>> reporter: it was that kind of gut reaction that led detectives to joplin, missouri in august of 2010. A sinister force seemed to be snatching women off the streets of Albuquerque. Ida Lopez was unable to solve the case she was so closely attached to before her retirement and relocation in 2014. >> reporter: ida didn't completely disbelieve what her girls were telling her. Daniel Wozniak was found guilty of the murders of Sam Herr and Julie Kibuishi. >> what did doctors tell you? and do you use that profile and rule somebody out just because they're not on that profile? >> do you think we're dealing with one guy here? December 2006. >> so what i usually do is i go back to see what their arrest history is. >> reporter: both of those. >> reporter: this killer had seemingly left nothing behind but a pile of dry bones. [9] Some of the women appear to be unconscious, and many share the same physical characteristics as the original 11 victims. that changed when michelle failed to show up for angelica's seventh birthday party. i said no. we came upon it, and it appeared to be a bone. bring in your own phone, switch to xfinity mobile and save hundreds of dollars a year. 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. >> you think she came here on her own? Both had disappeared after walking to a local park in 2004. a restless night's sleep. Syllania Edwards, a 15-year-old runaway from Lawton, Oklahoma, was the only African American, and the only victim from out of state. not at all. i didn't choose their lifestyle. Tonight's Dateline episode entitled Miami Heat will focus on the tragic events that led up to the fatal shooting of Orlando Mesa and 18-month old Noah 'Noa' Mesa, who survived the brutal attack. who got an awful skin condition. that the chin was specific for me. and then as the months go by, wi search more and find that there are, you know, maybe another one here, then another one there, and that sort of thing. the crime lab had determined that one of the unidentified, sets of remains, jane doe number 7, was a young black female. >> reporter: that he once had a daughter named michelle who was the light of his life. >> no. >> he may be waiting to start doing the same thing again. >> what about those last seven girls? Theres a sense of physical remoteness this place was very removed, said University of New Mexico professor Dirk Gibson, who has written two books on serial killers. After Herr told him that he had savings of about $62,000 from combat pay, Wozniak decided to kill him in order to acquire The last segment of last night's two-hour exploration of the West Mesa serial murders on NBC's Dateline reviewed the search warrants executed by the Albuquerque and Joplin police departments and the FBI of properties owned by Joplin businessman Ron Erwin. >> 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. we had things that we wanted to keep very secret, or things that we didn't want released. >> i don't believe so. >> reporter: the fact is dan valdez had been recording his. New Mexico Authorities Offer $100,000 Reward for Help Solving West Mesa Murders of 11 Women and Unborn Child . hopefully they've been in a commune in some mountainous town or in a rehab center or a jail or with friends that they're actually doing okay. >> we believe so. advil pm silences pain, and you sleep the whole night. >> and she didn't mind? Her husband, Orlando Mesa, and 18-month-old son were shot just moments after the pair were captured on haunting surveillance camera enjoying the spring evening. all the remains. she said, well, dad, i'm going to run. "It's really a sad and horrible anniversary," said Christine Barber, executive director of Street Safe New Mexico, a nonprofit that seeks to boost safety for women who live and work on Albuquerque streets. Detective Ida Lopez's dedication to finding these missing women is admirable. the position was there. she started keeping a list of missing women who match that profile.wh that was the easy part. >> missing persons is kind of a backwater in a lot of departments. >> sometimes ida lopez simply can't wait for sunday. according to the website, she'd been a 13-year-old runaway from a group home in lawton, oklahoma in 2003. and that's what we're trying to figure out. The police are asking for the public's help to identify the women. and you never know how your skin will look. happy birthday that september angelica celebrated her sixth birthday. and the guy goes toward him, and he's tackled by police. 