Going West: True Crime - The West Mesa Murders // 297

Starting point is 00:00:00 What is going on True Crime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody. Big thank you to Olivia for recommending today's case. And when you guys finish this horrific serial killer story, and are possibly looking for more episodes if you're all caught up on going west, you can subscribe on Apple subscriptions or patreon.com

Starting point is 00:00:37 slash going west podcast links are in the episode description as well to receive 86 full-length episodes, including the one we released just yesterday on the Dupont de Ligonez murders. And that is our longest bonus episode yet at one hour and 20 minutes, and there's no ads in the bonus episodes. Yeah, and that story has just perplexed us since we heard about it a few years ago. It's basically about a French family who goes missing, but when loved ones receive a mysterious letter in the mail, claiming that they moved out of France, they had their home checked. And most of the family's bodies were found except one of them who police began looking for immediately unshirt first if they were a victim or the killer. It's

Starting point is 00:01:20 truly an unbelievable story, and it's our latest bonus episode on Apple subscriptions and Patreon. Yes, and again, that is the Dupont Delegone as murders. So thank you guys in advance for checking that out. Actually on Apple, we have a three day free trial to try before you buy. Yes, so go check that out, guys. Alright, this is episode 297 of Going West, so let's get into it. It has been 13 years since the West Mesa murder case was uncovered.

Starting point is 00:02:09 A single bone found on the West Mesa, when the digging was done, the remains of 11 women were found. This person may have been charming or friendly in order to build trust or a relationship of some kind with the women first. Investigator Liz Thompson is describing the suspect in the West Mesa murders. This person is a predator. Back in 2009 authorities uncovered the bodies of 11 women with one of them being pregnant on the West Mesa near 118th Street. The West Mesa murders horrified the Metro and puzzled police.

Starting point is 00:02:48 Our sisters and mothers and friends were killed and buried in the West Mesa. If we don't keep reminding people that this happened, it's going to happen again. On February 2nd, 2009, a New Mexico woman named Christine Ross was walking her dog Ruka by a dried out wash near Dennis Chavez Boulevard and 118th Street in Albuquerque. Now this area which is part of the Mesa Desert is about 20 minutes outside of downtown, but it sits on the edge of the city limits. And past that border are miles of desert that are said to feel remote and incredibly desolate. Now during Christine's walk in this area, her dog Rooka picked something up and brought

Starting point is 00:03:54 it to her and she was shocked when she saw that it looked like a large bone that was big enough to be human. Now she wasn't sure if it was caused for a alarm or not, so she sent a picture to her sister who funny enough was actually a nurse. And when her sister confirmed that it was in fact a human femur bone, Christine notified police. Within hours, the entire area was secured, because little did she know in the moments her dog picked up that bone? Christine had stumbled upon a shocking mass grave

Starting point is 00:04:32 that would expose the seedy underbelly of various crimes against women in albacurkey, while holding a mirror to its police force and inhabitants, revealing how fickle their sympathy could be. Investigators initially believe the bones may be prehistoric, but they were brought to a medical examiner to confirm that they were both human and recent. By the end of the day on Monday, February 2, 2009,

Starting point is 00:05:02 multiple bones were recovered from the site, some which were duplicates, meaning investigators had at least two murders on their hands. But as they expanded their search area, that number would continue to grow, and police would announce that they believed a serial killer was stalking the area and praying on some of the city's inhabitants. Between 2003 and 2006, over 20 young women of Hispanic and Latina descent were reported missing from this area. The women disappeared from an area commonly known as the War Zone, encompassing the neighborhoods of Elmer Homestead, South San Pedro, Fair West,

Starting point is 00:05:47 Lamecia, and Trumble Village in East Albuquerque. According to the demographics of this area, about half the residents live below the federal poverty line, and the rate of violent crime is so high that the average age of death is just 42 years old. That's wild. So wild. And drug use, of course, is very rampant in this area as well, as New Mexico has one of the highest drug-related death rates in the entire country.

Starting point is 00:06:14 Dating back to 2001, Albuquerque Vice Detective Ida Lopez began noticing a trend of young Hispanic and Latina women disappearing from this area. Among missing persons reports, she found 16 women who fit this profile, and within the next few years, the list climbed to 21. I'd amused quote, This is someone who had access to the women. This is somebody who was very comfortable with the place that he buried the girls had

Starting point is 00:06:44 concealment. It's someone who prays, who's out there, who's a predator. These women were loved, each one of them has a unique story, and their families want answers, and we're dedicated to finding those answers. And I'd have began investigating these disappearances long before they resulted in the discovery of many of these missing women that were buried in the desert, but found few answers until they were found. And let's actually discuss that now, so in August of 2005, so a few years before the bodies were uncovered.

