West Mesa murders

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West Mesa murders
LocationAlbuquerque to Rio Rancho, New Mexico, U.S.
Date2001–2005
TargetSex workers
Attack type
Serial killing
Deaths11+

The West Mesa Murders or the 118th Street Homicides are the murders of 11 women—7 of whom had been reported missing years before, but all of whom were locally engaged in prostitution—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. While it's unlikely that it was ever reported, one of the victims (Cinnamon Elks) had been warning other street workers about a "dirty cop" who'd been removing women's heads and burying them in West Mesa prior to her own disappearance.[1][2] Initially believed to be the work of a serial killer, the involvement of a sex trafficking ring has been suspected in the killings.[3][4][5]

An anonymous tip to authorities at APD and FBI linked the murders to a suspect from Central America.[3] Police have also suspected the involvement of a sex trafficking ring operating through neighboring Texas that targets sex workers during events throughout the Southwest, Southern, and Western United States, especially regularly scheduled events, such as the New Mexico state fair in this case, to take advantage of reliably heavier traffic.[6][7][8][9] 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.[4]

Background

Between 2001 and 2005, eleven women were buried by an unknown assailant in an arroyo bank on Albuquerque's West Mesa, in an undeveloped area within city limits. Satellite imagery taken between 2003 and 2005 shows tire marks and patches of disturbed soils in the area where the remains were recovered. By 2006, development had encroached on the area, and soon after, the site was disturbed, buried, and platted for residential development.

Due to the 2008 housing bubble collapse, development on the West Side halted before housing could be built at the burial site. 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.[10]

Discovery

On February 2, 2009, Christine Ross was walking her dog, Ruca, around the West Mesa. Ruca picked up a bone that looked suspiciously human, maybe a femur. Christine texted a picture to her sister, a nurse. Her sister recommended that Ross contact the police, because it was, in fact, a human femur. Over the next month, the incomplete remains were put together. At one point, investigators thought there were thirteen victims found, but the number was eventually narrowed down to eleven women[11] and a fetus buried in the area. They were between 15 and 32 years of age, most were Hispanic, and most were involved with drugs and sex work. All of the women who were found went missing in 2003 or 2004.[12]

Victims

The remains discovered in 2009 were identified as those of the following women and girls, all of whom disappeared between 2003 and 2005:[13][14]

