NM - West Mesa Murders (2003-05)

[SuziQ]

(snipped for space)
The one thing that does not make sense to me is Victoria Chavez, her death seems more likely the working of a serial killer. In addition, on the Charley Project, many of New Mexico's missing women have the following tag written in the details of their disappearance:
"...is one of a dozen women who were reported missing from the Albuquerque area since 2001. All of them were involved in drugs and prostitution, but investigators are not certain whether the cases are related." http://charleyproject.org/cases/h/herron_nina.html

Thanks for the heads up on the dozen women. I went through the profiles at The Charley Project and found 8 that specifically refer to the dozen missing. I double checked but still may have missed some that have that reference.

Cinnamon Elks

Virginia Ann Cloven

Felipa Gonzales

Anselma Guerra

Nina Brenda Herron

Julie Cyndie Nieto

Anna Vigil

Shawntell Waites

 

[Ruflossn]

11th Body Found At West Mesa

Police said they have also identified the eighth body found as that of Gina Michelle Valdez, with a birthdate of Aug. 1, 1982. She was reported missing in 2005. Her bones, including the bones of the fetus she was carrying, were uncovered Monday.

http://www.koat.com/news/18794758/detail.html


Forgive me if this has been posted, I did not see it referenced above~ Looks like there have now been 11 bodies uncovered and 8 have been identified.

 

[amethyst]

There have only been two identified so far.

 

[TopGunner]

There have only been two identified so far.

It may be an error, but in the link provided by Ruflossn above, it does state:


>>Police said they have also identified the eighth body found as that of Gina Michelle Valdez, with a birthdate of Aug. 1, 1982. She was reported missing in 2005. Her bones, including the bones of the fetus she was carrying, were discovered Saturday<<

 

[Kat]

Gina Michelle Valdez

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/v/valdez_michelle.html

Missing date: 22 SEP 2004

Can't find one missing information for Victoria Chavez.

ETA: She has an update on Charley project. "Chavez, 24, disappeared from Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 5, 2003"
http://www.charleyproject.org/resolved.html
slightly past mid-page.

 

[SuziQ]

Thanks for the updates! Since Victoria and Gina went missing in different years, it appears this isn't one single event.

 

[SuziQ]

24 in 24 months?!!!

http://www.koat.com/news/18794758/detail.html

(snip)
"Several years ago we noticed an increasing number of young women missing in the Albuquerque area, and the fact is we are very proactive and already had the files together of the missing 24 women and we actually already had on file 17 sets of dental records," said Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz.

 

[Jesikah1]

Here is a video of Gina Michelle Valdez's father commenting on finally knowing where his daughter is: http://www.koat.com/video/18788426/index.html

May he get the answers he needs.

ETA:Sorry, it looks like the link goes to KOAT's daily videos, but if you scroll down on the page there are two videos to choose from with G.M. Valdez's father speaking.

 

[chicagofa13]

It may be an error, but in the link provided by Ruflossn above, it does state:


>>Police said they have also identified the eighth body found as that of Gina Michelle Valdez, with a birthdate of Aug. 1, 1982. She was reported missing in 2005. Her bones, including the bones of the fetus she was carrying, were discovered Saturday<<

IMO they are saying the eighth body found in the search has been ID'd. Not that 8 have been ID'd. If that made sense!

I can't edit anymore but my original title needs to be changed: Bones of at least 11 women found...

Glad they are moving away from the single incident theory.

 

[Ruflossn]

IMO they are saying the eighth body found in the search has been ID'd. Not that 8 have been ID'd. If that made sense!

I can't edit anymore but my original title needs to be changed: Bones of at least 11 women found...

Glad they are moving away from the single incident theory.

I had a hard time believing the single incident story. Especially after more and more bodies were recovered.

 

[Kat]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29402299/

Some snips of what I found interesting in the above article dated 26 FEB 2009:

"The remains were found buried in roughly 30-by-10-yard area atop a mesa west of the city."

and:

"Albuquerque police think one person is responsible for burying the bodies but have not named a suspect."

