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 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - - Crews building a park in the middle of a neighborhood uncovered bones Tuesday. 
 
 It's just a quarter-mile away from the burial site of the west mesa murder victims. 
 
 Albuquerque Police say they're treating the area as a crime scene and will have an officer out there for the next few days. 
 
 In the meantime, they can't continue to dig until they get the "ok" from the utility companies. 
 
 KRQE News 13 also spoke to the family of one of the west mesa murder victims, who says when they heard the news it took them back to 10 years ago. 
 
 In 2009, a woman walking her dog near Tuesday's scene at 118th Street and Dennis Chavez, found a bone. That led to the discovery of 11 women, one of whom was pregnant. 
 
 The lead investigator in the case is now APD's police chief, and he says he's not ruling out there may be a connection. 
 
 "We're not 100 percent sure that it's related, but we're treating it as if it's similar to the first round when we found the first bone way back at that time," Chief Mike Geier said. 
 
 To this day, police have never made any arrests in the case, and according to APD there are still another six women who went missing and were never found. 
 
 "It makes my heart pound but we just have to put it in God's hands," said Julie Gonzales. 
 
 Gonzales is the sister of one of the 11, Doreen Marquez. She says hearing the news Tuesday only makes her relive the heartbreak. 
 
 "It just brings it all back. Back to day one. Ten years later, back to day one. The digging, the finding, the scraping. It's just like, 'wow,'" Martinez said. 
 
 Meanwhile, people whose homes surround the burial site knew one day police would find bodies. 
 
 "The eeriest part to me is to know it's taken this long," said a neighbor. 
 
 APD says in the next few days they will also start to review satellite imaging of the land where they body was found -- just like they did nearly 10 years ago with the first burial site. 
 
 While police have not arrested anyone, there are two prime suspects in the case -- Lorenzo Montoya and Joseph Blea. 
 
 Montoya strangled a prostitute at his home, then was shot to death by the woman's pimp. The murders stopped after he was killed. 
 
 Blea, a serial rapist, was sentenced to 90 years in prison after DNA linked him to attacks on middle school girls in the 80s and 90s. ||||| .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 
 
 Copyright © 2018 Albuquerque Journal 
 
 A construction crew working on Albuquerque’s West Mesa on Tuesday may have unearthed new evidence in New Mexico’s largest unsolved serial killing. 
 
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 Albuquerque police say the crew found human remains while working with heavy machinery in a development next to the field where the bodies of 11 women, one of whom was pregnant, were found buried in shallow graves in 2009. 
 
 The case was known as the West Mesa Murders, and the victims all disappeared in 2003 and 2004. 
 
 Several other women with similar backgrounds were reported missing in 2005 and 2006. They have never been found, and police have long suspected there is a second burial site. But they said Tuesday it was too soon to know if the newly found remains are part of a second burial site, or if they’re even connected to the West Mesa case. 
 
 The remains were unearthed in a park being built in the middle of a subdivision called Sandstone Trails at Anderson Heights. It’s about a half-mile south of the original burial site, which is at 118th Street and Amole Mesa SW. 
 
 Albuquerque Police Chief Michael Geier, who led the team of investigators in 2009, said the scene felt like “déjà vu.” 
 
 “It looks like a burial,” he said. “There’s enough there to cause concern.” 
 
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 Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, who also was at the site Tuesday, said that for years construction crews working in the area have been under instructions to keep an eye out for human remains. 
 
 He said an arroyo used to run from the West Mesa burial site to the area where the remains were found Tuesday. 
 
 The crew with Franklin’s Earthmoving had excavated about a foot of earth when they found the bones. They immediately called police and were told to stop digging. 
 
 Geier said one set of remains was visible. Investigators don’t know if there are any others. He said it was too early to provide many details. 
 
 Keller said it could take weeks for investigators to sift through the empty lot. 
 
 “It’s like an archeological dig,” Keller said. 
 
