The West Mesa Murders are the killings of eleven women whose remains were found buried in in the desert on the West Mesa of Albuquerque , New Mexico. Several suspects have been named, but none were arrested or charged. While the killings were initially believed to be the work of a serial killer , the involvement of a sex trafficking ring has been suspected. Between and , eleven women were buried by an unknown assailant in an arroyo bank on Albuquerque 's West Mesa , in an undeveloped area within city limits.
Satellite imagery taken between and shows tire marks and patches of disturbed soils in the area where the remains were recovered. According to satellite photos, the last victim was buried in By , development had encroached on the area, and soon after, the site was disturbed, buried, and platted for residential development. Due to the housing bubble collapse , development on the West Side halted before housing could be built at the burial site. After neighbors complained of flooding at the platted site due to the burial of the natural arroyo , the developer built a retaining wall to channel storm water to a retention pond built in the approximate area of the burial site, inadvertently exposing bones to the surface.
On February 2, , a woman walking a dog found a human bone on the West Mesa, and reported it to police. As a result of the subsequent police investigation, authorities discovered the remains of eleven women and girls, one woman being pregnant, buried in the area. The remains discovered in were identified as those of the following women and girls, all of whom disappeared between and [ 12 ] [ 13 ]. Prior to , Detective Ida Lopez constructed a list of missing Albuquerque women with ties to prostitution and drug addiction who had gone missing between and ; ten were later found buried at West Mesa although nine women with similar backgrounds remain missing, raising concern that there might be more victims: [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ] [ 17 ].
On December 9, , Albuquerque police released six photos of seven other unidentified women who may also be linked to West Mesa. 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.
Fred Reynolds was a pimp who knew one of the missing women and reportedly had photos of missing sex workers; he died of natural causes in January Lorenzo Montoya, a pressman at a local printer, lived less than three miles from the burial site. In there were reportedly dirt trails leading from his trailer park to the site. While searching Montoya's home detectives came across a home recording found on Montoya's camera; only a section of the video has been released to the public.