Starting point is 00:07:17 Police opened an official investigation and compiled a list of missing women with similar backgrounds and circumstances spearheaded by, of course, Detective Italopes. Then, on September 15, 2007, so less than two years before the remains were found, the missing women received their first widespread publicity when the Albuquerque Tribune published an article detailing the silent crisis of albacurkey's missing women. The article was simply titled The Missing, but still, even media attention wasn't enough to locate the missing girls and to create the awareness that they deserved.

Starting point is 00:07:57 That is, until the girls were finally recovered, and because of the various stages of decomposition in which the bodies were found, it took a year for all the victims to be identified, which we're going to get into later. In total, 9 women, 2 teenage girls, and the remains of 1 fetus were recovered from the site. Now, we're going to tell you guys about all the victims in this story 1 by 1, and then we'll get into the full investigative aspects of the cases. But of course, it's important that we shine a light on each victim and tell their story before we get into the insane suspects in this case. So first, Sunday, May 11, 2003 was the last day that friends remember seeing Monica Condalaria.

Starting point is 00:08:45 She was last spotted near the corner of a Trisco and US Route 66, which cuts through Albuquerque and continues west to Gallup. This intersection, which is situated on the banks of the Rio Grande River, which also sliced through downtown, was just seven miles or 11 kilometers from where her body was recovered on the West Mesa. Monica's friends reported her missing after they began to hear rumors that she had been killed

Starting point is 00:09:11 and buried in the desert, which was an eerie rumor and tragically turned out to be true, although detectives weren't able to trace the rumor back to its origin at that time. I mean, yeah, that's so weird to, like, who started that? Yeah, how did that get spread around? Exactly, and how were they not able to trace it back? I mean, yeah, that's so weird to, like, who started that? And how did that get spread around? Exactly, and how were they not able to trace it back? I mean, it's just kind of mind-blowing,

Starting point is 00:09:29 but anyway, let's move on. Police seem to write off her disappearance at the time due to the fact that she had been a sex worker, and in their words lived a high-risk lifestyle. But let's discuss what we know about her. Monica Diana Candelaria was born on June 20, 1981 in Albuquerque, and in her 22 short years, she saw her fair share of heartbreak.

Starting point is 00:09:55 She had already lost her father Gabriel who died when Monica was just a teenager and then her young daughter Reina, who sadly died at birth. In addition to her mom, Isabel, and brother Gabriel, Jr., she left behind a young son named Michael. Monica's obituary reads, quote, Monica enjoyed laughing, joking, taking care of babies, and spending time with her family. She will be remembered as a loving daughter, mother, granddaughter, niece, cousin, and friend

Starting point is 00:10:26 who will truly be missed. Her disappearance was investigated by the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, but quickly this case went cold. When her remains were finally turned back over to her family, Monica's mother Isabel held a beautiful memorial with hundreds of attendees. Isabel remembered her daughter's bright spirit and the light that she brought to the lives of all who knew her. The next young woman to go missing was 27-year-old Dorian Marquez. Now she was last seen in October of 2003, so five months after Monica went missing, but reports conflict as to where exactly she went missing from. So her missing persons report states that she was last seen dropping off one of her children at school, which was at the Calvary Christian Academy near the University of New Mexico

Starting point is 00:11:18 campus. But contradicting reports have said that she was later spotted walking by herself in the burrelous neighborhood of Albuquerque, which is 2.5 miles or about 4 kilometers away from the school. So police have not yet nailed down exactly when or where she disappeared. Dorian was born on August 31, 1976 in Albuquerque to parents Dorothy and David, and she had three siblings named Dorothy, Julie, and Joe. Dory graduated from West Mesa High School where she had been popular and well-liked and

Starting point is 00:11:53 she was on the cheer team. She went on to have two daughters named Destiny and Mercedes and was known in her community for the very lavish birthday parties that she would throw for them. And her family and friends still reminisce about how put together she was. With one friend, Fred Erika, saying, quote, She always did her hair, she always did her nails, she always looked beautiful. This girl was gorgeous. Dorian's family don't remember her experimenting with drugs until closer to the end of her

Starting point is 00:12:23 life. But when her boyfriend went to prison, she was really struggling to take care of the girls on her own. So becoming entirely overwhelmed, her family says that she began using. Frederika said, quote, it's not like her lifestyle was like that her whole life. It wasn't.

