By Bridget Heath
The West Mesa Murders are the killings of 11 women whose remains were found buried in 2009 in the desert on the west mesa of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
I would like to give my condolences to the families of the 11 victims they were no less of human beings than anybody else. No matter what you might think about their lifestyle or profession they chose they were someones daughter, Granddaughter or mother. And even 1 victim was pregnant so my heart goes out to the grand parents who wont know their grand child. They all had families that cared and wanted their safe return. Im sure that every family wishes that they could see their relative one more time, and that a son or a daughter wish they could have mom home. God Bless the angels. You wont be forgotten.
On Feb 2, 2009, a woman was walking her dog and the dog found a human bone. This was the first of many in what would become one of the largest crime scenes in history.
At first the pace was frantic. There were remains and a serial killer to hopefully catch. It took investigators 1 year to identify all 11 victims. The police built detailed timelines of the women's last known whereabouts. There were over 200 interviews conducted of women working the streets the same years that the victims were. There was a suspect timeline made as well.
In the first years there were a lot of search warrants served. And the police managed to hone in on a few suspects. But none of these potential suspects have never been officially accused of the crime. Police currently follow up on any leads that they receive. But after all these years things seemed to have slowed and this case remains unsolved.
In 2005, Albuquerque police detective Ida Lopez noticed that women with ties to drugs and prostitution had been vanishing from Albuquerque. So detective Lopez started a list of the missing women she came across. She took it upon herself to uncover the story behind the remains of these 11 women and 1 unborn fetus. This investigation led the detective to discover at least 17 more similar cases of missing women, who she called her girls.
The victims were discovered over 13 years ago buried in shallow graves in the West Mesa Desert. these unsolved homicides remain one of the biggest unsolved homicide cases in the Albuquerque Police Department history. Satellite photos taken between 2003 to 2005 shows tire marks and patches of disturbed soils in the area where the remains were found and recovered.
By 2006, new development had encroached on the area, and soon after the site was disturbed buried and platted for residential homes. Police suspect that the bodies were all buried by the same person or persons and is possibly the work of a serial killer who has become known as the West Mesa Bone Collector. No official suspects have ever been named in connection with the murders. in 2010, a $100,000 reward was being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible.
In December 2010, convicted Colorado serial killer Scott Lee Kimball said that he was being investigated for the West Mesa Murders, be he has denied killing these women.
In 2014, a breakthrough on a decades old case caused Albuquerque police to look at Joseph Blea as a suspect in the murders. Blea had been dubbed the "Mid school Rapist" for his activities in the 1980's police say that he would often break into the homes of 13 to 15 yr. 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. 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. A tree tag from a nursery was found in an area where the West Mesa victims bodies were buried. it was tracked to a nursery Blea once frequented. Blea had women's underwear and jewelry not belonging to his wife or daughter in his home and told a cell mate that he had hired the West Mesa Victims who he called "trashy". Blea got 36 years for the Mid School rape in 2015 at 58 years old.
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.
Lorenzo Montoya lived less than three miles from the burial site. In 2006 there were some dirt trails leading from his trailer park to the site. He had been twice arrested for violent attacks on sex workers and had threatened to kill his girlfriend and bury her in lime. His co-workers said that he talked about killing women and burying them in the West Mesa. In December 2006 Lorenzo Montoya strangled a teenage sex worker to death at his trailer and was shot to death by the teen sexworkers boyfriend. It seemed that the killings stopped after his death.
The remains discovered in 2009 were identified as those of the following women and girls who all disappeared between 2001 and 2005.
Jamie Barela, 15
Monica Candelaria, 22
Victoria Chavez, 26
Virginia Cloven, 24
Syllannia Edwards, 15
Cinnamon Elks, 32
Doreen Marquez, 24
Julie Nieto, 24
Veronica Romero, 28
Evelyn Salazar, 27
Michelle Valdez, 22
The Satellite photos show that the last victim was buried in 2005. Syllannia Edwards, a 15 year old runaway from Lawton, OK was the only African American, and she was the only victim from out of state. Michelle Valdez was four months pregnant at the time of her death. On December 9, 2010 Albuquerque police released 6 photos of 7 other unidentified women that may be linked to the West Mesa. Police would not say how or where they obtained the photos. Some of the women appear to be unconscious, and many share the same physical characteristics as the original 11 victims. The next day police released 1 more photo of another woman, this woman was identified by family members, who reported that she had dies of natural causes a few years earlier. On December 13, 2010 police reported that 2 of the women in the pictures had been identified as alive, and could have valuable information if they could be located. In June 2018, more bones were found near the site of the burials, but there were later determined to be ancient and not related to the West Mesa murders.
Editor's note: this article ran in Serial Killer Magazine and is reproduced as written. The case is unsolved and this archive files it that way. That has to govern how the suspect section is read: as the article itself says, no official suspect has ever been named, and none of the three men discussed has been charged with any of these deaths. Joseph Blea is serving 36 years for rape, not for the West Mesa murders, and the tree tag, the DNA on an unrelated body and the cellmate's account are investigative material rather than findings. Scott Lee Kimball denied involvement. Lorenzo Montoya was killed in 2006 and was never tried for anything. Fred Reynolds died before the remains were found. The eleven women and girls named here disappeared between 2001 and 2005, and a twelfth death, Michelle Valdez's unborn child, is counted in the article's own total. The archive holds two other pieces that touch this case, MURDER IN ALBUQUERQUE: THE 118TH STREET INVESTIGATION and a section of SERIAL KILLERS WHO WERE NEVER CAUGHT; this is a separate and later account. Detective Ida Lopez's list, and the seventeen further disappearances she recorded, are the part of this story the archive would most like to see followed up.