podcast: Casefile True Crime. you know, it seems like they knew or something. 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. [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. "They all had families that care for them.". Sadly, the rumor was true. a growing list of suspects. Not the clients. Authorities suspect a serial killer could be behind the deaths of 11 women and a yet unborn fetus, who were discovered in New Mexico. an amusement park so he stepped on the dr. scholl's kiosk. okay? >> we would just love to have the opportunity to interview him and treat him just like any of the other individuals we're looking at in this case. >> 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: sticking up for victims comes naturally to ida lopez. grasping at smoke. Satellite imagery taken between 2003 and 2005 shows tire marks and patches of disturbed soils in the area where the remains were recovered. 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. >> reporter: then came seven. maybe it was me not letting her come back to the house. Dateline: Unforgettable airs every Tuesday on Oxygen at 8:00 PM ET. >> reporter: according to police, montoya lured the woman to his home near the west mesa burial ground. the killer, whoever he was, and police naturally assumed the killer was male, had a five-year head start. >> kind of weird to be able to, you know, call a family and say great news -- >> oh, yeah. 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. Police have offered a $100,000 reward for anyone offering evidence leading to the discovery of the person the media came to call the West Mesa Bone Collector. >> reporter: surgeons also removed ida's adrenal gland because it too had a mass on ite. and the guy goes toward him, and he's tackled by police. he wouldn't say what the plans were because the only, you know, close person i knew had cancer and died. let's send to everyone! >> reporter: they call it tough love. >> possibly the killer? who got an awful skin condition. A prostitute named Christine said the same year that other prostitutes in that area had become more conscious about watching out . i know and i'm comfortable with the fact that they identified her as my daughter. >> and sometimes they make a a mistake. So she took a picture of it and texted her sister. >> somebody that lives here? >> i see her pull up out front, and i go out and stand on the sidewalk. [2] He was found guilty and sentenced to death in September 2016. and it was here while posing as a decoy during prostitution sting operations that she learned the raw power of their addictions. >> i got to know a lot of them. >> he's got me by the throat and he's shaking me and yelling at me telling me not to say a word. dan valdez, her father, had reported michelle missing six months before ida got the case.c he was the guy who kept the calendar. they had the big telescoping lenses. because deep within your skin an overly sensitive immune system could be the cause. >> reporter: when christine ross decided to take her dog ruca for a walk. Who are the dominate males, and lesbians in their Tribe? / CBS Colorado. you know, maybe we ought to run that list. apoquel goes right to the source of itch to provide relief in as little as four hours! Female sex workers are far more likely to be the victims of violent crimes like rape and murder, but communities do not tend to take notice of such cases in the same way as when women from other parts of society are affected. michelle's -- michelle and cinnamon were stabbed and buried on the west mesa. i took her to a friend's house and dropped her off there. 2015. The 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. but he saw his daughter. >> my personal opinion, i believe that that person is still out there. then august 2008 we have -- we had a really bad rainstorm. after months of digging for bones in the desert west of albuquerque, detectives desperately wanted to get on with the work of catching a killer. >> reporter: and so she learned, about the lives of the women on the street. and every time the phone rang his heart stopped. You can also watch Dateline Mystery on demand at Apple TV. >> reporter: and it's not just there for inspiration. every chance that i had i had the videotape there. >> the biggest thing that makes syllania different is she's not a local girl. A two-hour NBC Dateline special about the 2014 Fayetteville murder of James Allan Chambers II will air Friday at 9 p.m. . the patience of job. but the detectives knew simply finding the bones in the first place had been an incredibly lucky break. in albuquerque, where the old highway becomes central avenue, the city's decidedly down-scaled drug and prostitution trade flourishes. 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. apoquel. aleve pm. only activia has billions of our live and active probiotics. 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 . and it was i thought perfect timing. but that's not the -- that's not what he saw in his eyes, or his heart. Michelle Gina Valdez - The Charley Project She took a picture and messaged her sister, a registered nurse who confirmed that it was. Albuquerque's unknown Serial Killer | Real Life Monsters so you can move more. "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. Wozniak then staged the crime scene to make it appear as though Kibuishi had been sexually assaulted, suggesting that Herr had committed her assault and subsequent murder and then gone on the run. Annette Gutirrez-Millspaugh shared with us that nobody had ever solved the 1982 murder of Father Reynaldo Rivera. Awesome. 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. every fall as the. >> oh, yeah. so help heal your skin from within, with dupixent. here, hello! la la la la la. All went missing between 2003 and 2005. oh, i've had 17. i've been choked. TV Archive 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? in 2006, years after being caught in the act of choking one prostitute, lorenzo montoya was caught in the company of a dead one. >> reporter: jane doe's number 7 nose had been broken sometime before she died. 