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 Geier said investigators plan to do just that, as they did after the West Mesa victims were found in 2009. He said some of the same people who investigated the case were on scene Tuesday, and the similarities between the two scenes were striking. 
 
 “It looks a little different but feels the same,” he said. 
 
 Simon Drobik, a spokesman for APD, said the body had been fully excavated by 9 p.m. Tuesday. The gender and identity haven’t been determined. 
 
 PNM will scan the dirt lot for power and gas lines today so that investigators can start digging later this week. They will look at old satellite imagery to try to find clues to where the earth was disturbed and other bodies might be buried. 
 
 That’s the same process police used in 2009 after a woman walking her dog found the first human bone. 
 
 “The community’s hurting and there’s a lot of things going on – a lot of old memories coming back up,” Drobik said. “It’s been so heavy for the city and we recognize that.” 
 
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 On Tuesday, crime scene investigators photographed the construction site and a mobile crime lab and dozens of police vehicles lined the streets while detectives went door-to-door to speak with neighbors. 
 
 Rudy Vallez, Veralyas Portales and other neighbors sat in folding chairs in Vallez’s driveway across the street from the construction site as they watched police investigate. 
 
 “It’s not surprising,” Vallez said. “I bet there are bodies buried all over this desert.” 
 
 Vallez, who has lived in the neighborhood for eight years, said neighbors had been asking for a park in the empty lot for some time. 
 
 “We were pushing for it,” he said. 
 
 Neighborhood kids have been playing for years on the dirt mounds where the remains were found, Vallez said. 
 
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 Two years ago, Portales moved to the neighborhood from a home just blocks from the original burial site. 
 
 “The bodies have been following me around,” she said. 
 
 The first body discovered in the West Mesa case was in February of 2009. It took investigators a month to find all 11 bodies, and nearly a year to identify the women. 
 
 The case was national news. And investigators were under intense pressure to find the killer. 
 
 They investigated a handful of suspects and eliminated some. But there are still two men who have, to this day, never been ruled out: Lorenzo Montoya and Joseph Blea. 
 
 Montoya, 39, was killed in December 2006, after the West Mesa victims had disappeared but before their bodies were found. Blea, 61, is serving a 90-year prison sentence for a string of rapes unrelated to the West Mesa case. 
 
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 Neither man has ever been formally accused or charged in the West Mesa murders. ||||| Human remains found could have ties to infamous West Mesa murders Share Shares Copy Link Copy 
 
