February 6, 2025 • 42 mins
The unresolved case of the West Mesa Murders rocked Albuquerque, New Mexico. A grave site is discovered of 11 female skeletons on February 2, 2009. Simultaneously, detective Ida Lopez was doing incredible detective work and had determined that disappearances of women in the area were connected.
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Episode Transcript
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Elena (00:00):
Hey guys! Welcome back to the Eerie Side Podcast with your
hosts, Elena,
Sophia (00:05):
Sophia,
D (00:05):
and D.
Elena (00:07):
We appreciate you guys listening and I hope you're
ready to get on the Eerie Side.
(00:48):
Now, before we get into theshow, I'd just like to say that
we would really appreciate it ifyou guys could give the podcast
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And if you're enjoying thisshow, we would love to have you
leave us a comment or a reviewin the Text box below, and if
there's any case suggestions orany feedback that you have or
(01:09):
that you'd like to share, feelfree to send us a message as
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And share the podcast withfamily, friends, or really
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And then follow us on Instagram,TikTok, and Facebook.
Before we get into the episode,this case does contain details
of disturbing tragic events, anddoes involve sexual assault.
(01:32):
Just want to give a briefwarning.
We understand the subject mattermay be deeply unsettling or
distressing for some listeners.
So listener discretion isadvised.
D (01:42):
Before we start with your story, I do have an update on
one of my past stories, LeighOcchi.
Elena (01:50):
Oh, really?
Okay.
D (01:51):
Yes.
I'd like to do a shout out toone of our listeners who
informed us that in one of mystories on Leigh Occhi that
there's an update.
So let me give you the update onLeigh Occhi from Tupelo,
Mississippi.
The story, if you guys listen toit, she disappeared from her
home.
(02:11):
In October of 2024 Leigh wasdeclared legally dead on the
request of her parents.
On January 29, 2025, federal andstate agencies, were searching a
ditch in a Tupelo neighborhoodwhere a 13 year old disappeared
more than 30 years ago, which isactually Leigh.
(02:32):
Agents from the FBI, MBI, andother law enforcement agencies
are searching the ditch next toher house on Honey Locust Drive,
where Leigh was last seen inAugust of 1992.
What they're noticing is duringthis search, a backhoe was
removing rocks in a drainageditch.
(02:53):
Crews from Tupelo Public Workswere also helping in the
research.
A spokesman from MBI confirmedtheir cold case unit was
involved in the search.
Also, students from MSU'sAnthropology Department, along
with representatives from theMississippi Missing Person
Repository are also taking part.
(03:17):
If I find any more information,I will keep you guys all up to
date about Leigh Occhi.
Thank you.
Sophia (03:23):
This is crazy because you just covered the case
earlier in January of this year,2025.
And it's crazy that there's beena development since then, and I
wonder what prompted them tolook into this, but I hope
something comes from it.
D (03:37):
I hope someone told them something and they started
searching, or maybe they've beensearching and something told
them that they found something.
Elena (03:45):
Yeah.
D (03:45):
I'm hoping that they can put closure to what happened to her.
Elena (03:49):
Wow.
Yeah, that's crazy that evenafter all this time that they're
still looking and hopefullythey'll be able to provide some
sort of closure.
Finally.
D (03:57):
This is after 30 years Yeah, it's just unbelievable.
Elena (04:01):
All right.
I will get into my case then, sotoday we're uncovering one of
the most haunting unsolved casesin recent history, the West Mesa
murders.
A case that rocked Albuquerque,New Mexico, and left families
searching for justice.
Are we aware of this at all?
Sophia (04:21):
I think so.
Does this involve a femaledetective?
Elena (04:24):
It does.
Sophia (04:25):
Okay, I know she's a and yes, I am aware of it.
Elena (04:30):
It all started on February 2nd, 2009, when
Christine Ross was walking herdog, Ruca, in Albuquerque's west
side when she found a large bonecoming up from the ground.
Okay.
She felt that the bone didn'tlook like a typical animal bone,
so she sent a picture to hersister, who was a registered
nurse.
Her sister told her that itlooked like a human femur, so
(04:53):
Christine contactedAlbuquerque's police department,
who then determined it washuman.
Once the police were aware itwas human, they began digging
and uncovered a mass grave.
Eleven sets of skeletal remainsall belonging to women and girls
who had disappeared yearsearlier.
The 11 women were as followed.
(05:14):
Jamie Katerina Barela 15, andEvelyn Jesus Maria Salazar, 27
were cousins that disappeared inApril 2004.
Evelyn was the 9th victimidentified, and Jamie was the
final 11th victim identified.
They were identified in 2010.
(05:34):
So I'm just gonna go throughthese names.
They're not in any particularorder.
I truthfully didn't know how toorder these.
It's just Mara Salazar, motherof Evelyn, said,"They didn't
deserve what they got.
It's awful what happened tothem.
They all had families that caredfor them." Monica Deanna,
Candelaria, she was 22 and waskilled sometime between 2003 and
(05:58):
2005, and she was the fifthvictim identified.
Victoria Ann Chavez 26, wasreported missing in March 2005
and most likely killed in 2005.
She was the first victimidentified.
Syllannia Terene Edwards, and Ido apologize if I pronounce any
(06:18):
of these names wrong.
She was 15 and was reportedmissing in August, 2003.
She was then spotted in May,2004 with three prostitutes in
Colorado.
She was reported to have beenkilled sometime between 2004 and
2005, and she was the eighthvictim identified.
Cinnamon Elks, 32, was killedbetween 2004 and 2005, and she
(06:42):
was reported missing in 2004.
She was the fourth victimidentified.
Virginia Cloven, 24, wasidentified using DNA evidence
and was reported missing inOctober 2004, but was last seen
in June and was most likelykilled between 2004 and 2005.
She was the tenth victimidentified.
Julie Cindy Nieto she was 24 andbelieved to have been killed
(07:07):
between 2004 and 2005, and shewas last seen in August of 2004
and was the third victimidentified.
Doreen Marquez 24 was last seenin October, 2003.
Investigators believed that shewas killed between 2003 to 2005
and was the seventh victimidentified.
Michelle Gina Valdez was 22 andbelieved to have been killed
(07:29):
between 2004 and 2005.
Michelle was four monthspregnant when she died, and the
remains of her unborn child werefound with her.
According to her father, Dan,Her smile was just beautiful,
and I want everyone to know shewas a beautiful person." She was
reported missing in February2005, and she was the second
victim identified.
(07:51):
Veronica Romero was 28, and shelikely had died between 2004 and
2005.
She was reported missing inFebruary 2004, and was the 6th
victim identified.
And when I say identified, oncethey all found the remains, that
was the order in which they wereable to be identified.
I will get into how long ittook, but they worked really
(08:12):
hard to identify these women andbring closer to their families.
Any thoughts?
D (08:15):
Were these ladies living in a high risk lifestyle?
Because what I'm noticing isthey really don't know exactly
when they disappeared.
Elena (08:25):
Yeah.
That is the case.
A lot of them, and I'll get intothat, unfortunately we're in
more of a high risk lifestyleand a lot weren't reported
missing for a while, because,really weren't in connection
with a lot of people to knowthat they were missing.
D (08:38):
Alright, so that is why they don't know exactly which year
they were deceased.
Okay.
Elena (08:44):
That and it is hard to tell forensically too exactly
when they died.
They could have been, possiblythe whole time or just recently.
It's hard to tell it being toolong to forensically tell.
Over the course of many weeks,all these women were found in a
mesa located next to 108thstreet southwest in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, hence the name WestMesa Killings.
(09:08):
All but one was reported to havebeen involved in prostitution or
drugs.
Jamie Barela was the only onethat had no known involvement
and she was the one that wentmissing with her cousin, who was
unfortunately involved in thatlifestyle.
It took police over 12 months tobe able to identify all the
bodies, but thankfully they wereable to provide some closure to
(09:30):
the families.
So that's why I mentioned, whenthey were identified and then
they took, over a year tofinally be able to identify all
11, or I guess 12 if you countthe unborn fetus.
Now what's interesting aboutthis case is Detective Ida Lopez
had noticed that women had beendisappearing from Albuquerque a
(09:53):
few years before the bodies werediscovered.
So she made a list and everywoman that was found was on that
list, including eight more whohave not yet been discovered.
So this detective startednoticing signs before anyone
else and she had ended up makinga list and all of the women that
(10:14):
were found were on that list,and I think that is incredible
detective work.
So props to her, and yes andthat was the detective you
mentioned.
Sophia (10:24):
It is really incredible that she was able to put the
pieces of the puzzle togetherand say these are most likely
related and then it turned outshe was right.
And then also there's eight morewho are still missing.
Elena (10:37):
Okay, there were still eight more that have not been
discovered.
What she noticed, so all thewomen were either involved in
drugs or prostitution, which ismost likely how this person got
them, either promising drugs orwanting sex.
She also noticed that most ofthe women were women of color,
mainly Hispanic.