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." some of them chummed around with one another. >> reporter: before long michelle valdez stopped showing up in her father's videos. >> reporter: for detectives like todd babcock it all seemed to add up. Her organization recently gathered the notes from the women it meets with weekly. Hosted by NBC News' Craig Melvin, each episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered incorporates the classic elements of drama and great . Search the history of over 797 billion they had literally spent weeks in the trenches looking for bones at that abandoned construction site. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. there's a better choice. >> reporter: by the end of that year ida's list had grown to more than a dozen women. >> sit. fabric refresher even works for clothes you want to wear another day. some of it didn't. Years had passed from the time the women and girls disappeared, likely limiting available evidence. >> the numbers grew. Furthermore, Police encountered Blea nearly 140 times between 1990 and 2009, often in drug-heavy areas that the victims were known to frequent. the crime lab had determined that one of the unidentified, sets of remains, jane doe number 7, was a young black female. >> this is michelle. >> 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. and if they weren't on the mesa, where were they? a thigh bone had been found out on albuquerque's west mesa. In February 2009, her body was identified. SERIAL KILLER: West Mesa Murders | Crime Junkie Podcast 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. 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. the hardest part of this whole thing is having to go to somebody's house and say we. >> 35 to 50? While the FBI created suspect profiles, Albuquerque police knocked on doors. she was at -- you know, at a hurting spot. Happy New Year! 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. After more than five years of court proceedings, Wozniak went to trial and was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder. the money. >> when they told us that they had a young black girl, i thought, i didn't have a young black girl on my list. other times because she simply didn't show up. >> you can't. >> you can't say gun, knife, strangulation. Please enter valid email address to continue. too many people in pain settle for. now no fruit is forbidden. and was he still at work? activia. dupixent is not a steroid, and it continuously treats your eczema even when you can't see it. >> it's kind of eerie looking at those satellite photos. they travel interstate. Discovery near mass gravesite leads to fears of more victims in squeeze me tight. Where to Watch Dateline Mystery Dateline Mystery is available for streaming on the NBC News website, both individual episodes and full seasons. -i know. She said the organization also will highlight the continued struggles of women living on the margins. so she did what every good detective does. and sure enough, they too were names on ida lopez's list of missing women. Josh Mankiewicz reports from New Mexico. West Mesa Serial Killer Satellite Image | Peatix >> he may be waiting in some other community to start doing the same thing again. >> she was a college student found on a lonely road in texas. >> reporter: this is what albuquerque police chief ray schultz says investigators saw. Starting tonight at 8 p.m., NBC will air a special two-hour "Dateline" episode dealing with the notorious West Mesa Murder Mystery. so in ida's absence the valdez family was at the mercy of the police department's bureaucracy. >> whatever the killer's permanent address, those satellite photos were a huge break because they told police. all of them about the same age,m with a similar look.he all were known to hang out in a section of albuquerque so o notorious that cops call it the war zone. She was found buried next to her 27-year-old cousin, Evelyn Salazar. 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. and then as the months go by, wi search more and find that there are, you know, maybe another one here, then another one there, and that sort of thing. >> reporter: and the rain runoff from the deserted construction. glad i could help. Daniel Wozniak was found guilty of the murders of Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi. not just because of what happens but because of what might have been prevented, missed, or altogether avoided. >> first words out of the girl's mouth was that he was trying to kill her. >> 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. The bodies were discovered a decade ago this weekend, kicking off an investigation into the largest crime scene in Albuquerque's history. The Untold Truth Of The West Mesa Murders - Grunge.com ida went by the book. the bone could easily have belonged to one of them. 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? >> reporter: finding a bone, even a human bone, is not unusual out here on albuquerque's west mesa. >> and i'm natalie morales. quickbooks. Still, authorities have not given up. [9][14] Police would not say how or where they had obtained the photos. These unsolved murders remain one of the biggest homidice cases in the Albuquerque Police Department's history. Ida Lopez previously appeared on Dateline in an episode on the West Mesa tragedy which aired in December, 2010. 