Victim- Syllannia Edwards

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Syllannia Edwards

Victim: Syllannia Edwards Suspect: Unknown
Location: 118th Street SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Synopsis: Using a sketch and dental records, the Office of the Medical Investigator has identified one of the unknown victims of the 118th Street Serial Killer as Syllannia Edwards. Law enforcement authorities in Lawton, Oklahoma had classified her as an endangered runaway and reported her missing in 2003. In May of 2004, Edwards had been seen associating with prostitutes on East Colfax Avenue in Aurora Colorado. She may have been staying at the Ranger Motel. Edwards was seen in the company of three other women: Lucretia, Ty and Diamond. She might have been using the nicknames "Mimi" or "Chocolate." Edwards was 15 years old when last seen. Syllannia Edwards was killed sometime between 2004 and 2005 and then buried in a mesa located adjacent to 118th Street SW in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Please call the 118th Street Task Force at 1-877-765-8273, (505) 768-2450 or Crime Stoppers at (505) 843-STOP with any information you may have concerning this crime. You may also email information to Detective Mark Manary at mmanary@cabq.gov.

https://www.cabq.gov/police/contact-the-police/west-mesa-homicide-investigation
 
So sad. What have you found out? I know she was in foster care...

Well, I went back to the beginning. Her mother at 14 married her father who was 25, in September 1981 and had their first child in December. Syllania was born in 1987 and her mother was charged with capital murder in 1984 and began serving time for it in 1989 when Syllania was only 2. In 1992 her father was charged with 2 counts of aggravated sexual assault to a minor and is a registered sex offender living in TX. The son that was born in 1981 is a self-proclaimed pimp and is serving a 35 year sentence for murder. I doubt they even know about Syllania’s demise. I read she tried to reconnect with her mother once she was released but was rejected which is when she trailed off to OK. Im working on that part now.
 
According to a comment left by a blogger and former worker at a women's shelter:
"She was removed from the custody of her dope addict mother at a young age and bounced foster home to foster home. She came to OKC looking for her birth mother. Learned her birth mother had moved to Texas with a new love. She managed to contact the pair, was rebuffed, and moved into City Rescue Mission with Monica Candeleria, who was registered at City Rescue Mission as Monica Vasquez."

https://roseinthestorm.wordpress.com/serialkillers/bad-and-badder/
 
I have been able to ascertain that Syllania was unfortunately born into tragic circumstances. Her mother married at the age of 14 a man 10 years her Senior and soon began a rap sheet that included attempted murder, prostitution, child endangerment and drug abuse. Their 1st born son a self proclaimed pimp is doing 35 years for murder. The mother had at least 5 other children in addition to these and finally the father, is a registered sex offender in TX for 2 counts of aggravated sexual assault on a female child aged 9 from 1992.

It is very difficult tracking Syllania's movements after she ran away in OK due to her age. Any assistance or suggestions would be appreciated!
 
According to a comment left by a blogger and former worker at a women's shelter:
"She was removed from the custody of her dope addict mother at a young age and bounced foster home to foster home. She came to OKC looking for her birth mother. Learned her birth mother had moved to Texas with a new love. She managed to contact the pair, was rebuffed, and moved into City Rescue Mission with Monica Candeleria, who was registered at City Rescue Mission as Monica Vasquez."

https://roseinthestorm.wordpress.com/serialkillers/bad-and-badder/

So there are 2 sets of cousins found in the mesa? If so I didn't realize that, and wondering if they went missing in pairs at different times.
 
So there are 2 sets of cousins found in the mesa? If so I didn't realize that, and wondering if they went missing in pairs at different times.

Well, I think Syllania and Monica C. may have only been pretend cousins because of the ethnicity. But since Monica was from the area, that could be how Syllania made it to or ended up in NM. The article did mention a 3rd person, Shannon Edwards that is probably her real cousin that has not been heard from. Researching her at this time.
 
Sourcing,
I read the comment by the blogger you linked but do you think she could've been mistaken? Monica Candelaria was reported missing in May of 2003 and the article stated Syllania ran away from Lawton, OK in August of 2003. On the other hand, the I-40 runs right through OKC, where the city rescue mission center is, and Albuquerque. Traveling on I-40 west from OKC, the next big city you would run into is Albuquerque so logistically that makes perfect sense. Hmm..we need to find more info on Syllania after she left OK.
 
Vegasdee,
the Blogger could very well be mistaken but did you see the comments section? Thats 2 people that places Monica and Syllania together (looking past the "cousin" theory). Heres another point, Syllania was reported missing August 2003 but according to the comments, she stayed in a shelter with Monica, where the commenter was employed and reported her as a runaway
. A tip later came in that she was spotted/arrested May 2004 in Denver. There is a connection with these states and missing women and as I read in a blog appears to be a "sex trafficing circuit".
 
Sourcing,
Totally agree on the OKC, Albuquerque, and Denver "sex trafficking circuit". You got major interstates that run through these cities...I-40 and I-25. Only info I could find on Syllania was from the dateline special. She was arrested in Denver/Aurora for prostitution on July of 2004 and APD believed she had been to Albuquerque at least 1x before the July arrest in Denver. So we have her in Albuquerque after 8-2003 but before July 2004 and back in Albuquerque after July 2004. We need to find out who she was with while traveling between Albuquerque and Denver.
 