Starting point is 00:12:41 And actually her family and friends noticed the change in Doreen the last year of her life. Her sister Julie remembered, quote, she lost her apartment so she came to live with me and I was working graveyards and while I was at work, she was having parties at my house. I found a syringe with heroin in it in the couch. So I just told her, you know, it's better if you just go

Starting point is 00:13:03 because I have kids at my house 24-7 So whenever you feel like you're not gonna use or you just want somewhere to come and shower and eat or whatever My door is open and she never came back Freda Rika said that she begged Doreen to stay with her the last time that she saw her friend Knowing that Doreen was just in a very bad place and fearing that something bad would happen to her. Frederica said quote, I will never forget that day, it's stuck in my head forever because that was the last memory of her.

Starting point is 00:13:34 I told her please don't leave, just stay here with me because I'll help you whatever it is and she's like you can't. I said yes I can, we will get help, if I can't we will get it but please don't leave. And she told me I'll be back, I can. We will get help. If I can't, we will get it. But please don't leave. And she told me, I'll be back. I promise. I'll be back. She told me she promised she'd be back. But she never came back. Dorian's sister Julie walked the streets just hanging posters, talking to locals in the drug trade who may have seen her or known her sister and reported her missing three separate times. The fourth time Julie went to speak with investigators, she met with Ida Lopez, who was handling all the other missing young women from the area.

Starting point is 00:14:14 And Ida said that the previous reports hadn't even been completed. So it just seemed like they just completely fucked off that report. Yeah, exactly. And Julie said that they had put no interest into it at all and that when the bodies were found on the West Mesa that she just knew that her sister was there and she was. While police believe that she was potentially engaging in sex work to fund her drug addiction, Doreen was never confirmed to have done so. She was buried in Roswell, New Mexico near where her brother and some of her extended family

Starting point is 00:14:47 live, and her daughters reportedly frequent the grave to decorate it with butterflies and windchimes in her memory. Months later in early 2004, 24-year-old Victoria Chavez went missing, though some reports state that it could have been as far back as June of 2003 when she was last seen in public. It was almost a year before Victoria's mother reported her missing because Victoria's visits were pretty infrequent and her mom just wasn't really sure if foul play was involved at this time. But her remains were the first to be uncovered at the burial site. Victoria and Grace Chavez was born on May 20,

Starting point is 00:15:27 1979 in Albuquerque. Like the previous women who disappeared before her, she was also a mother. When her identification was confirmed, her mother said through tears, quote, it's just hard, every day you think about this, every day it never goes away and I just want closure. It's been too long. I just want to say to these people, they have a conscience. I know you and someone knows who did it. Come forward, please, we need closure." At her memorial, her stepfather said, quote,

Starting point is 00:16:01 "...To have them come and knock on my door, I was devastated. I never thought that it would end like this. I just had that hope. Victoria also struggled with drug use and had worked as a sex worker. The inscription on her gravestone reads, quote, beloved daughter, mother, and sister. She was loved so much.

Starting point is 00:16:21 A short while after Victoria was last seen, a 27 year old woman named Veronica Romero was reported missing by her family on Valentine's Day 2004, so February 14, 2004. She was last seen getting into a white pickup truck at the intersection of Wyoming Boulevard and Central Avenue near the Trumble Village neighborhood. Her family never saw or heard from her again after this. Veronica was born on June 19, 1976 to parents Mary Jane and Larry.

Starting point is 00:16:54 She left behind five beloved children and a large extended family. When her remains were found a friend named Desire, whom Veronica called her soul sister, told the press, quote, we're putting her to rest finally, but considering what's been done, and now we're finding out more of what's happened to her and it's sad. She was hurt real bad.

Starting point is 00:17:18 Two months later, two women went missing at the same time, and they happened to be cousins. So this is 15-year-old Jamie Barrellala and 25-year-old Evelyn Salazar, and they were at a family barbecue when they left to take a walk to a park, and they never came back neither of them did. They were last seen on San Mateo Boulevard Southeast and Gibson Boulevard Southeast, which is right on the edge of the war zone that Heath mentioned earlier. Jamie's mother, Jane Perea, remembered quote, they were supposed to return in about an hour,

Starting point is 00:17:54 but they never came home. We called police, made flyers, but years later still no answers. Now the crime scene on the West Mesa has given us a new reason to worry. If it is her, you just took an innocent person away. So obviously Jane was absolutely shattered after losing her daughter and niece in one day, but she really held out hope that their remains were not among those recovered in the desert, of course just hoping that they were out there somewhere alive.

