>> a third one. He has interviewed 200 hundred local women with similar backgrounds and created timelines for every suspect.
The West Mesa murders || Unsolved serial killer case - Mary Hallberg what one little chew can do. it's one of those timing issues we told you about earlier. he killed her, wrapped her body. -i'm sorry? >> reporter: but what kind of man is capable of killing is disposing of 11 women without somebody noticing something. yeah. >> 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. except their families. >> reporter: of course all that changed once bones started. In one case, there was a DNA sample but the rape test kit was not re-tested until 2010, eventually linking Blea to the rape.
Thirteen Years of Silence: The West Mesa Murders A two-hour NBC Dateline special about the 2014 Fayetteville murder of James Allan Chambers II will air Friday at 9 p.m. . [3][4][5][6] This small fragment of a human trafficking ring involves numerous population centers, including Las Vegas in Nevada, El Paso and Killeen in Texas, and Denver in Colorado.[2]. Investigating a 10-year-old crime where the police think that the victim had it coming theres just no incentive for that.. all the bones. >> reporter: by the end of that year ida's list had grown to more than a dozen women. One day later, Hemraj's partially decomposed body was found in the terrace of the same home. Meet Detective Ida Lopez, bringing justice to missing women & their families. site flooded the new neighborhoods that surrounded it. dan tried to keep a watchful eye on his girls and even took them to work with him at the juvenile detention center to show them on where careless mistakes can lead. an amusement park so he stepped on the dr. scholl's kiosk. eventually, ida and the cold case detective were able to persuade the department to let them form an unofficial task force, where once a month they met with other agencies, including the fbi. A sinister force seemed to be snatching women off the streets of Albuquerque. i mean $9000! It took nearly a year for medical examiners to identify the decomposing victims, most of whom were Hispanic and all of whom were female. 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. advil pm. The West Mesa Murders City of Albuquerque The 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. that way, again, so if i were doing a different process or if i was looking at something specific, i needed to know that i didn't have the eyes of america in that hole with me. >> and the man in the car was? it was tough. maybe it was camille saying no or whatever. what had i been doing? ida went by the book. grasping at smoke. how do you keep feeling your best all summer long? Police also saw him stalking sex workers after the West Mesa murders. >> when they told us that they had a young black girl, i thought, i didn't have a black girl on my list. >> 35 to 50? 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 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. >> reporter: they call it tough love. All of the women, except 15-year-old Jamie Barela, had one thing in common: They were all involved in drugs and sex work. apoquel may increase the chance of developing serious infections and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or pre-existing cancers to worsen. It's no secret. 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. >> you look at how many things had to have happened for these victims to be located. >> it had to be brutally difficult to think of michelle living that kind of life. so i keep them, do my full boheh background on them. do not use apoquel in dogs less than 12 months old or those with serious infections. >> your typical profile. >> reporter: finding a bone, even a human bone, is not unusual out here on albuquerque's west mesa. >> a college campus gripped by fear. All Rights Reserved. out in the war zone there's a new crop of ragged women on the streets, willing to sell themselves in return for a puff of smoke from a glass pipe. She alerted the police, and Ray was arrested. "They did an excellent job with our West Mesa murders," said Sgt. Where do those women congregate. Police budgets are stretched thin. [12] Michelle Valdez was four months pregnant at the time of her death.[13]. a camera might figure it out. had spots on her face. >> what'd the police tell you? >> i thought maybe she'd turn up a few days later, a few weeks, or we'd -- you know, she'd call us. it was a time when a sinister force seemed to be snatching women off the streets of new mexico's largest city. >> there are other girls from out of state in the same -- you know, are we going to find another repeat? In May 2010, Wozniak killed his neighbor and friend, Private First Class Samuel Eliezer "Sam" Herr, and Herr's friend, Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, as part of a plan to frame Herr for Kibuishi's murder and steal his combat pay. >> suggesting possibly that the killer met her in denver, brought her here? >> reporter: it was intended to be a low-key search of the man's home and offices. sometimes because she avoided z the camera. >> reporter: this michelle, along with her sister camille and half sister kendra, was a cut-up and a clown. http://www.rrobserver.com/news/article_2d7213ea-a0dc-11e3-aa48-001a4bcf887a.html. 