By Emily Younker
Globe Staff Writer
JOPLIN, Mo. —
In the year and a half since Gina Michelle Valdez was identified as one of 11 women and teenagers buried on the West Mesa near Albuquerque, N.M., Dan Valdez, her father, has had little time to mourn.
“It has taken a while to settle in only because I’m reminded every day about it, so I don’t have any time to myself to really sit down and mourn,” he said.
The FBI and the Albuquerque Police Department on Tuesday searched several properties in Joplin, assisted by Joplin police. Authorities said the searches were in connection with the unsolved homicides.
Police first began unearthing skeletons on the West Mesa in early February 2009. Almost each day that passed brought another body that was found. Eleven female victims and one unborn child eventually were discovered in the area. They also are known as victims of the 118th Street Serial Killer.
The Albuquerque Police Department has said most of the victims had ties to drugs and prostitution, and they had been reported missing from 2003 to 2005.
Valdez, in a phone interview Tuesday from his home in Albuquerque, said his daughter, who was reported missing in February 2005 and was found buried on the mesa in February 2009, was a fun-loving girl.
She was 22 when she disappeared and was four months’ pregnant when she was buried. The skeletal remains of her unborn child were found buried with her.
“She brought light into the room when she came in,” he said. “She was always happy-go-lucky; hardly ever was she down. God only knows why this had to happen to her because she didn’t deserve it, and neither did the other women (victims).”
Valdez, who has become the spokesman for the West Mesa victims’ families, said he has gotten little closure since his daughter was found, “only the sense of closure of putting her to rest in a grave. We put her in a casket and buried her just like a normal human being.”
Valdez said he doesn’t know of any ties his daughter might have had to Joplin or even to Missouri. He said he had never heard her mention either place.
“Joplin, Missouri, probably never even crossed her lips,” he said. “As far as I know, she didn’t have any ties or know of anybody (who lived in Joplin).”
Valdez said he and the other victims’ families still hope for justice.
“I’d like for them to apprehend the responsible murderers and bring them to trial,” he said. “I want them to make damn sure that they apprehend the right person.”
In the meantime, Valdez said, he sees his daughter in her two children — particularly in her 13-year-old daughter, who is the “spitting image” of her mother. He also stays in touch with the other victims’ families and works to keep the case in the forefront of his community.
“It has been hectic,” he said. “I ask the Lord for the strength to carry on and get through.”
