dateline west mesa murders

at 16 weeks, nearly four times more patients taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin compared to those not taking it, and patients saw a significant reduction in itch. [1][2], An anonymous tip to authorities at APD and FBI linked the murders to a suspect from Central America. >> are truckers a particular problem? While the killings were initially believed to be the work of a serial killer, the involvement of a sex trafficking ring has been suspected. Call the 118th Street Task Force at 1-877-765-8273 or (505) 768-2450. it was tough. who got an awful skin condition. daughter's comings and goings for years. >> how much of your time is this taking? babcock says he saw marks on the woman's throat and that she told him montoya looked like he was enjoying it. >> and i said, well, let's gather these families together and let's get to know them. tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems, including eye pain or changes in vision. serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, a severe reaction. but the police who arrived at the scene shortly after nightfall soon determined that this was no ancient artifact. in the grave of jane doe number 8 investigators found a tiny second set of bones. A sinister force seemed to be snatching women off the streets of Albuquerque. 13 years later, Albuquerque Police have never officially or publicly named suspects in the case. There are so many episodes online but I can't find this one, http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/dateline/somebodys-daughter-part-1-254001731808. but the detectives knew simply finding the bones in the first place had been an incredibly lucky break. 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. All Rights Reserved. he wouldn't say what the plans were because the only, you know, close person i knew had cancer and died. There are also photos of possible missing women that are connected to the case. >> and nobody would be the wiser. A prostitute named Christine said the same year that other prostitutes in that area had become more conscious about watching out . >> thin, wired out, strung out maybe. that dares to last into the morning. it's a quote familiar to detectives everywhere. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. each x marking another day without word from his oldest daughter, michelle. The 11th, meanwhile, was 15-year-old Jamie Barela. The case has been covered by numerous crime and news programs in the United States, including: On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Then, Ruca found a bone resembling a femur. >> we were always bumping heads. and there's a foot chase. she struggled to hold it all together. >> you can't. and she said -- she went up to put her arms around me, and i hugged her. Due to a planned power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services may be impacted. >> reporter: then came the teen years.me when life started coming at michelle valdez fast and furious. [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". she said, michelle. >> reporter: the total body count stayed at 11 sets of adult remains and one fetus. found her and she's not alive. >> sometimes ida lopez simply can't wait for sunday. 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. Genres there were whole bunches of them. i think he's been preying on his victims, has a particular victim in mind. Beginning in February 2009, authorities began unearthing human remains in a remote patch of the West. the news media had shown little interest in the story when desperate family members had come to them asking for help. i just want to know when was the last time you saw her? it's not the pretty woman. The Albuquerque officers did not say that Erwin was a suspect. >> reporter: what you have in dan valdez's case is a search you do yourself. Ida Lopez, a missing persons detective from the Alberquerque Police Department, became increasingly attached to the unsolved homicide of 11 women and an unborn fetus, whose remains were discovered in one of the city's deserts back in 2009. When the police confronted the boy, they were told by the boy that Wozniak had asked him to withdraw the money for him. at 13 michelle became pregnant. 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. cinnamon was a name on ida's list. Submissions should outline a mystery and provide a link to a more detailed review of the case such as a Wiki article or news report. One of the suspects, Joseph Blea, was arrested on Albuquerques Central Avenue for exposing himself to a woman. >> reporter: for detectives like todd babcock it all seemed to add up. 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. Contact the Journal about the West Mesa murders at westmesa@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3860. Lopezs investigation found that close to two dozen women with similar profiles were missing. it's been nine years since that summer night when ida lopez first took to the streets of albuquerque's war zone alone, searching for a couple of missing women. some of it didn't. The toddler peddled a small trike across the couple's driveway and out of view of the camera as Mesaa . but occasionally she was able to do some pruning. "They did an excellent job with our West Mesa murders," said Sgt. >> reporter: over the years ida's career blossomed. 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. 