By: Ren King and Violet Hirman

*Warning: This article contains information about sexual violence

The best murderers are the ones who have never been caught. Close seconds are the cases where nobody even realizes there’s been a murder.

February 2, 2009, Christine Ross took her dog Ruca on a walk on Albuquerque, New Mexico’s west side. Ruca discovered a bone sticking out of the dirt and brought it to Ross. Ross’s sister was a nurse, and confirmed it appeared to be a human femur bone. Police were called to the sight where they dug up grave after grave after grave.

In total, the skeletons from eleven bodies, and one unborn baby, were discovered, buried in makeshift graves all evenly spaced apart. They were all women, and all but one of them had ties to drugs and prostitution.

Investigators then made another chilling realization: the majority of the victims had previously been reported missing between the years 2003 and 2005.

The first to be identified was 15-year-old Syllannia Edwards in November of 2009, having been reported missing since 2003. She had last been seen in May of 2004, in the company of three other women, believed to be using the nicknames Mimi or Chocolate.

A few days later, Virginia Cloven and Evelyn Salazar were identified, gone missing in 2004.

Two months later, Salazar’s cousin, 15-year-old Jamie Barela was found, with both Barela and her cousin last seen at a family gathering in April of 2004. The two had been heading to a park in southeast Albuquerque when they disappeared. Barela was also the last victim to be dug up.

The other victims were 22-year-old Monica Candelaria, killed between 2003 and 2005. 26-year-old Victoria Chavez killed in 2005. 32-year-old Cinnamon Elks killed sometime between 2004 and 2005. 24-year-old Doreen Marquez between 2003 and 2005. 24-year-old Julie Nieto killed sometime between the same years. 28-year-old Veronica Romero between 2004 and 2005. And finally, 22-year-old Michelle Valdez between the latter years. Romero had been pregnant at the time, and the skeletal remains of her unborn child were also discovered with her.

Aerial photographs of the crime sight were discovered, and revealed off-road tire tracks in the West Mesa desert. With knowledge of grave locations, there are two identifiable graves at the time of the photo.

Right off the bat, and only seven days after Ross had discovered the bone, April Gillen, the first wife of Joseph Blea called the police saying they should look into him. Blea already faced sex-related charges and was currently serving a 90 year sentence in prison for four sexual assaults unrelated to the West Mesa Murders. His DNA was discovered on a dead prostitute in 1985, although he has never been charged in connection to that specific crime. He had more than 130 run-ins between 1990 and 2009 relating to prostitution and drugs in an area that several of the victims frequently traveled.

He had previously been reported exposing himself to women walking on Central Avenue, and investigators found rope and electrical tape in his car. More disturbingly, during the weeks following the discovery of the remains, Blea was noticed to be seemingly stalking prostitutes on the move. One woman was interviewed admitting that Blea had taken her to his house and tied her up against her will.

More and more evidence was being stacked up against Blea when his former cell-mate said he talked about the West Mesa Murders, and even said he knew the victims. He had paid them for sex acts and struck one of them when she tried to take his money.

Jewelry and women’s underwear were discovered by Blea’s daughter as well as his wife, Cheryl Blea, around the house and in their shed. One of the victim’s fathers claimed some of his daughter’s jewelry had gone missing. Due to the case still being open, forensic scientists will not release information regarding whether or not DNA on the jewelry matched that of any of the victims.

Blea’s former attorney, John McCall, claims Blea had nothing to do with the murders.

The case is still ongoing, and investigators don’t have any other leads (although they do have other suspects) to put to the test. A $100,000 reward is in place for any information leading to the conviction and incarceration of the perpetrator.. The question is: Are there other bodies yet to be discovered? And if Blea really isn’t the killer, where are they now?

For more information, please visit:

• “Potential Suspects in the West Mesa Murders.” https://www.abqjournal.com/community-data/west-mesa-murders-potential-suspects.
• “West Mesa Homicide Investigation,” https://www.cabq.gov/police/contact-the-police/west-mesa-homicide-investigation.

