2 Weeks, 3 Bodies: Albuquerque's Murder Mystery

Feb. 17, 2009— -- The bodies were found by chance, starting with one bone sticking out of the dirt on a desolate plot of land in the mesa west of Albuquerque, N.M.

Two are still unidentified with no names and no clues as to how they died. But a third has a name, an identity and a family.

Victoria Chavez was the first to be identified by New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator, using dental records. It was her skeleton, along with partial remains of another, which touched off a massive search for more human remains in what is slated to become a new housing development.

For two weeks investigators, anthropologists and forensics experts have combed the area using hand tools, cadaver dogs and heavy machinery. Police have no idea how many bodies may be buried in the dirt or who dumped them there.

When she was last seen by her family in 2003, Chavez, 24, lived a hard life, logging arrests for prostitution and drugs. But in the months before her disappearance she had been living at home, working at a local burger joint and thinking about a career as a nurse.

"I was in denial," her mother, Mary Gutierrez, told ABCNews.com of the day she learned the bones were her daughter's. "I said, 'You must be wrong.'"

With the remains of three bodies found so far and tests pending on a fourth discovery, Albuquerque police aren't quite sure what they're dealing with.

The first bit of remains was found Feb. 2 by a woman walking her dog around the vacant lot.

"She just stumbled on one of the bones," Albuquerque Police Officer Nadine Hamby told ABCNews.com. "It's not like everything was intact."

When police responded to the scene and began digging, they found more bones. And the results surprised police -- they came from two different people, including Chavez. About 48 hours later, bones from a third person were found several yards away.

Since then police and forensics experts have been at the site every day, searching the area mostly by hand and using rakes and shovels. The area totals about 92 acres, though the search has been narrowed to a few specific areas.

Police have pulled up satellite records from 2003 onward and have narrowed the search, for now, using old dirt trails that have long since been plowed over.

Hamby said the area was sometimes used in the past as a place to dump trash or dead coyotes. Police have also found buried pets, including dogs and rabbits.

"We found a whole Noah's Ark out there," she said.

No Suspect, Only Speculation

So far, the only full skeleton found has been Chavez's, Hamby said. The process of identifying the other two -- investigators are unsure yet even if they're male or female -- could take months or longer, she said, depending on whether there is usable DNA or dental records.

The bones were believed to have been unearthed by excavation work in the area, Hamby said, both to prepare the land for construction and to dig culverts to divert rainwater away from houses already built in the neighborhood.

It remains unclear who owns the property where police are digging. The developer was identified by police as Longford Homes, though it company spokeswoman Susan Berger said Longford does not own that lot.

The police department rented a bulldozer on Saturday which overturned earth as much as nine feet deep, uncovering what could be the remains of a fourth person.

The latest discoveries are being tested by the medical investigator's office to verify that they are human and, if so, whether they belong to one of the three people already known by police to be missing.

Hamby said that until the other bodies are identified, police have few leads to point them to a suspect. Local news outlets have reported that police may be focusing on a well-known pimp who is now dead, but Hamby said that's purely speculation.

Laura Kohr lives just down the road from the vacant lot where the remains were found. Police were out there working a few days before the news crews showed up.

"We thought it was really weird," she said, until they saw a local news report about the bodies. "We were totally freaking out because it's right next to where we live."

She described the lot as a mix of compacted dirt and weeds with brick fencing and, now, police tape.

Kohr, the mother of a little boy, said she has never taken walks in that area before, and she certainly won't now. And even though the bodies were found about a half-mile from her front door, there isn't a huge amount of fear of whoever put them there.

"We live in a gated community so I'm not particularly worried about it," she said.

Hamby said human remains were found four to five miles away a few years back. Police don't believe the cases are connected to the bodies found in the last two weeks.

'There'll Never Be Closure'

Chavez's family, heartbroken and still trying to process the news of her death, is hoping for answers.

Gutierrez said her daughter was funny and outgoing and loved to tease family members. She said she knew her daughter was leading a dangerous life but that she learned the extent of her daughter's activities only after talking to police.

Chavez, she said, "got caught up in the world with the wrong crowd," Gutierrez said. "Things happened, but she never brought it into my house."

Gutierrez said her daughter lived with her for eight months before her disappearance.

"She was getting clean," she said. "She was getting her life together."

Gutierrez said she last saw her daughter on a night the whole family was supposed to go out together. Chavez, she said, got a call from a boyfriend and told her mom she'd meet up with them later that night. She never showed up.

Gutierrez said that when her daughter didn't come home, she assumed she'd gone back to her wild life.

"I thought, in due time -- she's done this before -- she'll call me," Gutierrez said. But that call never came and in March 2004, Gutierrez reported her daughter missing.

There are 24 adults listed as missing in Albuquerque. Hamby said police will continue canvassing the area until they are confident there are no more remains to be found there.

But knowing now where Chavez has been hasn't helped the family heal. Her daughters, now 12 and 13, are living with Gutierrez's sister.

"There'll never be closure on something like this," she said. "I want justice. I want to find out who did this to her. And how she died."