work in the off hours, when he knew cameras would not be looking over his shoulder. i needed to know where they were all the time. that way, again, so if i were doing a different process or if i was looking at something specific, i needed to know that i didn t have the eyes of america in that hole with me. reporter: by mid april, after 2 1/2 months of intensive searching, mapping, and aerial photography, commander feist finally felt confident that his team had found all the bones there were to find and began shutting down the west mesa crime scene. well, just a few minutes ago albuquerque police left the dig site after they say they d met all of the goals that they set. reporter: the total body count stayed at 11 sets of adult remains and one fetus. but for ida lopez the discovery and identification of seven women from her list meant that years of careful detective work were finally paying off. and she wanted to be able to provide them with some answers. reporter: in addition
want to be part of it anymore. reporter: many who lost friends and relatives to the west mesa grave digger are convinced there could still be someone somewhere who knows something. because, they suppose, all those earlier rumors about the women being abducted, killed, and dumped in the desert had to have started somewhere. was it all hot air, or did someone with knowledge of the murders mix a kernel of truth into those rumors? we re not the only family that got a call saying that their, you know, sister, daughter was murdered and buried out there. somebody was trying to send a message at some point. could never trace it back. it led them to a dead end. reporter: though both dan and camille valdez believe michelle s killer is still alive, dan prefers these days to dwell on the things he knows for sure. i love you, michelle. i miss you, hon. reporter: that he once had a daughter named michelle who was the light of his life. that once she was lost and that now she s found.
year, dan, his ex-wife, and his daughters plastered flyers with michelle s picture all over central avenue asking anyone who d seen her to call the albuquerque police department. at night dan drove through the war zone. sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. looking for michelle. it was real hard because you know, i d be circling the block
the patience of job. but by 2004 camille, the tag-along little sister, had had enough.on when michelle asked dan if she could move back home for a while, camille put her foot down. he was going to let her stay with us. and i remember telling him no. if she comes and stays, i m going to leave. i couldn t handle it. im i remember that. i didn t even i didn t even want to be around it anymore. i was so tired of it. tired of seeing him hurt. so you told michelle she couldn t come over? i told michelle she couldn t come over. i took her to a friend s house and dropped her off there. i know in my heart i didn t do the right thing, but i knew that the common sense of my brain said that i had to. i had to take that avenue. reporter: they call it tough love. and every time the phone rang his heart stopped. hoping that hers had not. shocking talk on the streets. but is it true? pi fr no, i can t believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on my car insurance with geico. i n
she said, well, dad, i m going to run. i said all right. and she said she went up to put her arms around me, and i hugged her. and she said no, dad. squeeze me tight. squeeze me like you ve never squeezed me before. a detective named ida lopez. i thought ida being a police officer was awfully small. short lady. but other than that it seemed that, you know, that she was on the up and up and that she was doing doing what she could, in her power, and the time that she had to go out and out to the streets. reporter: it would become a close working relationship based on frequent phone calls and mutual admiration. but that s not the that s not what he saw in his eyes, or his heart. reporter: dan continued to cruise the war zone, willing himself to believe that his daughter was still out there. i thought she was alive and well and doing good but just didn t want to have any contact with the family. maybe i did something wrong. maybe it was me not letting her come back to the h