So far Marty and Ray have been somewhat successful in their endeavor. The public is treating the site at 118th and Dennis Chavez, SW as more of a curiosity than a concern. After all, the murders are at least four years old and they're just prostitutes... right?
We'd argue that APD should be concerned when anyone is found dead regardless of whether the remains are new or old, or whether they're from a prostitute or an upstanding member of the community. No one should be a throw-away person for law enforcement.
[Sidebar]Now our Eyes tell us that Marty and the Chief have a bigger problem. Apparently, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office is working another site where more bodies have been found. Further, the Eyes have it that Sheriff White - not Chief Schultz - brought in the FBI.
Our Eyes tell us that the Missing Persons Unit is little more than a database. When an officer receives a missing persons report, that report is sent to the Missing Persons unit where it is filed away and promptly forgotten.
Missing Persons is manned by civilians and has no investigative authority. They only come into play when a body is found somewhere and authorities are looking to narrow the identity search down to more manageable numbers.
[End Sidebar]
Who knows, perhaps the two sites are unrelated. Maybe there have been two serial killers working the area or maybe people have been going to these two locations, digging a hole and dying on their own. Certainly Marty and the Chief would prefer that you believe the latter.
Instead of being honest with the public, instead of doing their jobs, the Almighty Alcalde and Chief Schultz have chosen to spin this as positively as they can. In fact, our Eyes tell us that the Chief has issued a gag order. Under threat of termination, no one is allowed to speak "negatively" about the investigation.
[Sidebar]Look, these are the facts. There are at least 13 bodies that ended up in a field on the Southwest Mesa. They are four to nine years old. There is now a second site where multiple bodies have been found. Just based on the evidence released to the public, there has been at least one serial killer operating in the metro area.
This business about portraying the city in the best possible light is nothing new. Marty threw out TV shows like COPS because he didn't want Albuquerque to look crime-ridden to a national audience.
Our Eyes tell us that two detectives from the Homicide Unit told incoming Chief Ray Schultz that there was a serial killer operating in Albuquerque. Chief Schultz refused to act on the information because he was more concerned about the city's image (or maybe Marty's image), than he was about a serial killer.
With the department's history of fudging numbers and cooking books, we wouldn't be surprised if the 5th Floor decided not to count these deaths as homicides. After all, we'd hate to tarnish our image.
[End Sidebar]
We don't expect the chief to divulge information from an on-going investigation. However, it's stupid and dangerous to assert that there isn't a serial killer operating in Albuquerque. They've thrown out two conveniently dead non-suspects as red herrings in an attempt to "reassure" the public, but our Eyes tell us that there is no forensic evidence linking either of the dead men to the recovered remains.
Through this whole thing Mayor Chavez has been a no show and Chief Schultz has been living in fantasy land. Leadership means leveling with the public particularly when it could save lives. If the body count continues to grow and evidence shows that the killer is still working the area, there will be two people responsible for the inept handling of the case - Mayor Martin Chavez and Chief Ray Schultz.
