dateline west mesa murders dateline west mesa murders

Theories? 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. In this Dateline classic, a relaxing vacation turns into a nightmare when Stephen Reitz wakes up to find his girlfriend, Eva Weinfurtner, murdered. >> so we were able to, communicate with each other anything that came up. i mean, you'll see some out here that they need that fix. >> the reality is it was kind of like this is not happening. >> mommy's not a grownup anymore -- i mean, a teenager anymore. >> are truckers a particular problem? can you make it look like i'm holding it? Fifteen-year-old Syllania Edwards was identified as the only Black victim at the site, as well as the only one from out of state. >> i was devastated. >> reporter: surgeons also removed ida's adrenal gland because it too had a mass on ite. probably familiar with the prostitution trade. and sometimes you've just got to stop and smell the savings. (vo) you earned it, we're here to make sure you get it. >> 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. you know, i was always the tag-along with her and her friends. it was all just unverifiable street talk, the kind ida lopez had heard before. -he did show us how to bundle home and auto at progressive.com and save a bunch of money. The West Mesa Murders City of Albuquerque The 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. City of AlbuquerqueThe 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. ), First published on February 2, 2019 / 12:05 PM. >> he may be waiting in some other community to start doing the same thing again. they had literally spent weeks in the trenches looking for bones at that abandoned construction site. December 2006. >> reporter: it would take more than diligent detective work to find those answers. and then she says is there anything that we can do? All went missing between 2003 and 2005. sure is. City and law enforcement officials have solicited help from the community to solve the West Mesa murders. Be the first one to comment on this story. >> and the man in the car was? >> reporter: commander feist, who tried to keep the local press at arm's length during the excavation, finally allowed them to cross under the yellow tape and onto crime scene, along with crews from "america's most wanted." it's not the pretty woman. 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 . 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. they came up with their profile of who they thought we were looking for, including that profile was a white male. it took years. [19][21], In August 2010, police searched several properties in Joplin, Missouri associated with local photographer and businessman Ron Erwin in connection with the West Mesa cases. and that didn't take that part away, that she was still somebody's little girl. but you know, you have to have faith in your law enforcement. she said, "no, don't tell me that. no dna. to start their search for a killer. >> it was a problem. No one noticed they were gone.. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid and the 12-hour pain-relieving strength of aleve. -take a selfie of you? >> the vice unit was watching a particular prostitute. and at the center of it all was dan valdez. >> missing women. >> suggesting possibly that the killer met her in denver, brought her here? Albuquerque murder mystery: Who is the West Mesa killer? Colorado Department of Corrections/Facebook Paige Birgfeld and Lester Jones. use febreze every time you tidy up to keep your whole house smelling fresh air clean. there were whole bunches of them. Confirmed to be the work of a serial killer that was active between 2001-2005. and i said, look, i'm not running you. and thoughts of rare moments together before she went missing. 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. 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. Janepsy "Cindy" Carballo's life was shattered in an instant when a hail of gunfire erupted outside her North Miami home. because, they suppose, all those earlier rumors about the women being abducted, killed, and dumped in the desert had to have started somewhere. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. . activia. >> reporter: one of those women, safira mora, was found alive and well a few weeks after this story first aired in december 2010. right now the killer, if he's still alive, has plenty of it. >> was the man whose house you served a search warrant on, is he a suspect? bring in your own phone, switch to xfinity mobile and save hundreds of dollars a year. 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. YouTube/KOATA makeshift memorial for the victims. but at the time it was routine low priority policework. that nobody really ever sees. -i'm sorry? After learning about the West Mesa murders, read about the gruesome cult sacrifice of Mark Kilroy. >> you don't remember the last, thing you said to her? it was a time when a sinister force seemed to be snatching women off the streets of new mexico's largest city. Photo Source Due to the 2008 housing bubble collapse, development on the West Side halted before housing could be built at the burial site. so they'll move from albuquerque to phoenix to las vegas to los angeles and maybe not return on that circuit for several years. Albuquerque police spokesperson Tanner Tixier stated that she returned in 2015 to continue working on the unsolved case. there were still seven missing women who fit the profile on ida lopez's list. >> a lot of people said they were drug addicts and prostitutes. Barela is the only victim who police say wasn't known to have been subjected to sex trafficking. >> i don't believe so. >> frightening. the mother road's glory days are behind her now. Police were at a loss. It's no secret. >> what we see very often is the women involved in prostitution work in what's called the circuit. 