Now, the names of the eightmissing women are Martha Jo
(10:59):
Lucher, age 32, and was reportedmissing in 2003 and reportedly
knew two of the 11 victims.
Detective Lopez said that she'sunsure if Martha,,"Was a victim
of the same killer and perhapsdue to circumstances the killer
decided to, or was forced todispose of her body elsewhere."
Anna Vigil was 20 when shedisappeared in January 2005.
(11:23):
She had been arrested forprostitution and when she was
released she called her dad topick her up and when he arrived
she was gone.
Anna had a four month old sonwhen she went missing and he'd
be about 19 today.
Nina Herron was 21 when she wentmissing in May 2005.
She had a 4 year old son whenshe disappeared.
It was also reported that shewould sometimes prostitute to
(11:45):
support her addiction to drugsand alcohol.
Felipa Gonzales was 22 and waspicked up by her mom after being
released from jail on May 4,2005.
After she got home, she went outfor a walk and was never seen
again.
She didn't have any arrests forprostitution, but friends and
family said that she wouldsometimes do that to pay for a
heroin addiction.
(12:06):
She had a two year old daughterand struggled with postpartum
depression.
Shawntell Monique Waites, was 29when she went missing on March
1st, 2006.
She had four kids who were beingraised by her grandfather and
his wife.
She also had a history of druguse and unfortunately her
grandfather died without answersin 2017.
(12:28):
Vanessa Reed was 24 when shewent missing in June of 2006.
She also had a history ofprostitution and drug use.
Jillian Henderson Ortizdisappeared at age 19 in March
2006.
She was last seen in Albuquerqueand would work as a prostitute
to support her heroin addiction.
Leah or Anna, I've seen bothnames used, Peebles was 23 and
(12:52):
disappeared in August of 2006.
It was reported that she got ajob interview at a cafe but
never showed.
She had a history of drug useafter dealing with molestation
by a relative when she was achild, then by a classmate in
high school.
All 19 of these womendisappeared sometime between
2003 to 2006, and all of theMesa victims were killed between
(13:13):
2003 to 2005.
Now, the reason why I mentionthat they had a history of
prostitution and drug use is notto paint them in a bad light,
but to show that there could bea possible connection to the
other women found.
These women were good women whostruggled with addiction, mental
health, and being able to makeends meet.
They were vulnerable women, andthe sick man, or men, took
(13:35):
advantage of that.
There were more women on thatlist, but with time, some of the
women were found alive or haddied unrelated to this case.
As of right now, these women arestill missing with no new leads
that I'm aware of.
Police have said that they can'trule out that there could be
more victims.
Where does this leave us?
This is the true definition of acold case.
(13:58):
The bodies were found yearslater with no evidence to be
tested.
There's no way to determine thecause of death, but it's
speculated it could have beenstrangulation.
Although it's been so long,there's no way to tell for sure.
In 2022, a cold caseinvestigator named Liz Thompson
said,"These women weren't shot.
There was no evidence that theywere shot and killed or blunt
(14:20):
force trauma.
This complicates the case andmakes it a little harder to
solve, because we don't have theclear indications of what
actually caused their deaths."There's no actual crime scene to
investigate only the burialsite.
If there were any witnesses,none will talk because they're
afraid of the person or afraidto talk to the police.
(14:41):
The police obviously didn't havemuch to go off of, but they did
find a plant tag near one of thebodies that belonged to a plant
nursery that pointed themtowards a suspect.
Joseph Blea, he worked inlandscaping, but the police were
never able to connect him to themurders.
Blea had a history against womenand was arrested in 2015 and is
(15:02):
currently serving a 90 yearprison sentence for serial rape.
D (15:07):
Excuse me, have the murders stopped since he's been in jail?
Elena (15:11):
Technically they stopped before then.
Sophia (15:13):
What year did he go into prison?
Elena (15:18):
2015.
Sophia (15:20):
Oh, that's a good amount of time.
D (15:21):
When did the murder stop?
As far as they know?
Elena (15:24):
I'll get into that in a second, yeah.
He was arrested in 2015 and iscurrently serving a 90 year
prison sentence for serial rape.
In the 80s and 90s, he wouldbreak into homes and assault
middle school girls.
Sophia (15:36):
Oh my gosh.
Elena (15:37):
Yeah.
And he was eventually identifiedthrough DNA evidence decades
later.
According to Blea's wife anddaughter, they found jewelry and
female underwear that wasn'ttheirs.
The police later confirmed this.
However, despite all of this andan apparent confession he made
to his cellmate saying he hiredthe victims and called them
trashy, there weren't enoughevidence to guarantee he was the
(15:58):
murderer.
Sophia (15:59):
He could just be talking out of his you know what.
Elena (16:01):
Exactly.
He is technically, I think,still a suspect, but there is no
evidence or anything to tie himto it.
It's up to you, if you think hecould possibly have done it.
There was also someone namedFred Reynolds, who I believe the
police looked into.
He was a pimp who apparently hadpictures of missing sex workers
and knew one of the missingwomen.
(16:22):
However, he died in January of2009 due to natural causes.
So, that leaves us with ourfinal suspect, Lorenzo Montoya.
Montoya was a pressman at alocal printer who was actually
killed in 2006 outside his home,which was less than two miles
away from the West Mesa burialsite.
(16:43):
After this man saw Montoyacarrying his girlfriend's body
to his car.
Montoya had choked a prostituteto death, but what he didn't
know was that that woman'sboyfriend was there, and went
back to check on her, and whenhe saw what happened, he shot
and killed him.
The police did say that at thetime, they believed this wasn't
his first kill, because it was,"Too brutal." Coincidentally,
(17:09):
after Montoya was shot, thedisappearances stopped, and no
new bodies have been recovered.
Sophia (17:15):
Yeah, that's pretty interesting.
Elena (17:17):
Yeah, he did have a history with law enforcement,
prostitution, and domesticviolence.
According to Montoya'sgirlfriend, he would beat her,
do disgusting things to her, andshe even said that he threatened
to"To kill me and bury me inlime." Obviously, after all of
this, the police started toconsider if he could possibly be
(17:37):
the West Mesa Bone Collector,and eventually he found some
disturbing things in his home.
In his home, they found ahomemade sex tape with women and
released images of the twowomen, hoping they could provide
some information to whetherMontoya did it or not.
And actually, I'm going to pausethere.
You guys can take a look at thepictures that I sent.
(17:58):
The first two are just of likethe West Mesa.
Like it's very desolate, nothinggoing on.
Sophia (18:05):
It's essentially just very barren, nothing but sand or
dirt, I should say.
Yeah.
Dirt, right?
Something, yeah.
Something like that, yeah.
Maybe both.
Elena (18:14):
And then the next one is the picture of the identified
woman.
I don't have that picture.
I just sent it, yeah.
And then I'm gonna send the oneof the unidentified.
D (18:21):
Who goes in such desert, sandy area, unless you know it?
Elena (18:25):
And actually, we'll get into that in just a second.
Let me send the pictures of theunidentified women.
So those are the ones that arestill missing.
The sex tape that I mentioned,the police released, some of the
images, hoping that they couldprovide some information on,
whether Montoya did it or not.
Sophia (18:45):
I have to say that some of the women who are still
missing are Caucasian, whereasit doesn't look like any of the
identified women are Caucasian.
Maybe one.
I don't know.
More of them are not though.
Almost all of them, if not allof them are not Caucasian, which
not to say that he could nothave taken, the Caucasian woman
who are still missing on thislist, but also makes me wonder
(19:07):
if maybe there's something elsegoing on too.
Elena (19:09):
I did read somewhere that in the original 11, there were
at least one that was Caucasian.
I don't know.
Sophia (19:16):
In the missing eight, half of them are Caucasian, so
definitely a good, amount.
Elena (19:22):
That is the list.
And then these pictures were theones that the police released
from the video.
And you can see there's twopictures of two different women,
and then there's one of one apair of legs.
I don't know.
Sophia (19:35):
Were these women consenting in this sex tape?
Elena (19:39):
That is the million dollar question.
D (19:42):
One looks like a baby.
Is that on the bottom of baby?
Elena (19:44):
No, I think, it's a woman.
Sophia (19:46):
Very disturbing cause she looks like
Elena (19:48):
She looks unconscious.
Sophia (19:50):
And looks like she could be almost blue in some ways.
D (19:53):
Wait a second.
These are women that he wasabusing?
Elena (19:57):
When they went into Montoya's home, they found a
homemade sex tape, and thesewere some of the images that
they released.
D (20:04):
Oh, so they have not said what they did find on the
videos.
Elena (20:08):
No, I heard reports that police found a video of him
assaulting women that wereeither dead or unconscious, and
it ends with you just hearingwhat sounds like duct tape being
pulled.
Now I don't know if this wasreferring to that first video
with the homemade sex tape thatthe police have officially
(20:29):
stated they found.
I didn't see any videos orreports of officers saying
anything about unconscious ordead women, so I don't know if
it's the same video or aseparate one.