Sourcing,
I read the comment by the blogger you linked but do you think she could've been mistaken? Monica Candelaria was reported missing in May of 2003 and the article stated Syllania ran away from Lawton, OK in August of 2003. On the other hand, the I-40 runs right through OKC, where the city rescue mission center is, and Albuquerque. Traveling on I-40 west from OKC, the next big city you would run into is Albuquerque so logistically that makes perfect sense. Hmm..we need to find more info on Syllania after she left OK.

You may be correct. Just found an article in MS that says Isabel Candaleria heard a rumor about Monica being buried at the Mesa in May 2003 3 weeks after she was reported missing. Unlikely she could have been with SE later that year if her death was rumored 6 months earlier. :gaah:
 
According to comments left by a blogger, who claims she once worked at the mission where they both stayed, after Syllania tried to reunite with her mother she then moved:
"into City Rescue Mission with Monica Candeleria, who was registered at City Rescue Mission as Monica Vasquez"

https://roseinthestorm.wordpress.com/serialkillers/bad-and-badder/

City Rescue Mission is in Oklahoma City, OK. The blogger has yet to reply to my questions.
 
It would be very interesting to find people who interacted with Syllannia throughout her stay in Albuquerque -- but also in general too before she arrived in the city -- and study their testimonies. This kind of information will be very insightful, even if people had merely seen her. These people can range from a passerby who can now discern her, or people who rendered some kind of service to her -- like a person working in a nail parlor (where I presume she attained her acrylic nails). User Sourcingforinfo has found one such instance, but there are others out there that communicated with her in some manner, or who may have even seen her somewhere at some point in time. There is someone out there; please let your experience be known.
 
It has been over two years since this post. Have you heard from the blogger that you contacted?
 
Well, I went back to the beginning. Her mother at 14 married her father who was 25, in September 1981 and had their first child in December. Syllania was born in 1987 and her mother was charged with capital murder in 1984 and began serving time for it in 1989 when Syllania was only 2. In 1992 her father was charged with 2 counts of aggravated sexual assault to a minor and is a registered sex offender living in TX. The son that was born in 1981 is a self-proclaimed pimp and is serving a 35 year sentence for murder. I doubt they even know about Syllania’s demise. I read she tried to reconnect with her mother once she was released but was rejected which is when she trailed off to OK. Im working on that part now.

Would you be able to share where you found this information about her family? I've begun research on Syllania but I'm having a difficult time finding anything at all on her background, including her family. It is said that she ran away with a cousin of hers by the name of Shannon Edwards, but this person is essentially invisible and unknown as well. If you could share this information that would be very insightful. Thank you.
 
We all know Syllania as one of the victims of the West Mesa Murders. The only things we can gather from online sources is two of her pictures and that she was a runaway who found herself in a bad spot at a bad time. That's all we know. That's it. However, I am deeply curious as to what she was like as a person, not a victim. I want to put aside, for a moment, that she was a victim. I wish to be able to piece together the puzzle of what she was like and what led her to the route that she took. So far, the only source of information indicating anything about her personality was in the link that user Sourcingforinfo provided, in which an individual who worked at a shelter actually interacted with her. I have found this: https://charleyross.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/syllania-edwards-found-deceased/#comment-46446

Now, there is nothing that provides details of her personality, but a person in the comment section in the link I provided mentions that Syllania was a relative of hers. Does anyone else think it would be fascinating to talk and gather information from people who knew her? I sure do!

I wish I could find information like who she was in foster care with. What happened to these families? Why did she feel the need to run away from them? She had to have grown up with peers of some sort like relatives, friends, people she interacted with while she was at school, etc. There are people out there that knew her. Who are these people? What are they thinking of her? What would they have to say about her? Why haven't they said anything at all? Families and friends of the other women have expressed their thoughts and feelings. Why isn't anyone doing such for Syllania? Why is this girl such a mystery?

I feel like if more information about her was available it would provide insight to who she was as a person and why she did the things she did. A few pieces of the puzzle could be pieced together. So many questions but no avenues for answers. I believe it is possible, though, to find and talk with the people who interacted with and knew her. Does anyone feel the way I do? These women were people with very intricate lives and personalities. I feel that they should be recognized as people, not just entirely as victims. I hope to talk with those who knew her to begin to understand Syllania a little more, instead of this woman forever being a vague mystery. How could one possibly find this kind of information? In one of the comments above, it is noted that information on her family was identified. How? From what source?

Is anyone else wondering these things too?
 
It has been over two years since this post. Have you heard from the blogger that you contacted?

No air never received a response. I heard from the producers of the A&E special that she is deceased based on their follow-up.
 
Re: cort2209 I totally agree with you and I was obsessed with her. Her background story was tragic. I used Ancestry.com to put together her family tree. They are local to me so I believe it was a little too close for me to go further. I can share via email if you’d like.
 

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