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. >> no.n' not at all. Trish Hoffman, spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department. -what a sign, huh? i am comfortable with the fact that we gave her a proper burial as a human being should be buried. sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. but that's not what she told the families when they called in, looking to hear something encouraging. i'm supposed to be in ceramics. As a result of the subsequent police investigation, authorities discovered the remains of 11 women and girls[8] and a fetus buried in the area. i mean $9000! no dna. >> another one here, then another one there. here, hello! Annette Gutirrez-Millspaugh shared with us that nobody had ever solved the 1982 murder of Father Reynaldo Rivera. southwestern summer heat begins to ease hot air balloons rise like spring flowers over albuquerque and the surrounding desert. The investigators were concentrating, apparently, on the females on the street. proven better on pain. >> no. The guy is a total dirt bag and the subject of a criminal case for drugging and raping a teenage girl while still walking the streets. City and law enforcement officials have solicited help from the community to solve the West Mesa murders. dan knew about some of the arrests.d most he didn't. [18][19], No official suspects have ever been named in connection with the murders. Theres so little money, and there are so many crimes. activia. and ida lopez couldn't help but wonder if these dry bones were the women she'd been looking for. and in spite of their example, they can't quit the life. Tonight's Dateline http://datl.in/fSpdzC, Anyone with information on the West Mesa murders is urged to contact (505)-768-2450 or. Reported missing between 2001 and 2005, they ranged in age from 15 to 32. so she did what every good detective does. ready, set, go. Google MapsWest Mesa Murders satellite photos show the undeveloped land where the victims were discovered. i sat in many waiting rooms, and i said, i don't want to know what their sessions were about. It's no secret. when had i last seen her? That discovery of a single bone led to a months-long dig, as police used DNA and dental records to identify the women and girls. Combing the undeveloped West Mesa near 118th Street SW, detectives spent weeks uncovering all 11 graves. Genre (s): Talk & Interview, Business, News, Documentary, Events & Specials Season 19 Episodes tbd S19:E72. along with practically every other member of the albuquerque police department and forensic experts from the fbi. we weren't as close.enec because of the drugs. let's see, aleve is proven better on pain. >> did you see her then? albuquerque police were looking at the evolving work of a serial killer. that. 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. While the FBI created suspect profiles, Albuquerque police knocked on doors. Contact the Journal about the West Mesa murders at westmesa@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3860. She was released from jail sometime in 2019.[12][13]. 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. it was when the company returned to the site to fix the runoff problem that they inadvertently brought some bones to the surface, where five months later those bones were discovered by christine ross and her dog ruca. The names of the 11 victims of the West Mesa Murders are: Monica Candelaria, 22 - Her friends told police in 2003 that they heard Monica had been murdered and buried in West Mesa. at night dan drove through the war zone. >> that really sends a chill up and down your spine. The Discovery On February 2, 2009, a woman walking her dog along the West Mesa came across what appeared. There are so many episodes online but I can't find this one, http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/dateline/somebodys-daughter-part-1-254001731808. that dares to last into the morning. gave her 20 bucks. do not use if you are allergic to dupixent. was it all hot air, or did someone with knowledge of the murders mix a kernel of truth into those rumors? Photo Source >> reporter: ida says the stories she heard back then were heartbreaking tales of abuse and neglect that almost always had drugs at their core. New Mexico State University", "Fair prostitutes help West Mesa murders", "The Untold Truth Of The West Mesa Murders", "APD Talks 10-Year Investigation Into West Mesa Murders", "The West Mesa Murders And The Bone Collector Behind Them", "Updated: Seven years later, one detective remains on West Mesa killings", "AMW Fugitives West Mesa Bone Collector Case", "Women's photos may link to mesa murders", "West Mesa Serial Killer--$100,000 Reward", "Lawton girl was only teen in mass grave", "Albuquerque police release photos in West Mesa murders investigation (warning: content may be disturbing for some people)", "Police identify 2 women from photos, both alive", "Dateline To Air Story on West Mesa Deaths", "West Mesa Bone Collector Albuquerque NM", "Police Pursue Possible Leads In West Mesa Cases", "Albuquerque police release photos in West Mesa murders investigation", "Joplin man says he has been cleared of suspicion in serial murders", "Colorado killer quizzed in mesa murders", "Does APD have a suspect in the West Mesa Murders? California, 2010: Two actors, Rachel Buffett and Daniel Wozniak, are at the center of the investigation of two murders. 