NM - West Mesa Murders (2003-05)

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Odyssey said:
Hi there,

I have been tracking this case a bit too, and wanted to point out there may be some discrepancies in the timelines. I went digging through criminal records, which can be found here http://www.metrocourt.state.nm.us/xnet/ (and then click on 'case lookup') and here are some of my findings:

Virginia Cloven listed as missing since 4/13/2004, yet on 7/20/04 she was in court filing a motion to dismiss some charges against her.

Cinnamon Elks listed as missing since 8/20/2004, she pled guilty to charges on 8/12/04 and was sentenced to 180 days.

Anselma Guerra seems to be missing from the Charley Project website today - I just noticed this when I went to find her missing date, she was listed yesterday. I wonder if she has been identified?

Felipa Gonzales is listed as missing in 2005 with no date specified. She was arrested for shoplifting on April 30 2005 so it had to be later than that.

Anna Vigil missing since 1/21/2005, she was arrested on 1/19/2005 for prostitution (two days before she went missing?)

Shawntell Waites is just listed as missing in 2006. She was arrested on 2/25/2006 so it would be later than that.

Darlene Trujillo missing since 7/4/2001. She pled guilty to a violation and a failure to appear on 4/5/2002.

I kept going over and over all these girls and their missing dates and their court dates, arrest dates, etc... and I have that weird feeling like there is something odd with the dates but I'm just not picking up on it.
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This is just an educated guess but would it possible for those who do not appear, a guilty charge is automatically levied upon them? For instance when Darlene Trujillo did not appear on 4/5 to the charge from '01, they automatically pled her guilty in 2002. I could be wrong, but I thought that is how the courts in NM deal with no shows in addition to a warrant issued for a failure to appear.

As for the cases where arrests occurred right before the victims went missing, prostitution charges don't keep them in jail too long. It is very conceivable that she was released and murdered long before a scheduled court appearance.

I think the screwy dates have to do with the lengthy judicial process that will go on with or without defendants. However this was a good find and interesting to consider.
 
Jesikah1 said:
This is just an educated guess but would it possible for those who do not appear, a guilty charge is automatically levied upon them? For instance when Darlene Trujillo did not appear on 4/5 to the charge from '01, they automatically pled her guilty in 2002. I could be wrong, but I thought that is how the courts in NM deal with no shows in addition to a warrant issued for a failure to appear.

As for the cases where arrests occurred right before the victims went missing, prostitution charges don't keep them in jail too long. It is very conceivable that she was released and murdered long before a scheduled court appearance.

I think the screwy dates have to do with the lengthy judicial process that will go on with or without defendants. However this was a good find and interesting to consider.
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That could be, I don't really know how the judicial system works when it comes to no-shows. There are plenty of court dates listed where the plea information was left blank, which led me to think that when it actually says "Guilty" or "Not Guilty", that they did actually appear and enter a plea.

I could be wrong though...
 
Okay, well I may have spoken too soon:) I tried to find various caselaw regarding pleas and failure to appear and came up with...confusion! I still think that the discrepancies in timelines come from issues in the judicial bureaucracy rather than issues with when the victims went missing but I definitely could be wrong! I am going to try to come up with a definitive answer but if anybody else has more experience with NM courts, I'd love to hear some ideas!
 
http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S896547.shtml?cat=504

Posted at: 04/24/2009 8:11 AM

Police contemplate halting West Mesa dig

Today is the last scheduled day for investigators to continue excavating 100 acres on Albuquerque’s Southwest Mesa where the remains of 11 woman and one infant have been recovered.
Whether the project is stopped, though, remains to be seen.
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More at link.
 
Gosh, I know that the city of Albuquerque has spent alot of time and resources searching this site and not alot has been recovered since the initial weeks, but I think stopping the excavation now would be premature. I wonder how much of it has to do with home owner anxieties about digging on their property? LE was pretty quick to reassure them that this would not happen!

Anyhow, so far we have eight women missing from 2003 and 2004 and found buried on the West Mesa, this is a pretty prolific number of killing for a 2 year time span, even for a serial killer. I think that it is kind of preposterous to think that if it is a lone killer, they just did this rash amount of killings in a half decade's time period and killed no time previous or after (If the suspect is still alive.) I mean I know killers have to start at some point, but considering the sheer number of remains for this time period, it does not feel like these were their first.

What are you guys thinking at this point? Is it a serial killer, are there more victims? Is it a gang act?

I wish that LE would release more of their theories to the public because it doesn't feel like they've said much either way, but at some point whether it be someone or someone(s) were murdering young women, women who hadn't had the chance to overcome their struggles which to me is all the more tragic. So I feel a little frustrated that LE is just releasing the arrest records of the victims as some sort of reassurance that if you are not a prostitute or drug addict, you are safe. Which is probably true to some degree, but if anybody or a group of anybodies can kill that many people, well then it is not going to matter much if the right situation arises.

I look forward to all you sleuthers' insights. I didn't mean to ramble so much about this, but I guess the thought of the investigation stalling got me going! :crazy:
 
I do think it was the act of one person (or group of people) and that whoever it was knew these girls. I don't think it was a random act of a typical "serial killer" who just does it for the excitement or whatever. I also have pondered that they may not all have been separate occurences, some may have been killed and buried at the same time. When I was searching the criminal records, I was trying to see if there was any relation from their missing date to their court dates, thinking maybe someone wanted to shut them up but you said it very well, when you try to look into it you come up with confusion because its hard to tell what dates are what and whether they were actually in court or not. These are just hunches, of course, and I also am curious as to police theories.

And yes, the last article I saw they said they were still finding more on a daily basis so what on earth would make them stop now?! That just doesn't make any sense!
 
