52 NamUs updates down, 89 to go. I meant to do just 50, but at the end I figured out I’d added two extras by mistake. If I have the time and the inclination, I might do this again tomorrow. That way I’d get it down to (approximately) 39 updates before NamUs fires another 346,084,365 updates in my direction.
I love the work I do.
The Charley Project Blog 
you do a lot of work, but I enjoy reading it!
Ok, done with the first round, keep em coming Meaghan ;)! Seriously though, have a case question. Was tooling through the old cases, like I do when I’m bored, and hit upon the Rosemary Calandriello case again. Suspect was Zaransky (sp?) turned in by his sister for another crime much later…I saw the Cold Case Files or City Confidential ages ago. I would swear, 95% sure, that the civil case awarded to the policemans widow for her husbands murder was overturned and she was actually required to pay the money back to this loser. I swear I read this. Truth? Hoax? Help me out here….or maybe the more informed readers of this blog could..it is one of the cases bugging me. Thanks!
Is that Robert Zarinsky/Zarinski you’re talkking about? I don’t know about the money, but if you Google that name you might find out.
Yes there, with the right spelling. I could, but I’m lazy, and I figured M. with her steel trap mind could help me out first. I don’t know how she wades through the endless news articles….
Correct, overturned but a group stepped in to ensure the money was not paid back by her or the family. Of course he’s dead now so I suppose it’s moot. Here’s his wiki with the info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Zarinsky
Hi Meghan,
I saw that you did a update on Vanessa Reed. I an not sure if you feel its important but the Albuquerque PD has stated that they believe Vanessa and five others made be victims of the West Mesa serial killer.
They are:
Anna Vigil, 20, missing since January 21, 2005.
Felipa Victoria Gonzales, 25, missing since May 01, 2005.
Nina Brenda Herron, 21, missing since May 14, 2005.
Shawntell Waites, 31, missing since January 02, 2006.
Leah Rochelle Peebles, 23, missing since May 22, 2006.
Vanessa Reed, sometimes referred to as Vanessa Reid Lujan, 24, missing since June 13, 2006.
The police have stated that all six were involved with drugs and or prostitution just like the 11 victims found on the West Mesa in 2009. But here is the thing all the victims recovered vanished in 2004 or earlier. The six women above vanished in 2005 or 2006.
All 17, those recovered as well as those still missing were on Detective Ida Lopez’s list. Collectively they became known as Ida’s girls. The vast majority of the victim’s were Hispanic and local.
While it probably will not surprise people who follow serial killer investigations the first missing woman to have a news article written about her was Leah Peebles, who is white.
Contrary to what the APD was telling the press when the victim’s graves were first discovered, Leah who had just moved from Texas to Albuquerque, along with Lawton, Oklahoma teen runaway Syllannia Edwards were the only transients. All the others grew up in the Albuquerque, NM. area and every single one of them had been reported missing
The police have searched the West Mesa area but have not found any additional remains. The 118th Street SW location the 11 victim’s were found had been the site of a recent housing boom that went bust in the 2008 financial meltdown. The soil had been turned but no construction has taken place, homes had been built close by however.
Police have not stated their reason but I feel they think the killer changed location’s in 2005 as new homes were being built close to his original grave site.
Looks to me like Meaghan isn’t the only one with a steel trap mind. 🙂
Thank you Princess Shantae,
In rereading what I wrote I should point out I am not suggesting that Detective Lopez was responsible for the early misinformation put out by the Albuquerque PD. In fact I feel the powers that be put a muzzle on Lopez, strange considering she was Albuquerque’s only missing person detective at the time.
Detective Lopez strongly believed that a serial killer was on the loose but the Albuquerque PD top brass standard line was that they were working girls who were transients. That their families either never reported them missing or did little to help find them. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Those early news reports infuriated me because I knew how false they were. Long before the victims were found I had written and talked with Leah Peebles dad and written to the family of Doreen Marquez.
Back in 2007 when I was first learning how to post blogs; insert pictures, change font size and color, etc. I talked on the phone with Mr. Peebles for several hours. That resulted in one of my first missing person posts.
In an effort to tell the real story about the West Mesa victims I created a MySpace page for them. Here is what I wrote a few years ago;
Yesterday I added the West Mesa Serial Killer, and more importantly his victims, to my MySpace picture page.
The police reports in the early days of this tragic case said nothing about the victims except the fact they were involved with drugs and possibly prostitution. They also said that they believed that many of the victim’s had never been reported missing, and that in the case of those who had been reported, the families did little to find them.
THAT LAST PART WAS A LIE!
It was a classic case of a government institution trying to cover their butts. The truth was that vast majority of the victims had been reported missing; but that little had been done by the police to find them.
In the coming days and weeks I will endeavor to find news reports and pictures that tell the real story about the West Mesa victims.
I started my quest with the story of 27 year old Doreen Marquez because I know for a fact that her family and friends NEVER stopped looking for her. They posted flyers, and gave the police not one but two missing person reports. They created a MySpace page in an effort to help find her (It is now a Memorial page for Doreen) they never gave up.
If you are interested, here is that file titled; ’West Mesa Serial Killer.. Albuquerque, New Mexico’
Click on photo’s for news reports, personal reminiscences from family and friends and additional photo’s of the victims in happier times
http://www.myspace.com/maelstrom5/photos/albums/album/2458282