Starting point is 00:18:28 Shortly before her daughter was the last victim identified, Jane said sadly quote, I hope he gets what he deserves if they ever find him. Because how would he like it if this was his sister, his mother, anybody he knew? I need to know because I have colon cancer and I don't know about my situation. If she's okay, I'll go in peace." God this poor family. But sadly, Jamie, like I said, she was the 11th and final victim identified as being taken

Starting point is 00:18:59 by the killer, coming to be known as the West Mesa Bone Collector. Now, this doesn't change the fact that all these women were victims, but strangely, killer coming to be known as the West Mesa Bone Collector. Now this doesn't change the fact that all these women were victims, but strangely, Jamie was the only victim who had no known history of drug use or sex work. And to me, it just seems like the killer acted on opportunity. It's likely that some of the other women who were sex workers were maybe picked up while they were working, or just while they were walking down the street which seems to be the case for Jamie like this guy is just praying on the streets and I think the common denominator here

Starting point is 00:19:34 really is just that these women were either alone and or vulnerable. Yeah and also the fact that a lot of at least people believe that a lot of these abductions took place near or around the war zone. But let's talk about Jamie's life for a moment. Jamie Yvonne Catalina Barrela was born on September 28, 1988 in Albuquerque. A school friend remembers her as sweet and quiet, but that she was always smiling. She loved the music of Selena and loved to sing and dance, and according to her family, she loved sports, books, and butterflies.

Starting point is 00:20:15 Jane Romenest quote, I think about her every day. She was very special to all of us. Because of her lack of criminal history, it sadly believed that Jamie was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jamie's cousin Evelyn, who disappeared alongside her, however, was actually known to police and had been convicted on one past count of prostitution. Evelyn, Jesus, Maria Salazar, was born on November 27, 1978, to a mom named Maira, and she had two brothers named Michael and Carlos.

Starting point is 00:20:51 She also went on to have two daughters named Mariah and Unhell. One friend remembered her as joyful, loving, and gregarious, and that she absolutely adored being a mom. She loved spending time outdoors, especially camping, and she was known for her excellent cooking skills. The next victim who was last seen around May of 2004 is arguably one of the most tragic victims of the West Mesa as she was let down by a system designed to protect her.

Starting point is 00:21:22 Selania Terreen Edwards was born on November 26, 1987 in Texas, and shortly before Selonia was born, her mother had actually committed a murder for which she began serving a prison sentence when Selonia was just two years old. Three years after that, her father was charged with aggravated sexual assault against a minor, and then he was put in prison. So at that point, Solania entered the foster care system, but things unfortunately only got worse for her. She found herself in a foster care group in Lotton, Oklahoma as a pre-teen, but then in

Starting point is 00:22:02 August of 2003, she was reported missing from the group home in Oklahoma after she ran away, and she was classified as an endangered minor. Now, some investigators and reporters believe Selania to be a victim of human trafficking and that she was coerced into sex work as a teen, just becoming a victim of her unfortunate circumstances. She was later spotted in Aurora, Colorado at the Ranger Motel on Cole Fax Avenue, which is known to be a pretty CD motel, and this is also an area that is known for drug use and

Starting point is 00:22:36 prostitution. Salani was last seen with three sex workers named Lucretia, Ty, and Diamond, and went by the alias's Mimi or chocolate. But how she wound up in Albuquerque is still a mystery. Solania was 15 years old when she was reported missing from Oklahoma, but is believed to have been 16 when she was last seen in Colorado and subsequently killed in New Mexico. And her body was eventually identified by her dental records. She was the only black victim and was the only victim from out of state. About a month after Salonio was last seen in June of 2004, 23-year-old Virginia Klovin vanished.

Starting point is 00:23:20 Virginia was born on August 7, 1981 in Los Chavez, New Mexico, which is just outside of Albuquerque. And she was born to parents Elizabeth and Robert Clovin and had two brothers named Robert and Christopher. Virginia is remembered as a happy child, a girly girl who loved to do makeup. Her father, Robert, remembered quote, she was a really humorous girl. She would take everything in stride. She would try to lie to you and then come in and tell you the truth anyways two minutes later.

Starting point is 00:23:51 The teacher is wanted to adopt her. But Virginia's happy-go-lucky nature faded when at 17, she lost her brother, Robert. Following an altercation, Robert was actually shot and killed, and according to Virginia's parents, the family was never the same after that. Robert remembered sadly quote, Virginia couldn't stand to live in the same house anymore, so she moved out to Albuquerque, and thus, Virginia and her brother Christopher left home. So Virginia left the small, census-designated place of Los Chavez to live with her grandfather

Starting point is 00:24:24 in Albuquerque. And it was there that she met a new boyfriend, with whom she moved in with quickly after they started dating. But when he was struck by a car and put into a coma, Virginia was left with nothing and had no way to support herself. Something crazy about this case to me is all these women experienced such tragic loss Before they were killed whether somebody they loved was put in prison or somebody they loved died like it's a really weird Common denominator here. Well, I mean we talked about that kind of in the beginning of the episode about how the life expectancy in this area

Starting point is 00:25:01 It was only 42 years old very very true so because life expectancy in this area was only 42 years old. Very, very true. So because her boyfriend was killed, she lost the apartment that she shared with him. And so then she was turned onto the streets of Albuquerque, where she was just lost and still healing from the multiple traumas that she suffered in the past few years of her life. With this, she turned to drugs and sex work.

