ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It has been 16 years since the remains of 11 women and an unborn child were found on Albuquerque’s West Mesa.

To this day, investigators still haven’t found the culprit of the West Mesa murders but the Albuquerque Police Department isn’t giving up hope. Department leaders are proposing a new law they hope will make a break in the cold case.

It’s important for parents like Jayne Perea who seeks answers – any answer – 16 years onward.

“They don’t even contact us, nothing. Whatever I hear, I hear through the grapevine,” said Perea, whose daughter and daughter’s cousin were victims of the murders.

On Feb. 2, 2009, Perea’s daughter and her daughter’s cousin – 15-year-old Jamie Barela and 27-year-old Evelyn Salazar – were among the people found buried in shallow graves on the West Mesa. They were found after a dog found a bone coming out of the ground.

Barela and Salazar disappeared in 2004.

“Her cousin went in and called her and they just disappeared from the Wilson Middle School in the park,” Perea said. “She didn’t even fix her hair or nothing, she was just like, ‘I’ll be back.’ She had made her plans to go with other people, but she never made it.”

According to APD, they have received almost 1,500 tips since 2009. They’re encouraging the community to keep calling.

“We have persons of interest that we’re looking into and we continue. So, I just don’t want it to be out there where we’re losing tips, because people assume that we’ve got this number one suspect and we’re not there yet,” said Ida Lopez, a cold case investigator with APD.

APD is proposing legislation to identify DNA even when someone has died. For example, if a person who was arrested for a felony died before they were charged, their DNA would be in the federal Codis DNA system. That is all if this legislation became law.

The Department believes the technology could be the answer to solving cold cases, like the West Mesa murders.

“I hope they do. Because if anything were to happen to me, at least I could go on peace,” Perea said.

Of the 11 women, 10 of them had a common link – prostitution and drugs. The only one who didn’t was Jamie.

However, Perea argues those facts shouldn’t matter.

“It’s hard, you know? Like, they just threw them out there, like nobody cares,” Perea said. “It doesn’t matter what they were doing. They were human beings, somebody’s daughter. They were somebody’s auntie.”

There is a $100,000 reward for information leading to the capture or conviction of the killer. APD is also looking for eight women they believe are connected to the case. They went missing between 2003 and 2006.

If you have any information on this, reach out to Crime Stoppers anonymously at (505) 843-STOP (7867) – or call 505-768-2450. You can also email investigator Ida Lopez at ILopez@cabq.gov.