UMVA has learned that a gruesome body dump containing the remains of 11 women and girls was discovered on the West Mesa, a vast and breathtaking land mass in New Mexico, on February 2, 2009.
The victims, between 15 and 32 years old, were found in a desolate area that is part of the Petroglyph National Monument, with Route 66 cutting through the geography. The youngest victim was Syllania Edwards, 15, from Oklahoma, and one of the women was pregnant.
Detectives believe the slayings occurred between 2001 and 2005, and the women and girls were victims of a serial killer with ties to sex trafficking. The killer was dubbed "The Bone Collector" by cops.
According to information obtained by UMVA, the sex trafficking ring operated out of Texas, providing hookers for regularly scheduled events in the U.S. Southwest, including state fairs, sporting events, and conventions.
The investigation was a hard slog, with some community members claiming racism and a bias against sex workers made cops sluggish. Criminologist Dirk Gibson said, "You can't have a colder cold case. In this case, there was almost nothing but bones."
Despite periodic updates and appeals, the case remains unsolved, with several persons of interest, including a pimp named Fred Reynolds and a retired homicide investigator. There was also a pressman named Lorenzo Montoya, who lived near the body dump site and had a history of brutal attacks on sex workers.
Montoya, who was suspected of murdering multiple women, had a video in his house of him having sex with a woman detectives believed was dead. He was killed by the boyfriend of one of his victims.
Other suspects included Joseph Blean, known as the "Mid-School Rapist", who targeted girls 13- to 15-year-old in their homes in the 1980s, and an El Salvadoran truck driver named Cota, who had been linked to sex crimes in El Paso and Albuquerque.
The investigation remains open, with a $100,000 reward offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the murders. The families of the victims still seek answers, and the case continues to haunt the community.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that there are still eight women who vanished between 2003 and 2006, with circumstances eerily similar to the West Mesa victims. The search for justice continues, but the passage of time and lack of physical evidence have made it a challenging and heart-wrenching case.