Starting point is 00:25:27 In June of 2004, which is the last time her parents heard from her, she called them to let them know that she had a new boyfriend that she was, quote, probably going to marry. Virginia claimed that he had just been released from prison, but her dad Robert recalled, quote, we said we'd like to meet him, but we never heard from her again. After that, everything just went dead.� Months later, by October, they knew something was wrong and reported their daughter missing. And just as with every other family, the Clovens talked to the police and hung up signs, driving through the Shortly after Virginia was last seen, cinnamon elks disappeared.

Starting point is 00:26:43 31-year-old cinnamon, who was the third to last, but the oldest-known victim of the West Mesa murderer, was last spotted in July of 2004. Cinnamon was born in Albuquerque on October 24th, 1972, and her mom Diana said, quote, this is not what I brought up my daughter to be, but drugs stole everything from us. They start stealing your checks, forging them for money, then they quit coming home at

Starting point is 00:27:10 all. She missed out on so much. Cinnamon had two children at the time of her disappearance, but was prone to taking off for days, weeks, or even months at a time and leaving them with her mom Diana. After the last time that she saw her daughter, Diana basically thought that this was the case, but when Cinnamon neglected to call Diana on her birthday, she knew that something was seriously wrong, and so she reported Cinnamon missing. And her remains were later confirmed with dental records.

Starting point is 00:27:42 The disappearance of these women were coming more quickly now, with one per month for much of 2004. Julie Nietto was last seen shortly before her 24th birthday, in August of 2004. She and her mother Eleanor were at Eleanor's father's house together, wishing him well before he headed into surgery that day. But when Eleanor returned from the hospital, Julie was gone, and Eleanor never heard from or saw her daughter again. Unable to reach her, Eleanor reported her daughter missing. Julie Cindy Nietto was born on August 28, 1980.

Starting point is 00:28:19 Her mom Eleanor remembers her as a happy, fun child who was, quote, a joy to be around. She started high school, but struggled to keep up, so she actually entered Job Corps, which offers free education and workforce training to teenagers and young adults. I actually had family members that were in Job Corps, so yeah. Oh, really? Yeah, it seems very resourceful. So Eleanor said later that she was so thankful that Julie had done so because they actually eventually identified her body from the dinner records that she had provided to Job Corps.

Starting point is 00:28:51 Julie had a young son named Dominic and Eleanor called her daughter a doding mother. Eleanor knew she wouldn't have left her son long term, saying quote, I know she wouldn't leave her son behind for anything. That was her number one wouldn't leave her son behind for anything. That was her number one priority was her son. Eleanor remembers her daughter beginning to struggle with drug use at the age of 19 and that she begged her to get treatment, but that Julie was sadly never able to work through her addiction. After Julie was reported missing, rumors began circulating the community and soon after, Julie's sister Valerie came to Eleanor and told her that she heard that Julie had been killed.

Starting point is 00:29:33 She didn't have many details and Eleanor remembers that she was, quote, scared to talk about it, but Valerie seemed to take this to heart and also took Julie's lost the hardest. A few years later, Julie's dental records confirmed that she was the fourth victim of the West Mesa murderer, or at least amongst the known victims. Right, and the final victim of the West Mesa murderer was last seen on September 22, 2004 by her dad, Dan Valdez. The last time he saw his 22-year-old daughter, Michelle, he remembered that quote,

Starting point is 00:30:11 it seemed as if she knew something was going to happen. Like Sinimans mom, Michelle's mom Karen knew something was wrong when Michelle neglected to call to wish her mom happy birthday. She was reported missing a few months later in February of 2005. Gina Michelle Valdez, who went by Michelle, was born on August 1st, 1982, to parents Karen Jackson and Dan Valdez, and she had two sisters named Camille and Kendra. Karen remembers her daughter as bubbly, kind, and fun to be around, and that her smile lit up a room.