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. >> yes, he was. >> you're finding this, and you're just going, i wonder if it's going to be the rest of the girls. The West Mesa murders have yet to be solved. [4] In December 2006, Montoya strangled a teenage sex worker to death at his trailer and then was shot to death by the teen's boyfriend. "he later navigated northward, leaving progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents. she says, "i have some bad news for you." and so this case was going nowhere. Terms of Service (last updated 12/31/2014). you know, my husband's got young kids to take care of. >> yeah. >> did you notice when the girls were going missing? Paige Birgfeld, 34, was a well-liked . activia. who got an awful skin condition. and we know a few that have a, history of murdering the girls who frequent the truck stops. Summary: Josh Mankiewicz puts the focus on the mysteries surrounding the West Mesa Murders, an unsolved case of 11 female bodies discovered in a desert graveyard near Albuquerque in 2009. this date's lame. [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. >> it is a lot of shovel and pick work. 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. Being a registered nurse, she was able to tell Christine that the bone looked like a human femur, so Christine contacted the police. >> we're looking for people who've had histories of showing, violence against prostitutes. i said all right. That discovery of a single bone led to a months-long dig, as police used DNA and dental records to identify the women and girls. cinnamon was a name on ida's list. and all had worked as prostitutes on the mean streets of the city's war zone. it's fast itch relief. what if jane doe number 7 was just the first of many victims the grave digger brought to the, west mesa from somewhere else? >> reporter: and so she learned, about the lives of the women on the street. backing you. >> and i can understand it. The investigators were concentrating, apparently, on the females on the street. it was a bit of frontier justice for montoya, who was about to literally get away with murder. Where do those women congregate. >> yeah. >> reporter: dan knew about the drugs and twice got her to agree to enter rehab.ug but michelle never showed up.nt increasingly there were run-ins with the law. FULL EPISODE: Somebody's Daughter. The series first aired on July 27, 2009. but he saw his daughter. One of those suspects was Joseph Blea. so come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. >> it was growing, and i had kidney cancer. michelle's -- michelle and cinnamon were stabbed and buried on the west mesa. >> what about those last seven girls? The same evening, Wozniak went on to perform in his local theatre production of the musical Nine. 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. A 2004 image showed a set of tire tracks leading directly to the area. it was a fetus. The Untold Truth Of The West Mesa Murders. >> so you were being a father all over again. 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. In this case, there was almost nothing but bones.. an amusement park so he stepped on the dr. scholl's kiosk. i had to take that avenue. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, a severe reaction. and ida lopez couldn't help but wonder if these dry bones were the women she'd been looking for. Like Blea, police also knew Lorenzo Montoya to be violent and hire sex workers in Albuquerque's East Central corridor. ask your eczema specialist about dupixent. >> you can't say gun, knife, strangulation. they travel interstate. In addition to Barela, Edwards, Salazar, and Valdez, they are: Monica Candelaria, 22; Victoria Chaves, 26; Virginia Cloven, 24; Cinnamon Elks, 32; Doreen Marquez, 24; Julie Nieto, 24; Veronica Romero, 28. 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. how'd he get out?! all the bones. -ahhh. 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. anybody that was arrested for prostitution, criminal solicitation, anything like. "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. All of the women were Latina and all were from New Mexico, except Syllannia Edwards, who was African American and from Oklahoma. make that phone call to us and we can link that individual to these crimes that have occurred here in albuquerque. Ida Lopez was unable to solve the case she was so closely attached to before her retirement and relocation in 2014. Albuquerqueans dont relate to the victims. >> i thought ida being a police officer was awfully small. The 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. local station as finding a femur bone. Investigating a 10-year-old crime where the police think that the victim had it coming theres just no incentive for that.. Where were the males that make up their community? >> where