>> there used to be a motel here. >> and under a desert sky the lost waited to be found. According to the Albuquerque Police Department, something didn't sit right with Christine Ross when her dog Ruca found a bone on their walk in the West Mesa. but police think it wasn't just the balloons he was, photographing. and she's alive. so i keep them, do my full boheh background on them. The Untold Truth Of The West Mesa Murders. The killings are called the "West Mesa murders" because the bodies were buried on the west side of Albuquerque. and a few hold hazy satellite images of tire tracks on the desert sand. do you need anything? Both had disappeared after walking to a local park in 2004. dupixent is not a steroid, and it continuously treats your eczema even when you can't see it. and at the center of it all was dan valdez. Police did promise the families of the victims that justice would be done. bones started to get names. An arrest was made in April 2020, but more people were likely involved. 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 Where were the males that make up their community? except their families. [12] Michelle Valdez was four months pregnant at the time of her death.[13]. Dateline - NBC.com Compelling mysteries, powerful documentaries, in-depth investigations. had spots on her face. >> reporter: at times detective ida lopez was out there too. Ross would soon discover that 11 dead bodies, now known as the West Mesa Murders, lay beneath. 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. but it didn't turn out that way. >> right. Evelyn Salazar disappeared in the spring of 2004 with her 15-year-old cousin Jamie Barela after police said they went to a park together. and if they weren't on the mesa, where were they? >> so many young women missing. and that was the last time i seen cinnamon. >> 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. for police that seemed like a good place to start their search for the killer. let's see, aleve is proven better on pain. >> reporter: the families of the 18 women now on ida's list prayed for happy endings like that one. >> yes. [15][16] On December 13, 2010, police reported that two of the women in the photos had been identified as alive, and could have valuable information if they can be located. >> yes. Years had passed from the time the women and girls disappeared, likely limiting available evidence. to this day faded photos of women on her list hang on her wall, alongside a line of scripture that reads, "nothing is hidden, except to be revealed." maybe we ought to, you know, be a little more proactive. in albuquerque, where the old highway becomes central avenue, the city's decidedly down-scaled drug and prostitution trade flourishes. make febreze part of your clean routine for whole home freshness. Lopez was part of the investigation from the very beginning, when the homicides were a series of missing persons cases related to the disappearance of numerous women. a money-making spectacle that draws tourists from all over the world to albuquerque for one week in october. definitely. Neither woman was. >> police have set up a tip line. within days evidence of one body, had become evidence of two. >> and i had to tell dan. Only one signficant discovery was made along the way, which is that they were all murdered. -you're not even enrolled in this class. >> a college campus gripped by fear. oh, i've had 17. i've been choked. i don't remember the last words we spoke. sometimes because she avoided z the camera. 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. >> when they found the second, third, and fourth sets i said to myself i have to realistically look at this, that michelle i'm sure probably is out there. >> no. >> it's desert. except for one tantalizing tidbit. >> correct. >> your typical profile. this bone belonged to someone who had died in the not too distant past. i got scared. 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. >> the biggest thing that makes syllania different is she's not a local girl. the first words out of this girl's mouth was that he was trying to kill her. then five. i couldn't handle it. there's a better choice. so come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. bill's back needed a afvacation from his vacation. Promising leads became dead ends with every cleared suspect. there's no way. >> reporter: but that unfortunately will never happen. 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. there were whole bunches of them. i don't have a normal, you know, regular address. Thoughts? >> i was devastated. >> we approached the vehicle, opened the door. >> the hardest part of this whole thing is having to go to somebody's house and say we found her and she's not alive. ask your veterinarian about apoquel today. >> she says i have some bad news for you. Hosted by NBC News' Craig Melvin, each episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered incorporates the classic elements of drama and great . and then i'm thinking, okay, is it somebody that's nice at picking them up? >> reporter: they call it tough love. Not the clients. She said that people should not lose hope, that there is no statute of limitations on crimes like these, and that the police will work the West Mesa Murders until the case is solved. yes, i pray that they're okay. >> in the whole wide world. >> like?wr >> the drugs. that. [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. Decades later, the case still remains unsolved. bark i wanted to consolidate my credit cards in to a personal loan to pay them off faster. >> reporter: suddenly families who'd once felt isolated in their agony now felt a communal bond. jane doe number 8 was michelle valdez. >> he may be waiting in some other community to start doing the same thing again. >> you're finding this, and you're just going, i wonder if it's going to be the rest of the girls. advantage ii, fight the misery of biting fleas. >> i don't believe so. backing you. >> i got to know a lot of them. >> i thought this could be it, yeah. and then she left it. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. . i know and i'm comfortable with the fact that they identified her as my daughter. >> a lot of people said they were drug addicts and prostitutes. and that didn't take that part away, that she was still somebody's little girl. >> reporter: michelle valdez. >> no, you can't. >> this in a way suggests that maybe there are women out there who aren't on any list. when a stolen car rap in arizona landed michelle in jail, dan says he bailed her out and pleaded with her to change her ways. activia. everyone? >> daddy, can i have something to eat now? >> reporter: the name, the face, belonged to michelle valdez, one of the first women on ida's list. >> what we see very often is the women involved in prostitution work in what's called the circuit. to find out commander mike geyer, head of the albuquerque p.d. i'm craig melvin. The published list also included the names of eight of the 11 West Mesa murder victims . missing persons were attractive women in their 20s, with arrest records for drugs and prostitution.r both had seemingly vanished without a word to friends or relatives. The Dateline episode "Somebody's Daughter" shines the light on Albuquerque Detective Ida Lopez. [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]. Her daughter had found womens clothing and jewelry in their home, with some families later revealing that the victims jewelry was missing. quickbooks. 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. >> and you thought, this is it. >> did you know who cinnamon was? West Mesa Serial Killer Photos. >> you can't say gun, knife, strangulation. thank you. s >> father all over again. the patience of job. >> 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. City and law enforcement officials have solicited help from the community to solve the West Mesa murders. i used to live actually behind there when i was in college. a growing list of suspects. and i'm happy and satisfied with that. >> tonight they say the search is far from over. but the mesa, a vast expanse of desert west of town where people frequently dump things they no longer have any use for, was simply too big an area to launch, a search based on just a rumor. the money. Authorities believe that the women may have been involved in a large interstate sex trafficking operation. Being a registered nurse, she was able to tell Christine that the bone looked like a human femur, so Christine contacted the police. -yeah. >> when was the last time you saw her? >> 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. her nose and her eyes were very important. >> -- your daughter's a prostitute. >> reporter: the total body count stayed at 11 sets of adult remains and one fetus. can you make it look like i'm holding it? and that's when angelica looked at me and started crying. Sorry! All Rights Reserved. Her family maintains a Facebook group to solicit tips from the public, and the cold case was featured on Dateline NBC. 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. -uh, yes. >> they would say we found a skull that had a lot of hair and she's pregnant. ask your eczema specialist about dupixent. Dirk Gibson has no faith that will change, because police lack the necessary incentive. / CBS Colorado. the gruesome cult sacrifice of Mark Kilroy. >> who was she? only activia has billions of our live and active probiotics. 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. her name was syllania edwards. >> i didn't even -- i didn't even want to be around it anymore. These unsolved murders remain one of the biggest homidice cases in the Albuquerque Police Department's history. >> the numbers grew. >> reporter: but as erratic as michelle had become in recent years, she'd somehow always managed to show up. >> reporter: the conclusion was inescapable. >> 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. >> can you tell me what that is? so, let's make this the summer of loving your gut. -i'm sorry? 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 they looked at old pictures of the mesa. Satellite imagery taken between 2003 and 2005 shows tire marks and patches of disturbed soils in the area where the remains were recovered. There is a reward of up. 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. 