  • Monica Candelaria (22): Monica Candelaria was last seen in the area of 118th Street SW near Atrisco and Central in Southwest Albuquerque, New Mexico on May 15, 2003. Deputies said she lived a “high-risk lifestyle” and may have had gang ties. She had been convicted of prostitution once, according to court records. Sometime between 2003 and 2005 an unknown person killed 22-year-old Monica and buried her in the West Mesa.[15][16]
  • Doreen Marquez (27): Police reported that she was last seen dropping a child off at Calvary Christian Academy on Lead SE near University on October 10, 2003. But a friend later contradicted that, saying she was last seen in Barelas which is an inner-city neighborhood of Albuquerque, New Mexico, located immediately south of Downtown. Sometime between 2003 and 2005 an unknown person killed 27-year-old Doreen Marquez and buried her in the West Mesa. Unlike many of the other women whose bones were found on the West Mesa, Marquez did not have any prostitution arrests. But police believe she engaged in it nonetheless and also had a history of drug addiction.[17][18]
  • Victoria Chavez (26): Victoria Chavez was last seen in the area of 118th Street SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 5, 2003. Her mother reported her missing in March 2005 after she had not seen her in more than a year. It was said in the missing persons report that Chavez was on probation and was a “known drug user and prostitute.” She had five prostitution convictions, according to court records. She was the first victim to be identified. In 2005 an unknown person killed 26-year-old Victoria Chavez and buried her in a mesa located adjacent to 118th Street SW in Albuquerque, New Mexico.[19][20][21]
  • Veronica Romero (27): Veronica Romero was 27 when she was reported missing by her family on Valentine’s Day 2004. Sometime between 2004 and 2005 an unknown person killed 27-year-old Veronica Romero and buried her in the West Mesa.[15][22][23]
  • Jamie Barela (15): Jamie Barela was last seen in the area of 118th Street SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 26, 2004. Using DNA evidence, forensic experts were able to identify the 15-year-old. She was last seen at a family gathering in March 2004. Jamie and her cousin; Evelyn Salazar, who is also a victim, had left the gathering and went to a park near San Mateo and Gibson SE. Jamie was the final skeleton to be identified, and unlike the other West Mesa victims, Barela had no known prostitution or drug arrests. They were never seen again.[24][25][26]
  • Evelyn Salazar (23): Using DNA evidence, forensic investigators were able to identify 23-year-old Evelyn Salazar as one of the victims of the serial killer. She was last seen at a family gathering on March 26, 2004. Evelyn and her cousin; Jamie Barela, who is also a victim, had left the gathering and went to a park near San Mateo and Gibson SE. They were never seen again. She had been convicted of prostitution once, according to court records and she was the tenth person to have been identified. Salazar was killed by an unknown person who then buried her in the West Mesa.[27][28]
  • Syllannia Edwards (15): Syllannia ran away from her Lawton, Oklahoma home on August 17, 2003. She was last seen in the area of 118th Street SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Using a sketch and dental records, the Office of the Medical Investigator were able to identify one of the unknown victims of the serial killer as Syllannia. Law enforcement authorities in Lawton, Oklahoma had classified her as an endangered runaway and reported her missing in 2003. In May 2004, Edwards had been seen associating with prostitutes on East Colfax Avenue in Aurora Colorado. She may have been staying at the Ranger Motel. Edwards was seen in the company of three other women: Lucretia, Ty and Diamond. She might have been using the nicknames "Mimi" or "Chocolate." Edwards was 15-years-old when last seen. Syllannia does not fit the profile of the other victims, who were all local Caucasian or Hispanic prostitutes in their twenties or thirties, with the exception of Jamie Barela, a teenager who disappeared with her aunt, who did fit the profile. Syllannia was killed sometime between 2004 and 2005 and then buried in the West Mesa.[29][30][31]
  • Virginia Cloven (24): Virginia Cloven was last seen in the area of 118th Street SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 13, 2004. She called to say she had a new boyfriend who had just gotten out of prison and that she was probably going to marry him. Virginia's father Robert Cloven reported his daughter missing four months later, in October 2004. Using DNA evidence, forensic investigators were able to identify 24-year-old Virginia as one of the victims of the serial killer. Investigators believe that she was killed sometime between 2004 and 2005 by an unknown person who then buried her in the West Mesa.[32]
  • Cinnamon Elks (32): Cinnamon Elks was last seen in the area of 118th Street SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 20, 2004. Sometime between 2004 and 2005 an unknown person killed 32-year-old Cinnamon Elks and buried her in a mesa located adjacent to 118th Street SW in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Elks, who was 32 when she went missing, was the third of the West Mesa victims to be identified and she, like many of the others, had a string of prostitution and solicitation arrests — nineteen total, with fourteen convictions. She was friends with at least three of the other victims — Gina Michelle Valdez, Victoria Chavez and Julie Nieto.[33][34]
  • Julie Nieto (24): Julie's mother, Eleanor Griego says she last saw Nieto, then 23, on July 15, 2004 at Griego’s father's house. She left behind a young son, who Griego said she had doted over. According to Eleanor, Nieto started doing drugs when she was around 19. Sometime between 2004 and 2005 an unknown person killed 24-year-old Julie Nieto and buried her in the West Mesa.[35][36][37]
  • Michelle Valdez (22): Michelle Valdez was last seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 22, 2004. Michelle's father, Dan Valdez reported her missing in February 2005, when she was 22. Sometime between 2004 and 2005 an unknown person killed 22-year-old Michelle Valdez and buried her in the West Mesa. Michelle was pregnant at the time of her death. The skeletal remains of her 4-month-old unborn child were found buried with her. Her bones were the second set to be identified. Court records show Michelle Valdez had been convicted of prostitution once.[38][39][40]

According to satellite photos, the last victim was buried in 2005. Syllania Edwards, a 15-year-old runaway from Lawton, Oklahoma, was the only African American, and the only victim from out of state.[41] Michelle Valdez was four months pregnant at the time of her death.[42] Along with the eleven confirmed victims, there are also at least six other potential victims of the unidentified serial killer who were reported missing in the Albuquerque area since 2001 along with others. All of them were involved in drugs and prostitution, but investigators are not certain whether the cases are connected. Each of the potential victims are classified as missing and disappeared in the area and time period when the perpetrator was known to be active:

