Not Nameless: Remembering the Victims of the West Mesa Bone Collector
In the media, the women who were killed by the notorious West Mesa Bone Collector were mainly presented as prostitutes and drug addicts. But they carry names and lives. These are their stories.
A Terrible Discovery in Albuquerque
Albuquerque is the largest city in New Mexico, right in the heart of the state. More than 500’000 people live there today. In such a big city, it’s easy for people to simply disappear, but when they are involved in prostitution and drugs, their disappearances become worse than just simply “vanished.”
That is the case for at least 11 women who were one after another killed between 2003 and 2005, their bodies dumped in a mass grave that was only discovered in 2009 by a woman walking her dog that picked up on a human femur.
The discovery of the skeletal remains of 11 women was horrible news for the city. It was only thanks to recent housing development in the area, known as the West Mesa, that the corpses partially came to light. How much longer would they have remained undiscovered?
Most of the victims were last seen at 118th Street, then it only took one way to their final place. In some cases, it took years until they were even reported missing. When the murdered women were…