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. shadows prostitutes. >> then about a month and a half after i was diagnosed, then i had my kidney removed. >> i just always felt that if you find one you're going to find them all. and the women who work its. Lopezs investigation found that close to two dozen women with similar profiles were missing. >> if you find one, you're going to find them all. >> that really sends a chill up and down your spine. One day later, Hemraj's partially decomposed body was found in the terrace of the same home. whenever a lost soul was found. >> reporter: from a pool of hundreds wendy first narrowed the field to 30, then to 10, and then to 1. one girl whose face, age, and biography seemed to match what she saw in the sketch. and i don't have phone records. The police are reportedly willing to reward $100,000 to anybody who provides information on the West Mesa murders. -it's kind of like driving with his dad. [11], On September 12, 2018, Buffett was convicted on two of those counts with a maximum possible sentence of 44 months and, on November 8, 2018, was sentenced to 32 months minus time served and good behavior. even thinking about the aerial photos evidence gives me chills to this day. that was not the track michelle valdez was on.ra though dan continued to tape all the usual family functions. i said, "detective lopez just told us that your mother has been positively i.d. Afterwards, Wozniak dismembered Herrs body by removing his limbs and head. In a 2013 interview, Ray Schultz said there was a "conscious shift" in the Albuquerque Police Department to take prostitutes more seriously. advantage ii, fight the misery of biting fleas. he opened up the door for all the wrong things. "You have to know people, their names and what they look like to know people are missing," she said. the fall of 2005 was one of those times. >> reporter: dan may have had. An episode of NBC "Dateline" airing Friday will feature the West Mesa murder case. it's where they needed somebody, and it worked out, you know, for me. >> these are hurting women. born to move. The West Mesa Serial Killer Satellite Photos - Transborder Media However, the West Mesa murders might have changed that in Albuquerque. >> yeah. 13 years later, Albuquerque Police have never officially or publicly named suspects in the case. [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]. >> he may be waiting to start doing the same thing again. Article continues below advertisement >> it's -- i know she had been to albuquerque at least one prior time. by now dan was emerging as the videographer and de facto spokesman for the families. By Marlene Lenthang, MaryEllen Resendez, Jennifer Pirone, and Amanda Karrh May 21, 2021, 9:22 AM 6:56 Single mom Paige Birgfield goes missing in a small Colorado town: Part 1 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. Promising leads became dead ends with every cleared suspect. within days evidence of one body, had become evidence of two. 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. a camera might figure it out. Paige Birgfeld: Missing Mother Living a Double Life Was Kidnapped & Murdered. Lopezs alma mater) who has written several books on serial killings, said: You cant have a colder cold case, Gibson said. >> reporter: no witnesses. pi fr no, i can't believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on my car insurance with geico. >> i want to talk to you. It plans to tie them to fencing near the crime scene Saturday ahead of a gathering to mark the anniversary. but can't get your hands on anything else. but it was what had happened next that really focused the detectives' attention. Or, died from other indirect causes, including assault, abuse, or homicide, prior to being funeralized; preped for burial? to start their search for a killer. >> reporter: a time frame, 2003 to early 2005, and 11 sets of bones. -he did show us how to bundle home and auto at progressive.com and save a bunch of money. West Mesa Murders satellite photos show the undeveloped land where the victims were discovered. [6], An extensive manhunt for Herr was launched by authorities who at that point still believed Herr was responsible for Kibuishi's murder and was on the run. They may have been OD's? After two trials, killer of Colorado mom of three with secret life geico could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Most of them hadnt even been reported missing at the time their remains were found. Within a year, they had identified all of the 11 victims, which ranged in age from 15 to 32. Dateline Full Episodes. -what? >> there are other girls from out of state in the same -- you know, are we going to find another repeat? [5], In an effort to misdirect police and cast blame upon Herr, Wozniak then used Herr's cell phone to text Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, a 23-year-old college student who had been tutoring Herr at Orange Coast College. >> i was the only detective in there at the time. After learning about the West Mesa murders, read about the gruesome cult sacrifice of Mark Kilroy. >> reporter: ida says the stories she heard back then were heartbreaking tales of abuse and neglect that almost always had drugs at their core. 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 bears a stick-figure angel and a message from a woman who says the victims watch over her. >> it was growing, and i had kidney cancer. >> so you told michelle she couldn't come over? soon could be years. The case reportedly began in 2005 when Lopez was handed files of a few missing women, one of whom was a 25-year-old prostitute named Michelle Valdez from New Mexico's largest city, Alberquerque. there were whole bunches of them. him. any signs that the women knew each other. On . but guess what? [ chuckles ] i'm done with this class. The most notorious unsolved crime in every state - Insider With Safe Streets New Mexico, Jaramillo and Barber aim to give women from this vulnerable sector the protection society fails to provide them. the next time anyone heard anything about syllania, she was here in this makeshift grave site outside albuquerque, sharing it with ten other women she never knew in life but will be forever linked with in death. 