The search for bodies continues even as homes are built nearby

Some homeowners on Albuquerque's West Mesa are facing the possibility their houses could be sitting on a crime scene with undiscovered bodies.

In the area around 118th Street and Dennis Chavez in southwest Albuquerque, 11 bodies have already been found. Police say over the next several months, even more could be discovered.

But even as police conduct their search, construction on nearby housing developments continue.

Devon Hall and his family are looking for a new home. He says it probably won't be on the West Mesa.

"It's famous now as a creepy place, and I just wouldn't do it," he said.  "I would not buy that house, even if it was a really, really nice house. I feel like the land retains a certain energy of things that go on over time."

Before the bodies were discovered, KB Homes had already announced plans to leave Albuquerque. They would not say if the current investigation would alter their developments in the area.

City of Albuquerque Chief Public Safety Officer Pete Dinelli said the city can not permanently prevent developers from building on the site.

"The only thing we can do is secure it as a crime site as related to an ongoing investigation," he said.

Dinelli said the area has already been zoned for development and that will not change.

"We don't look at how much crime has occurred, we don't look at the body count so to speak," he said. "What we look at is trying to solve the crime, trying to identify who these people are, reaching out to the families and being very sensitive about it." he said.

If homes ever are built, the homeowners may never even know it was a burial site.

Under state rules, a real estate agent or home builder does not have to tell you if a house was the site of a murder.