Hmmm, not one incident but one person responsible now?

 

[MeoW333]

Wow, i wonder how many they will find.. 11 so far.
It will be great when they can determine the ages of all the remains and when they had each been buried. Help to establish a timeline.
Looks like a serial killer was very familiar with that spot.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Incredible. And sad. I wonder how many of those are in our missing files on WS?

They said on HLN a minute ago about it being a single serial killer and brought up about the one from LA, CA who still hasn't been caught. The talking head is going into his opinion of why they probably aren't related.

11 bodies and they think more will be found says that this killer has been getting away with this easily for a very long time. Is it because of the lifestyles of the victims? Did LE not pursue the cases because of it? Makes me wonder how this perp slid under the radar until the bodies were discovered (and may still not ever be caught). How does he kill a dozen people and leave no clues?!

 

[SuziQ]

Family gathers to remember victim

http://kob.com/article/stories/S808017.shtml?cat=500

 

[Trino]

This area is a little remote. Still, it's hard to envision someone taking bodies out there in such an open spot, and burying them w/o being discovered.

I appears the victims identified so far were on the fringes, maybe not homeless, but somehow involved in drugs/prostitiution.

 

[SuziQ]

2 more bodies found in NM desert raise total to 13

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jHoyOxB-E50OhIqc4aIyyfP0WNKQD96K7IRG0

 

[SuziQ]

http://kob.com/article/stories/S809536.shtml?cat=519

(snip)
APD said they will tear down a retaining wall in the area where the 13th victim, a woman, was found.
"There's actually a retaining wall behind where Jane Doe number 13 is," Schultz said. "We will be taking that retaining wall out as the course of this investigation continues because we feel that we need to continue our investigation in that direction."
Searchers are using hand tools to dig up more remains.

 

[SuziQ]

One POI lived close to the dig site. And I wonder if rope made out of duck tape was found at the scene? Good video at the below link.

http://kob.com/article/stories/S810040.shtml?cat=516

(snip)
Police said Montoya had tied Hill up with a rope made out of duct tape. Investigators said the way the rope was made suggested Montoya had done it before.
Another reason Montoya is getting attention is how close he lived to the dig site--about two miles.
Back in 2006, there were dirt trails that led directly from Montoya's mobile home park to the dig site.

 

[Kat]

Thank you for the updates SuziQ. Montoya and the other man were named as POI's early in the investigation. Both are dead.

The article you gave a link to in your post # 58 that gave the account of the crime where Montoya killed a woman, was very interesting. I hadn't been able to locate an article on that from the archives.

I wonder if we would still be able to search for Montoya's rap sheet or the other POI as we are in other cases? It would be interesting to see what kind of offenses they had been arrested for in the past.

 

[Kat]

I do not have L. Montoya's middle initial. I can only guess his year of birth at 1967 (+/- 1 Yr) given that he was killed in 2006 at the age of 39.

I did a search of court records at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court link, there were quite a few results returned for the individual that I searched for by the search terms outlined above.

A great many were Traffic violations. I do not think that those would be of interest to us in looking at his history. However, what caught my eye were the following charges.

These are charges and I have not followed to the sentence and/or dismissal of these charges.

I do not know for sure if this is the L. Montoya that is referred to in the article above. But the year of birth is accurate (no others of that name with that year found) and the descriptions of the defendent are consistant.

That being said here are some charges I saw:

1/12/2005 Patronizing prostitutes

7/13/2002 Unlawful carry deadly weapon

11/03/1999 Criminal Sexual Penetration 2nd degree, Criminal Sexual Penetration 3rd degree, Kidnapping (all charges Nolle prosequi)

9/26/1998 Patronizing prostitutes

5/04/1994 Assault domestic Violence Case

4/22/1989 Unlawful carry deadly weapon

Just found them interesting.