellmate said Blea admitted to knowing many of the murdered women and had even hit one of them for allegedly trying to steal his money. Anyone with information on the West Mesa murders is urged to contact (505)-768-2450 or @CrimeStoppersNM You can also contact Investigator Ida Lopez at ILopez@cabq.gov. However, two names have been widely. >> last known police positive contact was in denver. These are the eleven victims identified in as being found in the dumping ground in the West Mesa. according to the website, she'd been a 13-year-old runaway from a group home in lawton, oklahoma in 2003. and that's what we're trying to figure out. He even beat his girlfriend, who said he threatened to kill me and bury me in lime. In 2006, Montoya met up with a dancer whom he strangled to death. For example, the case of serial killer Ted Bundy, who killed 36 women in Washington state in the 1970s, received loads of media attention, and Bundy's name is well-known. s >> father all over again. Trish Hoffman, spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department. and i said, you know, what are you talking about? >> he's in the area where the prostitutes frequent. In 2014, a breakthrough on a decades-old case caused Albuquerque police to become interested in Joseph Blea as a suspect for the murders. i mean he's a wreck without me. Theres so little money, and there are so many crimes. her aunt ran the streets, knew michelle, knew certain people, and they had heard it from her aunt. 14th birthday michelle valdez gave birth to a baby girl she named angelica. by then dan and michelle's mother were divorced, and dan was raising michelle and camilln alone while working days at the juvenile detention center. it was my gateway to making contact with her and seeing her in person. Or contact APD at 1-877-765-8273 or (505) 768-2450. read more >> and nobody would be the wiser. >> and i'm natalie morales. [23], In December 2010, convicted Colorado serial killer Scott Lee Kimball stated that he was being investigated for the West Mesa murders, but he denied killing the women.[24]. thank you. so, let's make this the summer of loving your gut. About Dateline: Secrets Uncovered. >> are truckers a particular problem? Beginning in February 2009, authorities began unearthing human remains in a remote patch of the West. >> reporter: and the rain runoff from the deserted construction. the drugs. we had things that we wanted to keep very secret, or things that we didn't want released. [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. >> reporter: syllania edwards was released from that denver-area jail in july 2004, the same year almost all the other west mesa women had gone missing. serial killer to catch but also because one set of remains was about to upset everything. i took her to a friend's house and dropped her off there. Edwards was from Oklahoma, but was known to have been in Texas and Colorado before ending up in Albuquerque. All but one of the victims of the West Mesa murders were born and raised in New Mexico and were Hispanic. Police budgets are stretched thin. Case 27: The West Mesa Bone Collector. One bears a. [18][19], No official suspects have ever been named in connection with the murders.