D (20:39):
What is the purpose of the legs with the gym shoes?
Elena (20:43):
I have no idea.
It looks like she has likespecific legs, like very unique,
so maybe someone would identifythemselves.
I'm not sure.
But, basically, there's alsoreports that there are pictures
of women who were unconsciousthat, they released pictures.
Now, I have found some picturesof those women, but I'll send
(21:07):
them, but I cannot access thearticle, like where it came
from.
So I do not know, and I cannotguarantee if this is from that
or from something else.
D (21:18):
The women that he has on these videos that shows he
killed them?
Elena (21:23):
No.
So the first picture I sent oflike the two girls and the leg.
That was like officiallyreleased by police that they
found that video.
They said it was a homemade sextape, and they just wanted to
release it to see if those womencan come forward if they can
talk with them.
Some sort of anyone can identifythem something.
And then I also saw reports,people are talking about a video
(21:47):
that this was of him assaultingeither dead or unconscious
women, and I don't have anyreports of the police saying
that specifically, so I don'tknow if that's the same video,
if those are two separate videosfound.
D (21:58):
Okay, so the women, are they any of the ones that are missing
or have been identified as dead?
Elena (22:05):
Not that I'm aware of, but I haven't heard anything
from police specifically statingthat was true.
D (22:12):
So there's nothing to say yep it was him for sure.
Elena (22:17):
Yes.
I will say though, back in 2006,there were apparent tire marks
or trails that led directly fromthe burial site to his mobile
home park.
D (22:29):
He's deceased, correct?
Elena (22:31):
Yes.
D (22:31):
And, the police have not said what they have really found.
They have not clarified it.
Elena (22:37):
The only thing I saw was a video of a police officer
talking about the homemade sextape.
And that was the only thing thatwas confirmed.
Sophia (22:43):
Those tracks are pretty, probably strong circumstantial
evidence.
Elena (22:48):
Yeah, possibly, I would say.
This is a picture of JosephBlea.
And then I will send a pictureof Lorenzo.
Sophia (22:55):
Lorenzo is the picture you just sent?
Elena (22:57):
Mm hmm, the last guy.
Sophia (22:58):
Is Hispanic?
Elena (22:59):
I don't know.
He looks like he could be or hecould be white.
I'm not sure.
Sophia (23:03):
He could go either way, but I'm not sure.
The reason I say that is becausethey say that serial killers
usually like to hunt withintheir same race and so most of
these women are hispanic.
D (23:17):
That's not necessarily true.
Elena (23:18):
I mean it could be opportunistic And they were
living high risk lifestyles.
That's where we are withMontoya, because, the police
have said that he's a pretty bigsuspect, but because he's dead,
they don't really have much togo off of, and they have kept
the investigation, I would say,pretty tight lipped, at least at
first, they did.
Now, the last suspect, ortheory, really comes from Dirk
(23:42):
Duran- Gibson, who was a formerassociate professor at the
University of New Mexico.
He authored several books onserial killers and possibly
believes that the murders couldbe a result of an organized
crime or even a biker game thatwas like near the area at the
time.
He believes that there areprobably three people involved,
the boss, the intermediary, andthe hitman.
(24:05):
Now I couldn't find anythingfrom the police saying that they
are following this theory.
And I don't really think thatthere's any evidence to suggest
that it was multiple people.
I believe the police think thatthis is most likely the work of
a serial killer.
They have publicly stated thatthey are looking into Blea and
Montoya as possible suspects,but they also have others they
are considering that they'vekept quiet.
(24:27):
This was back in 2016.
So I'm not sure if there's anymore suspects that they're
looking into, or if they'vecleared any.
They continued to search formore bodies, or evidence, and
even found more bodies a littlebit away, but still close to the
original burial site.
However, it was eventuallydiscovered that these bodies,
(24:48):
through dental features, wereancient bones from 800 900 years
old.
So, not related to the West Mesamurders.
Sophia (24:58):
Definitely not related, and it's good they were able to
get that testing done.
D (25:02):
You have pictures of identified women and missing.
The missing women, did they gomissing before the identified,
after, or mixed in?
Elena (25:13):
It's mixed in, some of the women, Martha was missing in
2003.
Anna disappeared in 2005.
Nina was in 2005.
Felipa was in 2005.
Shawntell was 2006.
(25:33):
Jillian was 2006.
Leah was 2006, so they seem likethey're a little bit afterwards
except for that first one,Martha, was just in 2003.
So, I'm pretty sure Martha wentmissing after the first two,
after a couple of the elevenvictims, and then the rest were
(25:54):
later on.
D (25:56):
And they have no DNA evidence?
Elena (26:00):
On the bodies they found?
No.
Or if they have, they haven'tshared that.
I know they said they wanted to,put Montoya's DNA in the
database, but because he's dead,there's a law that you couldn't
do that, and they were trying topass a bill to that they could
put his DNA into the database.
But I'm not sure.
(26:21):
I would assume that if they havehis DNA, they could probably
already test it.
But their bodies were just bonesat that point, so I think any
DNA that was possibly theirs isgone by now.
D (26:32):
I don't understand what a biker's group are going do?
Why you need three men?
What do they do?
Do they use them?
Do they kill'em.
Three men watch they kill onewoman.
I just don't understand what thewhole thought process on that.
Elena (26:44):
I'm not sure.
I don't really think there,people hold a lot of weight to
it, but it was a possibletheory, so I just wanted to
include it rather than notincluded.
But, it seems like there's not alot of evidence to suggest that.
And I think the police have evencome forward and say that they
think that this is a network ofa serial killer, which I know
police are not willing to justgo out and say that unless they
(27:08):
have enough evidence to believethat.
They don't say those thingslightly.
So I'm not sure, but it seemslike they think one person did
all this.
D (27:16):
All these victims are not from New Mexico, correct?
Elena (27:21):
One was like last seen in Colorado.
A lot of these were somewherenear the area, or they went
missing further away.
One woman, I think she was oneof the bodies that were found,
she moved out there, cause shemet a boy, and she moved out
with her father, cause herfather was in New Mexico.
(27:41):
Some of them weren't from NewMexico originally, but had moved
out there to try to have abetter life.
D (27:47):
Okay, so he definitely has his own range where he goes, and
it seems it's around New Mexico.
Elena (27:53):
There's places near like West Mesa that are very known
for like prostitution and druguse and stuff like that.
Okay, what are we left with?
This case still remains open.
Law enforcement are stillreceiving tips to this day that
they are investigating.
They started off with, theirinvestigation trying to keep
(28:13):
everything very quiet.
But as time went on, and with nonew leads coming forward, they
slowly started to release newevidence, like the pictures that
they found in the video.
Law enforcement still remains onthis case, but, unfortunately,
without any new leads or tips, Ifear that this case will never
be officially solved, but itdoes seem like the killings have
(28:36):
stopped.
What do you guys think?
Was Montoya the killer else outthere still evading capture?
Sophia (28:44):
I suppose we can never really know for sure, especially
since we didn't get to thetrial, but my suspicion is that
it was Montoya, just based onthe evidence we do have, such as
the killing stopped right whenhe died.
He was assaulting a, I think itwas a sex worker, right?
He ended up killing her.
Her boyfriend caught this in theact.
(29:05):
So there's a proof that he wastargeting at least one sex
worker and ended up killing her.
And then there were also tracksleading from his place of
residence to the burial groundwhere these women were missing.
So my suspicion is that it'sMontoya.
D (29:23):
So, let me get this right.
When Montoya passed did thecrime stop?
The way it was happening?
Elena (29:30):
I would say yes, they did seem to stop since most of the
women were killed around 2005and some of the other possible
victims disappeared between 2005and 2006.
And then after he died therewere no other victims that were
when missing since then.
But they didn't discover thebodies until 2009, but it seems
(29:53):
like they've stopped.
D (29:54):
He passed away in 2006.
And he himself was killinganother sex worker.
Was she Hispanic, white, orAfrican American?
Elena (30:05):
Not sure.
Let me pull up her name.
I have not seen any picturesreleased of her, so let me see
if I can search her.
D (30:11):
When he was killing her, he suffocated her, right?
Elena (30:14):
He strangled her, yes.
D (30:15):
her.
Mm hmm.
So, it seems like all the bodiesthey found were probably
strangled also.
Even if they were shot,sometimes bullets hit bones.
Elena (30:26):
There's no evidence of bullets or anything.
D (30:28):
Even if they were stabbed again, a knife will hit a bone
and it maybe it doesn't hit itevery single time.
They found so many bodies, theywould have found that.
It sounds like unless hepoisoned them, it sounds like
they were probably strangled.
Which he did strangled someonefront of her own boyfriend more
or less.
There's a lot of pieces therethat fit his puzzle.
Elena (30:51):
Mm hmm.
D (30:52):
I'm not saying for sure it's him, but it definitely sounds
like it.
Have they looked to see if hehad another place that he liked
to hang out that maybe he wasburying the girls they're
missing?
Obviously he had something closeto his mobile home.