I haven't formed a theory yet, Jesikah1. I am waiting for the rest of the victims to be identified. At this point in time, I'm leaning more towards one or two serial killers, not two seperate that happened to chose that area to dump bodies but rather two that may have worked together.

I just don't know at this point. We have no other information from LE other than the name of the victims that have been IDed at this time.
 
Host John Walsh was on the mesa last week filming for Saturday night's show. He said the dig site was one of the most organized he'd seen in 20 plus years with the show.

The show says it has helped apprehend 1065 fugitives because of stories it ran. Families of the West Mesa victims hope Saturday's nationwide broadcast will bring clues.
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http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S899341.shtml?cat=504

One of the unidentified victims had an unusual set of acrylic nails that could help detectives determine her identity.
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nail_content.jpg


http://www.amw.com/fugitives/video_photos.cfm?id=64720

ETA: Family members watch the show together: http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/...families_react_to_national_story_200904252250

Relatives of the seventh victim identified from a makeshift graveyard said they filed a second missing-person report because Albuquerque police didn't seem interested in looking for the troubled woman.

"They weren't too worried about the people with the lifestyle that she had," Julie Gonzales told KRQE News 13.
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http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/...reports_said_mesa_victim_missing_200904230029

And yet a bit more about Doreen Marquez:
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/...id_7th_body_in_west_mesa_murders_200904211451
Anyone with information that might help police can call the tip line at 1-877-SOLV-APD (1-877-765-8273).
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This case sure has gone quiet... I wonder if they really did stop searching?
 
http://www.koat.com/news/19294860/detail.html

12:31 pm MDT April 26, 2009

A professor at the University of New Mexico plans to write a book about the West Mesa mystery.

Dirk Gibson has written several books on serial killers.

He said he plans to ask the victims' families for permission and wants to explain to them how he would write the book.
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http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S910497.shtml?cat=504

Updated at: 05/01/2009 7:18 PM

Families of some of the women found buried on the West Mesa got a better idea Friday of when they'll have their loved ones' bodies returned to them.

Family members say the bodies are being sent two at a time from the OMI in New Mexico to a Texas facility for further examination.

It's been a long and frustrating wait, say family members, as they try to make funeral plans.
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Clear Channel is donating the space on the 17 billboards, which is worth about $15,000

A 17-year-old high school student who is interning with the company came up with the idea for her senior project.

“The 'No child should be forgotten' thing was just kind of an idea we threw around. The whole idea: To make sure people remember these girls for who they were," said Sandia Prep senior Madison Ries.
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http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S918596.shtml?cat=500

Psychics have also had their say:

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/..._premonitions_pour_into_tip_line_200905021344

It also says

Police suspended their digging in the 100-acre crime scene last week after nearly three months of moving mountains of dirt in a section of sandy scrub recently bladed for a housing development.
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Families use Myspace to connect and hope to generate tips

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S927874.shtml?cat=500

http://www.myspace.com/doreenmarquez
http://www.myspace.com/459767442

***

APD tallies recovery
cost of mesa bones
Digging could resume if needed

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - So far it has cost $250,000 to exhume the remains of 11 people buried under unknown circumstances on the city's southwest mesa, according to an estimate released Thursday.
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http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/...lies_recovery_cost_of_mesa_bones_200905072057
 
I am glad that LE is willing to spend what it need to in order to find some answers to these cases. I also hope that this case will foster more attention to the extreme drug problems that exist in this state and more importantly the lack of resources for addicts trying to come clean. Article after article stated what wonderful women these victims were but that drugs got a grip on them that they just couldn't shake. Continued discussion in New Mexico for this crime is important on a number of levels, IMO.
Also, I was surprised that the cost for 3 months of exhumation was so low, anybody else have that reaction?
 
I was a bit disturbed by finding out that they spent two months and hundreds of work hours digging there yet the overtime was for night time security and apparently no new people had to be hired to help out with the extra work. I can't decide if it's a good sign that Albuquerque LE is normally very well staffed if a colossal two month effort doesn't disturb their normal operations or a bad sign that other crimes didn't get investigated properly during this search.
 
Donjeta said:
I was a bit disturbed by finding out that they spent two months and hundreds of work hours digging there yet the overtime was for night time security and apparently no new people had to be hired to help out with the extra work. I can't decide if it's a good sign that Albuquerque LE is normally very well staffed if a colossal two month effort doesn't disturb their normal operations or a bad sign that other crimes didn't get investigated properly during this search.
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This is an interesting point. But I have to wonder, if it was very well staffed would all of these women have gone missing for so long with the families thinking that nobody in LE cared?

As an aside I remember in 2007 when the Lobos let go of Ritchie McKay as the basketball coach, they paid him over half a million dollars to buy him out of his contract. I realize that there are different funding sources at play here but if the people of Albuquerque can find a way to spend 500,000 to fire somebody, I would hope they can find a way to get answers for the deaths of 11 women, possibly more. I would like to know what comparable investigations have cost other cities, it is just hard to gage what is to be expected in terms of resources used and manpower for this type of crime situation. It does seem, gratefully so, that APD is willing to expend resources until it is solved.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/15mesa.html?ref=global-home

Published: May 14, 2009

Identities of Bodies Found on Mesa Emerge, but Killer Remains Cloaked



snips of interest:

...Investigators are also now looking into “persons of interest” in the case, both alive and dead, Officer Hamby said. That includes people incarcerated in New Mexico and Texas and those with a criminal history of soliciting prostitutes and drugs...
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Also, in that article are statements made by the families of the victims.
 
I was sure someone would remember those fingernails but I guess not. :(
 
Donjeta - you have done a wonderful job keeping us updated on this case. I just wanted to say THANK YOU!!! :blowkiss:
 
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