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. and you never know how your skin will look. ), First published on February 2, 2019 / 12:05 PM. >> the only body that has been identified so far, victoria chavez. but the mesa, a vast expanse of desert west of town where people frequently dump things they no longer have any use for, was simply too big an area to launch, a search based on just a rumor. The process repeated itself in more or less the same way about five years later. >> 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. and all but one, a juvenile, had lengthy arrest records for drugs or prostitution. >> 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. heart that day when she wasn't there. According to New Mexico State University, the FBI has investigated long-haul truck drivers as suspects in murders of sex workers along major highways, and authorities have reason to believe that Edwards was one such victim. it's the city's annual balloon fiesta. >> it's a lot of people. >> reporter: though the detectives spent months combing through all the evidence taken from the photographer's office and home, nothing definitive was found. but since he bought his house are you going 45? -keith used to be great to road-trip with. albuquerque police were looking at the evolving work of a serial killer. they pick up a lot of girls. fabric refresher even works for clothes you want to wear another day. activia. and i'm in the porch area. in this 2002 image of the area where the bones were discovered there's nothing unusual. they had literally spent weeks in the trenches looking for bones at that abandoned construction site. i couldn't handle it. In one incident years before the West Mesa murders, police searched his car after a woman said he had exposed himself to her. According to the TV program, FBI profilers told Albuquerque police that the killer was a white or Hispanic male in his 30s. West Mesa Murder Victims Jamie Barela Jamie Barela, 15, was last seen with her 23-year-old cousin Evelyn Salazar heading to a park at San Mateo and Gibson SE in April 2004. It is unknown, however, if she traveled on her own or was trafficked there. >> did you know michelle was pregnant when she disappeared? The West Mesa Murders are the killings of eleven women whose remains were found buried in 2009 in the desert on the West Mesa of Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. >> reporter: though both dan and camille valdez believe michelle's killer is still alive, dan prefers these days to dwell on the things he knows for sure. Going to listen. what's going on out here? but for ida lopez the discovery and identification of seven women from her list meant that years of careful detective work were finally paying off.
Dateline NBC | Real Life Monsters Thoughts? >> reporter: in february, five months after michelle was last seen, dan went down to the albuquerque police station and formally reported his daughter missing. This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code). -oh, what am i into? but because doctors caught the cancer early, ida required neither chemo nor radiation therapy. michelle's little girl angelica was now the center of attention. there weren't just two women that were missing. i'm guessing you noticed before anybody else. In May 2008, 13 yo Aarushi Talwar was found murdered in her own bedroom in Noida, India. do you know -- -room 303. >> and we will see justice.
West Mesa Serial Killer Satellite Image - lasopahc for the moments that mattered most to her daughter, angelica. bring in your own phone, switch to xfinity mobile and save hundreds of dollars a year. >> fbi's behavioral sciences agents came in, took a look at our crime scene, took a look at what evidence we had. >> reporter: two women on ida lopez's list had already been identified among the 11 sets of remains. start with supporting your gut health. Ross walked her dog, Ruca, along along a dried-out wash in Albuquerque, New Mexico. >> no, you can't. and we know a few that have a, history of murdering the girls who frequent the truck stops. The West Mesa murders have yet to be solved. In this case, there was almost nothing but bones.. West Mesa murder case reaches ten year anniversary. Barela is the only victim who police say wasn't known to have been subjected to sex trafficking. [15][16] On December 13, 2010, police reported that two of the women in the photos had been identified as alive, and could have valuable information if they can be located. apoquel has helped over 6 million itchy dogs get the relief they deserve. The published list also included the names of eight of the 11 West Mesa murder victims . 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. >> 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. In 2009, the bodies of 11 women were found in multiple shallow graves on the West Mesa of Albuquerque but the cases remain unsolved. >> 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: but as erratic as michelle had become in recent years, she'd somehow always managed to show up. you know, we could chase them out, but for me there was always a story to them. because deep within your skin an overly sensitive immune system could be the cause. aleve pm. so, let's make this the summer of loving your gut. >> we all had a common denominator. to find out commander mike geyer, head of the albuquerque p.d. 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. >> you know, i just didn't know. >> then about a month and a half after i was diagnosed, then i had my kidney removed. it took years. >> probably because he felt safe out here. for the detective who'd long maintained that everybody counts, the existence of that kind of reward was a sign of progress. advil pm silences pain, and you sleep the whole night. it was my gateway to making contact with her and seeing her in person. ready, set, go. >> the response was amazing. Dateline: Unforgettable airs every Tuesday on Oxygen at 8:00 PM ET. starts help healwith -hi!mplewithin. Globe staff photographer Ron Erwin would like to shed the suspected serial killer tag. and ida lopez couldn't help but wonder if these dry bones were the women she'd been looking for. right. i just thought that was the coolest thing i'd ever seen.ce and so that curiosity. >> reporter: by the end of 2005 ida had five women on her list who were roughly the same age with similar backgrounds.
>> a few years before the first body was found a colleague of mine and i had heard about a list of women that were missing. In a 2013 interview, Ray Schultz said there was a "conscious shift" in the Albuquerque Police Department to take prostitutes more seriously. -yeah. >> lives alone or is away from home for extended periods of time.
West Mesa Serial Killer Satellite Image | Peatix our girls we posted on the wall.