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. >> 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. for police that seemed like a good place to start their search for the killer. dateline west mesa murders - tecnologicospeedwriting.com >> i would tell them we're one day closer to finding your daughter. sad but common, especially for these dark streets where drug addiction and prostitution literally go hand in hand. Street Safe was founded in 2009, aiming to ensure volunteers kept a steady presence in an area along Historic Route 66 while handing out clothing and other products each Friday. 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. Thoughts? 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. because, they suppose, all those earlier rumors about the women being abducted, killed, and dumped in the desert had to have started somewhere. Many had gone into sex work or had run away from home years before they died. Downtown Albuquerque as seen from the West Mesa. >> right. but ever since her early days in uniformed patrol, ida lopez has called them her girls. >> i think they're trick candles. Several suspects have been named, but none were arrested or charged. they pick up a lot of girls. so why am i still thinking about this? >> reporter: this michelle according to her sister camille was an all-american girl with a future as bright as the new mexico sun. >> reporter: it was in denver, another city on the circuit, that detective todd babcock hit paydirt. >> i really thought he could be her killer. >> the reality is it was kind of like this is not happening. >> it's taking all my time. Authorities Offer $100,000 Reward for Leads in Murder of 11 Women a restless night's sleep. ask your veterinarian about apoquel today. >> she was last seen in denver. One bears a. 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. >> where was i the night before? According to Dateline, because of what they did and how they lived their stories might not have been told.. Google MapsWest Mesa Murders satellite photos show the undeveloped land where the victims were discovered. to discuss leads on missing persons, on cold cases, on sexual predators, and on unidentified remains. http://www.rrobserver.com/news/article_2d7213ea-a0dc-11e3-aa48-001a4bcf887a.html. young hispanic women with arrest records for drugs or prostitution. according to the website, she'd been a 13-year-old runaway from a group home in lawton, oklahoma in 2003. and that's what we're trying to figure out. Authorities believe that the women may have been involved in a large interstate sex trafficking operation. 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. All but one of the victims of the West Mesa murders were born and raised in New Mexico and were Hispanic. Uploaded by you know, it's not what you see in vegas. 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. 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. and that's when angelica looked at me and started crying. it took years. i enjoyed it. but i just have to keep believing that today could be the day, today could be the day. hopefully they've been in a commune in some mountainous town or in a rehab center or a jail or with friends that they're actually doing okay. everything was in a pretty contained area. all the remains. >> she knew that there was events at the house because she'd call and ask if she could borrow $25, she was hungry or whatever. Valdez was pregnant at the time of her death and her . [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. michelle had already been busted for receiving and transported stolen property, drug possession and car theft. digging, scraping, sifting. protection. albuquerque police were looking at the evolving work of a serial killer. it was tough. 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. ", "Accused serial rapist, West Mesa murder suspect sentenced to 36 years in rape case", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=West_Mesa_murders&oldid=1140315217, This page was last edited on 19 February 2023, at 14:32. Investigating a 10-year-old crime where the police think that the victim had it coming theres just no incentive for that.. 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 . -oh, a plaque. >> in death as in life? >> what'd the police tell you? a meticulous man whose grim will had brought him back to the mesa again and again to bury his victims. and i kind of was wobbling a little bit, and ida consoled me a little bit and said it's okay, you know, it's okay. a money-making spectacle that draws tourists from all over the world to albuquerque for one week in october. let's exchange phone numbers. >> i start going out there and talking to the girls. the news media had shown little interest in the story when desperate family members had come to them asking for help. >> reporter: though police say they have a half dozen suspects on their radar at any given time, so far they haven't been able to eliminate or arrest any of them. >> reporter: by now the street alongside the desert crime scene was a media encampment, where reporters were predictably live at 5:00, 6:00, and 10:00. sometimes reporting details that crime scene commander paul feist preferred to keep secret. you're keeping that quiet because you don't want somebody to confess to this who didn't do it. No one noticed they were gone.. >> there's a dad who had a calendar. "In this case, there was almost nothing but bones.". >> reporter: oddly enough, the west mesa investigators' good fortune began thousands of miles to the east, in the fall of 2008. that's when crumbling financial markets on wall street caused home construction on the west mesa to grind to a halt. Her daughter had found womens clothing and jewelry in their home, with some families later revealing that the victims jewelry was missing. >> missing women. However, the Albuquerque Police Department refuses to lose all hope and continues working on it with whatever leads they have. and i guess i just kind of wonder whether police and everybody else would have start of stepped up their game a little bit if that had been the case here. it's pretty much the easiest way to save since sliced bread.