He must have had other areasthat made him feel comfortable
(31:13):
that he could bury.
A lot of times serial killers,if they're going to bury bodies,
they go to the same place overand over again, or close to the
same vicinity.
Elena (31:21):
From what I understood, the police like thoroughly
investigated Montoya and I'msure if there was somewhere else
that he went to, they probablylooked into that as well.
They seemed like they really dida thorough job investigating the
home.
They saw the supposed tiretracks and everything.
I'm not sure if they lookedanywhere, but I feel like if
(31:45):
there was somewhere that theyfound, they would have looked.
D (31:49):
And he was always in that area?
Those years the women weremissing?
Elena (31:53):
I believe so.
D (31:54):
Was he married, you said?
Elena (31:56):
He had a girlfriend, though.
Okay.
At some point, I don't know.
D (31:59):
So, he was not married?
Elena (32:01):
Yeah.
Sophia (32:02):
So, the women who were identified, they went missing in
the years 2003 to 2006?
Elena (32:09):
They disappeared between 2003 to 2006.
All 19 of the women disappearedbetween those times, but the
Mesa victims were killed between2003 to 2005, most likely in the
time range.
D (32:23):
He was killed in 2006, right?
Elena (32:24):
Mm hmm.
Sophia (32:25):
What about the ones who weren't identified?
When did they go missing?
Elena (32:29):
You mean the ones just missing?
They don't have any bodies?
Sophia (32:32):
Yes.
Elena (32:34):
They're part of that 19 that was between 2003 to 2006.
Sophia (32:37):
Okay, the reason I asked is because there was a part of
me that thought maybe they wentmissing at a different time
period in the hopes that maybethat's why he chose to bury them
somewhere else, but now it justmakes me think that he had
different spots for whateverreason and they just went to the
other location.
Elena (32:56):
I'm not sure.
I've also seen people say thatthe crimes occurred between 2001
to 2005.
From what I found, all the womenwho were identified and are
still missing seem to last beenseen, within 2003 on.
So I'm not 100 percent sure ofthe exact timeline, but it seems
like most likely from 2003somewhere to 2006.
D (33:19):
Do they know if he went through anything dramatic in
those years, at the beginning ofthose years, to trigger him to
do this?
Elena (33:28):
I'm not sure.
There's really not a lot ofinformation on Montoya.
D (33:33):
I was wondering if something triggered it in his life.
it's from 2003, 2005, and weknow of 19 women, then there may
be more.
That's, three years for sure andwe're at 20.
That's like killing five women ayear.
Elena (33:50):
Mm hmm.
D (33:51):
That's a lot.
Yeah.
It sounds like somethingtriggered him.
I was wondering if they wereaware of anything that may have
triggered him.
Elena (34:00):
None that I can find.
There's really not a lot ofinformation on him, but like
what, how old he was or anythinglike that.
D (34:10):
All I'm saying is that he may have killed before but whatever
happened to make him go intototal crazy mode here.
20 women almost right and theremight even be more that we're
not aware of.
That's like usually somethinghappens that they go a little
nutso or something.
Elena (34:30):
I will say that the police said that when they saw
the teenage sex worker that hedid kill.
They said that it was just toobrutal for them to think it was
his first time, so I wouldn't besurprised if he had other
victims and I also wouldn't besurprised if they were the West
Mesa killings.
I don't have anything about likea stressor, but I also read that
(34:52):
he had been arrested previouslyfor violent attacks on sex
workers, so I wouldn't besurprised if he started off with
either just assaulting them insome way.
And then eventually worked hisway up and maybe accidentally
killed him and then found outthat this is what he wanted.
So he does have a history withobviously not only killing that
(35:14):
one sex worker but withassaulting other ones and being
arrested for that.
D (35:20):
Now if I understand this correctly; the police have never
said it's him.
Elena (35:24):
No, but I do see a lot of research saying that according
to the police that video I wastalking about shows him having
sex with either dead orunconscious women.
I just haven't seen an articleor heard a video of the police
saying that specifically, but itseems like, all the articles are
(35:46):
saying that police have saidthat they have a video of him,
having sex with eitherunidentified women where they're
either dead or in some wayunconscious.
But they've only released thesecond part of the video, which
I actually did watch.
And I don't know if this is avideo but it shows like the
cameras off the side you justsee a wall you just hear duct
tape being pulled and then likea bag being like rummaged in the
(36:09):
back.
Like it sounds like he's gettingready to dispose of her body.
D (36:13):
If I understand correctly, they have not identified any of
the women even in those videos.
So they have not said that it ishim.
Because we do have a few womenmissing.
And they still have notidentified him.
If he is the one I mean, he haskilled quite a few people.
Elena (36:33):
The women in the video are unidentified at least the
ones that they've releasedPublicly because they did that
in hopes that the woman caneither come forward and say yes,
he you know, he assaulted me.
This is what happened.
He is a bad guy, or no, likethis was just his weird fetish,
and it was consensual and toclear him or something.
(36:56):
But they are still unidentifiedin hopes that someone knows the
women or the women themselvescan come forward.
D (37:02):
Oh, they're dead.
Elena (37:04):
Exactly.
Sophia (37:05):
Is there a reason we do not know about his upbringing or
why they have not been able toconnect with former family
members, friends, acquaintancesto just get to know a little bit
more about who he was,especially in his early life.
Elena (37:21):
I think because this investigation is still going.
The police think, if it is him,great.
He's gone.
He's dead.
There's not much we can do, butif it isn't, we need to do
everything we can to have ananswer.
I would assume that theyprobably reached out to those
people.
His like family or friends oranything that he might have had.
(37:42):
They just haven't said anythingpublicly because they're just
trying to keep everything quiet.
But it also seemed like he wasin a trailer park.
I don't think he really had muchof a life outside of just going
to work and maybe just killingwomen.
Sophia (37:56):
I guess that would not surprise me.
Elena (37:58):
I also saw a report, don't know how true this is,
co-workers had said that hementioned like killing women and
burying them in West Mesa.
Sophia (38:06):
So that he tells them that and they just sit on this
information?
Elena (38:10):
I don't know how true that information is.
D (38:13):
Many people think when someone says that they're
joking, they don't take itseriously.
Elena (38:18):
Could not say that is credible information.
The police said nothing that Isaw have said that was the case.
D (38:25):
What's really sad is that if he wasn't caught while he killed
another sex worker.
He would still be out there.
Sophia (38:34):
Oh yeah.
Elena (38:35):
Exactly.
The bodies weren't found foranother three years.
So he could, continue doing thaton and on and on until who knows
really.
I just wouldn't be surprised ifthere was another burial that he
has.
Cause I feel like the 11 victimsthat were found, I think that
those were probably earlier andmaybe the other ones came later.
(38:58):
If there were other victims, Idon't know why he wouldn't bury
them there.
Cause at that point it was onthe burial site was untouched.
It was like two miles from hishouse.
D (39:07):
Are you sure there's no DNA on there at all?
Maybe they're not sayinganything.
Elena (39:14):
It could be that they're not saying anything.
I know that they're trying topass a bill that could get
Montoya's DNA into the database.
I think it's more to see if he'stied to other assaults or other
like, attacks to say, okay,maybe if he's tied to another
sexual assault, you can talk tothat person, see what happened.
I think that they would have hisDNA, if need be, to compare it,
(39:36):
so I think either, one, there'sprobably no DNA, because these
women were killed between 2003to maybe 2005 2006 so it's been
like over three years, andthey're just in the ground left
to the elements.
D (39:51):
Did they have clothes on still or were they just thrown
in there naked?
Elena (39:56):
I don't know.
It's possible they had clotheson and DNA is long gone now.
I know that they were just bonesat this point, because the way
it was described for the womanthat was pregnant, it was, her
bones, and then the baby'sbones, were right next to her or
on top of her.
Sophia (40:12):
She still could have been wearing clothes.
Elena (40:13):
Yeah.
I'm not saying that there's noti'm just saying I know for a
fact that they were justskeletal remains.
I don't know about the clothes.
I'll end with this, if you haveany information that you feel
might be beneficial don'thesitate to call(505) 768-2450,
or call Crime Stopper at(505)843-STOP.
(40:36):
And there is also as of rightnow, I believe$100,000 reward
that's being offered for anyinformation that leads to a
solve or some sort of question.
You can also contact thedetective Ida Lopez, but out of
respect for her, I'm not goingto, release her email.
But if you need to, her email ispublic.
She also wants some families toemail her to update their
(40:59):
contact information, so she canstill keep in touch.
But I gotta hand it to thisdetective.
She worked hard and she noticedthat there was something going
on before anyone else, so propsto her.
All right, guys, with that wewill end the episode, but I do
want to thank you all forlistening this week.
We love our listeners and it'sbecause of you guys that we are
able to do this podcast, yourhelp and engagement really does
(41:21):
help us and help the podcastgrow.
And if you enjoyed this episode,please text a friend or family
member to listen and to help ourpodcasts.