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. West Mesa Murder Victims Jamie Barela Jamie Barela, 15, was last seen with her 23-year-old cousin Evelyn Salazar heading to a park at San Mateo and Gibson SE in April 2004. While the FBI created suspect profiles, Albuquerque police knocked on doors. the development at first, the housing downturn, after that the fact the company leaves, a big rainstorm comes, unearths certain things, and now we locate these victims. probably had some brush with law enforcement. >> when they told us that they had a young black girl, i thought, i didn't have a black girl on my list. career. she's been arrested. To this day, the case remains unsolved. -or maybe he didn't know. that's all we really wanted, just to flash her picture real quick. -[ scoffs ] if you say so. Daniel Wozniak, the California theater actor accused of beheading his neighbor, Army vet Sam Herr, and his friend Juri "Julie" Kibuish, in Costa Mesa six years ago, is the focus of Dateline NBC tonight. >> 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. The mysteries surrounding the West Mesa Murders, an unsolved case of 11 female bodies discovered in a desert graveyard near Albuquerque in 2009. >> yeah. dupixent is not a steroid, and it continuously treats your eczema even when you can't see it. | Dr. Phil", "Dr. Phil | Actress Accused: Was She an Accessory to Murder? The process repeated itself in more or less the same way about five years later. >> are truckers a particular problem? 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. >> she searched for the innocent. Ross wasn't sure the bone was human, but knew it could be. young hispanic women with arrest records for drugs or prostitution. >> was it possible ida lopez's list was just the tip of the iceberg? how do you keep feeling your best all summer long? A sinister force seemed to be snatching women off the streets of Albuquerque. for ida walking through this bone yard felt as if she were watching a horror movie unfold in real time. [17] In June 2018, more bones were found near the site of the burials, but these were later determined to be ancient and not related to the West Mesa murders. so, let's make this the summer of loving your gut. Police budgets are stretched thin. turning up on the mesa. The upcoming episode, titled Somebody's Daughter, will air on Oxygen on Tuesday, July 12, at 8:00 PM ET. >> the response was amazing. soon could be months. In this case, there was almost nothing but bones.. >> reporter: as you will soon see, timing, both perfect and not so perfect, will play a critical part in the story we're about to show you. >> okay. in a blanket, and was preparing to dump her in the trunk of his car when the woman's boyfriend showed up. Josh Mankiewicz reports from New Mexico. ), First published on February 2, 2019 / 12:05 PM. who got an awful skin condition. do not use apoquel in dogs less than 12 months old or those with serious infections. Be the first one to comment on this story. >> reporter: then came the teen years.me when life started coming at michelle valdez fast and furious. valdez had been virtually invisible to everyone in albuquerque. >> reporter: six weeks after the digging began out on the west mesa, even more sets of remains were identified. she gets out of her car and comes up to me. they pick up a lot of girls. dateline west mesa murders. had been booked. [ soft piano music playing ] mm, uh, what do you do for fun? >> we went back starting in 2002, and we got the records from our local jail. >> the vice unit was watching a particular prostitute. >> correct. >> reporter: though the detectives spent months combing through all the evidence taken from the photographer's office and home, nothing definitive was found. they use stamps.com all the services of the post office only cheaper get a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. and i thought, well, i need to make further plans. there could be very realistically a lot of bodies. and there were certain processes that it did pose a concern. Then, Ruca found a bone resembling a femur. >> reporter: now investigators feared the serial killer they were hunting may have buried other bodies elsewhere in the vast desert west of town. they were there constantly. >> and i said, "angelica." i'm guessing you noticed before anybody else. ready, set, go. Details of Disappearance. apoquel may increase the chance of developing serious infections and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or pre-existing cancers to worsen. Afterwards, Wozniak dismembered Herrs body by removing his limbs and head. 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. that day it fell to 15-year-old camille to fill in for michelle and act as mom. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. michelle's little girl angelica was now the center of attention. >> reporter: this killer had seemingly left nothing behind but a pile of dry bones. im i remember that. >> yeah, i think there's no doubt that you're dealing with one guy. 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. that was easy! Dirk Gibson, a communications and journalism professor at the University of New Mexico (Det. but her presence in the west mesa bone yard raised a troubling prospect. 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. >> i'm freeding. >> reporter: ida didn't completely disbelieve what her girls were telling her. 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. and she said no, dad. >> reporter: homicidal violence. she struggled to hold it all together. >> fbi agents also searched this home. most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. any signs that the women knew each other.