Over a year, the bones of 11 girls and women were found by the Albuquerque Police Department. A&E reported that the group burial indicates a serial killer.
Thirteen years ago, the discovery of a femur bone on Albuquerque’s west side would lead investigators to a mass grave site where 11 women were buried.
no. no. never heard of her before. did you ask her where she heard that? yeah. her aunt ran the streets, knew michelle, knew certain people, and they had heard it from her aunt. reporter: dan immediately called detective ida lopez with the tip. but she was unable to find the aunt or to pin down the source of the rumor. it was all just unverifiable street talk, the kind ida lopez had heard before. except for one tantalizing tidbit. cinnamon was a name on ida s list. cinnamon elks, missing since august of 2004. but even if those rumors were true and human remains were cooling in the desert night on albuquerque s west mesa, the detective knew, it would take a miracle to find them. was a serial killer stalking the women working the war zone? i just always felt that they were going to be together. in death as in life? if you find one, you re going to find them all. licking, scratching, scooting, and rubbing. may be signs of allergic itch, a medical condition that may require f
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
cinnamon elks, julie niedo, veronica, and doreen marquez. a lot of people said they were with drug addicts and prostitutes. well, if they were, then so be it. i didn t choose their lifestyle. but you know what the first thing is, they were human beings to begin with. commander feist who tried to keep the local press at arm s length during the excavation finally allowed them to cross under the yellow tape and onto the crime scene along with crews from america s most wanted . the tv show america s most wanted was at the crime scene today filming for next weekend s episode on the west mesa mystery. media coverage could be helpful now and might generate badly needed tips from the public. because not only was there a serial killer to catch, but also because one set of remains was about to upset everything detectives thought they knew