Murder Victims' Families Endorsing Lopez

Updated: 12:30p

Dan Valdez thought he was the only one grieving for a missing daughter for the past five years.

Little did he know that by the end of March seven other families in the Albuquerque area would learn that their daughters, sisters, and cousins had also been murdered and buried on the West Mesa.

In all, eleven woman, and one unborn child (Valdez' grandchild) were unearthed at the city's largest crime scene earlier this Spring.

Now, the families of the murdered women, are rallying behind Senator Linda Lopez' bid to become the state's next lieutenant governor.

Yesterday, Valdez endorsed Sen. Lopez, in this speech, at Washington Park.



Valdez told Lopez' supporters that the senator has help families make connections at the Peanut Butter & Jelly Family Services. He said meeting with the other families has been an extraordinary part of the healing process for himself. He said everyone has become like an extended family that shares stories, cries together, and hug.

He credited Lopez for her work getting the Albuquerque Public School system to donate computers to the victims' children and for setting up a meeting for families with Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz last week. He said it was the first time they sat down with the chief for a question and answer session.

Children of West Mesa Murder Mystery mothers went on a $215
JC Penny Shopping Spree before heading back to school.

He also praised Lopez for working with City Councilor Ken Sanchez and K-B Homes to get land donated at the grave site for a permanent memorial to the victims.

Valdez notified the crowd that he will be an advocate and rally lawmakers, during the next session, to update what he calls "outdated laws" regarding the reporting and tracking of adults missing in the community. He said, "missing women, should never be on the backburner, or put in a cold case file."


Also speaking at Saturday's announcement were Tamaya Wiener and State Representative Henry "Kiki" Saavadra. You can listen to their remarks here.



Wiener said Lopez understands issues that working moms have. Wiener also praised Lopez for taking care of her 98-year old mother at the same time taking care of her son Lorenzo, and said she respects Lopez for her support of bi-lingual education.

Rep. Saavadra said the state is in for some hard times, but they are each committed to helping state employees and teachers around the state. He called Lopez one of the brightest. "She thinks well....she takes a few minutes, but when she speaks everyone listen because she's usually right."

NM Senator Jumps into 2010 Race for Lt. Governor.

On Saturday, we were the first to report the chair of the NM Senate Rules Committee Chair Linda Lopez (D-11) had announced her intention to run for Lt. Governor in 2010.

Lopez told members of the Democratic Party of New Mexico's Central Steering Committee this weekend as they met in the Kiva Auditorium.

If she and current Lt. Governor Diane Denish, who's running for Governor, are both elected it will be the state's first all female executive branch.

We spoke to Senator Lopez on Saturday.

Listen to our interview here.



Lopez told us she's ready to move up.

First elected to the Senate 13 years ago, Lopez believes she has the experience necessary to take the helm of the Senate, develop budgets and told us she'll focus on economic development in the state, and improving access to health care and behavioral health.

Lopez says one issue, near and dear to her heart, is education. If her campaign is successful she said she'll work on improving educational outcomes for Latino students, who make up the majority of student populations in New Mexico.

Lopez also told us that she's pleased some ethics measures passed her committee this year and said she believe ethics measures will continue to work their way through the legislative process for the next few years.

We learned, Lopez submitted her resume to Denish and interviewed for the Lt. Gov's job when it appeared Governor Richardson was headed to the U.S. Commerce Department.

Later, we spoke with Lopez at a local restaurant where she joined the families of missing and murdered Albuquerque women who had gathered to watch John Walsh tell there story to the nation on America's Most Wanted.

Lopez says community leadership needs to take ownership of the problems that led to missing women being found murdered and buried on the a West Mesa.

Listen to her comments on the tragedy and what she's recommending to prevent it from happening again here.



Lopez says she'll work with Quantum [Optum Behavioral Health] to develop statewide programs to help drug addicts get out of the cycle of substance abuse. She says people incarcerated on drug charges shouldn't just be "dropped back into the wild," that they need to be in a treatment process for months and sometimes years.

Lopez says she's working with Lt. Governor Denish to implement new notification procedures including an adult amber alert system.

She said America's Most Wanted did a decent job of recognizing the murdered women as humans and hopes it generates leads to aid police and hopes a suspect is identified.

Lopez photo: MG Bralley