Until next time make sure youguys stay in the Eerie Side.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye guys.
D (41:36):
Be safe.
Hey guys! Welcome back to the Eerie Side Podcast with your
hosts, Elena,
Sophia (00:05):
Sophia,
D (00:05):
and D.
Elena (00:07):
We appreciate you guys listening and I hope you're
ready to get on the Eerie Side.
(00:48):
Now, before we get into theshow, I'd just like to say that
we would really appreciate it ifyou guys could give the podcast
a like and follow, and make surethat bell notification is turned
on so you'll be notifiedwhenever we drop an episode.
And if you're enjoying thisshow, we would love to have you
leave us a comment or a reviewin the Text box below, and if
there's any case suggestions orany feedback that you have or
(01:09):
that you'd like to share, feelfree to send us a message as
well.
And share the podcast withfamily, friends, or really
anyone that you think wouldenjoy it.
And then follow us on Instagram,TikTok, and Facebook.
Before we get into the episode,this case does contain details
of disturbing tragic events, anddoes involve sexual assault.
(01:32):
Just want to give a briefwarning.
We understand the subject mattermay be deeply unsettling or
distressing for some listeners.
So listener discretion isadvised.
D (01:42):
Before we start with your story, I do have an update on
one of my past stories, LeighOcchi.
Elena (01:50):
Oh, really?
Okay.
D (01:51):
Yes.
I'd like to do a shout out toone of our listeners who
informed us that in one of mystories on Leigh Occhi that
there's an update.
So let me give you the update onLeigh Occhi from Tupelo,
Mississippi.
The story, if you guys listen toit, she disappeared from her
home.
(02:11):
In October of 2024 Leigh wasdeclared legally dead on the
request of her parents.
On January 29, 2025, federal andstate agencies, were searching a
ditch in a Tupelo neighborhoodwhere a 13 year old disappeared
more than 30 years ago, which isactually Leigh.
(02:32):
Agents from the FBI, MBI, andother law enforcement agencies
are searching the ditch next toher house on Honey Locust Drive,
where Leigh was last seen inAugust of 1992.
What they're noticing is duringthis search, a backhoe was
removing rocks in a drainageditch.
(02:53):
Crews from Tupelo Public Workswere also helping in the
research.
A spokesman from MBI confirmedtheir cold case unit was
involved in the search.
Also, students from MSU'sAnthropology Department, along
with representatives from theMississippi Missing Person
Repository are also taking part.
(03:17):
If I find any more information,I will keep you guys all up to
date about Leigh Occhi.
Thank you.
Sophia (03:23):
This is crazy because you just covered the case
earlier in January of this year,2025.
And it's crazy that there's beena development since then, and I
wonder what prompted them tolook into this, but I hope
something comes from it.
D (03:37):
I hope someone told them something and they started
searching, or maybe they've beensearching and something told
them that they found something.
Elena (03:45):
Yeah.
D (03:45):
I'm hoping that they can put closure to what happened to her.
Elena (03:49):
Wow.
Yeah, that's crazy that evenafter all this time that they're
still looking and hopefullythey'll be able to provide some
sort of closure.
Finally.
D (03:57):
This is after 30 years Yeah, it's just unbelievable.
Elena (04:01):
All right.
I will get into my case then, sotoday we're uncovering one of
the most haunting unsolved casesin recent history, the West Mesa
murders.
A case that rocked Albuquerque,New Mexico, and left families
searching for justice.
Are we aware of this at all?
Sophia (04:21):
I think so.
Does this involve a femaledetective?
Elena (04:24):
It does.
Sophia (04:25):
Okay, I know she's a and yes, I am aware of it.
Elena (04:30):
It all started on February 2nd, 2009, when
Christine Ross was walking herdog, Ruca, in Albuquerque's west
side when she found a large bonecoming up from the ground.
Okay.
She felt that the bone didn'tlook like a typical animal bone,
so she sent a picture to hersister, who was a registered
nurse.
Her sister told her that itlooked like a human femur, so
(04:53):
Christine contactedAlbuquerque's police department,
who then determined it washuman.
Once the police were aware itwas human, they began digging
and uncovered a mass grave.
Eleven sets of skeletal remainsall belonging to women and girls
who had disappeared yearsearlier.
The 11 women were as followed.
(05:14):
Jamie Katerina Barela 15, andEvelyn Jesus Maria Salazar, 27
were cousins that disappeared inApril 2004.
Evelyn was the 9th victimidentified, and Jamie was the
final 11th victim identified.
They were identified in 2010.
(05:34):
So I'm just gonna go throughthese names.
They're not in any particularorder.
I truthfully didn't know how toorder these.
It's just Mara Salazar, motherof Evelyn, said,"They didn't
deserve what they got.
It's awful what happened tothem.
They all had families that caredfor them." Monica Deanna,
Candelaria, she was 22 and waskilled sometime between 2003 and
(05:58):
2005, and she was the fifthvictim identified.
Victoria Ann Chavez 26, wasreported missing in March 2005
and most likely killed in 2005.
She was the first victimidentified.
Syllannia Terene Edwards, and Ido apologize if I pronounce any
(06:18):
of these names wrong.
She was 15 and was reportedmissing in August, 2003.
She was then spotted in May,2004 with three prostitutes in
Colorado.
She was reported to have beenkilled sometime between 2004 and
2005, and she was the eighthvictim identified.
Cinnamon Elks, 32, was killedbetween 2004 and 2005, and she
(06:42):
was reported missing in 2004.
She was the fourth victimidentified.
Virginia Cloven, 24, wasidentified using DNA evidence
and was reported missing inOctober 2004, but was last seen
in June and was most likelykilled between 2004 and 2005.
She was the tenth victimidentified.
Julie Cindy Nieto she was 24 andbelieved to have been killed
(07:07):
between 2004 and 2005, and shewas last seen in August of 2004
and was the third victimidentified.
Doreen Marquez 24 was last seenin October, 2003.
Investigators believed that shewas killed between 2003 to 2005
and was the seventh victimidentified.
Michelle Gina Valdez was 22 andbelieved to have been killed
(07:29):
between 2004 and 2005.
Michelle was four monthspregnant when she died, and the
remains of her unborn child werefound with her.
According to her father, Dan,Her smile was just beautiful,
and I want everyone to know shewas a beautiful person." She was
reported missing in February2005, and she was the second
victim identified.
(07:51):
Veronica Romero was 28, and shelikely had died between 2004 and
2005.
She was reported missing inFebruary 2004, and was the 6th
victim identified.
And when I say identified, oncethey all found the remains, that
was the order in which they wereable to be identified.
I will get into how long ittook, but they worked really
(08:12):
hard to identify these women andbring closer to their families.
Any thoughts?
D (08:15):
Were these ladies living in a high risk lifestyle?
Because what I'm noticing isthey really don't know exactly
when they disappeared.
Elena (08:25):
Yeah.
That is the case.
A lot of them, and I'll get intothat, unfortunately we're in
more of a high risk lifestyleand a lot weren't reported
missing for a while, because,really weren't in connection
with a lot of people to knowthat they were missing.
D (08:38):
Alright, so that is why they don't know exactly which year
they were deceased.
Okay.
Elena (08:44):
That and it is hard to tell forensically too exactly
when they died.
They could have been, possiblythe whole time or just recently.
It's hard to tell it being toolong to forensically tell.
Over the course of many weeks,all these women were found in a
mesa located next to 108thstreet southwest in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, hence the name WestMesa Killings.
(09:08):
All but one was reported to havebeen involved in prostitution or
drugs.
Jamie Barela was the only onethat had no known involvement
and she was the one that wentmissing with her cousin, who was
unfortunately involved in thatlifestyle.
It took police over 12 months tobe able to identify all the
bodies, but thankfully they wereable to provide some closure to
(09:30):
the families.
So that's why I mentioned, whenthey were identified and then
they took, over a year tofinally be able to identify all
11, or I guess 12 if you countthe unborn fetus.
Now what's interesting aboutthis case is Detective Ida Lopez
had noticed that women had beendisappearing from Albuquerque a
(09:53):
few years before the bodies werediscovered.
So she made a list and everywoman that was found was on that
list, including eight more whohave not yet been discovered.
So this detective startednoticing signs before anyone
else and she had ended up makinga list and all of the women that
(10:14):
were found were on that list,and I think that is incredible
detective work.
So props to her, and yes andthat was the detective you
mentioned.
Sophia (10:24):
It is really incredible that she was able to put the
pieces of the puzzle togetherand say these are most likely
related and then it turned outshe was right.
And then also there's eight morewho are still missing.
Elena (10:37):
Okay, there were still eight more that have not been
discovered.
What she noticed, so all thewomen were either involved in
drugs or prostitution, which ismost likely how this person got
them, either promising drugs orwanting sex.
She also noticed that most ofthe women were women of color,
mainly Hispanic.
Now, the names of the eightmissing women are Martha Jo
(10:59):
Lucher, age 32, and was reportedmissing in 2003 and reportedly
knew two of the 11 victims.