Starting point is 00:30:48 She was always a dreamer, and she had big plans for herself. She loved to sing and actually wanted to be a singer, or perhaps follow in the footsteps of her aunt who became a lawyer. Michelle fell into drug use as a teen, but Kara and strives to make sure that her addiction doesn't define her daughter's legacy. And she said, quote, everybody has faults and hers was drugs, but she was still a human being. She was a good big sister. She always looked out for her sisters. And she was a mom who cared about her kids' accomplishments. Drug addiction certainly wasn't the lifestyle that she wanted. She actually wanted help, but she didn't have the money or the insurance, so it was very

Starting point is 00:31:29 hard for her to get it. Michelle left behind two young children, a daughter named Angelica and a son named Jeremiah. And sadly, her family would come to find out only after her remains were confirmed that she was four months pregnant. A fierce advocate for justice of these girls, Michelle's father Dan became somewhat of a spokesman for the victims and their families, but sadly he did pass away in 2015. But now into the investigation once again, so by the end of the excavation of the site on which the victims were found, the bodies of nine women, two teenagers, and the remains of Michelle's baby were recovered,

Starting point is 00:32:12 but it's entirely possible that there are more victims who were buried in different locations, or just have not been found yet. The only two items that were not human remains uncovered, alongside the bodies were one acrylic fingernail and a tree tag from a sapling tree that was traits back to a local store, which we are going to touch on here in a minute. According to satellite images from the area, it appears that the last victim was buried in 2005 due to the disruption of the dirt, which means the remains all sat there for four years

Starting point is 00:32:46 just waiting to be found. Investigators combed through the area meticulously as some of the women were buried as far down as 21 feet. That is crazy. When I read that detail, I was like, that just seems super deep. Yeah, like most people don't do that. Or most killers don't do that. Right. I mean, yeah, 21 feet is super, super deep. Yeah, like most people don't do that or most killers don't do that. Right. I mean yeah 21 feet is super super deep. They were really trying to make sure that nobody found those remains But luckily they were so in order of discovery the remains found were Victoria Chavez

Starting point is 00:33:19 Gina Michelle Valdez Cinnamon Elks Julie Nieto Monica Condalaria, Veronica Romero, Dorine Marquez, Solania Edwards, Virginia Clovin, and Evelyn Salazar. And it was determined that Victoria, Cinnamon, Julie, and Michelle knew each other prior to their murders. It took close to a year to identify everyone, like I said earlier, just because of the elements and the amount of decay and the official cause of their deaths was homicidal

Starting point is 00:33:51 violence, but no official cause of death could be determined just due to the amount of time that it passed. Well, I think you could probably rule out, you could definitely rule out multiple things. Yeah, like gunshot wound, yeah yeah by looking at the schools absolutely but but yeah i mean it's unfortunate that they just have no idea how these women uh... died yeah i mean it would really be good to know just for the investigation especially because of what we're gonna talk about here in a minute about the suspects and

Starting point is 00:34:20 you know there their m.o.s so from the onset of the investigation while families grieved and begged for answers, the investigators received criticism for how they handled the disappearance of the women. Many family members of the victims remember their concerns being diminished by law enforcement. Most were told that the women were over 18 and that they had likely just run off and would be back, which we've heard about a billion times in investigations. Ray Schultz, who was the chief of police at the time, said quote,

Starting point is 00:34:52 �It's not against the law to be missing in America, especially if you're an adult, which I just think, you know, again, goes to prove that these families were right, that law enforcement were trying to diminish their concerns. But the family's claim their concerns being silenced was more than just the assumption that the women had left on their own volition. It was because police knew that most of these women were engaged in, quote, high-risk lifestyles. A local professor and serial killer expert, Dirk Gibson, explained, quote, there hasn't been the degree of public fear and alarm that you might expect.

Starting point is 00:35:29 There has been very little publicity. There's a sense of physical remoteness. This place was very removed. There has been little pressure on the police to investigate. Albacurkians don't relate to the victims. But police argued this saying that they've been hard at work since before the bodies were discovered, and not just due to the efforts of detective idol Lopez. The FBI were brought in to create a suspect profile for the type of person that they

Starting point is 00:35:56 believe to be responsible, and police scoured the neighborhoods from which the women were believed to have disappeared. One very persistent theory is that the killer may have been a police officer himself. Again, just a theory, but let's crack into it. So according to some of the families of the victims, multiple women had mentioned being afraid of an officer named Dave.

Starting point is 00:36:21 One woman on a forum dedicated to the West Mesa murders even wrote that she had gone on a date with a man who apparently admitted that he had murdered these women but that when she turned to law enforcement to report it, she was shut down. She explained, quote, law enforcement is involved with the crime and cover up. In order to actually solve this crime, it would devastate the integrity of the Albuquerque Police Department as a couple of the individuals ahead of the case helped kill the women.

