sets of remains, jane doe number 7, was a young black female. when they told us that they had a young black girl, i thought, i didn t have a young black girl on my list. reporter: for medical investigator wendy honeyfield the bones of jane doe number 7 and her pink-tipped acrylic nails were a beguiling puzzle. she s like a lot of other cases that we had skeletal remains that come in. and there s so much work that s always done behind the scenes to get them identified. that nobody really ever sees. reporter: for the detectives who were trying to catch a serial killer those remains represented a wild card with staggering implications. what if the west mesa grave digger was a prolific transient? what if jane doe number 7 was just the first of many victims the grave digger brought to the
about that killer. coming up when they told us they had a young black girl, i thought, i didn t have a young black girl on my list. who was she? where did she come from? how did she get to albuquerque? not all of those questions have been answered as of yet? was it possible ida lopez s list was just the tip of the iceberg? maybe there are women out there who aren t on any list. when somebody s daughter continues.
and that s more than just a few guys. it s more than just a few. it had to be someone local, investigators assumed, a meticulous man whose grim will had brought him back to the mesa again and again to bury his victims. everything was in a pretty contained area, all the bones, all the remains. yes. because this guy had complete freedom or he just thought, nobody s ever going to come out here? probably because he felt safe out here. for detectives like todd babcock, it all seemed to add up except for one thing. the crime lab had determined that one of the unidentified sets of remains, jane doe number 7, was a young black female. when they told us they had a young black girl, i thought, i didn t have a young black girl on my list. for medical investigator wendy honeyfield, the bones of jane doe number 7 and her
for police that seemed like a good place to start their search for the killer. we re looking for people who ve had histories of showing violence against prostitutes. and that s more than just a few guys. it s more than just a few. reporter: it had to be someone local, investigators assumed. a meticulous man whose grim will had brought him back to the mesa again and again to bury his victims. everything was in a pretty contained area. all the bones. all the remains. yes. because this guy had complete freedom or he thought nobody s going to come out here? probably because he felt safe out here. reporter: for detectives like todd babcock it all seemed to add up. except for one thing. the crime lab had determined that one of the unidentified sets of remains, jane doe number 7, was a young black female. when they told us that they had a young black girl, i thought, i didn t have a young
reporter: for detectives like todd babcock it all seemed to add up. except for one thing. the crime lab had determined that one of the unidentified sets of remains, jane doe number 7, was a young black female. when they told us that they had a young black girl, i thought, i didn t have a young black girl on my list. reporter: for medical investigator wendy honeyfield the bones of jane doe number 7 and her pink-tipped acrylic nails were a beguiling puzzle. she s like a lot of other cases that we had skeletal remains that come in. and there s so much work that s always done behind the scenes to get them identified. that nobody really ever sees. reporter: for the detectives who were trying to catch a serial killer those remains represented a wild card with staggering implications. what if the west mesa grave digger was a prolific transient?