Detective Lopez said that she'sunsure if Martha,,"Was a victim
of the same killer and perhapsdue to circumstances the killer
decided to, or was forced todispose of her body elsewhere."
Anna Vigil was 20 when shedisappeared in January 2005.
(11:23):
She had been arrested forprostitution and when she was
released she called her dad topick her up and when he arrived
she was gone.
Anna had a four month old sonwhen she went missing and he'd
be about 19 today.
Nina Herron was 21 when she wentmissing in May 2005.
She had a 4 year old son whenshe disappeared.
It was also reported that shewould sometimes prostitute to
(11:45):
support her addiction to drugsand alcohol.
Felipa Gonzales was 22 and waspicked up by her mom after being
released from jail on May 4,2005.
After she got home, she went outfor a walk and was never seen
again.
She didn't have any arrests forprostitution, but friends and
family said that she wouldsometimes do that to pay for a
heroin addiction.
(12:06):
She had a two year old daughterand struggled with postpartum
depression.
Shawntell Monique Waites, was 29when she went missing on March
1st, 2006.
She had four kids who were beingraised by her grandfather and
his wife.
She also had a history of druguse and unfortunately her
grandfather died without answersin 2017.
(12:28):
Vanessa Reed was 24 when shewent missing in June of 2006.
She also had a history ofprostitution and drug use.
Jillian Henderson Ortizdisappeared at age 19 in March
2006.
She was last seen in Albuquerqueand would work as a prostitute
to support her heroin addiction.
Leah or Anna, I've seen bothnames used, Peebles was 23 and
(12:52):
disappeared in August of 2006.
It was reported that she got ajob interview at a cafe but
never showed.
She had a history of drug useafter dealing with molestation
by a relative when she was achild, then by a classmate in
high school.
All 19 of these womendisappeared sometime between
2003 to 2006, and all of theMesa victims were killed between
(13:13):
2003 to 2005.
Now, the reason why I mentionthat they had a history of
prostitution and drug use is notto paint them in a bad light,
but to show that there could bea possible connection to the
other women found.
These women were good women whostruggled with addiction, mental
health, and being able to makeends meet.
They were vulnerable women, andthe sick man, or men, took
(13:35):
advantage of that.
There were more women on thatlist, but with time, some of the
women were found alive or haddied unrelated to this case.
As of right now, these women arestill missing with no new leads
that I'm aware of.
Police have said that they can'trule out that there could be
more victims.
Where does this leave us?
This is the true definition of acold case.
(13:58):
The bodies were found yearslater with no evidence to be
tested.
There's no way to determine thecause of death, but it's
speculated it could have beenstrangulation.
Although it's been so long,there's no way to tell for sure.
In 2022, a cold caseinvestigator named Liz Thompson
said,"These women weren't shot.
There was no evidence that theywere shot and killed or blunt
(14:20):
force trauma.
This complicates the case andmakes it a little harder to
solve, because we don't have theclear indications of what
actually caused their deaths."There's no actual crime scene to
investigate only the burialsite.
If there were any witnesses,none will talk because they're
afraid of the person or afraidto talk to the police.
(14:41):
The police obviously didn't havemuch to go off of, but they did
find a plant tag near one of thebodies that belonged to a plant
nursery that pointed themtowards a suspect.
Joseph Blea, he worked inlandscaping, but the police were
never able to connect him to themurders.
Blea had a history against womenand was arrested in 2015 and is
(15:02):
currently serving a 90 yearprison sentence for serial rape.
D (15:07):
Excuse me, have the murders stopped since he's been in jail?
Elena (15:11):
Technically they stopped before then.
Sophia (15:13):
What year did he go into prison?
Elena (15:18):
2015.
Sophia (15:20):
Oh, that's a good amount of time.
D (15:21):
When did the murder stop?
As far as they know?
Elena (15:24):
I'll get into that in a second, yeah.
He was arrested in 2015 and iscurrently serving a 90 year
prison sentence for serial rape.
In the 80s and 90s, he wouldbreak into homes and assault
middle school girls.
Sophia (15:36):
Oh my gosh.
Elena (15:37):
Yeah.
And he was eventually identifiedthrough DNA evidence decades
later.
According to Blea's wife anddaughter, they found jewelry and
female underwear that wasn'ttheirs.
The police later confirmed this.
However, despite all of this andan apparent confession he made
to his cellmate saying he hiredthe victims and called them
trashy, there weren't enoughevidence to guarantee he was the
(15:58):
murderer.
Sophia (15:59):
He could just be talking out of his you know what.
Elena (16:01):
Exactly.
He is technically, I think,still a suspect, but there is no
evidence or anything to tie himto it.
It's up to you, if you think hecould possibly have done it.
There was also someone namedFred Reynolds, who I believe the
police looked into.
He was a pimp who apparently hadpictures of missing sex workers
and knew one of the missingwomen.
(16:22):
However, he died in January of2009 due to natural causes.
So, that leaves us with ourfinal suspect, Lorenzo Montoya.
Montoya was a pressman at alocal printer who was actually
killed in 2006 outside his home,which was less than two miles
away from the West Mesa burialsite.
(16:43):
After this man saw Montoyacarrying his girlfriend's body
to his car.
Montoya had choked a prostituteto death, but what he didn't
know was that that woman'sboyfriend was there, and went
back to check on her, and whenhe saw what happened, he shot
and killed him.
The police did say that at thetime, they believed this wasn't
his first kill, because it was,"Too brutal." Coincidentally,
(17:09):
after Montoya was shot, thedisappearances stopped, and no
new bodies have been recovered.
Sophia (17:15):
Yeah, that's pretty interesting.
Elena (17:17):
Yeah, he did have a history with law enforcement,
prostitution, and domesticviolence.
According to Montoya'sgirlfriend, he would beat her,
do disgusting things to her, andshe even said that he threatened
to"To kill me and bury me inlime." Obviously, after all of
this, the police started toconsider if he could possibly be
(17:37):
the West Mesa Bone Collector,and eventually he found some
disturbing things in his home.
In his home, they found ahomemade sex tape with women and
released images of the twowomen, hoping they could provide
some information to whetherMontoya did it or not.
And actually, I'm going to pausethere.
You guys can take a look at thepictures that I sent.
(17:58):
The first two are just of likethe West Mesa.
Like it's very desolate, nothinggoing on.
Sophia (18:05):
It's essentially just very barren, nothing but sand or
dirt, I should say.
Yeah.
Dirt, right?
Something, yeah.
Something like that, yeah.
Maybe both.
Elena (18:14):
And then the next one is the picture of the identified
woman.
I don't have that picture.
I just sent it, yeah.
And then I'm gonna send the oneof the unidentified.
D (18:21):
Who goes in such desert, sandy area, unless you know it?
Elena (18:25):
And actually, we'll get into that in just a second.
Let me send the pictures of theunidentified women.
So those are the ones that arestill missing.
The sex tape that I mentioned,the police released, some of the
images, hoping that they couldprovide some information on,
whether Montoya did it or not.
Sophia (18:45):
I have to say that some of the women who are still
missing are Caucasian, whereasit doesn't look like any of the
identified women are Caucasian.
Maybe one.
I don't know.
More of them are not though.
Almost all of them, if not allof them are not Caucasian, which
not to say that he could nothave taken, the Caucasian woman
who are still missing on thislist, but also makes me wonder
(19:07):
if maybe there's something elsegoing on too.
Elena (19:09):
I did read somewhere that in the original 11, there were
at least one that was Caucasian.
I don't know.
Sophia (19:16):
In the missing eight, half of them are Caucasian, so
definitely a good, amount.
Elena (19:22):
That is the list.
And then these pictures were theones that the police released
from the video.
And you can see there's twopictures of two different women,
and then there's one of one apair of legs.
I don't know.
Sophia (19:35):
Were these women consenting in this sex tape?
Elena (19:39):
That is the million dollar question.
D (19:42):
One looks like a baby.
Is that on the bottom of baby?
Elena (19:44):
No, I think, it's a woman.
Sophia (19:46):
Very disturbing cause she looks like
Elena (19:48):
She looks unconscious.
Sophia (19:50):
And looks like she could be almost blue in some ways.
D (19:53):
Wait a second.
These are women that he wasabusing?
Elena (19:57):
When they went into Montoya's home, they found a
homemade sex tape, and thesewere some of the images that
they released.
D (20:04):
Oh, so they have not said what they did find on the
videos.
Elena (20:08):
No, I heard reports that police found a video of him
assaulting women that wereeither dead or unconscious, and
it ends with you just hearingwhat sounds like duct tape being
pulled.
Now I don't know if this wasreferring to that first video
with the homemade sex tape thatthe police have officially
(20:29):
stated they found.
I didn't see any videos orreports of officers saying
anything about unconscious ordead women, so I don't know if
it's the same video or aseparate one.
D (20:39):
What is the purpose of the legs with the gym shoes?
Elena (20:43):
I have no idea.