Starting point is 00:36:53 Again, these are her words, not ours, and also speculation. Yeah, total speculation. This is just something that she claims to be true, but there's really no evidence to back it up. And of course, police negated these claims stating that if the murderer had claimed to be with the albacurkey police department, that he had simply been posing as an officer. And I will agree that we have seen cases where killers do pose as police officers, so it's not too far-fetched. But it also is interesting that they're saying it, like it's factual, like, oh, if they said they were an officer,

Starting point is 00:37:28 then they were posing because they're not one of us. I mean, hopefully they looked into that to make sure that that is in fact true. Yeah. Especially since this does seem to be a concern amongst multiple people in the community, but yeah, they're saying that it wasn't any of them. Now sadly, as we know, sex workers are an easy target for a serial killer or easy prey

Starting point is 00:37:51 for a serial killer, especially in the case of these victims, most of whom were known to struggle with drug addiction. Many of their families do not expect regular check-ins from them, so their disappearance is when unreported for weeks if not months. But police have sworn publicly and to the families that they are taking this case every bit as seriously as any other disappearance or homicide investigation. The police spokesman said, quote, we have literally ruled out hundreds of people. The police department has not forgotten about this case. The two most likely suspects have never been formally connected to the case,

Starting point is 00:38:35 but in the opinion of the police and many of the families of the victims, one of them is likely to be involved. So let's discuss them now. Yes, let's get into it, so on December 17th, 2006, so a few years before the bodies were found and a year or so after the final victim was buried. A 39-year-old man named Lorenzo Montoya was meeting up with a 19-year-old exotic dancer at his home. But when she didn't come home and her boyfriend hadn't heard from her, the boyfriend headed to her last known whereabouts, which was Lorenzo's home.

Starting point is 00:39:10 The boyfriend drove up and witnessed Lorenzo holding a flashlight and dragging the dancer who had been strangled to death and wrapped in a sheet and loading her into his car. This is insane, like I don't, I can't remember a case that we've ever covered where a killer has actually been caught in the act of, of, you know, something like this, like loading them into the car or dragging, like this is crazy. So crazy.

Starting point is 00:39:38 So completely taken aback by what he was witnessing, the dancers' boyfriend shot and killed Lorenzo on the spot in Goodridden's Asshole. Lorenzo's home, which was a trailer at 4,000 Blake Road, Southwestern Albuquerque, was just a 7-minute drive from where the West Mesa murder victims were recovered. Satellite images from the area when the murders were taking place, provided tire tracks leading to and away from the burial site. And get this, they matched the truck

Starting point is 00:40:09 that Lorenzo drove at the time. Insane. Crazy. So when investigators dug deeper into his background, he seemed like an even more likely suspect. Oh yes, he did. He was known to frequent the war zone, which we've mentioned many times, and it's solicited

Starting point is 00:40:27 and assaulted sex workers multiple times. He also had a history of domestic violence and a rape charge against him that was somehow dropped. And his ex-girlfriend even explained that he had threatened to kill her and bury her in lime rock. When police sifted through Lorenzo's possessions after his death, they came across multiple homemade sex tapes that he made with various sex workers, some of whom horrifically reportedly appeared to be a sleep or even dead.

Starting point is 00:41:00 In 2016, the Albuquerque Journal released a video from Lorenzo's archives in which he can be heard ripping duct tape and fussing with a crinkling sounding material, potentially a sheet, or a garbage bag. Some have pointed out that it sounds like there's whimpering or struggling happening in the background, and Lorenzo can be heard saying, tranquilo or quiet. And Lorenzo can be heard saying, Trinquilo or quiet. And unfortunately, because he was killed, there hasn't yet been a way to definitively tie him to the victims of West Mesa. I really think he is such a likely suspect of this case just because of what we know that he's capable of.

Starting point is 00:41:40 All of this evidence is so horrific and I mean the tire tracks like, I don't know how it couldn't be this guy. But years later, around the time that the body started being pulled from the mesa, a woman called Albuquerque police and stated that she believed her ex-husband may have been involved in the murders. April Jillian said that her ex-husband Joseph Blaya had a history of violent crimes against women and was known to frequent neighborhoods that were notorious for sex work. He also had ties to the West Mesa and would make frequent trips there to drop landscaping

Starting point is 00:42:17 waste from his work there late at night. In 2003, Joseph was arrested for publicly exposing himself to a woman, and when his car was searched, police recovered both rope and electrical tape. Between 1990 and the year when the bodies were recovered again 2009, Joseph had over 140 run-ins with police. There's so many. In 2014, Joseph was arrested for multiple home invasions and subsequent rapes of girls as young as 13 years old,

Starting point is 00:42:53 dating back to the 1980s. DNA from a decade's old rape kit was finally retested in 2010, which eventually linked him to the crime. And get this. His DNA was also found on the clothing of a sex worker who was found deceased in the war zone, but he was never charged with her murder. Which is just complete bullshit that his DNA would be on her, and they couldn't charge

