southwestern summer heat begins to ease hot air balloons rise like spring flowers over albuquerque and the surrounding desert. >> suggesting possibly that the killer met her in denver, brought her here? >> and i said, well, let's gather these families together and let's get to know them. 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. -not this. that they're actually doing okay. they travel interstate. so you get a lot of that. and she said no, dad. and there's a foot chase. >> correct. >> do you think we're dealing with one guy here? In 2005, she was handed two missing persons files including missing 25-year-old Michelle Valdez,. She had also grown close to the families of the victims by that time. mostly progressive's name your price tool. 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. stop dancing around the pain your home and auto that keeps you up again, and again. definitely. Photo Source This is an aerial photographs of the West Mesa Desert in 2004 when the first off road tracks were seen and you can spot two graves. Several suspects have been named, but none were arrested or charged. Prosecutors said Carballo killed him out of revenge for the murder of her husband, Orlando Mesa. i just could feel all the strength in my body just kind of just drain all of a sudden. because deep within your skin an overly sensitive immune system could be the cause. In February 2009, her body was identified. no dna. he opened up the door for all the wrong things. -i'm sorry? soon could be years. Theres a sense of physical remoteness this place was very removed, said University of New Mexico professor Dirk Gibson, who has written two books on serial killers. it's a lot of sifting and actually in the dirt. do you think you'll ever find them? probably familiar with the prostitution trade. Albuquerque murder mystery: Who is the West Mesa killer? a thigh bone had been found out on albuquerque's west mesa. >> so you were being a father all over again. Victims' families weren't involved in planning the event, but relatives who attend will be asked to speak if they wish, said Barber. and the newly organized families, which included everyone with a daughter on ida's list, began holding monthly vigils to keep public attention focused on finding all of the missing women. the fall of 2005 was one of those times. >> no. The process repeated itself in more or less the same way about five years later. >> lives alone or is away from home for extended periods of time. where did she come from? >> did you ask her where she heard that? and a few hold hazy satellite images of tire tracks on the desert sand. thank you. that. >> and i can understand it. no. 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 love you, michelle. so you feel refreshed. i used to live actually behind there when i was in college. >> fbi's behavioral sciences agents came in, took a look at our crime scene, took a look at what evidence we had. and every time the phone rang his heart stopped. >> reporter: but some do. until late in the afternoon on february 2nd, 2009. [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". By 2006, development had encroached on the area, and soon after, the site was disturbed, buried, and platted for residential development. i mean $9000! >> dan, she was i.d. we had them in the air. >> and whatever you tell us, it's no judgment at all. that dares to last into the morning. i am comfortable with the fact that we gave her a proper burial as a human being should be buried. 11. it turned out all were women. >> reporter: it was that kind of gut reaction that led detectives to joplin, missouri in august of 2010. These unsolved murders remain one of the biggest homidice cases in the Albuquerque Police Department's history. if you find one, you're going to find them all. >> and you thought, this is it. >> reporter: desiree gonzalez says she used to hang out on these streets and says she knew several of the missing women and had also heard those same rumors. bill's back needed a afvacation from his vacation. Her daughter had found womens clothing and jewelry in their home, with some families later revealing that the victims jewelry was missing. Albuquerque police spokesperson Tanner Tixier stated that she returned in 2015 to continue working on the unsolved case. >> homicidal violence. YouTube/KOATA makeshift memorial for the victims. you need to stop and smell the roses of savings. [4] Blea, in the Mid-School rape case, was sentenced to 36 years in June 2015, at 58 years of age. >> reporter: and within weeks ida's early work of collecting dental records of the missing women and dna samples from their families began to pay off. An episode of NBC "Dateline" airing Friday will feature the West Mesa murder case. Last edited on 19 February 2023, at 14:32, List of fugitives from justice who disappeared, List of serial killers in the United States, "The West Mesa Murders: A Central American Connection? Four crime scenes, thirty-two gunshot wounds, eight members of the Rhoden family left dead in their homes. i mean, you'll see some out here that they need that fix. and one of the things that those girls all had in common was that they were all attractive and blond and white and didn't have any criminal record. serial killer to catch but also because one set of remains was about to upset everything. lengthy delays in reporting missing people as missing. what if the west mesa grave digger was a prolific transient? don't lie to me." what if jane doe number 7 was just the first of many victims the grave digger brought to the, west mesa from somewhere else? for ida lopez there was the fear that her nightmare prediction was coming true. >> it's kind of eerie looking at those satellite photos. but we don't know if it's him or not. [17] In June 2018, more bones were found near the site of the burials, but these were later determined to be ancient and not related to the West Mesa murders. One bears a. web pages we had to utilize the joplin police department. 