Fair prostitutes help West Mesa murders

Albuquerque - The New Mexico State Fair and West Mesa murder mystery couldn't seem further apart, but police say they are closely linked.

The fair kicks off Friday and investigators hope prostitutes coming into town for the event will lead them to a killer.

Every year dozens of prostitutes travel to New Mexico as part as a circuit that stops at the State Fair and police hope they can help them solve the mystery of eleven women found buried on Albuquerque's west mesa.

Investigators unearthed 11 women in a vacant lot at 118th Street earlier this year. Seven of them have been identified but four sets of remains are still labeled as Jane Does.

Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said all of the indentified women were connected to Albuquerque.

“There’s a possibility that one or more of the four unidentified women may have come from somewhere else," he said.

Now police are turning to the State Fair and prostitutes who are only in town for the two-week event. “We feel that it is very important that we spend the time on the fair grounds and that we identify women that are normally not here in Albuquerque to talk to them and see if they have any information that might help us on this case."

Schultz said police are focused on the years between 2000 and 2005 when they believe the unidentified women went missing and will be questioning several people.

“It not only includes women that are working on the streets but also customers of those women," he said.

He said the smallest detail could crack this case wide open.

Tips continue to pour in on the case, especially since America's Most Wanted continues to profile it. The information has investigators continuously updating their suspect list.

"We have people that have been there from the beginning and people who get added to the list and taken off the list," and there are about six people on the list right now, Schultz said.

He cautioned, however, that just because the list has more names added doesn't mean investigators are loosing their grasp, or if the list shrinks, it doesn't necessarily mean they are closing in on their killer.

Prostitution is illegal and Schultz said that anyone caught in the act will be prosecuted.

DNA profiles of the four unidentified women are now complete and are being run through criminal and missing person’s databases looking for a match.

Facial reconstruction of the remains to determine what the women looked like should begin shortly.

If you have any information on the West Mesa murder mystery, call 877-SOLV-APD.