NM - West Mesa Murders (2003-05)

[Donjeta]

Thank you, Fairy. I'm not the only one, though.

I'm haunted by this case and I just have to keep checking back in the hopes that they have identified someone else. Even if they never catch who did it, they should at least give these poor women the dignity of a name.

I had hoped that the ID process could be faster, given that they had a ready made list of missing persons who might match.

 

[Fairy1]

Thank you, Fairy. I'm not the only one, though.

I'm haunted by this case and I just have to keep checking back in the hopes that they have identified someone else. Even if they never catch who did it, they should at least give these poor women the dignity of a name.

I had hoped that the ID process could be faster, given that they had a ready made list of missing persons who might match.

The ID process certainly has slowed down considerably in the past few weeks. But I do feel confident they'll ID all the girls in time. I'm not as confident they'll find the killer, though. I do believe it is at least one of the two dead guys. Just hope someone still living knows enough to spill the beans! It does seem that some people knew or at least suspected what was happening.

 

[Kat]

http://www.koat.com/news/19499493/detail.html

UPDATED: 10:59 pm MDT May 18, 2009


Texas Murders May Be Linked To West Mesa
APD Says It Continues To Investigate Leads

Could a string of unsolved murders in Texas have a connection to the West Mesa?...

...In Lubbock, Texas the number of unsolved murders has risen to five and that has caught the attention of the Albuquerque Police Department...

...Schultz said detectives have also been in California, Florida and Pennsylvania following up on leads...

I am starting to think that the chance this is the work of a/or serial killer(s) is becoming more and more likely.

 

[kittenish]

http://www.koat.com/news/19499493/detail.html
UPDATED: 10:59 pm MDT May 18, 2009

Texas Murders May Be Linked To West Mesa
APD Says It Continues To Investigate Leads

I am starting to think that the chance this is the work of a/or serial killer(s) is becoming more and more likely.

I wonder how recently the last body was found in TX. That might discount the dead men as suspects.

 

[Bud]

Did Lorenzo Montoya ever live in Lubbock Texas?

 

[txsvicki]

Wow, I'm suprised that they are looking at connections between these murders and Lubbock. I look at my local Lubbock online paper everyday hoping that I won't read about any more murder of women. They need to look at Odessa Texas as well. There are missing and murdered women there too as was discussed on one of the threads here at Websleuths.

 

[Donjeta]

Another story about the Texas connection:
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/...ds_bones_task_force_to_texas_man_200905190004

Albuquerque Police Department Officer Nadine Hamby told News 13 that the task force has taken trips to Colorado and Texas.

The latest tip took them to Lubbock, Texas, on Sunday.

Hamby said two detectives spoke to a man they said was involved in prostitution, murder and drugs. However, she said they can't release the name of the man they questioned because it could compromise the investigation

Does anyone know what's going on in Colorado?

This is an older video that includes a clip of Monica Candelaria's relative speaking (before she was identified) and an anthropologist explaining about bones and the ID process. I'm not sure if we have it already here.
http://www.truveo.com/OMI-Takes-On-West-Mesa-Bones-Mystery/id/2031355334

 

[Donjeta]

Information about two unidentified women: http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/...women_from_mesa_graves_described_200905202323

"One is Caucasian with Hispanic ethnicity, and the other one, we feel, is African American," Dr. Peter Loomis with the Office of the Medical Investigator said. "That's the young one in the age range of 16, 17."
...
"She has some root canal treatment done on two lower molars on either side," he said. "That's a little unusual for a person of that age."
...
The other victim is 20 to 29 years old.
...

http://www.namus.gov/

From Namus:

The 20-29-year old Latino woman was estimated to be 58 inches tall. "Bony abnormalities noted include a sternal foramen, marked calcification of a bony attachment on the right tibia, a remote fracture of the right sternal end of the clavicle." Her dentals are available on the Namus site. She had all natural teeth, except two that were missing post mortem, and extensive caries damage in one tooth.

The 15-21 year old African American female with the root canal treatment was estimated to be 62 inches tall and she had pinned hair weave. She had "lytic lesion on the distal, posterior portions of the right femur. Healed nasal fracture on left side."

 

[txsvicki]

Another story about the Texas connection:
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/...ds_bones_task_force_to_texas_man_200905190004



Does anyone know what's going on in Colorado?

This is an older video that includes a clip of Monica Candelaria's relative speaking (before she was identified) and an anthropologist explaining about bones and the ID process. I'm not sure if we have it already here.
http://www.truveo.com/OMI-Takes-On-West-Mesa-Bones-Mystery/id/2031355334

There was a man here in Lubbock who was charged with the murder of one the Lubbock deceased girls, but he has never been indicted and it's been years. I'd have to look up his name, but of course don't know that they are talking about him. He's not Hispanic, but they were at one time looking for one in the murder of two girls then we didn't hear any more news at all. It's also been years now.

 

[Kat]

I only looked at a map from Albuquerque NM to Lubbock TX and it's well over 300 miles no matter which route you drive.

On google maps when you plug those cities in, there are a least three routes offered and one that is not offered but I could see on the map includes I40 and I27.

I haven't given that any thought, just putting that out there for those that are following this case.

I found an article to launch off of if anyone is curious to have a look at the Lubbock connection for themselves.

http://www.groundreport.com/US/Monica-Adams-29-Found-Dead-in-Lubbock-Texas-Field

August 21, 2008

Police found the brutally beaten body of Monica Adams, 29, in a field in northeast Lubbock, Texas. Adams, once arrested for prostitution, is the second murdered woman whose body appeared in the same field in the last two years and the fifth woman suspected of prostitution found dead in East Lubbock County in the last 10 years...

