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Albuquerque detective Ida Lopez took it upon herself to uncover the story behind the remains of 11 women and an unborn fetus, which were discovered over 13 years ago, buried in shallow graves in a West Mesa desert. These unsolved murders remain one of the biggest homidice cases in the Albuquerque Police Department's history.
The case reportedly began in 2005 when Lopez was handed files of a few missing women, one of whom was a 25-year-old prostitute named Michelle Valdez from New Mexico's largest city, Alberquerque. The investigation led the detective to discover at least 17 more similar cases of missing women, whom she referred to as "her girls."
Decades later, the case still remains unsolved. Only one signficant discovery was made along the way, which is that they were all murdered.
Tonight's episode of Dateline: Unforgettable Season 2 will have Josh Mankiewicz narrate the story of the dedicated detective Ida Lopez, who is still working on these decade-old cases to help the victims and their families find some form of justice. The upcoming episode, titled Somebody's Daughter, will air on Oxygen on Tuesday, July 12, at 8:00 PM ET.
The official synopsis states:
"Josh Mankiewicz recalls the story of a detective who makes it her mission to find dozens of women who vanished on the streets of Albuquerque, N.M."
Alberquerque Police Department's former detective Ida Lopez and a decade-old case
Ida Lopez, a missing persons detective from the Alberquerque Police Department, became increasingly attached to the unsolved homicide of 11 women and an unborn fetus, whose remains were discovered in one of the city's deserts back in 2009. Lopez was part of the investigation from the very beginning, when the homicides were a series of missing persons cases related to the disappearance of numerous women.
In 2007, before the harrowing discovery, the detective reportedly claimed that she had a file of more than 17 women, whom she referred to as "her girls," with similar backgrounds of addiction or prostitution who went missing between 2001 and 2006 from the Albuquerque streets. Lopez spent years investigating the case and soon became a significant figure in the West Mesa murders.
Ida Lopez's role in the unsolved Albuquerque case
Ida Lopez was unable to solve the case she was so closely attached to before her retirement and relocation in 2014. She had also grown close to the families of the victims by that time. Fortunately, the detective came back on a contractual basis to investigate the West Mesa murders.
Albuquerque police spokesperson Tanner Tixier stated that she returned in 2015 to continue working on the unsolved case. According to Tixier, the department made the decision to bring Lopez back due to her extensive involvement in the case as well as her connection with the families of the victims. He said,
"Her complete depth of knowledge of this case is not something that can be just passed along to the next detective who takes over the case. You can look at the case file and try to get a good grasp on it, but unless you were there from day one, you’re not going to have the intimate knowledge of the case that Ida would have."
Eleanor Griego, one of the victims' mothers, had previously mentioned while commenting on the case:
"She [Ida] put her whole heart into it. That was her looking for her own kids when it’s our kids. When they found them, she cried for them, too."
APD Detective Mark Manary, who continued working on the disappearances after Ida's retirement, also deserves a special mention.
Ida Lopez previously appeared on Dateline in an episode on the West Mesa tragedy which aired in December, 2010. The unsolved case received a lot of attention after that.
The case remains unsolved till date, with eight girls still missing. However, the Albuquerque Police Department refuses to lose all hope and continues working on it with whatever leads they have. The police are reportedly willing to reward $100,000 to anybody who provides information on the West Mesa murders.
Dateline: Unforgettable airs every Tuesday on Oxygen at 8:00 PM ET.
