New Mexico : The West Mesa Murders

Written By Navigating Advocacy Podcast

Albuquerque is the largest city in New Mexico and is one of the  most beautiful places. However, I did not live in a beautiful place but more like the dirt mound of the south, as I call it. About 565,000 people were living in this city, according to the 2020 census. Mountains all around make this town a basin, with the Rio Grand flowing through the middle. Albuquerque is a hub for tech, media, and fine arts. The crime rate is the worst I have covered on the podcast. We have talked about some pretty dangerous places. Albuquerque is rated a 1 out of 100. It is safe to say this city is in the top ten most dangerous places in the United States. To give some comparisons, America’s average crime rate is a four, the state of New Mexico is almost an eight, and the city of Albuquerque is a whopping 14. By my calculations, a person is 10x more likely to be a victim of a crime than the average person in the US. Property crime isn't much better, but violent crime is astronomical in this area and needs to be addressed. I know our friend Eric from the podcast True Consequences, which covers strictly New Mexico cases, has had a hand in creating change. He continues to do fantastic work and advocate for victims in his home state, so please follow him. 

To dive deeper into one of the locations for today’s unsolved murders, yes, we will be discussing more than one death today. I want to focus on an area known as The International District is a neighborhood in southeast Albuquerque. It is one of the city's most diverse areas and is home to many international restaurants and grocery stores. It is also one of the poorest areas in the town and has an extremely high violent crime rate. This area is known as “The War Zone.”

All the victims in today’s episode were from or last seen around this dangerous area. Their remains would be found in the West Mesa area of Albuquerque. These two locations are only about a 15-20 minute drive from each other. 


Jamie Catalina Barela was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on September 28th, 1988. She was described as a typical teenager. She was not into drugs or gangs and was just 15 years old when she vanished. She was described as a typical teenager. You see, Jamie and her cousin Evelyn were at a family gathering in March of 2004 when they decided to go to a nearby park. This park was located in the War Zone area, but the girls knew their surroundings, so it wasn't out of the question that they walked there. However, they would never be seen alive again. The cousin would be reported missing about a week later, but honestly, not much was done to search for the pair. Evelyn Jesus Maria Salazar was a known sex worker who struggled with drug dependency, so because of this, it seems that their disappearance was swept under the rug by local law enforcement. Evelyn had two daughters,  Meriah and Angel, whom she cared for full-time. Her family would say she was a fantastic cook and loved the outdoors, especially camping.


Syllannia Edwards was just 15 years old on August 17th, 2003, when she ran away from her foster family in Lawton, Oklahoma. She had been in the system since she was five when her mother went to jail. Syllannia had a rough life, to say the least. She would be spotted in Colorado in 2004. Then in the same rough area as the other girls of New Mexico, but this would be the last place to ever have a confirmed sighting of her. Syllannia was killed sometime between the years of 2004 and 2005. She was known to be with three other women called Lucretia, Ty, and Diamond. Syllannia would occasionally use the nicknames, Chocolate and Mimi. There are a few differences in Syllannia’s victimology compared to all the other women found in West Mesa. She was the only black girl and the only one not from the area. But she was found buried in the same plot of land as the other ten victims. 

The next victim was Gina Michelle Valdez. She was born on August 1st, 1982, and her family has the date of her death listed as February 2nd, 2009, even though she had been missing since 2005. She had given birth to two children a daughter, Angelica, and a son, Jeremiah. Gina was also about four months pregnant when she was murdered. Gina’s father stated in an interview  and I quote, “She brought light into the room when she came in. She was always happy-go-lucky; hardly ever was she down.”



Monica Candelaria was born on June 20, 1981. Her family described her as a person that enjoyed laughing, joking, taking care of babies, and spending time with her family. Monica was a young mother, that had been involved in the gang scene as well as sex work, but those acts did not define her. She was spirited, hilarious, and a joyful person. She disappeared on May 15th, 2003, and was reported missing a few weeks later. Her case was another one that would not be appropriately investigated until 2009. 




The next woman was named Virginia Cloven, and she was born on August 7th, 1981.  Virginia had a positive impact on the people around her during her childhood then tragedy struck, and her life would never be the same. Virginia’s brother was murdered, which sent this young lady spiraling. She would end up running away from home, which led to her doing sex work to survive. She cut off all contact with her family and friends. The last time her family ever spoke to her was on April 13th, 2004, when she called her family to tell them that she had met a man and she thought she was going to marry him. Her father would tell her that he wanted to meet this man and get to know him. That meeting would never happen. 

Julie Cyndie Nieto was just 24 years old when she disappeared on July 15, 2004. She loved creating her own clothes partially because she was so petite most clothes wouldn't fit her. She was a mother and had been struggling with dependency issues since she was 19 years old.



Victoria Chavez disappeared on June 5, 2003, but wouldn't be reported as missing for over a year. Victoria was convicted of sex work five times, and the missing person report describes her as a “known drug user and prostitute.” which makes me sick. She is still a human and deserves the same investigation as everyone else. Cases like these just make me what to scream from the rooftops that this behavior from law enforcement is not okay. A risky lifestyle does not mean these people deserve to be killed or their killer should get away with committing murder. I know we haven't talked about how the remains were found, and we will shortly, but Victoria’s remains were the first to be identified.