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. >> reporter: it was intended to be a low-key search of the man's home and offices. Dubbed the West Mesa Murders, they sparked a frenzy of investigations, interrogations, and media attention, but despite the best efforts of police to bring whoever was responsible to justice, the crimes remain unsolved to this day. and for them. The police launched a manhunt for the prime accused, 45 yo Hemraj , a live-in domestic help employed by her family. After more than five years of court proceedings, Wozniak went to trial and was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder. Between 2002 and 2005, a serial killer who became known as the West Mesa Bone Collector murdered and buried 11 women in the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico. >> she didn't want to be found. so he's going to have close contact with these people. >> when they told us that they had a young black girl, i thought, i didn't have a black girl on my list. help heal your skin from within. born to move. >> well, just a few minutes ago albuquerque police left the dig site after they say they'd met all of the goals that they set. that was not the track michelle valdez was on.ra though dan continued to tape all the usual family functions. >> he's got me by the throat and he's shaking me and yelling at me telling me not to say a word. memorial service organized by Street Safe New Mexico. with the investigation now focused on finding a serial killer, ida thought back to her late-night chats with the women of the war zone. and do you use that profile and rule somebody out just because they're not on that profile? >> reporter: six weeks after the digging began out on the west mesa, even more sets of remains were identified. >> 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. >> reporter: sticking up for victims comes naturally to ida lopez. 'd as one of the west mesa women victims -- one of the west mesa women." they can be. some passed on grisly rumors to ida, that the missing women were dead and had been dumped in the desert west of town. i don't have a normal, you know, regular address. Ive been looking for a cast on yhis case. michelle's -- michelle and cinnamon were stabbed and buried on the west mesa. Crime. febreze finds odors trapped in fabrics (bubbles popping) and cleans them away as it dries. ROBERT BROWMAN. >> did you believe her story? all i want to know is a timeline. Flickr/Ken LundOne of the suspects, Joseph Blea, was arrested on Albuquerques Central Avenue for exposing himself to a woman. >> 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. for ida lopez that's a mission statement. >> reporter: the conclusion was inescapable. the gruesome cult sacrifice of Mark Kilroy. start with supporting your gut health. According to Tixier, the department made the decision to bring Lopez back due to her extensive involvement in the case as well as her connection with the families of the victims. sunrise would bring news of his daughter michelle. >> you look at how many things had to have happened for these victims to be located. i find her months later. >> reporter: by the end of 2005 ida had five women on her list who were roughly the same age with similar backgrounds. so why am i still thinking about this? Still, authorities have not given up. we weren't as close.enec because of the drugs. "Dateline" aired a two-hour show on the murders a gruesome case where the remains of 11 women and an unborn fetus were found buried in the desert near New Mexico's largest city in December. The Piketon Massacre. >> reporter: most of the new girls either never knew or barely remember the women whose places they've taken. Does anyone have any theories or info on this one? so i took a picture of the bone. there could be very realistically a lot of bodies. Eleanor Griego, one of the victims' mothers, had previously mentioned while commenting on the case: APD Detective Mark Manary, who continued working on the disappearances after Ida's retirement, also deserves a special mention. >> i was devastated. tw >> reporter: the toll of michelle's addiction on her t younger sister camille is also evident in dan's videos.il as camille becomes a teenager, she no longer seems to want to acknowledge michelle or even have her around. >> it's a lot of people. >> and that's still a lot of people. and a few hold hazy satellite images of tire tracks on the desert sand. it recommends our best custom fit orthotic to relieve foot, knee, or lower back pain. >> this is michelle. digging, scraping, sifting. and so this case was going nowhere. Almost no media coverage and the killer was never caught. and i thought, well, i'll write it and we'll see what happens. ask your eczema specialist about dupixent. -oh, a plaque. spots that weren't there before. apoquel. >> reporter: and so she learned, about the lives of the women on the street. >> that's correct. 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 process repeated itself in more or less the same way about five years later. lengthy delays in reporting missing people as missing. how can i help? >> you're finding this, and you're just going, i wonder if it's going to be the rest of the girls. California, 2010: Two actors, Rachel Buffett and Daniel Wozniak, are at the center of the investigation of two murders. >> -- your daughter's a prostitute. that's all we really wanted, just to flash her picture real quick. The Disturbing Story Of The West Mesa Murders And The Serial Killer Who Remains Uncaught. >> it had to be brutally difficult to think of michelle living that kind of life. The 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. but for the most part the public didn't even know there was a list. 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. 