Starting point is 00:43:20 him for that. Well, and the tree tag found at the scene of the burials that I mentioned earlier was linked to a store that Joseph was known to frequent. Obviously, I mean, that does seem weird in hindsight. Maybe not that weird, but it's kind of weird to me. And according to a cellmate of his in prison, Joseph referred to the West Mesa girls as trashy, yet admitted to having hired many of them. And suspiciously, his daughter found women's underwear and jewelry that didn't belong

Starting point is 00:43:50 to her or her mother in Joseph Shed in their backyard. But we're unsure if any of them are linked to the West Mesa murder victims, but we do know that in June of 2015, Joseph Blair was sentenced to 90 years in prison for the rape cases, but he has never been formally linked to or charged with the West Mesa murders. And also, good riddance. Good riddance, yeah, too. I mean, two very good suspects here. Yeah, absolutely. In the summer of 2014, Detective Idolope has retired and Detective Mark Moroni took over. While he claims that it's still an active investigation, he laments quote, "...Police budgets are stretched thin.

Starting point is 00:44:36 They're so little money and there's so many crimes." Investigating a 10-year-old crime when the police think that the victim had it coming, there's just no incentive for that. Why would you word it like that? I know, that's just so badly worded. But investigator Liz Thompson assured a reporter quote, "...I wanted to spell the sad and disturbing myths that are out there about the investigation, such as investigators know who did this, but aren't doing anything because the person

Starting point is 00:45:02 is dead, that there are only two suspects or the worst that we haven't solved it because the investigators simply don't care about these women. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Hundreds of people have been interviewed. Many persons of interest have been identified. Tips continue to come in almost every single week. Every tip is evaluated. Another tip from the public led to an expansive search in the summer of 2021. Sadly, the search

Starting point is 00:45:31 did not produce anything more in the way of answers, but we appreciate every tip because we never know which one may be the tip that solves this mystery. We hope that if there's someone out there who's hearing this and knows that during the construction of homes or their particular home that something suspicious was found but wasn't brought to the attention of the authorities, we would like those people to still come forward. The families have really leaned on each other for support and many have kept in touch. For a while they would do meetups along with the children that the women left behind. Now, the sight of their discoveries is blocked off by a cinder block wall

Starting point is 00:46:11 and dotted with trash. Jamie's mother Eleanor frequently goes there to clean it up and to leave flowers and balloons for the lost girls, always 12 for the 11 victims and Michelle's unborn baby, which is so sweet of her to do. For years, the city has promised a memorial park with one tree planted for every victim, but unfortunately, the funding and permits have never come through. Former Chief of Police Ray Schultz said the reason for this is, quote, I've been to community meetings about that. Everyone wants to build a memorial, but is this going to become a distraction to the community?

Starting point is 00:46:52 Is it going to hurt land values? Unfortunately, I've actually heard that come up in a meeting before. Too many people in the community look at women who are victimized in this way as being disposable and they shouldn't. I mean, kind of saying that, oh, well, is this going to look bad on the community if we have a memorial for these victims? It's like, no, it should be done out of respect, you know, and then

Starting point is 00:47:18 also turning around and then saying that these women are not disposable. It's like, well, then don't treat them as if they are, like, you know, figure out how to get these funds together so that you can create this memorial park. I think that's important. Yeah, I totally agree. And that's just the saddest part about this case in cases like it is just the way that people think about it, even though that's what we really tried to do in this episode to

Starting point is 00:47:41 show who these women were as a whole and not just what they did for a portion of their life to make money. Like it's just sad the way that so many people think about it and all the misinformation that is being spread about these victims even down to their ages because there's so much misreporting in this case as well. Now, a reward of $100,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer of the West Mesa 11 is still being offered. If you have any information, please call the 118th Street Task Force at 1877-765-8273. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West.

Starting point is 00:48:40 Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and on Friday we'll have an all-new case for you guys to dive into. Yes, we will remember this case is very much unsolved, even though we do have a couple very likely seeming suspects on the list, or please do at least. Please make sure that you share this case, and again, if you're looking for more episodes, check out our Apple subscriptions or our Patreon for 86 full length ad-free bonus episodes, including the one we released just yesterday

Starting point is 00:49:12 on the Dupont-Dalegonez murders. That case is so tragic and crazy, and we just released it, and it's our longest bonus episode yet. Also, if you wanna see photos and videos from this case and many, many more, head on over to our socials, Instagram, episode yet. See you in a few days. Love every single one of ya. Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. Thank you. you

Going West: True Crime - The West Mesa Murders // 297

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