The last contact Veronica Romero's family had with her was the first week of February 2004. They would report her missing on February 14th, 2004. She was 27 years old and the mother to five children.  According to witnesses, she got into a white pickup truck at the corners of Wyoming Boulevard and Central Avenue and was never seen again. Yet again, the police didn't really investigate her disappearance. They gave the family the normal canned response, Veronica is an adult, she lives a dangerous lifestyle, blah blah blah.


Another 27-year-old, Doreen Marquez, was also a mother when she disappeared on October 10, 2003. She had two daughters named Destinie and Mercedes, and Doreen's life was on the straight and narrow, that is, until her boyfriend went to jail. She started to spiral and would take off for months at a time, so for a while, her family didn't even realize she was missing. They assumed she would turn up soon, just like she always did in the past. 


Cinnamon Elks was 37 years old when she went missing making her  the oldest of all West Mesa victims.  She vanished on August 20, 2004. I want to stop speaking about the victims for a moment to go on a slight rant. How in the world is there this many women being reported missing from the same area and the same victimology, and it takes years to link? I will talk about one detective that knew something sinister was going on and tried to push for more without much luck, but still. 2004 alone seemed to have so many missing women and no one else stopped to think wow this is strange. Could they all be connected? Back to Cinnamon, she had been arrested for sex work a few times and was actually friends with some of the other women that went missing during this same period of time. 

I know that was a lot to go through but it is vital we know the people behind the case. We cannot in good conscience, talk about a serial killer without saying the names and knowing more about the victims. The poor women were in the wrong place at the wrong time which led them to their deaths. Anything they had done or didn't do in the past should have no bearing on their disappearance being investigated.

 I am sure there were others that went missing around this time but these 11 women have been linked together because they were all buried in the same spot in West Mesa.  On February 2nd, 2009, a woman named Christine was taking her dog Ruca out for a walk and stumbled upon an unusual-looking bone. She snapped a picture and sent it to her sister, who was in the medical field.  The sister said it resembled a human femur bone and Christine should contact authorities right away. 

This area was unusual because of the recession and housing crash of 2008. It was projected to be an up-and-coming neighborhood with houses being built in this once undeveloped area. However, because of the crash, many of the plots of land designated to have homes built on them were left as a blank slate. The initial dirt work was completed, but that is all for many of the properties. Christine, who had found the bone loved the area because there was space for her dog to run and play without any issues with overcrowding or neighbors. I will post a picture of this area at the time so you can get a visual for this area. Without all of these events happening exactly the way, they did these eleven missing women may have never been found. 

When officers searched for the other bones that went with the femur, they found more than they ever imagined. Authorities were able to locate the remains of eleven women and an unborn baby within weeks of that initial bone. This discovery would be one of American history's largest unsolved serial killer cases. These findings would ignite the fight for change. With more and more remains being discovered, the Albuquerque police brought in the FBI. The dirt had to be sifted by hand to prevent anything from being overlooked. Authorities used Satellite maps, Ground penetrating radar Cadavar dogs in hopes of finding every piece of every person buried out there. 


Remember I said there was a detective who believed the disappearances of these women could be connected long before any of the remains were found? Well, that was a woman by the name of Ida Lopez. She was assigned to the cold case unit as an investigator, and since that day, she has been an advocate for these women whom she referred to as “Her Girls.” From the beginning, Ida believed the missing women would be found together, and she was right. Liz Thomson, another detective on the cases stated “The killer preyed on vulnerable women and may have previously attacked someone without killing them and then escalated to murder and burying the bodies so as to conceal the crimes.” An interesting fact about this case that is very different from a lot of others like it is that all eleven women were buried without anything, including clothing, jewelry, personal items, or any traces of foreign DNA. So you can assume from that alone these murders were very difficult to solve, let alone get a conviction, and there have been a few named suspects over the years.  


I am going to go with the least likely in my mind to the most likely to be the killer. First, we have a man named Ron.  He was a businessman and photographer from Joplin, Missouri. He w would frequently travel to the New Mexico State Fair which is right by The War Zone and West Mesa. I will only use his first name because even though he's a bit weird, I believe the police cleared him. What made Ron weird was that he would take photos of women who appeared dead. However, it turns out they were alive and well, and this was just his type of art. According to the Joplin Globe, “Ron fell under a cloud of suspicion in the serial murders case Aug. 3 of last year when investigators from New Mexico showed up at his properties in Joplin armed with search warrants. Why he was a suspect — that’s all in sealed warrants. That’s still part of our pending investigation,” said Sgt. Tricia Hoffman, spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department, in a phone interview. “But, at this point, we’ve been able to eliminate him as a viable suspect.” I was not able to figure out why they ever thought he was a suspect, and how they could possibly get a search warrant still baffles me. Ron passed a polygraph test and cooperated completely with law enforcement. He did the smart thing and hire a lawyer in both Joplin and Albuquerque, even though he was never even arrested.


