ROBERT BROWMAN. >> 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. if that same individual was here in albuquerque, the media wouldn't even have known about. The bodies were discovered a decade ago this weekend, kicking off an investigation into the largest crime scene in Albuquerque's history. >> then in february 2009 came unsettling news. >> somebody that lives here? The West Mesa Murders City of Albuquerque The 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. The series first aired on July 27, 2009. if you don't have faith in your law enforcement to treat everybody equal, then what do you have? Reported missing between 2001 and 2005, they ranged in age from 15 to 32. >> 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. but within a few months of receiving those remains the lab-coated sleuths at the office of the medical investigator began unraveling the riddle of jane doe number 7. One day later, Hemraj's partially decomposed body was found in the terrace of the same home. She also told them that he threatened "to kill me and bury me in lime.". There are so many episodes online but I can't find this one, http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/dateline/somebodys-daughter-part-1-254001731808. most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. That way if women started disappearing again, there might be more advocates who notice and help in raising concerns, Barber said. she made detective, married, another cop, and started a family. >> reporter: nine months after the discovery of the first bone on the west mesa the detectives were back to square one. yes, i pray that they're okay. actually, it was my grandfather raised me.ctdehiizedis s co enowas ait wde.lo he was about in his 80s. >> it was breaking angelica's. love for your gut. >> reporter: though the detectives spent months combing through all the evidence taken from the photographer's office and home, nothing definitive was found. >> and just depending on where they're at, you wouldn't even see them up there. 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. dan valdez, her father, had reported michelle missing six months before ida got the case.c he was the guy who kept the calendar. our daughters. "Dateline NBC" is the longest-running series in NBC primetime history and is in its 31st season. 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. by 2002 the wear and tear is written all over her face. >> and under a desert sky the lost waited to be found. the bone could easily have belonged to one of them. >> and that's still a lot of people. >> and what information do you have? this photo, taken the following year, shows even more bare spots. no fingerprints. >> reporter: surgeons also removed ida's adrenal gland because it too had a mass on ite. >> reporter: both of those. [8][9], After repeatedly lying to police, Wozniak finally confessed. 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. >> reporter: then came seven. i have no idea how she got here. she was at -- you know, at a hurting spot. never heard of her before. 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. >> i would tell them we're one day closer to finding your daughter. for the moments that mattered most to her daughter, angelica. >> i would tell them every single day we're one day closer to finding your daughter. that's why we're staying with homicidal violence. start with supporting your gut health. backing you. Your login session has expired. >> i'm freeding. Dateline Mystery is a series that is currently running and has 1 seasons (7 episodes). what one little chew can do. Both had disappeared after walking to a local park in 2004. in albuquerque, where the old highway becomes central avenue, the city's decidedly down-scaled drug and prostitution trade flourishes. helps people find coverage options based on their budget. Perhaps precisely because of this, the FBIs $100,000 reward for information has gone uncollected for over a decade. and then she left it. i wasn't done. how can i help? [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. The fact that all but one of the victims had links to sex work initially helped guide the police investigation for the serial killer they dubbed the West Mesa Bone Collector. But not even FBI profilers were able to find the killer. there's a better choice. Where do those women congregate. we have to look into it. a camera might figure it out. Joseph Blea (left) and Lorenzo Montoya (right). 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.several suspects have been named, but none were arrested or charged. Albuquerque Police DepartmentJoseph Blea (left) and Lorenzo Montoya (right). you know, it's not what you see in vegas. they had the big telescoping lenses. so you can move more. 