was i the night before? if you are taking asthma medicines, do not change or stop your asthma medicine without talking to your doctor. i love you, hon. for all-day, all-night protection. so you can move more. It would appear the killings stopped after his death. >> reporter: the fact is dan valdez had been recording his. >> not for you. >> how many other detectives ins missing persons? >> reporter: and for albuquerque's homicide detectives there was the most pressing question of all. >> so many young women missing. the bone could easily have belonged to one of them. and one of the locations that was searched was right next door to a newspaper. it was comforting that it didn't just happen to me. there was no shortage of names on the police list of potential suspects who were capable of that. Sorry! jane doe number 8 was michelle valdez. only activia has billions of our live and active probiotics. >> when you ask them how many bad dates have you had? On December 9, 2010, Albuquerque police released six photos of seven other unidentified women who may also be linked to West Mesa. An episode of NBC "Dateline" airing Friday will feature the West Mesa murder case. Although the murders stopped after that, police have unfortunately not been able to say without a doubt that Montoya was the serial killer known as the West Mesa Bone Collector. Police say a woman walking her dog reported finding what appeared to be a femur on the mesa. and i don't have phone records. The Albuquerque officers did not say that Erwin was a suspect. >> did you know michelle was pregnant when she disappeared? of a young girl's dreams. Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque police spokesman, said detectives receive hundreds of tips in the case each year, and continue to follow different leads while retesting evidence as DNA and other investigative technology advances. a money-making spectacle that draws tourists from all over the world to albuquerque for one week in october. In the preceding decades he had tortured and killed around 40 other women, and Jaramillo knows her fate would have been the same had she not escaped. Wozniak lured Kibuishi to Herr's apartment, where he shot and killed her. when had i last seen her? was a serial killer stalking the women working the war zone? >> sit. She also told them that he threatened "to kill me and bury me in lime.". Another expresses hope that authorities will find the killer. 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. because deep within your skin an overly sensitive immune system could be the cause. Photo Source This is an aerial photographs of the West Mesa Desert in 2004 when the first off road tracks were seen and you can spot two graves. >> yeah, because based on our experience with crimes of this nature, homicide crimes, when you have multiple offenders, more than one of them, someone's going to talk. >> did you see her then? >> the only body that has been identified so far, victoria chavez. 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. Produced, reported and maintained by Journal staff member. that's all we really wanted, just to flash her picture real quick. 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. then four. high school, college. Many had gone into sex work or had run away from home years before they died. protection. Detectives were left with the fact that serial killers move with ease, often vanishing long before their victims are ever found. >> 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. -yeah. Ominously, Montoya was holding a flashlight when he died while his victim was wrapped in a blanket near his SUV. 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. There is a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible. that the chin was specific for me. West Mesa Killer Satellite Image Credits. >> she was last seen in denver. because savings is as savings does. >> and we will see justice. nexgard. the odds were good that syllania edwards, like the others, had simply strolled out into the war zone and climbed into the wrong car. >> they wouldn't even put her picture on the news or nothing. all the remains. The only emerging pattern was that 10 of the victims were sex workers or victims of sex trafficking. >> yes. Four crime scenes, thirty-two gunshot wounds, eight members of the Rhoden family left dead in their homes. it led them to a dead end. The Piketon Massacre. and i'm in the porch area. Satellite imagery taken between 2003 and 2005 shows tire marks and patches of disturbed soils in the area where the remains were recovered. in 2006, years after being caught in the act of choking one prostitute, lorenzo montoya was caught in the company of a dead one. her nose and her eyes were very important. Lopezs alma mater) who has written several books on serial killings, said: You cant have a colder cold case, Gibson said. >> i took it upon myself to tape them, tape every event. they deal with all kinds. Does anyone have any theories or info on this one? 