>> reporter: sticking up for victims comes naturally to ida lopez. >> 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. jane doe number 8 had been four months pregnant at the time of her death. she said, well, dad, i'm going to run. 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 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. help heal your skin from within. Mesa murder suspect found in Texas after collaborative investigation [1][2], An anonymous tip to authorities at APD and FBI linked the murders to a suspect from Central America. >> you're up half a mile to 3/4 of a mile from any populated area back in the time frame. >> it's kind of eerie looking at those satellite photos. -oh, a plaque. >> you think she came here on her own? Please logout and login again. >> yeah, that did cross my mind numerous times. we don't know. if the serial killer who preyed on their city is still alive, he's probably moved on to another hunting ground. | Dr. Phil", "Dr. Phil | Actress Accused: Was She an Accessory to Murder? 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. 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. lengthy delays in reporting missing people as missing. you know, it's stuff you read about. i said no. >> yes, he was. her name was syllania edwards. >> reporter: such was the mystery of the women on stal detective ida lopez's growing list of the lost. but i just have to keep believing that today could be the day, today could be the day. "You have to know people, their names and what they look like to know people are missing," she said. >> reporter: when christine ross decided to take her dog ruca for a walk. >> there could be somebody up there right now. YouTube/KOATA makeshift memorial for the victims. FULL EPISODE: Somebody's Daughter. they had ties to albuquerque. The 49 girls and women murdered by Gary Ridgway, the "Green River Killer," in Washington state in the 1980s and '90s didn't receive anywhere near the same level of public attention and sympathy as the college students Ted Bundy murdered in the same state in the 1970s. 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. A North Miami woman bent on revenge was convicted Wednesday of gunning down the ex-business partner she blamed for the murder of her alleged drug-dealer husband. >> on the way back from arizona to here she promised, i'm not going to hang out with the same people, i'm going to do things different and you're going to be proud of me again, and then she bails two hours after she's home. Albuquerque Police DepartmentJoseph Blea (left) and Lorenzo Montoya (right). Thats why the West Mesa killer was able to do it, she said Christine Barber, the head of Safe Streets New Mexico, a non-profit that helps get women off the streets. >> missing women. she says, "i have some bad news for you." >> they would say we found a skull that had a lot of hair and she's pregnant. Still, authorities have not given up. and every time the phone rang his heart stopped. everyone? >> definitely. i'm just a normal person. Watch Dateline Mystery Streaming Online - Yidio The tragic truth was that sex workers made for easy targets, and are often distanced from relatives while communities are blind to their disappearance. and the editor didn't say a whole lot. how can i help? >> and that's more than just a few guys. sure, why not? bark i wanted to consolidate my credit cards in to a personal loan to pay them off faster. >> a third one. by the fall of 2004 dan valdez's calendar was beginning to fill with xs. but one name stood out. then five. Theories? The Untold Truth Of The West Mesa Murders - Grunge.com >> it's more than just a few. >> no. Neither woman was. What appeared to be a human bone was just the beginning. to start their search for a killer. They also found electrical tape and rope in his car when he was arrested in 2003 for exposing himself to a woman. Women living a primal lifestyle are tribal. >> reporter: mostly she just watched it grow. the mother road's glory days are behind her now. there were whole bunches of them. "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. FULL EPISODE: Somebody's Daughter - NBC News >> okay. The West Mesa Serial Killer Satellite Photos - Transborder Media 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. >> -- your daughter's a prostitute. Ruca found a large bone protruding from the earthen trail. For our first episode of 2018, we outline the still-unsolved murders of the West Mesa Serial Killer *FYI: We've marked this episode as explicit because there are a couple of f-bombs. i have no idea how she got here. KTVB's Morgan Romero is joined by Keith Morrison on Channel 7 ahead of Friday's two-hour Dateline special on the Idaho student murders at 8 p.m. MT. -oh. >> she came over to the house one day, and i'd given her a few dollars, and she stood up. >> no. and i'm happy and satisfied with that. 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. >> i didn't even -- i didn't even want to be around it anymore. Then, Ruca found a bone resembling a femur. 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. >> a college campus gripped by fear. To this day, the case remains unsolved. it's a mystery their families th still struggle to understand. >> like?wr >> the drugs. 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. no. The guy is a total dirt bag and the subject of a criminal case for drugging and raping a teenage girl while still walking the streets. Why was the vehicle that took the bodies, as it did not appear the victims were murdered, killed, or executed on site, to the Burial Grounds never noticed? The 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. >> reporter: by the end of that year ida's list had grown to more than a dozen women. 