Joplin man says he has been cleared of suspicion in serial murders but if one of them had during the 2003 or 2004 festivals, they might have actually seen evidence of a murderer moonlighting as a grave digger. [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? Furthermore, Police encountered Blea nearly 140 times between 1990 and 2009, often in drug-heavy areas that the victims were known to frequent. >> reporter: that felony assault charge against lorenzo montoya went nowhere because the victim later refused to testify. Police haven't ruled out that there might be more victims, and detectives still have multiple suspects, Gallegos said. >> i know 100% that my daughter is not alive. >> 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. According to the Albuquerque Journal, Blea was no stranger to the parts of the city where sex work is known to take place. there were whole bunches of them. you know, it's stuff you read about.
The Untold Truth Of The West Mesa Murders - Grunge.com >> definitely. >> i did. all they knew was that he'd killed at least 11 women and that the 2005 housing boom that brought suburban sprawl to the west mesa probably forced him to abandon this burial ground and find another one where there would be no neighbors around to watch him work. Looking back what has changed for women on the streets?". it was comforting that it didn't just happen to me. i said all right. >> this in a way suggests that maybe there are women out there who aren't on any list. West Mesa Killer Satellite Image Credits. >> so many young women missing. >> missing persons is kind of a backwater in a lot of departments. don't lie to me." 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. febreze finds odors trapped in fabrics (bubbles popping) and cleans them away as it dries. that nobody really ever sees. >> i think we will. i said it's michelle valdez. 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. podcast: Casefile True Crime. Ross wasnt sure the bone was human, but knew it could be. >> daddy, can i have something to eat now? 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. Neither woman was. Trish Hoffman, spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department. On february 2, 2009, a woman walking a dog found a human bone on the west mesa of albuquerque, new mexico. >> she was a college student found on a lonely road in texas. That way if women started disappearing again, there might be more advocates who notice and help in raising concerns, Barber said. The El Paso Crime Stoppers office received an anonymous tip in 2010 that a suspect whose last name was Cota had killed a girl nicknamed "Mimi" and "Chocolate," both of which were names Edwards was known to go by. -you're not even enrolled in this class. She said that people should not lose hope, that there is no statute of limitations on crimes like these, and that the police will work the West Mesa Murders until the case is solved. local station as finding a femur bone. According to satellite photos, the last victim was buried in 2005. >> i want to talk to you. daughter's comings and goings for years. and they'd go through the alley, do their tricks in the alley. that once she was lost and that now she's found. >> lorenzo montoya. >> she didn't want to be found. by the fall of 2004 dan valdez's calendar was beginning to fill with xs. >> 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. >> reporter: many who lost friends and relatives to the west mesa grave digger are convinced there could still be someone somewhere who knows something. and i don't have phone records.
West Mesa Serial Killer Photos. and i carried this little flyer in my pocket and in my car, you know, for the last, you know, four years. Photos, information and videos from Dateline here. Decades later, the case still remains unsolved. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? >> she ran up ahead of me, and she was messing with something on the ground. it's got to be that person. In this video we take a look at an infamous killer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, known as the West Mesa Bone Collector. Flickr/Ken LundOne of the suspects, Joseph Blea, was arrested on Albuquerques Central Avenue for exposing himself to a woman. 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. and by the summer of 2009 the fbi and the city of albuquerque were offering $100,000 to anyone who could help them catch and convict the man responsible for killing the west mesa women. >> i thought ida being a police officer was awfully small. how can i help? >> 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. then six. the families hurt. Who do they party with? 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. >> reporter: for the detectives who were trying to catch a serial killer those remains represented a wild card with staggering implications. it was a bit of frontier justice for montoya, who was about to literally get away with murder. help heal your skin from within. Ultimately, a lack of evidence failed to pin the murders on Blea, who is serving a 90-year sentence for sexual assault cases from the 1980s and 1990. gave her 20 bucks. Mesa and their son were shot outside their home, their son was only injured. >> reporter: then came seven. >> did you notice when the girls were going missing? dateline west mesa murders; 3 Jun, 2022 dateline west mesa murders Julie Gonzales, the sister of Daniel Wozniak, the California theater actor accused of beheading his neighbor, Army vet Sam Herr, and his friend Juri "Julie" Kibuish, in Costa Mesa six years ago, is the focus of Dateline NBC tonight. >> reporter: soon there were five missing women with eerily similar profiles on ida's list. California, 2010: Two actors, Rachel Buffett and Daniel Wozniak, are at the center of the investigation of two murders. >> we believe that's him. and she said no, dad. [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. Downtown Albuquerque as seen from the West Mesa. Joseph Blea was imprisoned when the bodies were found, but he became a suspect when his ex-wife contacted police. and so this case was going nowhere. >> 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. Then, learn about six serial killers who were never caught.