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. >> reporter: by the end of that year ida's list had grown to more than a dozen women. and i said, look, i'm not running you. do not use if you are allergic to dupixent. and do you use that profile and rule somebody out just because they're not on that profile? [20], Lorenzo Montoya lived less than three miles from the burial site. >> reporter: -- no one who seemed to know something about the five-year missing persons cases was dialing the phone. 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. in albuquerque, where the old highway becomes central avenue, the city's decidedly down-scaled drug and prostitution trade flourishes. eight. >> even though you knew -- >> even though i knew that it could be going for drugs. >> and what information do you have? Wozniak was deeply in debt and wanted money to finance his upcoming wedding and honeymoon. Produced, reported and maintained by Journal staff member. for ida walking through this bone yard felt as if she were watching a horror movie unfold in real time. 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. it was so much going through my. On february 2, 2009, a woman walking a dog found a human bone on the west mesa of albuquerque, new mexico. >> he was able to define out her ears. Valdez disappeared from Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 22, 2004. local station as finding a femur bone. >> so this guy takes photographs of the part of town that you're sort of looking at. now between the bulldozers and ida's prayers the department was moving heaven and earth to find out if there were more women from ida's list out there. >> reporter: it was intended to be a low-key search of the man's home and offices. Jan 1 2018 34 mins. 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. >> the xs indicating no -- no knowledge of her, disappeared, nothing.ledi no word. Dirk Gibson has no faith that will change, because police lack the necessary incentive. the first thing is they were human beings to begin with. >> no. no fingerprints. there weren't just two women that were missing. >> reporter: jane doe's number 7 nose had been broken sometime before she died. cinnamon elks, missing since august of 2004. but even if those rumors were true and human remains were cooling in the desert night on albuquerque's west mesa, the detective knew, it would take a miracle to find them. Darlene Trujillo, who was last seen July 5, 2001, and included Sonia Lente, who disappeared on Oct. 3, 2002. >> he may be waiting in some other community to start doing the same thing again. >> it's more than just a few. -oh. 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. so you can move more. After neighbors complained of flooding at the platted site (due to the burial of the natural arroyo), the developer built a retaining wall to channel storm water to a retention pond built in the approximate area of the burial site, inadvertently exposing bones to the surface. [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? >> reporter: and so she learned, about the lives of the women on the street. Where to Watch Episode 2 Updated: Jan 13, 2023 / 01:45 PM EST. i'll take aleve. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid and the 12-hour pain-relieving strength of aleve. it took years. -oh, a plaque. >> reporter: as you will soon see, timing, both perfect and not so perfect, will play a critical part in the story we're about to show you. Does anyone have any theories or info on this one? everyone? >> you're up half a mile to 3/4 of a mile from any populated area back in the time frame. >> reporter: but what kind of man is capable of killing is disposing of 11 women without somebody noticing something. ROBERT BROWMAN. After authorities unearthed the remains of 11 women and one unborn child, they feared the worst: They were dealing with the city's first serial killer. sunrise would bring news of his daughter michelle. on July 20, 2019. thank you for being here with us. -take a selfie of you? >> reporter: one of those women, safira mora, was found alive and well a few weeks after this story first aired in december 2010. right now the killer, if he's still alive, has plenty of it. I think there's a Disappeared episode relating to it as well. 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. 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. n.d then there was the service part, the helping people part of police work. >> don't know. Your login session has expired. i never wanna hear you say no, kevin no, kevin! happy birthday that september angelica celebrated her sixth birthday. hoping that hers had not. born to move. for all-day, all-night protection. it was all just unverifiable street talk, the kind ida lopez had heard before. i know and i'm comfortable with the fact that they identified her as my daughter. >> yeah, because based on our experience with crimes of this nature, homicide crimes, when you have multiple offenders, more than one of them, someone's going to talk. >> 35 to 50? 