2015. because deep within your skin an overly sensitive immune system could be the cause. but at the time it was routine low priority policework. >> reporter: it would take more than diligent detective work to find those answers. >> reporter: dan immediately called detective ida lopez with the tip. An unsolved murder case has haunted the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico for more than a decade. The case has had special interest to the Joplin area since Albuquerque police, FBI, and Joplin police conducted searches on properties owned by Joplin businessman Ron Erwin in August. im i remember that. any trucker initiatives or murderers that the fbi sent us we posted on the wall. A&E reported how the group burial had all the hallmarks of a serial killer's actions.According to the Associated Press, February 2, 2022, marked the 13th . for ida lopez there was the fear that her nightmare prediction was coming true. >> reporter: whether in costume for a school play, dressed up for her first communion, or showing a budding interest in boys. >> reporter: both of those. 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. ), First published on February 2, 2019 / 12:05 PM. until late in the afternoon on february 2nd, 2009. and do you use that profile and rule somebody out just because they're not on that profile? >> i think they're trick candles. [ chuckles ] i'm done with this class. but that's not what she told the families when they called in, looking to hear something encouraging. but we don't know if it's him or not. The West Mesa Murders City of Albuquerque The 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. Janepsy Carballo, Orlando Mesa: Dateline NBC's 'Miami Heat' Episode One of the suspects, Joseph Blea, was arrested on Albuquerques Central Avenue for exposing himself to a woman. The crime episode will also show how the murder of another man named Ilan Nissim is connected to this case. and there were certain processes that it did pose a concern. >> reporter: at times detective ida lopez was out there too. now no fruit is forbidden. Years had passed from the time the women and girls disappeared, likely limiting available evidence. there's a better choice. nexgard. The only emerging pattern was that 10 of the victims were sex workers or victims of sex trafficking. it's the same instinct that drew her to police work years ago, when she was a kid, growing up in albuquerque. dupixent is not a steroid, Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. >> yes. Where do they crash? . la la la la la. >> did you notice when the girls were going missing? >> 35 to 50? activia. you know, it's not what you see in vegas. they were there constantly. SERIAL KILLER: West Mesa Murders | Crime Junkie Podcast Crime Junkie. 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. or whatever, see somebody that may appear to be the size of michelle, a small person, and go around the block two or three times and me wondering who they were as well as them wondering who i was. 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. in a sense michelle never was a teenager. 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. by 2Paragraphs in Culture, True Crime Murder TV | July 27, 2019, The Dateline episode Somebodys Daughter shines the light on Albuquerque Detective Ida Lopez. Daniel Wozniak was found guilty of the murders of Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi. sad but common, especially for these dark streets where drug addiction and prostitution literally go hand in hand. Ive been looking for a cast on yhis case. >> 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. and the devoutly religious detective knew she needed all the help she could get. 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. but what can you do?te you can't be with them 24/7. was a serial killer stalking the women working the war zone? Wikimedia CommonsDowntown Albuquerque as seen from the West Mesa. >> where was i the night before? it was a fetus. do not use if you are allergic to dupixent. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. >> reporter: the conclusion was inescapable. now that two women from ida's list had been identified, jolene had an idea. According to the Albuquerque Journal, Blea was no stranger to the parts of the city where sex work is known to take place. Sorry! only activia has billions of our live and active probiotics. >> she didn't want to be found. [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. Her skeletal remains were found at a construction site in the West Mesa area of Albuquerque in February, along with the bodies of many other victims. i had to take that avenue. "They didn't deserve what they got. Promising leads became dead ends with every cleared suspect. i'm sorry, i think you mean roses. a thigh bone had been found out on albuquerque's west mesa. flo has it, i want it, it's a whole thing, and she's right there. 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. The toddler peddled a small trike across the couple's driveway and out of view of the camera as Mesaa . >> february 2nd is when one of our violent crimes detectives said oh, they found a bone on the mesa, i'll let you know. Dirk Gibson, a communications and journalism professor at the University of New Mexico (Det. >> i needed to know where they were all the time. but ever since her early days in uniformed patrol, ida lopez has called them her girls. do not use if you are allergic to dupixent. 