when they looked at old pictures of the mesa. in this 2002 image of the area where the bones were discovered there s nothing unusual. just desert and sage brush with a dry stream bed running through it. but two years later, in 2004, when most of the women on detective ida lopez s list were disappearing, the images show tire tracks leading from this road to a few bare spots in the vegetation. spots that weren t there before. this photo, taken the following year, shows even more bare spots. clustered within 20 yards of each other. it s kind of eerie looking at those satellite photos. that really sends a chill up and down your spine. reporter: the conclusion was inescapable. albuquerque police were looking at the evolving work of a serial killer.
heart that day when she wasn t there. reporter: in february, five months after michelle was last seen, dan went down to the albuquerque police station and formally reported his daughter missing. detective ida lopez, who would later make it her mission to find michelle and the other missing women, was on medical leave at the time. so in ida s absence the valdez family was at the mercy of the police department s bureaucracy. what d the police tell you? she didn t want to be found. and i can understand it. a.p. doesn t just deal with missing. they deal with all kinds. for a long time the news would be full of stories about girls who were missing and everybody s looking for them.
in late january 2010, nearly a year after the first bones were discovered on albuquerque s west mesa, the last set of remains was matched to another name on ida s list. university of north texas identified jamie barela through dna. reporter: although 15-year-old jamie barela was not a prostitute, she was last seen with one, her cousin evelyn salazar, whose remains were also found on the mesa. there were still seven missing women who fit the profile on ida lopez s list. and if they weren t on the mesa, where were they? with the investigation now focused on finding a serial killer, ida thought back to her late-night chats with the women of the war zone. when you ask them how many bad dates have you had?
were in albuquerque during the time frame we re looking at and now through investigative leads or other sources we find something that tells us a little bit more about their lifestyle as well, which would give us again that kind of immediate gut reaction, it s got to be. it s got to be that person. reporter: it was that kind of gut reaction that led detectives to joplin, missouri in august of 2010. investigators are extremely tight-lipped at this point, but we do know that this is in connection to the west mesa murders in albuquerque, new mexico. reporter: the target of the search warrant was a local joplin, missouri photographer who had allegedly been in albuquerque to take pictures during the city s 2004 balloon fiesta. but police think it wasn t just the balloons he was
for spiritual solace and divine guidance. the fall of 2005 was one of those times. it was a time when a sinister force seemed to be snatching women off the streets of new mexico s largest city. and the devoutly religious detective knew she needed all the help she could get. i think it s somebody who s very organized. i think he s been preying on his victims, has a particular victim in mind. reporter: sticking up for victims comes naturally to ida lopez. it s the same instinct that drew her to police work years ago, when she was a kid, growing up in albuquerque. i was about 9 years old. actually, it was my grandfather raised me.ctdehiizedis s co enowas ait wde.lo he was about in his 80s. and i m in the porch area. and there s a foot chase. and the guy goes toward him, and he s tackled by police. i just thought that was the coolest thing i d ever seen.ce and so that curiosity. n.d then there was the service part, the helping people part of police work. reporter: after college ida