i wasn't done. He even beat his girlfriend, who said he threatened to kill me and bury me in lime. In 2006, Montoya met up with a dancer whom he strangled to death. >> reporter: those were long nights, filled with bittersweet memories of michelle the way she used to be, before the drugs took over. you know, my husband's got young kids to take care of. >> in the whole wide world. >> what did doctors tell you? for all-day, all-night protection. could be others. [9], The remains discovered in 2009 were identified as those of the following women and girls, all of whom disappeared between 2001 and 2005:[10][11]. Police were at a loss. >> no. it was my gateway to making contact with her and seeing her in person. >> reporter: the families of the 18 women now on ida's list prayed for happy endings like that one. some of it seemed to take. terry, can you take a selfie of me? and sometimes you've just got to stop and smell the savings. Sadly, the rumor was true. except for one tantalizing tidbit. Then, learn about six serial killers who were never caught. >> at one point syllania had been arrested up in the denver area for prostitution, going by a different name at the time. TV Archive >> she searched for the innocent. Many persons of interest have been eliminated by means of that timeline, he said. a.p. do you think you'll ever find them? Afterwards, Wozniak dismembered Herrs body by removing his limbs and head. She compiled a list of the missing not all of whom have been found, raising concern there might be more victims. the money. 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. by then dan and michelle's mother were divorced, and dan was raising michelle and camilln alone while working days at the juvenile detention center. >> reporter: when christine ross decided to take her dog ruca for a walk. turning up on the mesa. 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. >> he may be waiting to start doing the same thing again. i had to take that avenue. I have a friend who was in a relationship with one Adrian P. Trujillo. With her call to the Albuquerque Police Department, Ross had begun to expose horrors the city had never seen. everything was in a pretty contained area. or whatever, see somebody that may appear to be the size of michelle, a small person, and go around the block two or three times and me wondering who they were as well as them wondering who i was. la la la la la. West Mesa Killer Satellite Image Credits. >> i needed to know where they were all the time. but because doctors caught the cancer early, ida required neither chemo nor radiation therapy. >> reporter: ida didn't completely disbelieve what her girls were telling her. probably familiar with the prostitution trade. Dateline: Unforgettable airs every Tuesday on Oxygen at 8:00 PM ET. >> he may be waiting in some other community to start doing the same thing again. it recommends our best custom fit orthotic to relieve foot, knee, or lower back pain. i mean, you'll see some out here that they need that fix. that's all we really wanted, just to flash her picture real quick. >> reporter: this is what albuquerque police chief ray schultz says investigators saw. While the killings were initially believed to be the work of a serial killer, the involvement of a sex trafficking ring has been suspected. and all but one, a juvenile, had lengthy arrest records for drugs or prostitution. He had actually had over 100 encounters with police in the two decades preceding the discovery of the West Mesa murder victims. In 2014, a breakthrough on a decades-old case caused Albuquerque police to become interested in Joseph Blea as a suspect for the murders. The toddler peddled a small trike across the couple's driveway and out of view of the camera as Mesaa . Dubbed the West Mesa Murders, they sparked a frenzy of investigations, interrogations, and media attention, but despite the best efforts of police to bring whoever was responsible to justice, the crimes remain unsolved to this day. >> you can't say gun, knife, strangulation. all the remains. do not use if you are allergic to dupixent. >> i have to keep believing that we'll find an answer soon. >> okay. babcock says he saw marks on the woman's throat and that she told him montoya looked like he was enjoying it. One day later, Hemraj's partially decomposed body was found in the terrace of the same home. >> yes. i'll take aleve. 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 . an amusement park so he stepped on the dr. scholl's kiosk. and the editor didn't say a whole lot. but i just have to keep believing that today could be the day, today could be the day. >> and i had to tell dan. >> reporter: and as it turns out, jolene gutierrez krueger, a columnist for the "albuquerque journal," had gotten a copy of that list a few years earlier, when she worked the police beat. not at all. Years had passed from the time the women and girls disappeared, likely limiting available evidence. -uh, yes. According to the TV program, FBI profilers told Albuquerque police that the killer was a white or Hispanic male in his 30s. >> reporter: this michelle according to her sister camille was an all-american girl with a future as bright as the new mexico sun. -oh, what am i into? had been booked. >> i start going out there and talking to the girls. i have no idea how she got here. jane doe number 8 had been four months pregnant at the time of her death. >> reporter: according to police, montoya lured the woman to his home near the west mesa burial ground. 