A next suspect is a man by the name of Fred Reynolds. This guy was a known owner of an escort service. He was going to all families and friends of the women missing asking for information about their disappearances. He died a few months before the women were found, so police were unable to interview him at all. They did, however, speak with the family members of those that Fred communicated with, and they stated he didn't seem nefarious but was concerned or curious about the missing women. A freind of his would say "He told me he was a former heroin addict himself, and this was the reason he wanted to help the women that worked for him. He wanted them to have a good life," and then another friend stated, "He wasn't violent and he wasn't abusive and he wasn't in any way a killer," 


Lorenzo Montoya lived very close to where the remains were found and were actually on the police’s radar for being linked to the disappearance of sex workers.  He had a history of violence against women, soliciting sex workers, and murder. He met Sharika Hill online. He raped her and strangled her before tossing her in the car to dispose of her body. Her pimp Frederick Williams was parked just outside to monitor the situation and make sure his employee was safe. Yes, I am sure this was not a decent human being at all, but at least he tried to have the semblance of safety for them. When Sharika didn't come out he grew concerned so he walked up to Lorenzo’s trailer to see about the hold up when he saw the unthinkable. Lorenzo was dragging Sherika, who was bound at the ankles, knees, and wrist. She was completely naked, and all her clothing and personal items were thrown in a trash bag along with a condom. Lorenzo Montoya had strangled this young woman to death. Fredrick shot and killed Lorenzo right there in front of his home. Inside Montoya’s trailer, investigators found duct tape next to his bed. They also found hardcore pornography and some homemade sex tapes. One of those recordings shows Montoya having sex with a woman, and the tape goes black. In the following scene on the same tape, the camera is focused on Montoya’s bedroom wall.

This time the camera doesn’t capture what’s happening, but it does capture audio. It sounds like duct tape being pulled from a roll and the rustling of a trash bag, possibly. 

The last possible suspect was named Joseph Blea. Joseph’s first wife contacted police about a week after the discovery of the bone in West Mesa and said she thought police should look into him. However, he was already on their radar. 

This next part is graphic, so please skip ahead 15 seconds if you do not want to hear what this vile man did. Joseph is currently serving a 90-year prison sentence after he was convicted of four sexual assaults unrelated to the West Mesa case. He has a rap sheet a mile long with sexual crimes. He would break into the houses of middle schoolers and sexually assault them in their own home. He was once accused of raping a 14-year-old girl with a screwdriver. This case would be dropped, but there were still so many other horrific crimes this man committed he would never be released. His DNA was linked to the murder of a sex worker that was found in 1985. He was never charged with this crime either. About eight months after the bones were discovered, detectives searched Joseph's home and collected women’s jewelry and women’s underwear.

His then-wife told police he enjoyed wearing women’s underwear when having sex. She said she had, on occasion, found jewelry that didn’t belong to her or her daughter in their home. And she said her daughter had found women’s underwear hidden in their shed. UMMM, excuse me, I think that would raise some questions for me. 

Detectives found a tree tag buried with one of the bodies. They were able to trace this tag to a nursery in California that sends plants to Albuquerque. Joseph’s business records indicate he bought plants from this nursery. It’s unclear if detectives were ever able to tie that tree tag to him directly.

Investigators used satellite images to see back in time to 2004, before the area was developed. What they found was disturbing. They can see a set of tire tracks turning off the main road and going to the exact location the bodies were buried. Over 200 women that worked or lived in the War Zone area were interviewed. Things would be very different if these cases were investigated when they were reported. There were rumors of many of the victims being buried in West Mesa, but no one ever followed up on these rumors or searched this area back in 2004. 


After all this time and so many destroyed families, authorities continue to receive tips on a weekly basis. As recently as last summer, they dug into a site for a second burial ground. Nothing came from that search. There is so much more to these murders and possible missing persons cases that could be linked to the West Mesa Murders, so I encourage you all to go down the rabbit hole, speak up for those that no longer have a voice, and be the change this world needs. 

Once again, the victims identified were ​​Jamie Barela, 15; Monica Candelaria, 22; Victoria Chaves, 26; Virginia Cloven, 24; Syllania Edwards, 15; Cinnamon Elks, 32; Doreen Marquez, 24; Julie Nieto, 24; Veronica Romero, 28; Evelyn Salazar, 27; and Michelle Valdez, 22.

Albuquerque CrimeStoppers is offering a $100,000 reward in these cases. Tips can be submitted by calling (505) 768-2450 or Crime Stoppers at (505) 843-STOP.



Navigating Advocacy Podcast

Whitney and Melissa, hosts of Navigating Advocacy, blend their true crime interests with a mission to spark justice through storytelling, inspiring action, and building a community of advocates.

https://www.navigatingadvocacy.com
Previous

New York : Audrey May Turk Herron
Next

New Jersey : Margaret Ellen Fox