ten. what had i been doing? 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. Two years later a local family of four, the Wagners, are arrested and charged with the crimes. All but one of the victims of the West Mesa murders were born and raised in New Mexico and were Hispanic. it's fast itch relief. The investigators were concentrating, apparently, on the females on the street. One of the victims, 22-year-old Michelle Valdez, had been pregnant when she was killed, and the bones of her unborn child were also found among the victims. It took nearly a year for medical examiners to identify the decomposing victims, most of whom were Hispanic and all of whom were female. Mesa murder suspect found in Texas after collaborative investigation >> reporter: those were long nights, filled with bittersweet memories of michelle the way she used to be, before the drugs took over. >> and if he is, it may only be a matter of time. In a major plot twist, as they were about to be married, one had something to confess and the other dealt with the fallout. except for one tantalizing tidbit. in this 2002 image of the area where the bones were discovered there's nothing unusual. [9][22] They confiscated "tens of thousands" of photos from the man, who reportedly used to visit the state fair in Albuquerque. forgotten by almost everyone but her. the first words out of this girl's mouth was that he was trying to kill her. [7], Soon after, Wozniak was apprehended by US Marshals while at his bachelor party two days before his wedding. >> probably because he felt safe out here. What appeared to be a human bone was just the beginning. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. he's a photographer. it was tough. he opened up the door for all the wrong things. Terms of Service (last updated 12/31/2014). ida went by the book. all you can do is bring them up, nurture them, show them love, attention, appreciation. i never wanna hear you say no, kevin no, kevin! Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com. -yeah, she's my ride. everything was in a pretty contained area. love for your gut. The Dateline episode "Somebody's Daughter" shines the light on Albuquerque Detective Ida Lopez. They think theyre just a bunch of hookers and drug addicts, he said. i don't have a normal, you know, regular address. In 2014, a breakthrough on a decades-old case caused Albuquerque police to become interested in Joseph Blea as a suspect for the murders. get $100 back when you bring in an eligible phone. >> reporter: they call it tough love. The West Mesa Murders: Is the West Mesa Bone Collector Serial Killer Although Montoya fit the description, the West Mesa serial killer remains unidentified. she was at -- you know, at a hurting spot. 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. >> all the stars aligned. this date's lame. a meticulous man whose grim will had brought him back to the mesa again and again to bury his victims. >> 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. her future seemed assured. so i keep them, do my full boheh background on them. SERIAL KILLER: The West Mesa Serial Killer - Crime Junkie - iHeart >> reporter: based on photographs of the skull and a partial hair weave that was recovered from her grave, the sketch artist imagined that jane doe number 7 must have looked something like this. >> it's kind of eerie looking at those satellite photos. >> reporter: but what kind of man is capable of killing is disposing of 11 women without somebody noticing something. the gruesome cult sacrifice of Mark Kilroy. About Dateline: Secrets Uncovered. Who are the dominate males, and lesbians in their Tribe? "It's really a sad and horrible anniversary," said Christine Barber, executive director of Street Safe New Mexico, a nonprofit that seeks to boost safety for women who live and work on Albuquerque streets. West Mesa Murders Timeline | KRQE News 13 and ida lopez couldn't help but wonder if these dry bones were the women she'd been looking for. >> maybe there are women out there who aren't on any list. i had to take that avenue. the hardest part of this whole thing is having to go to somebody's house and say we. it turns out that even though that evidence was long gone by the time those bones were discovered in 2009 a bird's eye view was precisely the perspective investigators needed. An unsolved murder case has haunted the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico for more than a decade. we don't know. that christmas angelica opened her presents alone, with no sign of her mother michelle. Handout from Costa Mesa Police Department -- Anyone who knew Julie Kibuishi described the 23-year-old dancer and college student from Southern California as kind and full of life. >> we believe so. terry, can you take a selfie of me? >> i don't believe so. and do you use that profile and rule somebody out just because they're not on that profile? jane doe number 8 had been four months pregnant at the time of her death. help heal your skin from within. by the fall of 2004 dan valdez's calendar was beginning to fill with xs. bill's back needed a afvacation from his vacation. [4] Blea, in the Mid-School rape case, was sentenced to 36 years in June 2015, at 58 years of age. it was a fetus. >> you're a prisoner in this apartment now. it's pretty much the easiest way to save since sliced bread. Decades later, the case still remains unsolved. in the grave of jane doe number 8 investigators found a tiny second set of bones. The 11th, meanwhile, was 15-year-old Jamie Barela. and they'd go through the alley, do their tricks in the alley. there could be others. Google MapsWest Mesa Murders satellite photos show the undeveloped land where the victims were discovered. In a 2013 interview, Ray Schultz said there was a "conscious shift" in the Albuquerque Police Department to take prostitutes more seriously. The same evening, Wozniak went on to perform in his local theatre production of the musical Nine. aleve. and she's alive. i mean, that's not exactly, you know, the premier detective job. >> reporter: but that unfortunately will never happen. >> the hardest part of this whole thing is having to go to somebody's house and say we found her and she's not alive. happy birthday that september angelica celebrated her sixth birthday. >> it's a cold case. >> reporter: cops call this section of central avenue the war zone. Dateline NBC to air special on 2014 Fayetteville murder case At first, it was like any other Monday night, but Feb. 2, 2009, would stick with Christine Ross forever. yet. but ever since her early days in uniformed patrol, ida lopez has called them her girls. Her daughter had found womens clothing and jewelry in their home, with some families later revealing that the victims jewelry was missing. 