Unsolved Serial Murders In New Mexico
The Long Island Killer. One New York serial killer has been plying his grisly trade since the mid-1990s, killing at least ten victims over the years. The extent of these crimes is still unknown, and the murders were only discovered after an accidental find of human remains on Gilgo Beach in 2010.
ALABAMA: Sherry Lynn Marler went missing from Greenville in 1984.
ALASKA: Passengers on the fishing boat Investor were killed in Craig in 1982.
ARIZONA: Pauline Robbin Burgett was fatally stabbed in 1978.
ARKANSAS: Morgan Nick disappeared from an Alma ballpark in 1995.
CALIFORNIA: The 'Original Night Stalker' and the 'Zodiac Killer' both infamously terrorized California.
COLORADO: 6-year-old pageant queen JonBenét Ramsey was found dead in her family's home in Boulder in 1996.
CONNECTICUT: Mary Badaracco disappeared from Sherman in 1984 under suspicious circumstances.
DELAWARE: Jane Marie Prichard was found dead in Blackbird State Forest in 1986.
FLORIDA: A triple murder in Tallahassee is still unsolved more than 50 years later.
GEORGIA: Vanessa 'Honey' Malone was shot while visiting her friends' apartment in Stone Mountain in 2012.
HAWAII: Lisa Au's murder has been called 'one of Hawaii's biggest unsolved mysteries' by local news station KHON2.
IDAHO: Someone was convicted of killing 18-year-old Angie Dodge in Idaho Falls in 1996, but some believe the confession was coerced.
Unsolved Serial Murders In New Mexico State
ILLINOIS: Jaclyn Dowaliby was kidnapped — her body was found a week later.
INDIANA: The 'Lasalle Street murders' are still unsolved more than 40 years later.
IOWA: A double homicide in Newton committed in 1983 remains unsolved.
KANSAS: In 1970, 12-year-old Kelly Lynn Albright went missing and was found dead in a field in Reno County.
KENTUCKY: The murder of 19-year-old Betty Gail Brown is Lexington's oldest cold case.
LOUISIANA: The 'Jennings Eight' were eight women whose bodies were found in swamps around Jennings between 2005 and 2009.
MAINE: The murder of Mary Catherine Olenchuk in Ogunquit in 1970 is the state's oldest unsolved case.
MARYLAND: The murder of Carolyn Wasilewski, also known as 'Carolyn Wells,' made headlines across the world.
MASSACHUSETTS: Lizzie Borden was accused of murdering her parents with an ax in 1892 and remained a pariah in Fall River even though she was acquitted.
MICHIGAN: The Oakland Child County Killer murdered four children between 1976 and 1977.
MINNESOTA: Mary Schlais was found dead in Spring Brook Township in 1974 — and it might have been the work of a serial killer.
MISSISSIPPI: Flynt Lee was killed and thrown off a bridge in Simpson County in 2009.
MISSOURI: A prepubescent girl was found decapitated in St. Louis in 1983 in a case that still haunts detectives.
MONTANA: Miranda Fenner was murdered while working at a video store down the street from her home in 1998.
NEBRASKA: Chadron State professor Steven Haataja was found tied to a tree and burned to death, but some think it could have been suicide.
NEVADA: Rapper Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996.
NEW HAMPSHIRE: 'The Connecticut River Killer' is responsible for at least seven deaths between 1978 and 1987.
NEW JERSEY: Detectives are no closer to finding the person who killed young girls in the northern New Jersey suburbs than they were in the 1960s.
NEW MEXICO: It took police a year to identify the remains of 11 women killed in the West Mesa Murders, but they still haven't identified the killer.
NEW YORK: The beloved owner of 2nd Ave Deli was shot and killed in 1996.
NORTH CAROLINA: A 72-year-old grandmother was found with her throat slashed in her Pinehurst home in 1989 — with no apparent motive.
NORTH DAKOTA: The serial killer who murdered six people in Niagara is known, but the names of the victims are still a mystery 100 years later.
OHIO: The identity of the 'Cleveland Torso Murderer' from the 1930s is still unknown.
OKLAHOMA: The Lawton Serial Killer struck from 1999 to 2003, killing five women.
OREGON: Two women were attacked by a man with an ax while camping in Cline Falls in 1977.
PENNSYLVANIA: An unidentified boy discovered in a box in 1957 became known as 'The Boy in the Box.'