  • Jeanette Maria DeLaCruz (19): Jeanette was last seen at her residence in the vicinity of the 11800 block of Montgomery NE in Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 20, 1999. Little information is available about her case but foul play is suspected.[43][44]
  • Darlene Trujillo (20): Trujillo was last seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico on July 4, 2001. She dropped her young son off at his grandmother's residence near 11th Street and northwest Headingly Avenue and asked her to watch him while she took a two-day trip to Arizona. She was accompanied by a Hispanic male at the time of her disappearance; he has been publicly identified only as Jorge. Trujillo never returned to Albuquerque. A week after she was last seen, her aunt reported her disappearance to police. Weeks after that, Jorge returned to Albuquerque alone. He told Trujillo's aunt that they had not gone to Arizona but to Tucumcari, New Mexico. Jorge stated they had a fight and Trujillo left in the car they had driven, and he never saw her again. Jorge is wanted for questioning by police about Trujillo's disappearance, but authorities have been unable to locate him. Foul play is possible in Trujillo's disappearance. She was separated from her son's father at the time she went missing. Her loved ones stated it is uncharacteristic of her to abandon her child. Her case remains unsolved.[45]
  • Christine Julian (31): Christine was last seen at approximately 12:00pm at her residence in the vicinity of the 100 block of Ortega in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 14, 2003. Julian had worked at the Albuquerque strip clubs Knockouts and Baby Dolls. She left behind a daughter. Due to her lifestyle, it was believed that alcohol or drugs may have contributed to her disappearance. Family members also believed Christine may have moved to Wisconsin to live with her biological father. Christine never arrived at her father's home though and is still registered as missing. In July 2008, five years after she went missing, Julian was declared legally dead.[46][47]
  • Brenda Jean Apalacio (39): Brenda was last seen in the early evening hours of May 26, 2003 at a family member's residence in the vicinity of the 3100 block of Lafayette NE in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has never been heard from again.[48]
  • Martha Jo Lucher (32): Martha visited her mother and children on September 3, 2003. Sometime within the weeks to follow Martha and a friend began frequenting the area of East Central Avenue. On one of these instances, Martha disappeared. Neither the friend nor Martha's family have heard from her since her disappearance.[49][50]
  • Merlinda Juanita Jenkins (57): Jenkins was last seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico on December 24, 2004. She has never been heard from again. Her daughter reported her missing six years after her disappearance. Authorities learned that, although her family believed she had been homeless in Albuquerque, she actually lived in Columbus, Ohio. Merlinda's daughter told police other family members saw her around in Albuquerque on Christmas 2004. Merlinda's daughter stated her mother is Bipolar but she did not know if she was taking medication for her illness.[51][52]
  • Anna Vigil (20): Vigil was last seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico on January 21, 2005. She has never been heard from again. She was reported missing on January 29. Vigil left behind a three-year-old son. Few details are available in her case.[53]
  • Felipa Gonzales (22): Gonzales was last seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 27, 2005, shortly after she was released from jail. She has never been heard from again.[54]
  • Nina Herron (21): Herron was last seen at approximately 5:00pm on May 14, 2005, at her residence in the vicinity of the 8000 block of Central northeast in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has never been heard from again.[55]
  • Jillian Elizabeth Henderson-Ortiz (19): Henderson-Ortiz was last known to be in Moriarty, New Mexico in early 2006 but she lived and was last seen in Albuquerque. Her mother spoke to her on the phone on January 16, and Henderson-Ortiz said she was going to California to visit her brother. She has never been heard from again.[56]
  • Shawntell Waites (29): Waites was last seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 15, 2006. She has never been heard from again.[57]
  • Leah Peebles (33): Peebles moved from Fort Worth, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico on May 5, 2006. She was temporarily residing with friends in the vicinity of the 2100 block of Erbbe Street northeast when she disappeared on May 22, 2006. She left the home to go on a date with a man she had met at the Flying Star Cafe, where she planned to start working the following week. She never returned and has never been heard from again. Her vehicle was later found abandoned. Peebles grew up in a middle-class, Christian home in Fort Worth. Her parents stated she was molested by a distant relative as a toddler and raped by an acquaintance she was fourteen. She was initially a good student at Carter-Riverside High School and active as a cheerleader, in drama and on the yearbook staff, but by her sophomore year she had begun abusing drugs and alcohol and dropped out of her extracurricular activities. When Peebles was eighteen, her parents put her in the Fort Worth Teen Challenge, a Christian residential drug and alcohol treatment facility for women. She stayed in the program for 21 months, graduated from cosmetology school and took a job at a beauty salon, but soon relapsed and began using a variety of illegal drugs. She was convicted of drug offenses twice and served two short jail sentences. Peebles was fired from her job at the salon after the second arrest, as her drug use had made her an unreliable employee. Her parents wanted her to return to rehab, but she decided to move to Albuquerque instead. She hoped to get a new start in life, make new and better friends, and stop her drug and alcohol abuse. After Peebles disappeared, there were sightings of her reported in the Albuquerque area. The witnesses reported Peebles was calling herself "Mia" and working as a prostitute for a pimp called AJ. who supplied her with crack cocaine. Police questioned AJ, whose real name is Donald Sears, after he was arrested in Bakersfield, California, and he said he'd never heard of Peebles. Her father made about eleven trips to Albuquerque as well as Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada to search for her. The last credible sighting was in the fall of 2006, and her father thought she may have been sold to a pimp in another city. Peebles's father was killed in an accident in South Dakota in 2014. In his obituary, Peebles is listed as having survived him. Her case remains unsolved.[58]
  • Vanessa Reed (24): Reed was last seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 13, 2006. She was living in a motel at the time of her disappearance and may have been involved in prostitution. She was last seen walking away from the motel after a fight with her sister. Reed has never been heard from again.[59][60]

