ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO – Today marks 17 years since the remains of 11 women and an unborn fetus were discovered on Albuquerque’s West Mesa — a case that continues to be one of New Mexico’s most significant and haunting homicide investigations.
The case began on February 2, 2009, when a woman walking her dog on the West Mesa reported finding what appeared to be a human bone. That discovery led police to uncover a large burial site in an undeveloped area near 118th Street and Dennis Chavez Boulevard. Over the following weeks, investigators unearthed the remains of 11 women, most of whom had disappeared between 2003 and 2005, along with the remains of an unborn child.
The discovery quickly drew national attention due to the number of victims, the timeline of their disappearances, and the isolated location where the remains were found. Investigators determined most of the women had ties to drugs or sex work, which contributed to the theory that the killings may have been the work of a serial offender operating in the early 2000s.
Over the past 17 years, the Albuquerque Police Department has received more than 1,500 tips. Several men have been considered persons of interest at various points, including one who died in 2006, though no one has ever been charged. The investigation has required extensive forensic work, reviews of missing persons cases, and periodic excavation of areas where new information suggested possible evidence.
Eight women who went missing between 2003 and 2006 are still unaccounted for. Detectives have long questioned whether those disappearances could be connected to the West Mesa burial site.
APD confirms the investigation is ongoing, and detectives recently served a new search warrant as part of continuing efforts to analyze tips and reexamine potential locations. Cold case investigators are still conducting searches and revisiting older leads as technology and forensic tools improve.
A $100,000 reward remains available for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Police continue asking anyone with knowledge of the case or the whereabouts of the missing women to come forward.
Seventeen years later, the West Mesa homicides remain unsolved — and one of the largest and most complex investigations in New Mexico history.