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. if you are taking asthma medicines, do not change or stop your asthma medicine without talking to your doctor. so i would tell her, you know, mean things. >> reporter: whether in costume for a school play, dressed up for her first communion, or showing a budding interest in boys. About Dateline: Secrets Uncovered. >> reporter: dan immediately called detective ida lopez with the tip. These unsolved murders remain one of the biggest homidice cases in the Albuquerque Police Department's history. [ camera clicking ] wifi up there? then four. After Herr told him that he had savings of about $62,000 from combat pay, Wozniak decided to kill him in order to acquire where did she come from? - 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! when he was active here and, most importantly, when he quit. >> yes. The published list also included the names of eight of the 11 West Mesa murder victims . Detective Ida Lopez's dedication to finding these missing women is admirable. geico could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. (vo) you earned it, we're here to make sure you get it. flo has it, i want it, it's a whole thing, and she's right there. i don't have a normal, you know, regular address. but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. >> was it possible ida lopez's list was just the tip of the iceberg? and sometimes you've just got to stop and smell the savings. / CBS Colorado. Please logout and login again. >> it had to be brutally difficult to think of michelle living that kind of life. >> there are other girls from out of state in the same -- you know, are we going to find another repeat? Although Montoya fit the description, the West Mesa serial killer remains unidentified. The cases remain unsolved with no arrests. Ida Lopez previously appeared on Dateline in an episode on the West Mesa tragedy which aired in December, 2010. >> it is a lot of shovel and pick work. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? [ soft piano music playing ] mm, uh, what do you do for fun? Are there any other episodes or podcasts you'd recommend that discuss this further? it's a lot of sifting and actually in the dirt. she says, "i have some bad news for you." [3][4][5][6] This small fragment of a human trafficking ring involves numerous population centers, including Las Vegas in Nevada, El Paso and Killeen in Texas, and Denver in Colorado.[2]. Getty Stock Images . for ida walking through this bone yard felt as if she were watching a horror movie unfold in real time. [7], Soon after, Wozniak was apprehended by US Marshals while at his bachelor party two days before his wedding. >> reporter: they call it tough love. All but one had fallen into prostitution and struggled with drug abuse, according to police. 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. all the bones. a detective named ida lopez. After two trials, killer of Colorado mom of three with secret life appeals conviction Lester Jones was found guilty of kidnapping and murder in December 2016. at 13 michelle became pregnant. it's where they needed somebody, and it worked out, you know, for me. Plot Twist: With Lester Holt, Josh Mankiewicz, Julie Kibuishi, Sam Herr. shocking talk on the streets. sad but common, especially for these dark streets where drug addiction and prostitution literally go hand in hand. If you have information about the West Mesa murders, please contact APD at 1-877-765-8273 or (505) 768-2450. 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. >> so we were able to, communicate with each other anything that came up. so they'll move from albuquerque to phoenix to las vegas to los angeles and maybe not return on that circuit for several years. After neighbors complained of flooding at the platted site (due to the burial of the natural arroyo), the developer built a retaining wall to channel storm water to a retention pond built in the approximate area of the burial site, inadvertently exposing bones to the surface. who got an awful skin condition. 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 process repeated itself in more or less the same way about five years later. >> reporter: and the rain runoff from the deserted construction. i'm craig melvin. Being a registered nurse, she was able to tell Christine that the bone looked like a human femur, so Christine contacted the police. >> did you ask her where she heard that? right. if you are taking asthma medicines, do not change or stop your asthma medicine without talking to your doctor. we had things that we wanted to keep very secret, or things that we didn't want released. Article continues below advertisement >> reporter: when christine ross decided to take her dog ruca for a walk. at first some of them were hesitant. in a blanket, and was preparing to dump her in the trunk of his car when the woman's boyfriend showed up. and i carried this little flyer in my pocket and in my car, you know, for the last, you know, four years. thank you. While the FBI created suspect profiles, Albuquerque police knocked on doors. 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. >> definitely. don't lie to me." I watched that Dateline Re-Run last night. yet. >> i started looking into the missing and exploited children's website and was able to search through as many african-american females that matched the possible stature, where they might have been when they went missing. drive to a remote location. it was not the way that her mother and i raised her. and at the center of it all was dan valdez. memorial came to life alongside the wall that bordered the desert crime scene. >> reporter: it was in denver, another city on the circuit, that detective todd babcock hit paydirt. Looking back what has changed for women on the streets?". not a lot to go on. >> reporter: most of the new girls either never knew or barely remember the women whose places they've taken. She took a picture and messaged her sister, a registered nurse who confirmed that it was. >> several of these victims were missing for months before anyone reported them missing. (danny) after a long day of hard work you have to do more work? >> missing persons is kind of a backwater in a lot of departments. >> probably because he felt safe out here. that changed when michelle failed to show up for angelica's seventh birthday party. 