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 WEBVTT >> ACTION NEWS AT 10:00 STARTS NOW. >> WHAT COULD THE A HUGE BREAK IN A CASE THAT HAS HAUNTED ALBUQUERQUE. >> T-BONES OF 11 WOMEN WERE FOUND IN 2009. TODAY, MORE FOUND SOUTH OF THE ORIGINAL SITE. THEY COULD BE CONNECTED TO THE WEST MESA MURDERS. ANCHOR ROYALE DA IS LIVE TONIGHT TO SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS NOW. >> THIS COULD BE A HUGE DEVELOPMENT IN THE WEST MESA MURDER MYSTERY OR APD HAS ANOTHER DEATH TO INVESTIGATE. IT WAS A CONSTRUCTION CREW THAT MADE THE DISCOVERY TODAY. YOU CAN SEE THE TRACKS FROM SOME OF THE WORK THEY ARE DOING TO READ WORKERS TOLD TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS, AND TODAY, THEY WARN THEY WERE -- THEY WERE WARNED FOR GOOD REASON. IT’S A DISCOVERY THAT CALLED THE HEAD OF THE POLICE AND THE HEAD OF THE CITY TO ALBUQUERQUE’S WEST SIDE. >> IT WAS ROUGHLY MIDDAY WHEN CONSTRUCTION CREWS DISCOVERED HUMAN REMAINS. >> ON 118TH STREET, NEAR CENOTE ROAD SOUTHWEST; NEXT TO ROWS OF HOMES, HUMAN BONES. A GRUESOME DISCOVERY, ALL TOO FAMILIAR FOR APD CHIEF, MIKE GEIER. >> IT LOOKS DIFFERENT BUT THE FEEL IS THE SAME. >> HE WAS THE LEAD INVESTIGATOR ON THE WEST MESA MURDERS; WHEN THE BONES OF 11 WOMEN AND A FETUS WERE FOUND IN 2009. TUESDAY’S DISCOVERY JUST A QUARTER MILE FROM THE MASS GRAVE SITE. ARE THE TWO CONNECTED? THE CHIEF SAYS THEY’RE LOOKING INTO IT. >> IT IS VERY CLOSE AND THE SIMILARITIES IN TERMS OF THE LANDSCAPE AND THE GROUND, THERE IS ENOUGH TO CAUSE CONCERN. >> THE CONSTRUCTION CREW WAS SO CLOSE TO THE WEST MESA MURDER GRAVE SITE. >> CREWS HAVE BEEN TRAINED TO LOOK FOR REMAINS AND WHAT TO DO IF THEY FIND THEM. >> NOW MEDICAL INVESTIGATORS ARE HERE. THE WORK THEY’LL DO BEING CALLED AN ARCHELOGICAL DIG. IT COULD TAKE MONTHS BEFORE THEY KNOW MORE. THE COMMUNITY WAITING ANXIOUSLY FOR AN ANSWER. WE’RE COMING UP ON A DECADE SINCE THE FIRST BONE WAS FOUND OUT HERE AND THERE’S BE NO ARRESTS. THE CHIEF TELLING US HE’S NOT RULING OUT THERE COULD BE MORE HUMAN BONES OUT HERE. HE TELLS US THEY’LL LOOK OVER THIS ENTIRE SITE. REPORTING LIVE ON THE CITY’S WEST MESA, ROYALE DA, KOAT, ACTION 7 NEWS. >> FAMILIES OF VICTIMS ARE IN DISBELIEF TONIGHT, AFTER HEARING THE NEWS. WE CONTINUE OUR TEAM COVERAGE WITH ACTION 7 NEWS REPORTER JUSTIN MATTHEWS WHO SPOKE WITH A VICTIM’S MOTHER IN AN INTERVIEW YOU’LL SEE ONLY ON SEVEN. >> NOT KNOWING, SIX YEARS. AT LEAST I WAS ABLE TO HAVE CLOSURE AND BE ABLE TO GIVE HER A DECENT BURIAL. >> ISABEL CANDELARIA WAS INITIALLY AT A LOSS FOR WORDS WHEN SHE HEARD HUMAN REMAINS FOUND TUESDAY COULD BE LINKED TO THE WEST MESA MURDERS. >> IF THEY FOUND MORE REMAINS OF GIRLS, I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO THINK. >> HER DAUGHTER, MONICA CANDELARIA, DISAPPEARED IN 2003, AND IS ONE OF THE 11 GIRLS WHOSE REMAINS WERE FOUND IN THE WEST MESA IN 2009. >> NINE YEARS, IT HAS BEEN. >> INVESTIGATORS SAY THERE ARE STILL SIX TO EIGHT WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN MISSING SINCE THE ELEVEN BODIES WERE FOUND, WHO MAY BE LINKED TO THE WEST MESA MURDERS ALSO. CANDELARIA SAYS SHE HOPES THESE NEW REMAINS WILL BRING THOSE FAMILIES SOME CLOSURE. >> COULD BE GOOD NEWS TO KNOW THEY WERE FOUND IN FLAX -- WERE FOUND. >> SHE SAYS THE PAIN OF NOT KNOWING WHERE HER DAUGHTER WAS FOR SO LONG WAS EXCRUTIATING. BUT FOR SIX TO EIGHT OTHER FAMILIES WHO HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THEIR DAUGHTERS ARE. CLAXTON NOT EVER KNOW, THAT IS HARD. >> THE REMAINS