RHODE ISLAND: Joanne Lee Reynolds was found dead in her apartment in 1980 — and investigators are hoping to find a lead on Facebook.
SOUTH CAROLINA: 4-year-old Jessica Gutierrez was kidnapped in Lexington County in 1986.
SOUTH DAKOTA: A mother and her two children were shot dead in Mount Vernon in 1981. The father was charged with first-degree murder, but later acquitted.
TEXAS: A young couple was found dead in a 'lover's lane' in Houston.
UTAH: The 'February 9 Killer' carried out two similar murders, two years apart, on the same day.
VERMONT: Between 1920 and 1950, as many as 10 people disappeared in the 'Bennington Triangle' in southwestern Vermont.
VIRGINIA: The 'Colonial Parkway Murders' remain unsolved after 30 years.
WASHINGTON: Murders in Mineral in 1985 became known as the 'Tube Sock Killings.'
WEST VIRGINIA: When the Sodder family home burned down in 1945 in Fayetteville, four of their nine children escaped — but the other five disappeared completely.
WISCONSIN: Seven women affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison died in the 'Capital City Killings' between 1968 and 1982.
WYOMING: 'Gabby's Bones' were found in an old trunk from the 1930s in Thermopolis in 1986.
Between 2002 and 2005, a serial killer who became known as the West Mesa Bone Collector murdered and buried 11 women in the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico. To this day, law enforcement officials have been unable to discover the true identity of the murderer, despite the fact that they have a list of potential suspects, two of whom are already dead. The stuff of a mystery television show, the Bone Collector’s saga will leave you with goosebumps.
All of the West Mesa Bone Collector’s victims fall between the ages of 15 and 32, fit a specific profile, were suspected to be involved in the Albuquerque drug scene, and worked as prostitutes. Like many other infamous unsolved murders, the true identity of the West Mesa Bone Collector remains a mystery due to a lack of new evidence, and it’s likely that these crimes will remain unsolved until someone comes forward. Until then, this is everything we know about the West Mesa Bone Collector.
Eleven Bodies Were Found Scattered Over The 92-Acre Site
When a collection of bodies was discovered in the desert outside of Albuquerque, NM, it wasn’t just the number of bodies that were found that stunned investigators, but the way in which they were buried. The bodies of 11 women and one unborn child were found not in a single mass grave, but rather they were found scattered across a desolate, empty plot of land.
Because of this, it took law enforcement officials quite some time to recover all of the bodies. Then, they started the arduous process of identifying each of them, quickly coming to realized that many of them had been missing for years. By the end of their investigation, the bodies of 11 women had been identified: Jamie Barela, Monica Candelaria, Victoria Chavez, Virginia Cloven, Syllania Edwards, Cinnamon Elks, Doreen Marquez, Julie Nieto, Veronica Romero, Evelyn Salazar, and Michelle Valdez.
One Suspect, Lorenzo Montoya, Died In 2006, At Which Point The Murders Mysteriously Stopped
Lorenzo Montoya had a rather suspicious criminal background. He not only lived near the burial site, but he was arrested in 1999 for attempting to strangle a prostitute that he’d picked up and taken to a secluded area. In 2006, Montoya died after the boyfriend of Sherick Hill, another prostitute, murdered him. Montoya had hired Hill, and then tied her up and strangled her. But when she didn’t emerge from Montoya’s home at the time she said she would, her boyfriend, whom she’d brought with her, approached the house and killed Montoya in self-defense. Suspiciously, the West Mesa murders stopped after Montoya was killed, leading the authorities to conclude that he may have been the killer.
Police Believe That The Killer Might Also Be Responsible For The Disappearance Of Six Other Women
When law enforcement officials began searching for other bodies strewn across the plot of land in West Mesa, they had compiled a list of 20 potential victims. All of those women had been missing for some time, and they all shared characteristics with the known victims. Of that list, 11 were found buried in the serial killer’s dumping ground, and 3 others were luckily found still alive. However, the remaining 6, all of whom remain unnamed even though their pictures are available, are still missing, and might have fallen prey to the murderer as well.
The Mass Grave Was First Discovered By A Woman Who Was Out For A Walk
The West Mesa burial ground was first discovered in February, 2009, by a woman who lived in the area. Allegedly, she had been out walking her dog in this particular 92-acre deserted scrubland known as West Mesa – a section of Albuquerque, NM – when she came across a bone sticking out of the ground and promptly called the police.