It looks like she has likespecific legs, like very unique,
so maybe someone would identifythemselves.
I'm not sure.
But, basically, there's alsoreports that there are pictures
of women who were unconsciousthat, they released pictures.
Now, I have found some picturesof those women, but I'll send
(21:07):
them, but I cannot access thearticle, like where it came
from.
So I do not know, and I cannotguarantee if this is from that
or from something else.
D (21:18):
The women that he has on these videos that shows he
killed them?
Elena (21:23):
No.
So the first picture I sent oflike the two girls and the leg.
That was like officiallyreleased by police that they
found that video.
They said it was a homemade sextape, and they just wanted to
release it to see if those womencan come forward if they can
talk with them.
Some sort of anyone can identifythem something.
And then I also saw reports,people are talking about a video
(21:47):
that this was of him assaultingeither dead or unconscious
women, and I don't have anyreports of the police saying
that specifically, so I don'tknow if that's the same video,
if those are two separate videosfound.
D (21:58):
Okay, so the women, are they any of the ones that are missing
or have been identified as dead?
Elena (22:05):
Not that I'm aware of, but I haven't heard anything
from police specifically statingthat was true.
D (22:12):
So there's nothing to say yep it was him for sure.
Elena (22:17):
Yes.
I will say though, back in 2006,there were apparent tire marks
or trails that led directly fromthe burial site to his mobile
home park.
D (22:29):
He's deceased, correct?
Elena (22:31):
Yes.
D (22:31):
And, the police have not said what they have really found.
They have not clarified it.
Elena (22:37):
The only thing I saw was a video of a police officer
talking about the homemade sextape.
And that was the only thing thatwas confirmed.
Sophia (22:43):
Those tracks are pretty, probably strong circumstantial
evidence.
Elena (22:48):
Yeah, possibly, I would say.
This is a picture of JosephBlea.
And then I will send a pictureof Lorenzo.
Sophia (22:55):
Lorenzo is the picture you just sent?
Elena (22:57):
Mm hmm, the last guy.
Sophia (22:58):
Is Hispanic?
Elena (22:59):
I don't know.
He looks like he could be or hecould be white.
I'm not sure.
Sophia (23:03):
He could go either way, but I'm not sure.
The reason I say that is becausethey say that serial killers
usually like to hunt withintheir same race and so most of
these women are hispanic.
D (23:17):
That's not necessarily true.
Elena (23:18):
I mean it could be opportunistic And they were
living high risk lifestyles.
That's where we are withMontoya, because, the police
have said that he's a pretty bigsuspect, but because he's dead,
they don't really have much togo off of, and they have kept
the investigation, I would say,pretty tight lipped, at least at
first, they did.
Now, the last suspect, ortheory, really comes from Dirk
(23:42):
Duran- Gibson, who was a formerassociate professor at the
University of New Mexico.
He authored several books onserial killers and possibly
believes that the murders couldbe a result of an organized
crime or even a biker game thatwas like near the area at the
time.
He believes that there areprobably three people involved,
the boss, the intermediary, andthe hitman.
(24:05):
Now I couldn't find anythingfrom the police saying that they
are following this theory.
And I don't really think thatthere's any evidence to suggest
that it was multiple people.
I believe the police think thatthis is most likely the work of
a serial killer.
They have publicly stated thatthey are looking into Blea and
Montoya as possible suspects,but they also have others they
are considering that they'vekept quiet.
(24:27):
This was back in 2016.
So I'm not sure if there's anymore suspects that they're
looking into, or if they'vecleared any.
They continued to search formore bodies, or evidence, and
even found more bodies a littlebit away, but still close to the
original burial site.
However, it was eventuallydiscovered that these bodies,
(24:48):
through dental features, wereancient bones from 800 900 years
old.
So, not related to the West Mesamurders.
Sophia (24:58):
Definitely not related, and it's good they were able to
get that testing done.
D (25:02):
You have pictures of identified women and missing.
The missing women, did they gomissing before the identified,
after, or mixed in?
Elena (25:13):
It's mixed in, some of the women, Martha was missing in
2003.
Anna disappeared in 2005.
Nina was in 2005.
Felipa was in 2005.
Shawntell was 2006.
(25:33):
Jillian was 2006.
Leah was 2006, so they seem likethey're a little bit afterwards
except for that first one,Martha, was just in 2003.
So, I'm pretty sure Martha wentmissing after the first two,
after a couple of the elevenvictims, and then the rest were
(25:54):
later on.
D (25:56):
And they have no DNA evidence?
Elena (26:00):
On the bodies they found?
No.
Or if they have, they haven'tshared that.
I know they said they wanted to,put Montoya's DNA in the
database, but because he's dead,there's a law that you couldn't
do that, and they were trying topass a bill to that they could
put his DNA into the database.
But I'm not sure.
(26:21):
I would assume that if they havehis DNA, they could probably
already test it.
But their bodies were just bonesat that point, so I think any
DNA that was possibly theirs isgone by now.
D (26:32):
I don't understand what a biker's group are going do?
Why you need three men?
What do they do?
Do they use them?
Do they kill'em.
Three men watch they kill onewoman.
I just don't understand what thewhole thought process on that.
Elena (26:44):
I'm not sure.
I don't really think there,people hold a lot of weight to
it, but it was a possibletheory, so I just wanted to
include it rather than notincluded.
But, it seems like there's not alot of evidence to suggest that.
And I think the police have evencome forward and say that they
think that this is a network ofa serial killer, which I know
police are not willing to justgo out and say that unless they
(27:08):
have enough evidence to believethat.
They don't say those thingslightly.
So I'm not sure, but it seemslike they think one person did
all this.
D (27:16):
All these victims are not from New Mexico, correct?
Elena (27:21):
One was like last seen in Colorado.
A lot of these were somewherenear the area, or they went
missing further away.
One woman, I think she was oneof the bodies that were found,
she moved out there, cause shemet a boy, and she moved out
with her father, cause herfather was in New Mexico.
(27:41):
Some of them weren't from NewMexico originally, but had moved
out there to try to have abetter life.
D (27:47):
Okay, so he definitely has his own range where he goes, and
it seems it's around New Mexico.
Elena (27:53):
There's places near like West Mesa that are very known
for like prostitution and druguse and stuff like that.
Okay, what are we left with?
This case still remains open.
Law enforcement are stillreceiving tips to this day that
they are investigating.
They started off with, theirinvestigation trying to keep
(28:13):
everything very quiet.
But as time went on, and with nonew leads coming forward, they
slowly started to release newevidence, like the pictures that
they found in the video.
Law enforcement still remains onthis case, but, unfortunately,
without any new leads or tips, Ifear that this case will never
be officially solved, but itdoes seem like the killings have
(28:36):
stopped.
What do you guys think?
Was Montoya the killer else outthere still evading capture?
Sophia (28:44):
I suppose we can never really know for sure, especially
since we didn't get to thetrial, but my suspicion is that
it was Montoya, just based onthe evidence we do have, such as
the killing stopped right whenhe died.
He was assaulting a, I think itwas a sex worker, right?
He ended up killing her.
Her boyfriend caught this in theact.
(29:05):
So there's a proof that he wastargeting at least one sex
worker and ended up killing her.
And then there were also tracksleading from his place of
residence to the burial groundwhere these women were missing.
So my suspicion is that it'sMontoya.
D (29:23):
So, let me get this right.
When Montoya passed did thecrime stop?
The way it was happening?
Elena (29:30):
I would say yes, they did seem to stop since most of the
women were killed around 2005and some of the other possible
victims disappeared between 2005and 2006.
And then after he died therewere no other victims that were
when missing since then.
But they didn't discover thebodies until 2009, but it seems
(29:53):
like they've stopped.
D (29:54):
He passed away in 2006.
And he himself was killinganother sex worker.
Was she Hispanic, white, orAfrican American?
Elena (30:05):
Not sure.
Let me pull up her name.
I have not seen any picturesreleased of her, so let me see
if I can search her.
D (30:11):
When he was killing her, he suffocated her, right?
Elena (30:14):
He strangled her, yes.
D (30:15):
her.
Mm hmm.
So, it seems like all the bodiesthey found were probably
strangled also.
Even if they were shot,sometimes bullets hit bones.
Elena (30:26):
There's no evidence of bullets or anything.
D (30:28):
Even if they were stabbed again, a knife will hit a bone
and it maybe it doesn't hit itevery single time.
They found so many bodies, theywould have found that.
It sounds like unless hepoisoned them, it sounds like
they were probably strangled.
Which he did strangled someonefront of her own boyfriend more
or less.
There's a lot of pieces therethat fit his puzzle.
Elena (30:51):
Mm hmm.
D (30:52):
I'm not saying for sure it's him, but it definitely sounds
like it.
Have they looked to see if hehad another place that he liked
to hang out that maybe he wasburying the girls they're
missing?
Obviously he had something closeto his mobile home.
He must have had other areasthat made him feel comfortable
(31:13):
that he could bury.
