West Mesa Killer may have 6 more vics

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Albuquerque Police admit the West Mesa Serial Killer may have had more victims: six of them, in fact. Police don't know where they are buried, but do think they know their names.

“The similarities are pretty close so I think any person putting this together would have to say, ‘yeah, there has to be something more out there,” Deputy Chief Paul Feist said.

The six womens’ backgrounds and lifestyles will sound familiar: All had ties to drugs and prostitution, just like the 11 women unearthed in early 2009 .

(You can find out more about each woman at the bottom of this article.)

“There were a lot of similarities so I think you'd have to assume that there would be some kind of connection,” said Feist.

Investigators combed the area for weeks, all under the direction of Deputy Chief Feist.

“We flew the West Mesa daily over and over back and forth, back and forth, imaging,” said Feist.

He said investigators had been trying to track down a group of about 20 women who all went missing between 2001 and 2006, the time period when the serial killer struck. When cops only found 11 bodies on the mesa, they thought there's probably a second burial ground.

Investigators pulled detailed satellite images of the whole mesa from around 2005. Feist said any spot disturbed, “(We) actually did some investigating on there, actually probing into the earth.”

They didn't find anything.

“Do you still think that these other six women may have been victims of the West Mesa Serial Killer?” News 13 Reporter Alex Tomlin asked.

“Personally, I am very confident that there are nobody out, left at 118th street,” said Feist. “Where the other six are, I don't have an answer. Is it possible that there is another site out there? Absolutely.”

Feist said the likelihood that all six picked up and moved without leaving a trail is highly unlikely.

Tips are coming in daily and Deputy Chief Feist keeps a daily reminder of this case too: in his office hangs a picture of what looks like a field.

“That picture is what the mesa would have looked like in 2005, in the location where we recovered the remains,” said Feist. “So the person that put them out there, it's what he would have seen every day.”

Not knowing where these six are isn't the only thing frustrating the career law man; the killer's identity is still a mystery.

“Are you guys any closer to anything?” asked Tomlin.

“No, its continuing,” said Feist. “There is no one I can say is any higher on the list than another.”

As always, investigators said they have a handful of suspects. They said they're confident the serial killer is no longer a threat here, but won't say how they know that when they don't even know who the killer is.

Police have figured out what happened to a few of the missing women on that original list of about 20. They've died in ways and places not related in any way to the West Mesa Serial Killer.
 

Click on each woman’s name to see more details about her disappearance.

Leah Peebles

Shawntell Waites

Nina Herron

Anna Vigil

Felipa Gonzales

Vanessa Lujan

Anyone with information concerning the victims and/or potential suspects is asked to contact the 118th Street Task Force at 1-877-765-8273 or Crime Stoppers at (505) 843-STOP.