'd, and it was her, and they found, you know, she was pregnant. Crime Junkie. >> i didn't even -- i didn't even want to be around it anymore. They had picked him up in 1998 when he offered an undercover cop $40 for sex. t and so that gave me an empathy for them on that part, and i thought, wow, this has got to be powerful. but you know what? An unsolved murder case has haunted the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico for more than a decade. >> reporter: then came the teen years.me when life started coming at michelle valdez fast and furious. local station as finding a femur bone. [ soft piano music playing ] mm, uh, what do you do for fun? MESA, Ariz. - Thirteen days after the shooting death of a 24-year-old Mesa woman, the man suspected of killing her was arrested in Texas, said the Mesa Police Department in a news release on. her aunt ran the streets, knew michelle, knew certain people, and they had heard it from her aunt. every time he saw her he marked the date down. The mysteries surrounding the West Mesa Murders, an unsolved case of 11 female bodies discovered in a desert graveyard near Albuquerque in 2009. [7], On February 2, 2009, a woman walking a dog found a human bone on the West Mesa, and reported it to police. One bears a stick-figure angel and a message from a woman who says the victims watch over her. after years of having only her rap sheet and her father's bittersweet memories to go on, ida lopez was now sure she knew where michelle valdez was. >> and we will see justice. >> so at one point at least you're sort of looking at truckers. Ominously, Montoya was holding a flashlight when he died while his victim was wrapped in a blanket near his SUV. 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. i noticed when she started seeing one of her boyfriends, you know. because, they suppose, all those earlier rumors about the women being abducted, killed, and dumped in the desert had to have started somewhere. Where do those women congregate. >> she's like a lot of other cases that we had skeletal remains that come in. and she's alive. According to Albuquerque's KQRE, Montoya hired a sex worker in December 2006 and took her to his home located less than two miles away from the site where the West Mesa victims were buried. doesn't just deal with missing. all you can do is bring them up, nurture them, show them love, attention, appreciation. and sure enough, they too were names on ida lopez's list of missing women. to discuss leads on missing persons, on cold cases, on sexual predators, and on unidentified remains. >> i got to know a lot of them. i got scared. According to New Mexico State University, the FBI has investigated long-haul truck drivers as suspects in murders of sex workers along major highways, and authorities have reason to believe that Edwards was one such victim. >> this is michelle. >> reporter: one of those women, safira mora, was found alive and well a few weeks after this story first aired in december 2010. right now the killer, if he's still alive, has plenty of it. and every time the phone rang his heart stopped. i mean, you'll see some out here that they need that fix. 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. >> we approached the vehicle, opened the door. what had i been doing? i just could feel all the strength in my body just kind of just drain all of a sudden. >> there's a dad who had a calendar. but occasionally she was able to do some pruning. All Rights Reserved. The 58-year-old Joplin businessman and photographer informed the Globe last week that he has been cleared of. s >> father all over again. >> reporter: ida lopez began this case with the mantra that everybody counts. and the baby. >> reporter: a time frame, 2003 to early 2005, and 11 sets of bones. She was from Lawton, Oklahoma, and was reportedly last seen in Denver, police said. if you don't have faith in your law enforcement to treat everybody equal, then what do you have? pe reporter: the michelle valdez that appears in these home videos with her little sisters is a far cry from the thin, drug-wasted young woman police would later come to know and fingerprint. >> reporter: what you have in dan valdez's case is a search you do yourself. it was so much going through my. and one of the locations that was searched was right next door to a newspaper. Her family maintains a Facebook group to solicit tips from the public, and the cold case was featured on Dateline NBC. Theories? it was all just unverifiable street talk, the kind ida lopez had heard before. The series first aired on July 27, 2009. What appeared to be a human bone was just the beginning. >> 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. >> homicidal violence. >> a third one. >> and i can understand it. with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, you feel like you're itching all the time. out in the war zone there's a new crop of ragged women on the streets, willing to sell themselves in return for a puff of smoke from a glass pipe. >> reporter: no witnesses. that was not the track michelle valdez was on.ra though dan continued to tape all the usual family functions. the hardest part of this whole thing is having to go to somebody's house and say we. >> reporter: those were long nights, filled with bittersweet memories of michelle the way she used to be, before the drugs took over. mind. According to police reports, she might have gone by Mimi or Chocolate while staying at the Ranger Motel. Lopez spent years investigating the case and soon became a significant figure in the West Mesa murders. Or, died from other indirect causes, including assault, abuse, or homicide, prior to being funeralized; preped for burial? In a 2013 interview, Ray Schultz said there was a "conscious shift" in the Albuquerque Police Department to take prostitutes more seriously. there's a better choice. 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.