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. The names of the 11 victims of the West Mesa Murders are: Monica Candelaria, 22 - Her friends told police in 2003 that they heard Monica had been murdered and buried in West Mesa. sometimes in the middle of her work week the albuquerque detective feels a pressing need, for spiritual solace and divine guidance. >> do you think we're dealing with one guy here? i am comfortable with the fact that we gave her a proper burial as a human being should be buried. it's where they needed somebody, and it worked out, you know, for me. >> i was about 9 years old. Blea has been dubbed the "Mid-School Rapist" for his activities in the 1980s; police say he would often break into the homes of 13- to 15-year-old girls who lived near McKinley Middle School in Albuquerque and rape them. with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, you feel like you're itching all the time. In one incident years before the West Mesa murders, police searched his car after a woman said he had exposed himself to her. '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. >> i thought maybe she'd turn up a few days later, a few weeks, or we'd -- you know, she'd call us. n.d then there was the service part, the helping people part of police work. Joseph Blea was imprisoned when the bodies were found, but he became a suspect when his ex-wife contacted police. >> 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. there's no way. 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. >> it's kind of eerie looking at those satellite photos. [9] The following day the police released an additional photograph of another woman; this woman was subsequently identified by family members, who reported that she had died of natural causes several years earlier. When her boyfriend arrived, he shot and killed Montoya. Please enter valid email address to continue. >> and sometimes they make the i wrong turn or a mistake.ke >> reporter: shortly after her . >> reporter: in that time the case has gone from a nightmare for a few flawed souls to a nationwide search for a serial killer, an unidentified man who police believe may not have succeeded in killing every woman he coaxed into his car. >> on the surface seems like a pretty good suspect. i had to take that avenue. and the guy goes toward him, and he's tackled by police. it's a mystery their families th still struggle to understand. the hard part was that many of them had already been missing for more than a year before ida even had a chance to start looking. >> 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. but two years later, in 2004, when most of the women on detective ida lopez's list were disappearing, the images show tire tracks leading from this road to a few bare spots in the vegetation. The tragic truth was that sex workers made for easy targets, and are often distanced from relatives while communities are blind to their disappearance. because, they suppose, all those earlier rumors about the women being abducted, killed, and dumped in the desert had to have started somewhere. i just could feel all the strength in my body just kind of just drain all of a sudden. 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. Wozniak lured Kibuishi to Herr's apartment, where he shot and killed her. [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? According to Dateline, because of what they did and how they lived their stories might not have been told.. then four. and this desert doesn't give up its secrets easily. There is a reward of up. but i just have to keep believing that today could be the day, today could be the day. do not use if you are allergic to dupixent. we had things that we wanted to keep very secret, or things that we didn't want released. >> 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. >> the company kind of left town and just kind of left the land the way it was. Confirmed to be the work of a serial killer that was active between 2001-2005. In 2006 there were reportedly dirt trails leading from his trailer park to the site. 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. in albuquerque, where the old highway becomes central avenue, the city's decidedly down-scaled drug and prostitution trade flourishes. >> for a long time the news would be full of stories about girls who were missing and everybody's looking for them. Google MapsWest Mesa Murders satellite photos show the undeveloped land where the victims were discovered. >> because this guy had complete, freedom or he thought nobody's going to come out here? 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. all the bones. too many people in pain settle for. [1] Police have also suspected the involvement of a sex trafficking ring operating through neighboring Texas that targets sex workers during events throughout the Southwest, Southern, and Western United States, especially regularly scheduled events, such as the New Mexico state fair in this case, to take advantage of reliably heavier traffic. 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. The mysteries surrounding the West Mesa Murders, an unsolved case of 11 female bodies discovered in a desert graveyard near Albuquerque in 2009. then august 2008 we have -- we had a really bad rainstorm. did you know her? The Untold Truth Of The West Mesa Murders. and it was here while posing as a decoy during prostitution sting operations that she learned the raw power of their addictions. nine. he's just an individual that came to our attention that we had to follow through. >> suggesting possibly that the killer met her in denver, brought her here? She was from Lawton, Oklahoma, and was reportedly last seen in Denver, police said. there was no shortage of names on the police list of potential suspects who were capable of that. so she did what every good detective does. Colorado Department of Corrections/Facebook Paige Birgfeld and Lester Jones. >> i don't believe so. how do you keep feeling your best all summer long? -oh, what am i into? Dateline Full Episodes. West Mesa murder victims Evelyn Salazar, left, and Cinnamon Elks. >> he may be waiting in some other community to start doing the same thing again. it was a time when a sinister force seemed to be snatching women off the streets of new mexico's largest city. 