oh, i've had 17. i've been choked. Today, two suspects remain only of whom is still alive. >> so what i usually do is i go back to see what their arrest history is. Dateline: Unforgettable: Who is detective Ida Lopez and what is her she said, "no, don't tell me that. After authorities unearthed the remains of 11 women and one unborn child, they feared the worst: They were dealing with the city's first serial killer. it took years. >> then about a month and a half after i was diagnosed, then i had my kidney removed. >> i see her pull up out front, and i go out and stand on the sidewalk. 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. A sinister force seems to be snatching women off the streets of Albuquerque. I think there's a Disappeared episode relating to it as well. it recommends our best custom fit orthotic to relieve foot, knee, or lower back pain. it was all just unverifiable street talk, the kind ida lopez had heard before. terry, can you take a selfie of me? it's pretty much the easiest way to save since sliced bread. and this desert doesn't give up its secrets easily. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. West Mesa murders subject of two-hour Dateline tonight - Blogger turning up on the mesa. >> yeah. >> reporter: and for albuquerque's homicide detectives there was the most pressing question of all. 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. for ida lopez that's a mission statement. The crime episode will also show how the murder of another man named Ilan Nissim is connected to this case. advil pm. by then dan and michelle's mother were divorced, and dan was raising michelle and camilln alone while working days at the juvenile detention center. i think he's been preying on his victims, has a particular victim in mind. believe it! >> i came out here looking for my cousin, and i bumped into cinnamon, and she had told me that -- that the girls were getting their heads cut off and tooken to the mesa. >> this in a way suggests that maybe there are women out there who aren't on any list. and where was he now? you're lying to me. i enjoyed it. The Albuquerque officers did not say that Erwin was a suspect. do you think you'll ever find them? 'Dateline' reveals new details in mysterious murder of successful >> we really can't say why. After more than five years of court proceedings, Wozniak went to trial and was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder. >> reporter: investigators had plenty of leads but none that had gotten them closer to answering two questions -- who was he? >> that's a possibility. 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. and it was here while posing as a decoy during prostitution sting operations that she learned the raw power of their addictions. Genres Police say a woman walking her dog reported finding what appeared to be a femur on the mesa. except for one tantalizing tidbit. West Mesa murders - Wikipedia Christine felt that the bone didn't look normal. >> were all the victims killed the same way? Police were at a loss. 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. to states as far away as pennsylvania and florida, where the backgrounds and travel patterns of certain types of men seem to warrant close attention. - Investigation Discovery", "Sam Herr, Juri 'Julie' Kibuishi: 'The Perfect Murder' On Investigation Discovery Afghanistan War Vet, California Tutor Killed By Actor In Plot To Have Lavish Wedding", "48 Hours-Killer Performance - Video Dailymotion", "Unusual Suspects: Deadly Intent | Watch Full Episodes & More! also, again, it goes back to the lifestyle. 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. cinnamon elks, missing since august of 2004. but even if those rumors were true and human remains were cooling in the desert night on albuquerque's west mesa, the detective knew, it would take a miracle to find them. >> kind of weird to be able to, you know, call a family and say great news -- >> oh, yeah. The series first aired on July 27, 2009. 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. Reporter Josh Mankiewicz reports from Albuquerque on the story that made national headlinesthe discovery of 11 female bodies buried on the city's West Mesa. >> i did. flo has it, i want it, it's a whole thing, and she's right there. >> you look at how many things had to have happened for these victims to be located. within weeks of starting her new job, ida was handed two missing persons files. >> somebody was trying to send a message at some point. >> reporter: two women on ida lopez's list had already been identified among the 11 sets of remains. this photo, taken the following year, shows even more bare spots. >> there are other girls from out of state in the same -- you know, are we going to find another repeat? SERIAL KILLER: The West Mesa Serial Killer - Crime Junkie - iHeart the position was there. >> what we see very often is the women involved in prostitution work in what's called the circuit. [1][2], An anonymous tip to authorities at APD and FBI linked the murders to a suspect from Central America. i love you, hon. There are so many episodes online but I can't find this one, http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/dateline/somebodys-daughter-part-1-254001731808. >> yeah. 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. at 13 michelle became pregnant. >> then in february 2009 came unsettling news. had spots on her face. Annette Gutirrez-Millspaugh shared with us that nobody had ever solved the 1982 murder of Father Reynaldo Rivera. Ive been looking for a cast on yhis case. Someone called Father Reynaldo at the St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe to provide the last rites to a dying grandfather. Janepsy Carballo, Orlando Mesa: Dateline NBC's 'Miami Heat' Episode >> i saw it on tv on february 2nd, when christina ross and her dog ruca was reported on the. >> i was devastated. All Rights Reserved. [9][22] They confiscated "tens of thousands" of photos from the man, who reportedly used to visit the state fair in Albuquerque. City and law enforcement officials have solicited help from the community to solve the West Mesa murders. happy birthday that september angelica celebrated her sixth birthday. http://www.rrobserver.com/news/article_2d7213ea-a0dc-11e3-aa48-001a4bcf887a.html. remember, 2004 is when almost all of the women found on the west mesa disappeared. for the detective who'd long maintained that everybody counts, the existence of that kind of reward was a sign of progress. her aunt ran the streets, knew michelle, knew certain people, and they had heard it from her aunt. But most of the other victims vanished with even fewer details. There has been very little publicity. those two files would mark the beginning of the biggest case in her career and would turn into pabarmis.markintos most heinouy crime stories. and the women who work its. 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. >> we were always bumping heads. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. then five. and that didn't take that part away, that she was still somebody's little girl. 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. and there's so much work that's always done behind the scenes to get them identified. >> so you told michelle she couldn't come over? 