West Mesa yields three more skeletons

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The number of skeletal remains found on Albuquerque's West Mesa doubled Tuesday with the revelation investigators have found enough bones for six people.

And they say this may not be the end. Investigators said they fear there could be more remains buried on the site recently scraped clear for subdivision development.

The Office of the Medical Investigator reported recovering the bones of two people over the weekend. Then on Tuesday Albuquerque police said they found enough bones for one more person.

That brings the total to six people found on the site since a woman walking her dog near Sen. Dennis Chavez and 118th Street SW found a single human bone two weeks ago.

The initial three sets of remains are female, according to investigators. There was no immediate word on the gender of the recent discoveries.

OMI used dental records to identify one set of remains as Victoria Chavez, a known prostitute last seen in 2003. However medical investigators, unable to identify the two other people found last week, have asked families of missing women to submit medical and dental records to OMI.

Using satellite images police last week identified five possible graves, but that number has now grown, Albuquerque Chief of Police Ray Shultz said Tuesday.

"Going through some additional mapping that we found, we've now found seven spots that look like the ground's been disturbed," Schultz said. "So obviously we still have some additional digging that we need to do out there over the next couple days.

"We do have six bodies thus far."

Police said the skeleton of the sixth body is complete and that they hope to use teeth to identify the person.

Medical investigators have yet to determine the cause of death for any of the remains.

Investigators believe the bodies were buried in 2004 or 2005.