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. aleve. then six. and they'd go through the alley, do their tricks in the alley. 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. >> your typical profile. how'd he get out?! Due to the 2008 housing bubble collapse, development on the West Side halted before housing could be built at the burial site. okay? what if jane doe number 7 was just the first of many victims the grave digger brought to the, west mesa from somewhere else? -what a sign, huh? >> reporter: this michelle according to her sister camille was an all-american girl with a future as bright as the new mexico sun. because deep within your skin an overly sensitive immune system could be the cause. City of AlbuquerqueThe 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. 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. Ross walked her dog, Ruca, along along a dried-out wash in Albuquerque, New Mexico. valdez had been virtually invisible to everyone in albuquerque. serial killer to catch but also because one set of remains was about to upset everything. do you need anything? it was not the way that her mother and i raised her. but that's not what she told the families when they called in, looking to hear something encouraging. Jun 09, 2022. dateline west mesa murders i used to live actually behind there when i was in college. The last segment of last night's two-hour exploration of the West Mesa serial murders on NBC's Dateline reviewed the search warrants executed by the Albuquerque and Joplin police departments and the FBI of properties owned by Joplin businessman Ron Erwin. 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. eight. [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]. To this day only theories remained. >> i took it upon myself to tape them, tape every event. Terms of Service (last updated 12/31/2014). Another expresses hope that authorities will find the killer. >> reporter: investigators had plenty of leads but none that had gotten them closer to answering two questions -- who was he? do you think you'll ever find them? so they'll move from albuquerque to phoenix to las vegas to los angeles and maybe not return on that circuit for several years. she hunted the guilty. >> i was the only detective in there at the time. she gets out of her car and comes up to me. >> reporter: dan valdez, who'd been wondering for years where his daughter was, saw his most cherished hopes and his most dreaded fears placed on a collision course. memories fade, and witnesses disappear, and some just don't, want to be part of it anymore. Or, died from other indirect causes, including assault, abuse, or homicide, prior to being funeralized; preped for burial? >> so we were able to, communicate with each other anything that came up. >> reporter: the families of the 18 women now on ida's list prayed for happy endings like that one. 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. TV Archive The police are reportedly willing to reward $100,000 to anybody who provides information on the West Mesa murders. >> no. We'll do better next time, I promise! but we don't know if it's him or not. 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. >> definitely. An unsolved murder case has haunted the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico for more than a decade. >> i saw it on tv on february 2nd, when christina ross and her dog ruca was reported on the. >> and that's more than just a few guys. so help heal your skin from within, with dupixent. there weren't just two women that were missing. 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. sometimes because she avoided z the camera. >> where was i the night before? [8][9], After repeatedly lying to police, Wozniak finally confessed. >> you know, i just didn't know. 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. -take a selfie of you? >> yeah. i'll take aleve. Article continues below advertisement [3] He was incarcerated at California's San Quentin State Prison until July 2021, when he was moved to Salinas Valley State Prison as part of the Condemned Inmate Transfer Pilot Program. >> i thought she was alive and well and doing good but just didn't want to have any contact with the family. i mean he's a wreck without me. if the serial killer who preyed on their city is still alive, he's probably moved on to another hunting ground. Globe staff photographer Ron Erwin would like to shed the suspected serial killer tag. it took years. so it's a matter of time before they go back out. 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. a. with xfinity mobile you can bring in your own phone, switch wireless carriers and save hundreds of dollars. She took a picture and messaged her sister, a registered nurse who confirmed that it was. activia. and it was i thought perfect timing. >> yes. >> it's like a little dark evil city out here. tired of seeing him hurt. [19] He had twice been arrested for violent attacks on sex workers and had threatened to kill his girlfriend and bury her in lime. In this Dateline classic, a relaxing vacation turns into a nightmare when Stephen Reitz wakes up to find his girlfriend, Eva Weinfurtner, murdered. for police that seemed like a good place to start their search for the killer. >> this particular individual made sure that he went back each and every time when he was going to dispose of a body and disposed of it in the same area where the other women were. bill's back needed a afvacation from his vacation. Albuquerque Police DepartmentJoseph Blea (left) and Lorenzo Montoya (right). >> what'd the police tell you? >> we believe that's him.