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
warrant was a local joplin missouri photographer who ha allegedly been in albuquerqu to take pictures during th city s 2004 balloon fiesta but police think it wasn t jus the balloons he wa photographing. remember, 2004 is when almos all of the women found on th west mesa disappeared. he s in the area where th prostitutes frequent he s a photographer. so he s going to have clos contact with these people. whatever else draws that connection to him. we have to look into it. it was intended to be a low-key search of the man home and offices but it didn t turn out tha way. it gathered a lot o attention because we had t utilize the fbi. we had to utilize the joplin police department. and one of the locations tha was searched was right nex door to a newspaper.
photographing. remember, 2004 is when almost all of the women found on the west mesa disappeared. he s in the area where the prostitutes frequent. he s a photographer. so he s going to have close contact with these people. whatever else draws that connection to him. we have to look into it. reporter: it was intended to be a low-key search of the man s home and offices. but it didn t turn out that way. it gathered a lot of attention because we had to utilize the fbi. we had to utilize the joplin police department. and one of the locations that was searched was right next door to a newspaper. if that same individual was here in albuquerque, the media wouldn t even have known about
jop pin joplin, missouri in august of 2010. investigators are extremely tight lipped at this point. but we do know this is in connection to the west mesa murders in albuquerque, new mexico. 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 photographing. remember, 2004 is when almost all of the women found on the west mesa disappeared. he s in the area where the prostitutes frequent. he s a photographer so he s going to have close contact with these people. whatever else draws that connection to them, we have to look into it. it was intended to be a low-key search of the man s home and offices. but it didn t turn out that way. it gathered a lot of attention because we had to utilize the fbi.
reporter: it was intended to be a low-key search of the man s home and offices. but it didn t turn out that way. it gathered a lot of attention because we had to utilize the fbi. we had to utilize the joplin police department. and one of the locations that was searched was right next door to a newspaper. if that same individual was here in albuquerque, the media wouldn t even have known about him. fbi agents also searched this home. was the man whose house you served a search warrant on, is he a suspect? no. i wouldn t say he s a suspect. he s just an individual that came to our attention that we had to follow through. so this guy takes photographs of the part of town that you re sort of looking at. is that what we re looking at here, is you re interested in seeing what photos this man took and whether he found anything in them? we really can t say why. reporter: though the detectives spent months combing through all the evidence taken from the photographer s office and