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. Dirk Gibson, a communications and journalism professor at the University of New Mexico (Det. and they'd go through the alley, do their tricks in the alley. for ida lopez that's a mission statement. While the FBI created suspect profiles, Albuquerque police knocked on doors. Two years later a local family of four, the Wagners, are arrested and charged with the crimes. >> 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. >> who was she? >> reporter: an impromptu. click, call, or visit a store today. and where was he now? Be the first one to comment on this story. >> and we will see justice. a money-making spectacle that draws tourists from all over the world to albuquerque for one week in october. >> and you thought, this is it. him. Euphoria Star Sydney Sweeneys White Hot Bikini Is Out of Control, Sydney Sweeney, Algee Smith, Euphoria, image: courtesy of HBO, 2012-2023, 2paragraphs Productions, LLC. >> she ran up ahead of me, and she was messing with something on the ground. >> reporter: and within weeks ida's early work of collecting dental records of the missing women and dna samples from their families began to pay off. >> yes. >> reporter: lorenzo montoya, a short, powerfully built man in his 30s who was known to have an, equally short temper and a taste for prostitutes. and all with the same name. [ soft piano music playing ] mm, uh, what do you do for fun? 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. He choked to death a prostitute at his home, then was shot by the . 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 couldn't handle it. memorial service organized by Street Safe New Mexico. our girls we posted on the wall. [7], On February 2, 2009, a woman walking a dog found a human bone on the West Mesa, and reported it to police. i don't remember the last words we spoke. The 11th, meanwhile, was 15-year-old Jamie Barela. The upcoming episode, titled Somebody's Daughter, will air on Oxygen on Tuesday, July 12, at 8:00 PM ET. Dateline is anchored by Lester Holt and features correspondents Andrea Canning, Josh Mankiewicz,. Annette Gutirrez-Millspaugh shared with us that nobody had ever solved the 1982 murder of Father Reynaldo Rivera. Looking back what has changed for women on the streets?". then four. thank you. there's a better choice. nexgard. If you have information about the West Mesa murders, please contact APD at 1-877-765-8273 or (505) 768-2450. A sinister force seems to be snatching women off the streets of Albuquerque. >> the vice unit was watching a particular prostitute. but we don't know if it's him or not. apoquel. long. but she kept coming up empty. after three years angelica was sent to live with dan's mother, who lived nearby, and michelle took to living with a series of people she called friends. i don't have a normal, you know, regular address. ROBERT BROWMAN. it's the same instinct that drew her to police work years ago, when she was a kid, growing up in albuquerque. >> no.n' not at all. There's no question Stephen did it: But was he. >> reporter: the name, the face, belonged to michelle valdez, one of the first women on ida's list. American convicted of murder on death row, Dr. Phil: Was She an Accomplice to Murder? the bone could easily have belonged to one of them. West Mesa murder case reaches ten year anniversary. maybe it was camille saying no or whatever. it was a time when a sinister force seemed to be snatching women off the streets of new mexico's largest city. >> reporter: by the end of 2005 ida had five women on her list who were roughly the same age with similar backgrounds. all the bones. To this day, the case remains unsolved. some passed on grisly rumors to ida, that the missing women were dead and had been dumped in the desert west of town. The West Mesa killings occurred from 2001 - 2005, and the serial killer responsible has never been caught. >> if these women had been blond, white, and from the right part of town would you guys have sounded the alarm sooner? s >> father all over again. >> so you were being a father all over again. 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. but she was unable to find the aunt or to pin down the source of the rumor. 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. >> reporter: and for albuquerque's homicide detectives there was the most pressing question of all. The police are reportedly willing to reward $100,000 to anybody who provides information on the West Mesa murders. it's fast itch relief. >> was the man whose house you served a search warrant on, is he a suspect? within weeks of starting her new job, ida was handed two missing persons files. >> reporter: and so in july 2005, after a few months of recuperation as a reserve officer, the department offered ida a 20-hour-a-week desk job working missing persons. >> i want to talk to you. Why was the vehicle that took the bodies, as it did not appear the victims were murdered, killed, or executed on site, to the Burial Grounds never noticed? yeah. >> not for you. oh right. What appeared to be a human bone was just the beginning. Starting tonight at 8 p.m., NBC will air a special two-hour "Dateline" episode dealing with the notorious West Mesa Murder Mystery. and i remember telling him no. but her presence in the west mesa bone yard raised a troubling prospect. According to police reports, she might have gone by Mimi or Chocolate while staying at the Ranger Motel. -or maybe he didn't know. 