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. it was comforting that it didn't just happen to me. spots that weren't there before. Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com. make febreze part of your clean routine for whole home freshness. Reported missing between 2001 and 2005, they ranged in age from 15 to 32. he's just an individual that came to our attention that we had to follow through. >> reporter: at times detective ida lopez was out there too. [9] Police confirmed that they had cleared Erwin as a suspect. >> she was on my list. >> the reality is it was kind of like this is not happening. Dateline NBC | Real Life Monsters Crime Junkie. 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. The police are reportedly willing to reward $100,000 to anybody who provides information on the West Mesa murders. >> first words out of the girl's mouth was that he was trying to kill her. In 2005, she was handed two missing persons files including missing 25-year-old Michelle Valdez,. >> could never trace it back. It took nearly a year for medical examiners to identify the decomposing victims, most of whom were Hispanic and all of whom were female. She was convinced he was the West Mesa killer. >> correct. The victims' names will be read Saturday at a brief memorial service organized by Street Safe New Mexico next to a place where city officials in June broke ground on a memorial park. and in spite of their example, they can't quit the life. if you are taking asthma medicines, do not change or stop your asthma medicine without talking to your doctor. Authorities suspect a serial killer could be behind the deaths of 11 women and a yet unborn fetus, who were discovered in New Mexico. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid and the 12-hour pain-relieving strength of aleve. -ahhh. >> can you tell me what that is? 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. >> and i said, well, let's gather these families together and let's get to know them. >> i thought ida being a police officer was awfully small. >> so we were able to, communicate with each other anything that came up. >> reporter: it was in denver, another city on the circuit, that detective todd babcock hit paydirt. 'Dateline' To Air Story on West Mesa Deaths - Albuquerque Journal >> 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. the first words out of this girl's mouth was that he was trying to kill her. >> that really sends a chill up and down your spine. Does anyone have any theories or info on this one? >> reporter: the detectives needed a solid tip. only activia has billions of our live and active probiotics. Authorities believe that the women may have been involved in a large interstate sex trafficking operation. >> i looked up to her for many things. yeah. i just want to know when was the last time you saw her? after three years angelica was sent to live with dan's mother, who lived nearby, and michelle took to living with a series of people she called friends. i'll take aleve. While the killings were initially believed to be the work of a serial killer, the involvement of a sex trafficking ring has been suspected. everyone. >> it was a problem. He had actually had over 100 encounters with police in the two decades preceding the discovery of the West Mesa murder victims. it's a mystery their families th still struggle to understand. i'm sorry, i think you mean roses. soon could be months. then four. 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Are there any other episodes or podcasts you'd recommend that discuss this further? they said it wasn't common in women and it wasn't common in women my age. 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. oh right. >> when you ask them how many bad dates have you had? maybe i did something wrong. so far all the remains identified had been names on ida lopez's list of missing women. and most of these boxes were returned. dateline west mesa murders. Syllania Edwards, a 15-year-old runaway from Lawton, Oklahoma, was the only African American, and the only victim from out of state. 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. >> 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. >> reporter: those were long nights, filled with bittersweet memories of michelle the way she used to be, before the drugs took over. >> there's nothing to connect lorenzo montoya to those 11 bodies? they pick up a lot of girls. >> like?wr >> the drugs. so, let's make this the summer of loving your gut. 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. New Mexico Authorities Offer $100,000 Reward for Help Solving West Mesa Murders of 11 Women and Unborn Child . 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Voicemail Claims To Be From West Mesa Killer - YouTube That threat and the circumstances of his death led police to suspect that Montoya had been the West Mesa Bone Collector. i'm supposed to be in ceramics. >> well, they were shocked. By 2006, development had encroached on the area, and soon after, the site was disturbed, buried, and platted for residential development. -oh, what am i into? some passed on grisly rumors to ida, that the missing women were dead and had been dumped in the desert west of town. >> i just always felt that they were going to be together. >> it's a cold case. an amusement park so he stepped on the dr. scholl's kiosk. Joplin man says he has been cleared of suspicion in serial murders The mysteries surrounding the West Mesa Murders, an unsolved case of 11 female bodies discovered in a desert graveyard near Albuquerque in 2009. you're keeping that quiet because you don't want somebody to confess to this who didn't do it. Despite the tip, however, the West Mesa Murder case remains unsolved. but by 2004 camille, the tag-along little sister, had had enough.on when michelle asked dan if she could move back home for a while, camille put her foot down. >> 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. so help heal your skin from within, with dupixent. apoquel is for the control of itch associated with allergic dermatitis and the control of atopic dermatitis in dogs. she said, well, dad, i'm going to run. Albuquerque police released photos of unidentified women who may also be linked to the West Mesa murders. because savings is as savings does. Dateline covered the murders. 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. when had i last seen her? >> yeah, that did cross my mind numerous times. let's send to everyone! i mean, you'll see some out here that they need that fix. now that two women from ida's list had been identified, jolene had an idea. West Mesa Murders satellite photos show the undeveloped land where the victims were discovered. 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. Sadly, the rumor was true. Case 27: The West Mesa Bone Collector. looking for michelle. if you are taking asthma medicines, do not change or stop your asthma medicine without talking to your doctor. because deep within your skin an overly sensitive immune system could be the cause. >> reporter: working alone, the detective distributed flyers with the women's pictures at truck stops, convenience stores, even the new mexico state fair.