55 is a suggestion. >> reporter: mostly she just watched it grow. aleve. >> i thought maybe she'd turn up a few days later, a few weeks, or we'd -- you know, she'd call us. >> okay. | Dr. Phil", "Dr. Phil | Actress Accused: Was She an Accessory to Murder? and it was here while posing as a decoy during prostitution sting operations that she learned the raw power of their addictions. >> 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. the boyfriend shot and killed lorenzo montoya on the spot. >> no. >> i thought she was alive and well and doing good but just didn't want to have any contact with the family. A sinister force seems to be snatching women off the streets of Albuquerque. and was he still at work? >> how'd she look? >> i was about 9 years old. whenever a lost soul was found. >> reporter: dan continued to cruise the war zone, willing himself to believe that his daughter was still out there. her aunt ran the streets, knew michelle, knew certain people, and they had heard it from her aunt. activia. Case 27: The West Mesa Bone Collector. >> i thought ida being a police officer was awfully small. >> all six sets of remains were found within 20 yards of each other. 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. >> reporter: no. anybody that was arrested for prostitution, criminal solicitation, anything like. awesome. >> i said to one of my editors. February 2, 2019 / 12:05 PM The police are reportedly willing to reward $100,000 to anybody who provides information on the West Mesa murders. Like Blea, police also knew Lorenzo Montoya to be violent and hire sex workers in Albuquerque's East Central corridor. Dateline NBC also promises to reveal new details about the death of Stephen Smith, whose 2015 death investigation was reopened two weeks after the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.Smith's . Darlene Trujillo, who was last seen July 5, 2001, and included Sonia Lente, who disappeared on Oct. 3, 2002. the gruesome cult sacrifice of Mark Kilroy. >> the xs indicating no -- no knowledge of her, disappeared, nothing.ledi no word. They had picked him up in 1998 when he offered an undercover cop $40 for sex. so help heal your skin from within, with dupixent. and one of the locations that was searched was right next door to a newspaper. >> she came over to the house one day, and i'd given her a few dollars, and she stood up. 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. now between the bulldozers and ida's prayers the department was moving heaven and earth to find out if there were more women from ida's list out there. her future seemed assured. -what teach here isn't telling you is that snapshot rewards safe drivers with discounts on car insurance. Two years later a local family of four, the Wagners, are arrested and charged with the crimes. Globe staff photographer Ron Erwin would like to shed the suspected serial killer tag. >> did you see her then? Ross wasnt sure the bone was human, but knew it could be. and last longer with fewer pills. and that's when angelica looked at me and started crying. it's not the pretty woman. 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. believe it! what if jane doe number 7 was just the first of many victims the grave digger brought to the, west mesa from somewhere else? >> sit. Ross would soon discover that 11 dead bodies, now known as the West Mesa Murders, lay beneath. >> reporter: at times detective ida lopez was out there too. 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 . The acting lieutenant of the Albuquerque Police Department's Violent Crime Division, Holly Anderson, told KOAT Action News in February 2021 that police are still working the case, despite not having any new evidence to go on in recent years. >> reporter: the target of the search warrant was a local joplin, missouri photographer who had allegedly been in albuquerque to take pictures during the city's 2004 balloon fiesta. >> if you find one, you're going to find them all. However, the Albuquerque Police Department refuses to lose all hope and continues working on it with whatever leads they have. The 11th, meanwhile, was 15-year-old Jamie Barela. >> well, they were shocked. Ruca found a large bone protruding from the earthen trail. so that was represented in the sketch. i mean he's a wreck without me. City of AlbuquerqueThe 11 victims whose remains were discovered at the West Mesa site in 2009. she'd come over and steal my things or, you know, i would se' how upset it would make my dad. Theres a sense of physical remoteness this place was very removed, said University of New Mexico professor Dirk Gibson, who has written two books on serial killers. he's a photographer. >> reporter: the conclusion was inescapable. then five. A two-hour NBC Dateline special about the 2014 Fayetteville murder of James Allan Chambers II will air Friday at 9 p.m. . nine. 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. but that's not what she told the families when they called in, looking to hear something encouraging. and detective ida lopez, who'd had their names on her list of missing women. Joseph Blea was imprisoned when the bodies were found, but he became a suspect when his ex-wife contacted police. 14th birthday michelle valdez gave birth to a baby girl she named angelica. and then three. and where was he now? born to move. career. 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. >> reporter: six weeks after the digging began out on the west mesa, even more sets of remains were identified.