Mesa women sought help before deaths

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Some call the 16 missing Albuquerque women, the forgotten women. They have been missing for years, and after some were found buried on Albuquerque’s West Mesa, elected officials are calling for action.

“All in all we had a very candid, open conversation thinking about what we need to do in the future to improve the communication system for finding missing persons,” Lt. Governor Diane Denish said.

It’s a step in the right direction said Executive Director of “Crossroads for Women” Lisa Simpson, but it’s not enough.

“It takes something really bad to happen before the need is recognized," she said.

Simpson says there needs to be outreach to find the women before time runs out. The only problem is a lack of funding and resources.

Which means women must wait on a long waiting list just to get help at Crossroads. It’s a list that at least two of the women found buried in the mesa were on.

“We were at capacity at that time,“ Simpson said.

Albuquerque native, Diana, is one of the few that has made it into the program. She’s been at Crossroads for eight months now.

Diana said the news of the missing women found in the mesa hits too close to home for her.

“I did work the streets and everything, so it could have been me,“ Diana said.

An alcohol problem led her to a lifestyle that included prostitution. Now she's getting her G.E.D and raising her son.

“Unfortunately they can see their lives unravel pretty far before they get that help,” Simpson said.

For the women found beneath the mesa desert, they’re cry help was heard but a lack of money silenced them from getting help at Crossroads.

It’s haunted Simpson ever since, and she said that is way fuels her fight for more funding so she can reach more women before time runs out.