By: Jasmine Williams

On October 28, 2022, in San Francisco, California, a man named David DePape broke into Pelosi’s house. Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, was not home at that time when he broke in.

The assailant broke into the house with the hammer he had brought. While Paul was sleeping, DePape asked who he was and where Nancy Pelosi was. Although Paul Pelosi told him she will not be back for some days, he desired to stay in his house until she had arrived as stated by the federal complaint.

According to the ‘Washington Post’, a reporter named Amber Lee was told by DePape that freedom in the United States was “being killed systematically and deliberatively” and that he had discovered “names and addresses” of those he assumed was the problem.

The cause was the midterm election, where a Trump mob attacked the White House on January 6, 2021, due to the election “being rigged.” The mob wanted to keep Trump in power. As assumed by other people in Congress, DePape’s reason for the attack was that he was influenced by Donald Trump supporters. But otherwise, he had confirmed with Paul that Nancy was second in line for the presidency. DePape said, “They are all corrupt” and ”We’ve got to take them out.”

When the police had opened the door, Paul and DePape were wrestling for the hammer. DePape was told by police to let go of the hammer, but he refused. DePape managed to get the hammer out of Paul’s grip and hit Paul Pelosi on the head, leaving him unresponsive for three minutes in a pool of blood.

Good news, Paul is recovering and has had surgery. But the assailant wasn’t aiming for Paul Pelosi, he was in the way. His target was Nancy Pelosi. He claimed that she was “the leader of lies” and he was to break her kneecaps. He stated that, “She would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congress there were consequences to actions.”

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/28/us/politics/pelosi-attacker-interview
• html https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/28/politics/paul-pelosi-attack/index.html

By: Isabelle Baidoo

Law enforcement has failed another young black man in America. Tyre Nichols was a free spirited man, a father, and the youngest of four siblings. Nichols’ entire world revolved around his family, especially his son. Ben Crump, one of the families attorneys, stated in a press conference “Everything he was trying to do was to better himself as a father for his four year old son.”

His mother says that he had moved to Memphis before the COVID-19 Pandemic and got stuck there when everything shut down. But he was perfectly content with the situation because it meant he could spend even more time with his mom and family. Nichols had worked as a Fed Ex worker for about nine months during his time in Memphis and often skateboarded at Shelby Farms Park; this is the park he had skated at since he was only 6 years old.

On January 7th, 2023 Tyre Nichols was initially stopped by Memphis Police for reckless driving.

This traffic stop would lead to Nichols being violently beaten for roughly three minutes. Nichols was hospitalized and three days later, on January 10th, he died. The five officers at the scene have all since been fired from the Memphis Police Department and on January 26th, were charged with second degree murder for Tyre Nichols’ death.

According to information released by his family’s lawyers, the autopsy found that Nichols “suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating.” Antonio Romanucci, one of the Nichols family’s lawyers, stood by Tyre Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, and stated: “He was a human piñata for those police officers. Not only was it violent, it was savage.”

RowVaughn Wells stated in a press conference that “He always said he was going to be famous one day. I didn’t know this is what he meant.”

Nichols’s funeral was held on February 1, at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the service saying to Nichols’ family “The people of our country mourn with you.”

Nichols was a lover of the arts and one of his many passions was to take photos of sunsets.

In this last quote from Nichols’ personal blog, he writes:

“My vision is to bring my viewers deep into what I am seeing through my eye and out through my lens. People have a story to tell why not capture it instead of doing the ‘norm’ and writing it down or speaking it. I hope to one day let people see what I see and to hopefully admire my work based on the quality and ideals of my work.”

All Tyre Nichols ever wanted to do was to support his family and see the sun rise and set everyday, and that opportunity was abruptly stripped away from him due to America’s deeply corrupt law enforcement system.