Joseph Blea Was Another Potential Suspect, According To His Current Wife And His Ex-Wife
Two things led Cheryl Blea, Joseph Blea’s wife, to suspect that he may have been the West Mesa Bone Collector. First, there was a large collection of jewelry found in their home that didn’t belong to either her or their daughter, and then a stash of women’s underwear was found in their backyard shed.
Blea had already been on law enforcement’s radar thanks to his habit of stalking prostitutes in Albuquerque’s East Central neighborhood. Dawnguard dlc pc crack razor1911. Plus, he had also been arrested for exposing himself in public. When the police finally caught up with him to bring him in for questioning, they discovered electrical tape and rope in his car. In fact, after the bones were found in West Mesa, Blea’s ex-wife, April Gillen, promptly called the police to inform them that she believed her ex-husband was the killer. However, so far nothing has definitively connected him to the crimes.
Blea is currently in prison serving a 36-year sentence for raping a 13-year-old girl.
Police Used Satellite Imagery To See When And How The Soil Was Disturbed
After studying satellite imagery of the area where the bones were uncovered, law enforcement officials were able to pinpoint the approximate years that the ground had been disturbed in the area. They were even able to identify tire tracks leading up to and around some of the burial sites that appeared between the years 2003 and 2005. Those photos also showed evidence of soil movement, most likely from when the graves were dug.
Someone Who Claims To Have Information On The Killer’s Identity Has Been Harassing Investigator George Walker
In 2010, George Walker, a private investigator in the Albuquerque area, began receiving messages from someone who claimed to know the identity of the West Mesa Bone Collector. In fact, the emails and phone messages are suspected to even be from the killer himself. However, law enforcement still hasn’t determined who has been leaving the messages, and they aren’t sure if that person even knows anything reliable, as none of the information provided has been verified.
Deceased Suspect Fred Reynolds Was Searching For “Missing Women” Before The Bones Were Even Discovered
Fred Reynolds, who died in early 2009 of natural causes, left quite a mystery behind. Reynolds was a former heroin addict who was supposedly looking for several missing women before he passed away – one of whom was Doreen Marquez, whose body was found buried in West Mesa. According to Lori Gallegos, a friend of Marquez’s, Reynolds might have been operating an escort service that employed many of the victims. The real question here is why did he have pictures of Marquez and the other missing women before the body dump was even found? Did he know something that the police didn’t, or was he actually the killer?
A Lack Of Evidence Has Hindered The Progress Of The Case
The main obstacle in the West Mesa Bone Collector case is that there is a surprising lack of evidence. The bodies decomposed drastically while they were buried, and any reliable physical evidence, including DNA, decomposed right along with them. In fact, the coroner couldn’t even definitively tell how the victims were killed, beyond defining it as “homicidal violence.” Additionally, no one has come forward with any eye-witness testimonies that suggest the victims were ever seen with the murderer.
Scott Lee Kimble, A Former FBI Informant And Top Suspect, Had Ties To The Albuquerque Area
In 2002, Scott Lee Kimball was released from prison early after having agreed to work for the FBI as an informant, but instead he went on a killing spree causing him to wind up back in prison by 2005. Since then, he has been accused of murdering his former cellmate’s girlfriend, Jennifer Marcum, as well as a 19-year-old woman named Kaysi McLeod, who would have technically been his stepdaughter, as he married her mother after she “vanished.” Kimball also reportedly killed his uncle, Terry Kimball, and a woman named LeAnn Emery. He is currently serving a 70-year prison term.
In 2011, the authorities listed Kimball as a suspect in the West Mesa killings. He allegedly visited the area regularly between 2002 and 2005 for his job, and has a history of violence. However, he denies being the killer, and no direct connections have been made between him and the victims.
Many People Blame The Lifestyle Led By The Victims For The Lack Of Attention Given To The Case
Unsolved Murders In Albuquerque
Unfortuntely, this case has gotten little attention from media outlets, and many suspect that this could have to do with the occupation of the victims. All of the victims were known to work as prostitutes and others had known drug problems. Each of these factors are believed to have played an important part in the amount of attention that the case has so far received. People living in the area continue to be dismayed that the police haven’t given more attention or provided more answers and continue to hope for a future break in the case and peace for the women who were killed.