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. well, if they were, so be it. Jan 1 2018 34 mins. The police launched a manhunt for the prime accused, 45 yo Hemraj , a live-in domestic help employed by her family. In addition, a tree tag from a nursery was found in the area where the West Mesa victims' bodies were buried; it was tracked to a nursery Blea once frequented. you know, it seems like they knew or something. podcast: Casefile True Crime. >> and this is "dateline." The police are reportedly willing to reward $100,000 to anybody who provides information on the West Mesa murders. tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems, including eye pain or changes in vision. >> do you think we're dealing with one guy here? >> and i said, well, let's gather these families together and let's get to know them. With Safe Streets New Mexico, Jaramillo and Barber aim to give women from this vulnerable sector the protection society fails to provide them. Women living a primal lifestyle are tribal. 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. >> so lorenzo was arrested for charges beyond just patronizing a prostitute. Tonight's Dateline http://datl.in/fSpdzC, Anyone with information on the West Mesa murders is urged to contact (505)-768-2450 or. She took a picture and messaged her sister, a registered nurse who confirmed that it was. and that was the last time i seen cinnamon. shadows prostitutes. and looked bad. >> reporter: an impromptu. >> university of north texas identified jamie barela through dna. and do you use that profile and rule somebody out just because they're not on that profile? and she said no, dad. the first words out of this girl's mouth was that he was trying to kill her. every chance that i had i had the videotape there. 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. Syllania Edwards, also 15, was the only one not from New Mexico. and you never know how your skin will look. >> i did. Replies analysing and speculating over the mystery and possible explanations are encouraged. >> so you get lucky. 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. >> reporter: many who lost friends and relatives to the west mesa grave digger are convinced there could still be someone somewhere who knows something. >> it's a cold case. According to Dateline NBC's website, the episode entitled "Plot Twist," will include new details in the high profile murder case. i'm guessing you noticed before anybody else. she said, well, dad, i'm going to run. within weeks of starting her new job, ida was handed two missing persons files. Victims' families weren't involved in planning the event, but relatives who attend will be asked to speak if they wish, said Barber. Afterwards, Wozniak dismembered Herrs body by removing his limbs and head. >> fbi agents also searched this home. >> 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. -you're not even enrolled in this class. you don't have a school schedule or work schedule, that sort of thing. and the baby. Details of Disappearance. The cases remain unsolved with no arrests. / CBS Colorado. >> and sometimes they make the i wrong turn or a mistake.ke >> reporter: shortly after her . The El Paso Crime Stoppers office received an anonymous tip in 2010 that a suspect whose last name was Cota had killed a girl nicknamed "Mimi" and "Chocolate," both of which were names Edwards was known to go by. -they're very tasteful. She compiled a list of the missing not all of whom have been found, raising concern there might be more victims. By the next day, he had still not returned, so his colleagues reported him as missing. >> there's nothing to connect lorenzo montoya to those 11 bodies? and then i'm thinking, okay, is it somebody that's nice at picking them up? Tonight's episode of Dateline: Unforgettable Season 2 will have Josh Mankiewicz narrate the story of the dedicated detective Ida Lopez, who is still working on these decade-old cases to help the victims and their families find some form of justice. is that what we're looking at here, is you're interested in seeing what photos this man took and whether he found anything in them? she gets out of her car and comes up to me. born to move. >> do you think we're dealing with one guy here? 11. it turned out all were women. Police did promise the families of the victims that justice would be done. but for the most part the public didn't even know there was a list. oh, i've had 17. i've been choked. help heal your skin from within. and they'd go through the alley, do their tricks in the alley. flo has it, i want it, it's a whole thing, and she's right there. who got an awful skin condition. now that's simple, easy, awesome. >> i think they're trick candles. but can't get your hands on anything else. then six. just desert and sage brush with a dry stream bed running through it. Dirk Gibson, a communications and journalism professor at the University of New Mexico (Det. to discuss leads on missing persons, on cold cases, on sexual predators, and on unidentified remains. >> she searched for the innocent. >> you can't. Case 27: The West Mesa Bone Collector. a detective named ida lopez. >> no.n' not at all. >> probably because he felt safe out here. Her husband, Orlando Mesa, and 18-month-old son were shot just moments after the pair were captured on haunting surveillance camera enjoying the spring evening. Most of them hadnt even been reported missing at the time their remains were found. there's no way. [7], Soon after, Wozniak was apprehended by US Marshals while at his bachelor party two days before his wedding. Case 27: The West Mesa Bone Collector. and a few hold hazy satellite images of tire tracks on the desert sand.