...In the last 10 years, five woman who had all been arrested for prostitution at one time have been killed in East Lubbock County, Texas. Selena Kuykendall, 40, was stabbed and beaten to death in April 2007. Linda Trevino Carbajal, 21, was beaten to death in 2004. Cynthia Palacio was strangled to death in 2003. Amanda Gschwend, 19, was murdered in 1999.

 

[Donjeta]

There's a lot of variation in the causes of death. I wonder if they can tell yet how the NM victims died.

 

[txsvicki]

Some of the Lubbock women were reported to have been beaten in the head from behind. If the NM women show the same, then maybe that's why they are looking at similarities.

 

[Kat]

There's a lot of variation in the causes of death. I wonder if they can tell yet how the NM victims died.

I thought about that too Donjeta. In the case of the NM victims, many of the remains had been disturbed because of the construction prep of the ground for new building.

I wonder what those temp graves of the victims in NM revealed that were undisturbed. There's no telling.

 

[Kat]

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=10491809&nav=AbC0

June 7, 2009 2:55 PM ET

...Albuquerque police are looking at crimes in other states for clues that might help them solve how the remains of 11 people and a fetus ended up buried in the desert on the city's west side...

...Walsh says so far police have been unable to link any out-of-state crimes with the Albuquerque deaths. But he says they are still following up on leads....

 

[Donjeta]

OMI requests help id'ing the victim with fake acrylic nails with two pink half-circles at the tips. I posted the photo of the nails somewhere up thread.

She is African American, between 5 feet 2 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall and was in her mid-teens or early 20s. She had a healed nasal fracture, and a bone lesion on her femur, indicating a break, stab or poke there.

She had short, curly brown hair, and wore a light brown hairpiece with light, wavy curls.

She could be matched using dental records but it's not yet known if she had any dental work.

She could be from out of state; not a match to any missing person cases in Albuquerque.

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/...eds_help_identifying_mesa_victim_200906041417

Michelle Valdez family planning funeral.
100 detectives involved in the investigation
http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S973111.shtml?cat=500

Here's a good summary of the case:
http://www.cabq.gov/police/index--118th/index--118th.htm

Edit: it appears to me that the nail lady is the same AA victim I posted about on the previous page but there it said she'd had root canal treatment. I suppose it's more likely that the source of this article just forgot or was unaware about the root canal or was misunderstood than that the previous source made it up or was mistaken about it? But I don't know.

 

[kittenish]

OMI requests help id'ing the victim with fake acrylic nails with two pink half-circles at the tips. I posted the photo of the nails somewhere up thread.

She is African American, between 5 feet 2 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall and was in her mid-teens or early 20s. She had a healed nasal fracture, and a bone lesion on her femur, indicating a break, stab or poke there.

She had short, curly brown hair, and wore a light brown hairpiece with light, wavy curls.

She could be matched using dental records but it's not yet known if she had any dental work.

She could be from out of state; not a match to any missing person cases in Albuquerque.

That's a pretty decent description. Hopefully someone will recognize the part about a nasal fracture and the lesion on her femur. Those are two instances someone who knew her would likely remember, as a nose break is hard to hide, and I know when my brother injured his femur, he was miserable.

The frustrating thing is the height. 5'2" - 5'10" is a pretty big difference.

 

[txsvicki]

http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=10519921


Here's a link about authorities talking to other areas with similar crimes and the two autopsies showing homicidal violence, but not telling the manner of death.

 

[Kat]

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/..._mesa_victim_released_for_burial_200906081800

Updated: Monday, 08 Jun 2009, 5:53 PM MDT

The body of Michelle Valdez, the eighth person to be unearthed on Albuquerque's West Mesa, has been released to her family for burial...

...Valdez's remains were among 11 found since February in the area off Dennis Chavez and 118th street. Seven of the bodies have been identified.

Her father Dan Valdez said it has been the toughest week since his daughter disappeared.

Rest in Peace Michelle.

 

[Kat]

http://www.koat.com/news/19746455/detail.html

UPDATED: 5:38 pm MDT June 13, 2009

New Clues In West Mesa Mystery
Could Help Police Crack Case

...Investigators told Action 7 News they believe one person is responsible for killing the women and burying their bodies on the west mesa.

They spent months looking for clues, and now it turns out something that they couldn't find might help solve this case-- clothing.

Police Chief Ray Schultz said the absence of clothes leads them to believe the women were buried naked, something he said is a unique characteristic of this case.

Schultz said when a body is found unclothed, it's likely that a sex crime took place...

..."The fact that all of these women were naked, hopefully someone working streets had information on somebody who was very insistent on taking off their clothes," Schultz said.

No clothing found at all. Very strange. Not that I know much about prostitution but I am also under the impression that women who work as a prostitute in the streets do not take all of their clothes off.

 

[Reannan]

So.....no clothing on the bodies. Is LE getting this information out to the women working the streets? They know where they work, and they should WARN them that this sort of thing is going on, so they can be on their guard! I just had an incident that I should have posted here, but didn't. A female family member at the hospital I work at was attacked in a bathroom outside the ICU where her husband was a patient. She was brutaly attacked, and he has been identified - out of jail two days before the attack (who would have thought???). Anyways, the local LE, the hospital I work at....EVERYONE did a VERY poor job of posting information they had. If LE is reading this thread - GO AND TELL THE WOMEN WORKING THE STREETS TO BE CAREFUL, AND WHAT TO LOOK FOR!!!!! It just might save a life, and help catch a criminal at the same time.