55 is a suggestion. >> i just always felt that if you find one you're going to find them all. she said, "no, don't tell me that. According to the Albuquerque Police Department, something didn't sit right with Christine Ross when her dog Ruca found a bone on their walk in the West Mesa. >> reporter: by mid april, after 2 1/2 months of intensive searching, mapping, and aerial photography, commander feist finally felt confident that his team had found all the bones there were to find and began shutting down the west mesa crime scene. >> i think it's somebody who's very organized. >> reporter: sticking up for victims comes naturally to ida lopez. Dateline is anchored by Lester Holt and features correspondents Andrea Canning, Josh Mankiewicz,. "Here is that mark of 10 years. >> maybe there are women out there who aren't on any list. >> 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. >> police have set up a tip line. they use stamps.com all the services of the post office only cheaper get a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. sometimes because she avoided z the camera. There has been little pressure on the police to investigate.. she said, michelle. >> reporter: nine months after the discovery of the first bone on the west mesa the detectives were back to square one. Fred Reynolds was a pimp who knew one of the missing women and reportedly had photos of missing sex workers; he died of natural causes in January 2009. >> there could be somebody up there right now. They founded Safe Streets New Mexico in response to the threats sex workers face in the state and the lack of attention paid to violent crimes against them. start with supporting your gut health. West Mesa Murders satellite photos show the undeveloped land where the victims were discovered. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. the killer, whoever he was, and police naturally assumed the killer was male, had a five-year head start. >> 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. >> yes. do not use in breeding, pregnant or lactating dogs. i couldn't handle it. >> reporter: dan knew about the drugs and twice got her to agree to enter rehab.ug but michelle never showed up.nt increasingly there were run-ins with the law. did you know her? 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. She also told them that he threatened "to kill me and bury me in lime.". What appeared to be a human bone was just the beginning. Crime. >> did you know who cinnamon was? >> no. >> i was the only detective in there at the time. Where do those women congregate. >> i think they're trick candles. Show Transcript. >> 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. While the FBI created suspect profiles, Albuquerque police knocked on doors. and it's almost frustrating because you look at this picture, and you see the disturbed earth which later we learned are grave sites, and you see the tire tracks. It was the most disturbing murder case Albuquerque police had ever seen and it remains unsolved to this day. >> we really can't say why. when had i last seen her? According to Dateline NBC's website, the episode entitled "Plot Twist," will include new details in the high profile murder case. because savings is as savings does. davy. >> 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. - Investigation Discovery", "93 - Live At The Grove In Anaheim My Favorite Murder With Karen Kilgariff And Georgia Hardstark podcast", "20/20: 'The Final Act' Watch Full Episode", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daniel_Wozniak_(murderer)&oldid=1142204623, Prisoners sentenced to death by California, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 02:21. Today, two suspects remain only of whom is still alive. >> i started looking into the missing and exploited children's website and was able to search through as many african-american females that matched the possible stature, where they might have been when they went missing. protection. dr. scholl's. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. . Over time, a number of men have attracted police attention, though not named as full suspects, in connection with the murders. After two trials, killer of Colorado mom of three with secret life appeals conviction Lester Jones was found guilty of kidnapping and murder in December 2016. >> reporter: commander feist, who tried to keep the local press at arm's length during the excavation, finally allowed them to cross under the yellow tape and onto crime scene, along with crews from "america's most wanted." so they'll move from albuquerque to phoenix to las vegas to los angeles and maybe not return on that circuit for several years. s i just learned the absolute e dependence on the drug for the girls because there's no way in your right mind you're going to get into a car and do what this person just told you to do. Furthermore, Police encountered Blea nearly 140 times between 1990 and 2009, often in drug-heavy areas that the victims were known to frequent. >> we were always bumping heads. There are so many episodes online but I can't find this one, http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/dateline/somebodys-daughter-part-1-254001731808. According to police reports, she might have gone by Mimi or Chocolate while staying at the Ranger Motel. >> who was she? Starting tonight at 8 p.m., NBC will air a special two-hour "Dateline" episode dealing with the notorious West Mesa Murder Mystery. and i thought, well, i need to make further plans. >> so we were able to, communicate with each other anything that came up. 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. except their families. the odds were good that syllania edwards, like the others, had simply strolled out into the war zone and climbed into the wrong car. you know, it seems like they knew or something. she made detective, married, another cop, and started a family. in a blanket, and was preparing to dump her in the trunk of his car when the woman's boyfriend showed up. But by 2009, when the bones were discovered, development had erased any hope of automobile evidence. now that two women from ida's list had been identified, jolene had an idea. ask your veterinarian about apoquel today. when they looked at old pictures of the mesa. FULL EPISODE: Somebody's Daughter. >> we figured she had been sexually assaulted and dumped here. But most of the other victims vanished with even fewer details. believe it! As a result of the subsequent police investigation, authorities discovered the remains of 11 women and girls[8] and a fetus buried in the area. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Valdez was pregnant at the time of her death and her . with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, you feel like you're itching all the time. yes, i pray that they're okay. they had ties to albuquerque. -ahhh. and where was he now? backing you. With her call to the Albuquerque Police Department, Ross had begun to expose horrors the city had never seen. activia. i think he's been preying on his victims, has a particular victim in mind. tired of seeing him hurt. At first, it was like any other Monday night, but Feb. 2, 2009, would stick with Christine Ross forever. While the killings were initially believed to be the work of a serial killer, the involvement of a sex trafficking ring has been suspected. Not the clients. the first words out of this girl's mouth was that he was trying to kill her. 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. Between 2001 and 2005, 11 women were buried by an unknown assailant in an arroyo bank on Albuquerque's West Mesa, in an undeveloped area within city limits. jane doe number 8 was michelle valdez. it was tough. and at the center of it all was dan valdez. Where to Watch Dateline Mystery Dateline Mystery is available for streaming on the NBC News website, both individual episodes and full seasons. The investigation led the detective to discover at least 17 more similar cases of missing women, whom she referred to as "her girls.". woof because nothing should come between you and your furry friend especially not allergic itch! only activia has billions of our live and active probiotics. Fifteen-year-old Syllania Edwards was identified as the only Black victim at the site, as well as the only one from out of state. i'm craig melvin. >> that's a possibility. >> there are other girls from out of state in the same -- you know, are we going to find another repeat? Police budgets are stretched thin. >> reporter: and the rain runoff from the deserted construction. [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. >> reporter: so detectives started checking with police departments and jails throughout the southwest on the hunch that syllania, as young as she was, might have been entangled in a. prostitution circuit that shuttles women from city to city. >> reporter: michelle valdez. Way to go ABQ district attorney.. http://www.rrobserver.com/news/article_2d7213ea-a0dc-11e3-aa48-001a4bcf887a.html, Do you have a YouTube link to it? >> and nobody would be the wiser. 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. The killings are called the "West Mesa murders" because the bodies were buried on the west side of Albuquerque. ida went by the book. if you don't have faith in your law enforcement to treat everybody equal, then what do you have? The acting lieutenant of the Albuquerque Police Department's Violent Crime Division, Holly Anderson, told KOAT Action News in February 2021 that police are still working the case, despite not having any new evidence to go on in recent years. how did she get to albuquerque? we approached the vehicle, open the door, the first words out of this girl's mouth, who's a known prostitute, was that he was trying to kill her. The authors, advocates say, are women who spend their days in the district with a history of drugs and sex trafficking that many of the victims were known to frequent. short lady. >> fbi agents also searched this home. >> i start going out there and talking to the girls. >> reporter: and so in july 2005, after a few months of recuperation as a reserve officer, the department offered ida a 20-hour-a-week desk job working missing persons. They arrested him again a year later as he raped and strangled a sex worker that he apparently never had any plans to pay, since he only had $2 in his wallet at the time. dupixent is not a steroid, and it continuously treats your eczema even when you can't see it. 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. 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. in late january 2010, nearly a year after the first bones were discovered on albuquerque's west mesa, the last set of remains was matched to another name on ida's list. Investigating a 10-year-old crime where the police think that the victim had it coming theres just no incentive for that.. 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. Call the 118th Street Task Force at 1-877-765-8273 or (505) 768-2450. paws down. Photos, information and videos from Dateline here. 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. memorial came to life alongside the wall that bordered the desert crime scene. 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. Please enter valid email address to continue. February 2, 2019 / 12:05 PM Downtown Albuquerque as seen from the West Mesa. By the next day, he had still not returned, so his colleagues reported him as missing. >> did you notice when the girls were going missing? Tonight's Dateline http://datl.in/fSpdzC, Anyone with information on the West Mesa murders is urged to contact (505)-768-2450 or. Somebody's Daughter: With Lester Holt, Ida Lopez, Josh Mankiewicz. i sat in many waiting rooms, and i said, i don't want to know what their sessions were about.