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. Updated: Jan 13, 2023 / 01:45 PM EST. missing persons, you know, was busy. >> reporter: it was in denver, another city on the circuit, that detective todd babcock hit paydirt. definitely. Furthermore, Police encountered Blea nearly 140 times between 1990 and 2009, often in drug-heavy areas that the victims were known to frequent. of a young girl's dreams. >> can you tell me what that is? >> and just depending on where they're at, you wouldn't even see them up there. >> the tv show "america's most wanted" was also at the crime scene today filming for next weekend's episode on the west mesa mystery. lending tree made lenders compete for my business and i ended up with a loan that saved me over $9000 and no more credit card debt. Where to Watch Episode 2 The investigators were concentrating, apparently, on the females on the street. Plot Twist: With Lester Holt, Josh Mankiewicz, Julie Kibuishi, Sam Herr. 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 could be very realistically a lot of bodies. >> there's a dad who had a calendar. >> reporter: homicidal violence. there were still seven missing women who fit the profile on ida lopez's list. There is a reward of up. >> reporter: jane doe's number 7 nose had been broken sometime before she died. >> definitely. what can you tell me? Authorities suspect a serial killer could be behind the deaths of 11 women and a yet unborn fetus, who were discovered in New Mexico. Albuquerque police released photos of unidentified women who may also be linked to the West Mesa murders. a meticulous man whose grim will had brought him back to the mesa again and again to bury his victims. a data plan for everyone. In 2009, the bodies of 11 women were found in multiple shallow graves on the West Mesa of Albuquerque but the cases remain unsolved. Lorenzo Montoya was killed in 2006 at his South Valley home less than two miles from the West Mesa burial site. Detectives were left with the fact that serial killers move with ease, often vanishing long before their victims are ever found. >> you look at how many things had to have happened for these victims to be located. >> reporter: they strolled out of her new subdivision, one of many that had recently sprouted up in the desert west of albuquerque, and then over to an abandon construction site, where christine let ruca off the leash to run. >> did you know who cinnamon was? >> so lorenzo was arrested for charges beyond just patronizing a prostitute. they pick up a lot of girls. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Downtown Albuquerque as seen from the West Mesa. >> i did. >> whatever the killer's permanent address, those satellite photos were a huge break because they told police. but in the end ida was able to make everybody care. in the grave of jane doe number 8 investigators found a tiny second set of bones. geico could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. >> there's nothing to connect lorenzo montoya to those 11 bodies? >> reporter: it would take more than diligent detective work to find those answers. >> reporter: but as erratic as michelle had become in recent years, she'd somehow always managed to show up. because, they suppose, all those earlier rumors about the women being abducted, killed, and dumped in the desert had to have started somewhere. >> no. it turns out that even though that evidence was long gone by the time those bones were discovered in 2009 a bird's eye view was precisely the perspective investigators needed. soon could be years. Call the 118th Street Task Force at 1-877-765-8273 or (505) 768-2450. aleve pm. and then she says is there anything that we can do? commander feist knew every scrap of evidence recovered from that gigantic crime scene would have to be cataloged and stored until it came time to prosecute the west mesa grave digger. i wouldn't say he's a suspect. >> that really sends a chill up and down your spine. Please logout and login again. >> it's like being in a race and somebody has a year ahead start. a. with xfinity mobile you can bring in your own phone, switch wireless carriers and save hundreds of dollars. but most of the women who worked albuquerque's war zone, fellow travelers who might have helped ida find the missing, were too drug addled to provide useful leads. Are there any other episodes or podcasts you'd recommend that discuss this further? 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 . >> was it possible ida lopez's list was just the tip of the iceberg? i just could feel all the strength in my body just kind of just drain all of a sudden. 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. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. >> no. the hardest part of this whole thing is having to go to somebody's house and say we. Daniel Wozniak was found guilty of the murders of Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi. Authorities believe that the women may have been involved in a large interstate sex trafficking operation. (danny) every day you're nearly fried to a crisp, professionally! >> a third one. Combing the undeveloped West Mesa near 118th Street SW, detectives spent weeks uncovering all 11 graves. >> then about a month and a half after i was diagnosed, then i had my kidney removed. that christmas angelica opened her presents alone, with no sign of her mother michelle. "They all had families that care for them.". so she did what every good detective does. >> missing women. she gets out of her car and comes up to me. those two files would mark the beginning of the biggest case in her career and would turn into pabarmis.markintos most heinouy crime stories. and was he still at work? >> and i can understand it. i mean, that's not exactly, you know, the premier detective job. California, 2010: Two actors, Rachel Buffett and Daniel Wozniak, are at the center of the investigation of two murders. let's get to be each other's support system. 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. n.d then there was the service part, the helping people part of police work.