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. 's criminal investigations unit, says the department chased leads all over the country, from texas, where a woman with profile similar to those of the west mesa women-v also gone missing. that changed when michelle failed to show up for angelica's seventh birthday party. let's send to everyone! do you know -- -room 303. Lopezs investigation found that close to two dozen women with similar profiles were missing. Paige Birgfeld: Missing Mother Living a Double Life Was Kidnapped & Murdered. Daniel Wozniak (murderer) 1 language Talk Read Edit View history Daniel Patrick Wozniak (born March 23, 1984) is a former American community theatre actor who was convicted of two counts of murder in September 2016. short lady. The mysteries surrounding the West Mesa Murders, an unsolved case of 11 female bodies discovered in a desert graveyard near Albuquerque in 2009. ask your veterinarian about apoquel today. but in the end ida was able to make everybody care. Case 27: The West Mesa Bone Collector. i never wanna hear you say no, kevin no, kevin! bring in your own phone, switch to xfinity mobile and save hundreds of dollars a year. The Turner Report: Dateline traces West Mesa serial killings - Blogger >> at one point syllania had been arrested up in the denver area for prostitution, going by a different name at the time. 'd as one of the west mesa women victims -- one of the west mesa women." for police that seemed like a good place to start their search for the killer. in this 2002 image of the area where the bones were discovered there's nothing unusual. it's pretty much the easiest way to save since sliced bread. The most notorious unsolved crime in every state - Insider Another expresses hope that authorities will find the killer. >> reporter: and it's not just there for inspiration. she started keeping a list of missing women who match that profile.wh that was the easy part. He choked her to death, and when the woman's boyfriend/pimp came looking for her, he shot and killed Montoya. 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. digging, scraping, sifting. >> we believe that's him. >> he was going to let her stay with us. and sometimes you've just got to stop and smell the savings. >> reporter: the families of the 18 women now on ida's list prayed for happy endings like that one. and there's a foot chase. there were whole bunches of them. >> daddy, can i have something to eat now? dupixent is not a steroid, and it continuously treats your eczema even when you can't see it. >> reporter: homicidal violence. 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. and i'm in the porch area. >> there's nothing to connect lorenzo montoya to those 11 bodies? thank you. -what teach here isn't telling you is that snapshot rewards safe drivers with discounts on car insurance. a. with xfinity mobile you can bring in your own phone, switch wireless carriers and save hundreds of dollars. i got scared. [20], Lorenzo Montoya lived less than three miles from the burial site. this is storied territory, where native american tribes, conquistadors, and cowboys once roamed. >> no.n' not at all. >> and i can understand it. for ida walking through this bone yard felt as if she were watching a horror movie unfold in real time. happy birthday that september angelica celebrated her sixth birthday. >> but it might not have been a nice thing? Dateline - NBC.com 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. Case 27: The West Mesa Bone Collector. the killer, whoever he was, and police naturally assumed the killer was male, had a five-year head start. >> and i said, well, let's gather these families together and let's get to know them. >> and this is "dateline." 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. but guess what? Barela was last seen at a family gathering, which she and Salazar left for a park on San Mateo and Gibson Boulevard, near the airport. help heal your skin from within. babcock says he saw marks on the woman's throat and that she told him montoya looked like he was enjoying it. >> in death as in life? we had them in the air. >> he's in the area where the prostitutes frequent. According to Dateline, because of what they did and how they lived their stories might not have been told.. Hosted by NBC News' Craig Melvin, each episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered incorporates the classic elements of drama and great . By Vanessa R Martinez / NM News Port / It's now been ten years since the bodies of 11 women were found buried on the West Mesa of Albuquerque. -keith used to be great to road-trip with. 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. that dares to last into the morning. >> reporter: it would become a close working relationship based on frequent phone calls and mutual admiration. 