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. but it didn't turn out that way. . well, if they were, so be it. serial killer to catch but also because one set of remains was about to upset everything. >> right. >> yeah. with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, you feel like you're itching all the time. ( Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. that dares to last into the morning. West Mesa Serial Killer Photos. Police were at a loss. even thinking about the aerial photos evidence gives me chills to this day. Afterwards, Wozniak dismembered Herrs body by removing his limbs and head. Many persons of interest have been eliminated by means of that timeline, he said. but at the time it was routine low priority policework. "They didn't deserve what they got. One of the suspects, Joseph Blea, was arrested on Albuquerques Central Avenue for exposing himself to a woman. For homicide investigators, the case posed challenges from the start, said Dirk Gibson, a communications and journalism professor at the University of New Mexico who has authored numerous books on serial killings. i think he's been preying on his victims, has a particular victim in mind. they travel interstate. >> reporter: most of the new girls either never knew or barely remember the women whose places they've taken. >> lives alone or is away from home for extended periods of time. you know, my husband's got young kids to take care of. detectives thought they knew about that killer. career. then august 2008 we have -- we had a really bad rainstorm. that's why we're staying with homicidal violence. >> it's more than just a few. >> it's -- i know she had been to albuquerque at least one prior time. >> 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. >> reporter: the name, the face, belonged to michelle valdez, one of the first women on ida's list. and at the center of it all was dan valdez. >> dan, she was i.d. [2] He was found guilty and sentenced to death in September 2016. She took a picture and messaged her sister, a registered nurse who confirmed that it was. The cases remain unsolved with no arrests. and i don't have phone records. The Bone Collector- 11 bodies were found in the dessert of New Mexico. and i remember telling him no. >> where was i the night before? >> 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. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. the bone could easily have belonged to one of them. our girls we posted on the wall. By 2006, development had encroached on the area, and soon after, the site was disturbed, buried, and platted for residential development. then five. ask your eczema specialist about dupixent. 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. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) The notes are written on paper tags, tributes to the nine women, two teenage girls and unborn child found buried 10 years ago atop a New Mexico mesa. not just because of what happens but because of what might have been prevented, missed, or altogether avoided. >> how many other detectives ins missing persons? Case 27: The West Mesa Bone Collector. sure, why not? but once -- once, you know, we had that bond, me and angelica,e it was nice. for the detective who'd long maintained that everybody counts, the existence of that kind of reward was a sign of progress. 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 . Police also saw him stalking sex workers after the West Mesa murders. According to police reports, she might have gone by Mimi or Chocolate while staying at the Ranger Motel. In 2006 there were reportedly dirt trails leading from his trailer park to the site. so in ida's absence the valdez family was at the mercy of the police department's bureaucracy. Dateline: Secrets Uncovered - Oxygen Official Site all the bones. 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. A two-hour NBC Dateline special about the 2014 Fayetteville murder of James Allan Chambers II will air Friday at 9 p.m. . but we don't know if it's him or not. West Mesa murder case reaches ten year anniversary. 'd as one of the west mesa women victims -- one of the west mesa women." >> all of the victims buried out on the west mesa were buried naked, with no clothing on. definitely. >> reporter: a time frame, 2003 to early 2005, and 11 sets of bones. >> she was a college student found on a lonely road in texas. >> reporter: they strolled out of her new subdivision, one of many that had recently sprouted up in the desert west of albuquerque, and then over to an abandon construction site, where christine let ruca off the leash to run. The Turner Report: Dateline traces West Mesa serial killings - Blogger However, in the proceeding decades, a man named Gary Ridgway killed almost 50 women, most of them sex workers, but the case of the "Green River Killer" received much less attention. She said the organization also will highlight the continued struggles of women living on the margins. it led them to a dead end. >> reporter: finding a bone, even a human bone, is not unusual out here on albuquerque's west mesa. >> reporter: that he once had a daughter named michelle who was the light of his life. Although they have had several suspects, two of whom seemed to fit the description quite well, they have yet to find compelling evidence to close the case. i'm supposed to be in ceramics. [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]. >> the tv show "america's most wanted" was also at the crime scene today filming for next weekend's episode on the west mesa mystery. jane doe number 8 was michelle valdez. mind. >> so you were being a father all over again. >> there could be somebody up there right now. >> looking at everybody. and in spite of their example, they can't quit the life. flo has it, i want it, it's a whole thing, and she's right there. it was not the way that her mother and i raised her. -they're very tasteful. 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. >> i find a girl with the same background. Dirk Gibson has no faith that will change, because police lack the necessary incentive. it's not the call girl. i love you, hon. i sent it to my sister, who's a nurse. was it all hot air, or did someone with knowledge of the murders mix a kernel of truth into those rumors? long. Janepsy Carballo, Orlando Mesa: Dateline NBC's 'Miami Heat' Episode Then, learn about six serial killers who were never caught. >> 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. sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. 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. >> you can't say gun, knife, strangulation. Joseph Blea (left) and Lorenzo Montoya (right). 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. After Herr told him that he had savings of about $62,000 from combat pay, Wozniak decided to kill him in order to acquire >> reporter: this michelle according to her sister camille was an all-american girl with a future as bright as the new mexico sun. for ida lopez there was the fear that her nightmare prediction was coming true. Ominously, Montoya was holding a flashlight when he died while his victim was wrapped in a blanket near his SUV.
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