temporary field headquarters so many young women missing one woman determined to find them there s a story to her too. a young woman lucky to b alive. for a lot of people that would be the end to police work. so she searched the numbers grew the families hurt. she says i have some ba news for you under a desert sky a secret waited. this is not happening missing women forgotten by almost everyone but her. i have always felt they wer going to be together if you find one you ll fin them, all. sometimes ida lopez simpl can t wait for sunday. sometimes in the middle of her work week the albuquerqu detective feels a pressing nee for spiritual solace and divin guidance the fall of 2005 was one o those times. it was a time when a siniste force seemed to be snatching women off the streets of new mexico s largest city. and the devoutly religious detective knew she needed al the help she could get i think it s somebody who s very organized i think he s been preying on
nowhere. until late in the afternoon on february 2nd, 2009 sit when christine ross decided to take her dog ruca for a walk okay. they strolled out of her ne subdivision, one of many tha had recently sprouted up in th desert west of albuquerque, an then over to an abando construction site, where christine let ruca off the leash to run she ran up ahead of me, and she was messing with something on the ground. and then she left it we came upon it, and i appeared to be a bone. didn t look like the norma animal bone you find out here. so i took a picture of the bone i sent it to my sister, who s nurse. she confirmed that that looked like a femur bone and i should call the authorities finding a bone, even a huma bone, is not unusual out her on albuquerque s west mesa this is storied territory, where native american tribes
a search based on just a rumor. and so this case was going nowhere. until late in the afternoon on february 2nd, 2009. sit. reporter: when christine ross decided to take her dog ruca for a walk. okay. reporter: they strolled out of her new subdivision, one of many that had recently sprouted up in the desert west of albuquerque, and then over to an abandon construction site, where christine let ruca off the leash to run. she ran up ahead of me, and she was messing with something on the ground. and then she left it. we came upon it, and it appeared to be a bone. didn t look like the normal animal bone you find out here. so i took a picture of the bone. i sent it to my sister, who s a nurse. she confirmed that that looked like a femur bone and i should call the authorities. reporter: finding a bone, even a human bone, is not unusual out here on albuquerque s west mesa. this is storied territory, where native american tribes, conquistadors, and cowboys once roamed. the bone cou
and no indications she was ever spoken to? and a new detective took a look at an old lead and a person they never would have suspected of murder was suddenly suspect number one. the perfect murder almost. welcome to dateline. married just three months. then she was found murdered. what happened to her remained a mystery for decades partly because police mistakenly believed she was killed in a break-in gone bad. but they discovered it wasn t a burglar but a suspect whose trail led right to their own front door. february 2nd, 2009, homicide
reporter: ida didn t completely disbelieve what her girls were telling her. but the mesa, a vast expanse of desert west of town where people frequently dump things they no longer have any use for, was simply too big an area to launch a search based on just a rumor. and so this case was going nowhere. until late in the afternoon on february 2nd, 2009. sit. reporter: when christine ross decided to take her dog ruca for a walk. okay. reporter: they strolled out of her new subdivision, one of many that had recently sprouted up in the desert west of albuquerque, and then over to an abandon construction site, where christine let ruca off the leash to run. she ran up ahead of me, and she was messing with something on the ground. and then she left it. we came upon it, and it appeared to be a bone.