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." According to A&E, Jaramillo and a woman named Christine Barber founded an organization to protect sex workers in New Mexico after the discovery of the West Mesa victims in 2009. >> i thought ida being a police officer was awfully small. >> no. >> reporter: and for albuquerque's homicide detectives there was the most pressing question of all. It's no secret. Albuquerque murder mystery: Who is the West Mesa killer? squeeze me like you've never squeezed me before. (danny) every day you're nearly fried to a crisp, professionally! >> what we see very often is the women involved in prostitution work in what's called the circuit. >> she ran up ahead of me, and she was messing with something on the ground. >> i want to talk to you. West Mesa Serial Killer--$100,000 Reward Criminal Investigations Division On Feb. 2, 2009, Christine Ross and her dog Ruca left their home on Albuquerque's west side to go for a walk. >> and i had to tell dan. do you think you'll ever find them? She said the organization also will highlight the continued struggles of women living on the margins. they pick up a lot of girls. aleve pm. michelle had already been busted for receiving and transported stolen property, drug possession and car theft. so you can move more. 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. except their families. 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. In 2006 there were reportedly dirt trails leading from his trailer park to the site. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. I think there's a Disappeared episode relating to it as well. >> no. >> correct. >> 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. by 2002 the wear and tear is written all over her face. and detective ida lopez, who'd had their names on her list of missing women. Police budgets are stretched thin. it recommends our best custom fit orthotic to relieve foot, knee, or lower back pain. and she said -- she went up to put her arms around me, and i hugged her. aleve. web pages >> she says i have some bad news for you. A chilling lead came from satellite photos of the West Mesa Murders burial site. >> tonight they say the search is far from over. pe reporter: the michelle valdez that appears in these home videos with her little sisters is a far cry from the thin, drug-wasted young woman police would later come to know and fingerprint. and i said, you know, what are you talking about? who was responsible for turning the west mesa into an unmarked cemetery? Albuquerque's unknown Serial Killer | Real Life Monsters i wouldn't say he's a suspect. and i remember telling him no. then four. >> the reality is it was kind of like this is not happening. Dateline Full Episodes. just desert and sage brush with a dry stream bed running through it. >> investigators are looking for connections. >> and we will see justice. >> reporter: by the end of 2005 ida had five women on her list who were roughly the same age with similar backgrounds. Mesa and their son were shot outside their home, their son was only injured. the crime lab had determined that one of the unidentified, sets of remains, jane doe number 7, was a young black female. have a good weekend and have a good night from what is our nbc news head quarters here in new york. >> 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. >> then in february 2009 came unsettling news. >> reporter: though the detectives spent months combing through all the evidence taken from the photographer's office and home, nothing definitive was found. proven better on pain. >> what'd the police tell you? The West Mesa killings occurred from 2001 - 2005, and the serial killer responsible has never been caught. and i don't have phone records. Produced, reported and maintained by Journal staff member. In May 2008, 13 yo Aarushi Talwar was found murdered in her own bedroom in Noida, India. >> when was the last time you saw her? 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. >> he may be waiting in some other community to start doing the same thing again. >> and you thought, this is it. because savings is as savings does. the bone could easily have belonged to one of them. >> reporter: that he once had a daughter named michelle who was the light of his life. some of it seemed to take. never heard of her before. Dateline: Secrets Uncovered - Oxygen Official Site glad i could help. Dateline: Unforgettable - NBC.com [1] Wozniak and his then-fiance, Rachel Mae Buffett, lived in the same apartment complex as Herr in Costa Mesa, California. i mean, that's not exactly, you know, the premier detective job. >> homicidal violence. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid and the 12-hour pain-relieving strength of aleve. [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]. >> 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. and if they weren't on the mesa, where were they? >> and sometimes they make a a mistake. Contact the Journal about the West Mesa murders at westmesa@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3860. memorial came to life alongside the wall that bordered the desert crime scene. >> that's correct. Victims' families weren't involved in planning the event, but relatives who attend will be asked to speak if they wish, said Barber. but michelle eventually dropped out of school.mi for a while she tried to support herself and angelica with a series of minimum wage jobs but couldn't make ends meet. >> reporter: lorenzo montoya, a short, powerfully built man in his 30s who was known to have an, equally short temper and a taste for prostitutes. >> yeah. and there's so much work that's always done behind the scenes to get them identified. [9][14] Police would not say how or where they had obtained the photos. but you know, you have to have faith in your law enforcement. the families hurt. ida went by the book. >> it's taking all my time. 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. 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. >> 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.