TODAY, FOUND IN THE MIDDLE OF A NEIGHBORHOOD. IN THIS SKY 7 VIDEO, YOU CAN SEE JUST HOW CLOSE THOSE HOUSES ARE TO THAT SITE. KOAT ACTION 7’S BRANDON EVANS SPOKE WITH NEIGHBORS AFTER TODAY’S DISCOVERY. >> HERE ON CENOTE ROAD, THIS CONSTRUCTION SITE IS WHERE THE HUMAN REMAINS WERE FOUND. SKY 7 FLEW OVER THE SCENE TO SHOW YOU JUST HOW CLOSE THESE HOURS SEA ARE TO THIS SCENE. WE SPOKE WITH ONE MAN WHO’S BEEN FOLLOWING THE WEST MESA MURDER CASE FOR YEARS, AND MOVED IN HERE TWO YEARS AGO. HE SAID HE’S NOT SURPRISED TO HEAR A BODY WAS FOUND JUST A STONE’S THROW FROM HIS HOUSE. >> CHANCES ARE GOOD, IF THEY’VE NEVER BEEN CAUGHT, CHANCES ARE GOOD THAT THEY’RE OUT THERE. >> EDWARD SANCHEZ SAYS WHETHER OR NOT THE TWO CASES ARE CONNECTED, HE HOPES THE PERSON OR PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE ARE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE. >> THE WEST MESA MURDERS ONE OF THE MOST DISTURBING STORIES IN CITY AND STATE HISTORY. IT STARTED 9.5 YEARS AGO WHEN CHRISTINE ROSS WAS ON AN EVENING WALK WITH HER DOG. >> FEBRUARY 2009, CHRISTINE ROSS WAS ON A WALK, WITH ROOKUH. >> I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE IT. I THINK ABOUT IT EVERYDAY. >> CAN’T BELIEVE WHAT SHE FOUND. BONES, HUMAN BONES. >> ACTUALLY IT WAS JUST ON TOP OF THE SOIL. >> IT WAS A LARGE FEMUR BONE, SO SHE CALLED ALBUQUERQUE POLICE, AND THIS SECTION OF THE WEST MESA BECAME THE LARGEST CRIME SCENE IN STATE HISTORY WHAT WILL BECOME UNBELIEVABLE COMFORT AFTER WEEKS OF DIGGING, THEY FOUND THE WEEKS -- REMAINS OF 11 WOMEN. THESE ARE THE VICTIMS. AS YOU KNOW, NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN ARRESTED FOR THE WEST MESA MURDERS, AND A.P.D. HAS INTERVIEWED NUMEROUS POSSIBLE SUSPECTS. AND WITH TUESDAY’S DISCOVERY, THERE COULD BE MORE VICTIMS, . THIS IS WHAT CHRISTINE SAID ALL THOSE YEARS AGO, WHICH LED TO AN ALMOST DECADE OLD COLD CASE. WELL, ALMOST A DOZEN CASES
– Nearly a decade ago, the remains of 11 women who disappeared in New Mexico in the early 2000s were found buried in shallow graves in what's become the state's largest unsolved serial killing. As macabre as it was, police immediately suspected more graves remained hidden, given the unsolved disappearances of multiple women of similar backgrounds (linked to drugs and prostitution) between 2005 and 2006. Now, in what could be a major break, a construction crew uncovered human remains under a foot of earth Tuesday while building a park on Albuquerque's West Mesa. Described as a dirt mound frequented by kids, the site is a half-mile south of the original burial site, which it was once linked to by a dry creek, per the Albuquerque Journal. At least one body has been fully excavated. "We certainly understand and are concerned this might be one of the six to eight missing women," Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller tells KOAT. "There's enough there to cause concern," adds Police Chief Michael Geier, noting the scene gave him the feeling of "deja vu." The Journal describes the similarities between the two sites as "striking." Still, authorities haven't found evidence linking the find to the West Mesa Murders. If it's there, it could take weeks for investigators to spot it. In the meantime, as they await approval from utility companies for further digs, "we're hoping that this might be a new development that could be a positive lead … in identifying the offenders," Geier says. KRQE has more on two "prime suspects," one of whom is still living.