Because none of their bodies were discovered along with the confirmed victims, it is suspected by law enforcement that they are buried in a separate mass grave. On 9 December 2010, Albuquerque police released six photos of seven other unidentified women who may also be linked to West Mesa.[12][61] Police would not say how or where they had obtained the photos.[12] Some of the women appear to be unconscious, and many share the same physical characteristics as the original eleven victims.[12] 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.[62][63] On 13 December 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.[64] 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.

Suspects

West Mesa Bone Collector
Criminal penaltyNever sentenced
Details
Victims11+
Span of crimes
2000–2005
CountryUnited States
State(s)New Mexico
Date apprehended
Unapprehended

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.[65][66]

No official suspects have ever been named in connection with the murders.[12] In 2010, a reward of up to $100,000 was being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible.[14]

Over time, a number of men have attracted police attention, though not named as full suspects, in connection with the murders.

Fred Reynolds was a pimp who knew one of the missing women and reportedly had photos of missing sex workers; he died of natural causes in January 2009.[67]

Lorenzo Montoya lived less than three miles from the burial site. In 2006 there were reportedly dirt trails leading from his trailer park to the site.[66] In December 2006, Montoya strangled a teenager at his trailer and then was shot to death by the teen's boyfriend. It would appear the killings stopped after his death.[66][68]

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.[12][69] They confiscated "tens of thousands" of photos from the man, who reportedly used to visit the state fair in Albuquerque.[12] Police confirmed that they had cleared Erwin as a suspect.[70]

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.[71]

In 2014, a breakthrough on a decades-old case caused Albuquerque police to become interested in Joseph Blea as a suspect for the murders. Blea has been dubbed the "Mid-School Rapist" for his activities in the 1980s; police say he would often break into the homes of 13- to 15-year-old girls who lived near McKinley Middle School in Albuquerque and rape them. In one case, there was a DNA sample but the rape test kit was not re-tested until 2010, eventually linking Blea to the rape.[72] In 2015, Blea was also suspected by police of killing a sex worker; his DNA sample was located on the inner waistband and belt of a sex worker found dead on Central Ave, a notorious street for sex work in the eastern part of the city. 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.[73][74] Blea, in the Mid-School rape case, was sentenced to 36 years in June 2015, at 58 years of age.

See also

References

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External links

  • City of Albuquerque official webpage pertaining to the West Mesa Homicide Investigation
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