A lot of times serial killers,if they're going to bury bodies,
they go to the same place overand over again, or close to the
same vicinity.
Elena (31:21):
From what I understood, the police like thoroughly
investigated Montoya and I'msure if there was somewhere else
that he went to, they probablylooked into that as well.
They seemed like they really dida thorough job investigating the
home.
They saw the supposed tiretracks and everything.
I'm not sure if they lookedanywhere, but I feel like if
(31:45):
there was somewhere that theyfound, they would have looked.
D (31:49):
And he was always in that area?
Those years the women weremissing?
Elena (31:53):
I believe so.
D (31:54):
Was he married, you said?
Elena (31:56):
He had a girlfriend, though.
Okay.
At some point, I don't know.
D (31:59):
So, he was not married?
Elena (32:01):
Yeah.
Sophia (32:02):
So, the women who were identified, they went missing in
the years 2003 to 2006?
Elena (32:09):
They disappeared between 2003 to 2006.
All 19 of the women disappearedbetween those times, but the
Mesa victims were killed between2003 to 2005, most likely in the
time range.
D (32:23):
He was killed in 2006, right?
Elena (32:24):
Mm hmm.
Sophia (32:25):
What about the ones who weren't identified?
When did they go missing?
Elena (32:29):
You mean the ones just missing?
They don't have any bodies?
Sophia (32:32):
Yes.
Elena (32:34):
They're part of that 19 that was between 2003 to 2006.
Sophia (32:37):
Okay, the reason I asked is because there was a part of
me that thought maybe they wentmissing at a different time
period in the hopes that maybethat's why he chose to bury them
somewhere else, but now it justmakes me think that he had
different spots for whateverreason and they just went to the
other location.
Elena (32:56):
I'm not sure.
I've also seen people say thatthe crimes occurred between 2001
to 2005.
From what I found, all the womenwho were identified and are
still missing seem to last beenseen, within 2003 on.
So I'm not 100 percent sure ofthe exact timeline, but it seems
like most likely from 2003somewhere to 2006.
D (33:19):
Do they know if he went through anything dramatic in
those years, at the beginning ofthose years, to trigger him to
do this?
Elena (33:28):
I'm not sure.
There's really not a lot ofinformation on Montoya.
D (33:33):
I was wondering if something triggered it in his life.
it's from 2003, 2005, and weknow of 19 women, then there may
be more.
That's, three years for sure andwe're at 20.
That's like killing five women ayear.
Elena (33:50):
Mm hmm.
D (33:51):
That's a lot.
Yeah.
It sounds like somethingtriggered him.
I was wondering if they wereaware of anything that may have
triggered him.
Elena (34:00):
None that I can find.
There's really not a lot ofinformation on him, but like
what, how old he was or anythinglike that.
D (34:10):
All I'm saying is that he may have killed before but whatever
happened to make him go intototal crazy mode here.
20 women almost right and theremight even be more that we're
not aware of.
That's like usually somethinghappens that they go a little
nutso or something.
Elena (34:30):
I will say that the police said that when they saw
the teenage sex worker that hedid kill.
They said that it was just toobrutal for them to think it was
his first time, so I wouldn't besurprised if he had other
victims and I also wouldn't besurprised if they were the West
Mesa killings.
I don't have anything about likea stressor, but I also read that
(34:52):
he had been arrested previouslyfor violent attacks on sex
workers, so I wouldn't besurprised if he started off with
either just assaulting them insome way.
And then eventually worked hisway up and maybe accidentally
killed him and then found outthat this is what he wanted.
So he does have a history withobviously not only killing that
(35:14):
one sex worker but withassaulting other ones and being
arrested for that.
D (35:20):
Now if I understand this correctly; the police have never
said it's him.
Elena (35:24):
No, but I do see a lot of research saying that according
to the police that video I wastalking about shows him having
sex with either dead orunconscious women.
I just haven't seen an articleor heard a video of the police
saying that specifically, but itseems like, all the articles are
(35:46):
saying that police have saidthat they have a video of him,
having sex with eitherunidentified women where they're
either dead or in some wayunconscious.
But they've only released thesecond part of the video, which
I actually did watch.
And I don't know if this is avideo but it shows like the
cameras off the side you justsee a wall you just hear duct
tape being pulled and then likea bag being like rummaged in the
(36:09):
back.
Like it sounds like he's gettingready to dispose of her body.
D (36:13):
If I understand correctly, they have not identified any of
the women even in those videos.
So they have not said that it ishim.
Because we do have a few womenmissing.
And they still have notidentified him.
If he is the one I mean, he haskilled quite a few people.
Elena (36:33):
The women in the video are unidentified at least the
ones that they've releasedPublicly because they did that
in hopes that the woman caneither come forward and say yes,
he you know, he assaulted me.
This is what happened.
He is a bad guy, or no, likethis was just his weird fetish,
and it was consensual and toclear him or something.
(36:56):
But they are still unidentifiedin hopes that someone knows the
women or the women themselvescan come forward.
D (37:02):
Oh, they're dead.
Elena (37:04):
Exactly.
Sophia (37:05):
Is there a reason we do not know about his upbringing or
why they have not been able toconnect with former family
members, friends, acquaintancesto just get to know a little bit
more about who he was,especially in his early life.
Elena (37:21):
I think because this investigation is still going.
The police think, if it is him,great.
He's gone.
He's dead.
There's not much we can do, butif it isn't, we need to do
everything we can to have ananswer.
I would assume that theyprobably reached out to those
people.
His like family or friends oranything that he might have had.
(37:42):
They just haven't said anythingpublicly because they're just
trying to keep everything quiet.
But it also seemed like he wasin a trailer park.
I don't think he really had muchof a life outside of just going
to work and maybe just killingwomen.
Sophia (37:56):
I guess that would not surprise me.
Elena (37:58):
I also saw a report, don't know how true this is,
co-workers had said that hementioned like killing women and
burying them in West Mesa.
Sophia (38:06):
So that he tells them that and they just sit on this
information?
Elena (38:10):
I don't know how true that information is.
D (38:13):
Many people think when someone says that they're
joking, they don't take itseriously.
Elena (38:18):
Could not say that is credible information.
The police said nothing that Isaw have said that was the case.
D (38:25):
What's really sad is that if he wasn't caught while he killed
another sex worker.
He would still be out there.
Sophia (38:34):
Oh yeah.
Elena (38:35):
Exactly.
The bodies weren't found foranother three years.
So he could, continue doing thaton and on and on until who knows
really.
I just wouldn't be surprised ifthere was another burial that he
has.
Cause I feel like the 11 victimsthat were found, I think that
those were probably earlier andmaybe the other ones came later.
(38:58):
If there were other victims, Idon't know why he wouldn't bury
them there.
Cause at that point it was onthe burial site was untouched.
It was like two miles from hishouse.
D (39:07):
Are you sure there's no DNA on there at all?
Maybe they're not sayinganything.
Elena (39:14):
It could be that they're not saying anything.
I know that they're trying topass a bill that could get
Montoya's DNA into the database.
I think it's more to see if he'stied to other assaults or other
like, attacks to say, okay,maybe if he's tied to another
sexual assault, you can talk tothat person, see what happened.
I think that they would have hisDNA, if need be, to compare it,
(39:36):
so I think either, one, there'sprobably no DNA, because these
women were killed between 2003to maybe 2005 2006 so it's been
like over three years, andthey're just in the ground left
to the elements.
D (39:51):
Did they have clothes on still or were they just thrown
in there naked?
Elena (39:56):
I don't know.
It's possible they had clotheson and DNA is long gone now.
I know that they were just bonesat this point, because the way
it was described for the womanthat was pregnant, it was, her
bones, and then the baby'sbones, were right next to her or
on top of her.
Sophia (40:12):
She still could have been wearing clothes.
Elena (40:13):
Yeah.
I'm not saying that there's noti'm just saying I know for a
fact that they were justskeletal remains.
I don't know about the clothes.
I'll end with this, if you haveany information that you feel
might be beneficial don'thesitate to call(505) 768-2450,
or call Crime Stopper at(505)843-STOP.
(40:36):
And there is also as of rightnow, I believe$100,000 reward
that's being offered for anyinformation that leads to a
solve or some sort of question.
You can also contact thedetective Ida Lopez, but out of
respect for her, I'm not goingto, release her email.
But if you need to, her email ispublic.
She also wants some families toemail her to update their
(40:59):
contact information, so she canstill keep in touch.
But I gotta hand it to thisdetective.
She worked hard and she noticedthat there was something going
on before anyone else, so propsto her.
All right, guys, with that wewill end the episode, but I do
want to thank you all forlistening this week.
We love our listeners and it'sbecause of you guys that we are
able to do this podcast, yourhelp and engagement really does
(41:21):
help us and help the podcastgrow.
And if you enjoyed this episode,please text a friend or family
member to listen and to help ourpodcasts.
Until next time make sure youguys stay in the Eerie Side.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye guys.
D (41:36):
Be safe.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!