SiSpense
Season 1
The West Mesa Bone Collector
by Suzette Jasinski and Silvella Strain
In this episode, we dive into the chilling and heartbreaking West Mesa Bone Collector case, one of New Mexico’s most disturbing unsolved serial murder investigations. Between 2001 and 2005, the remains of 11 women and one unborn child were discovered buried in the West Mesa desert outside Albuquerque, an area that became known as one of the largest crime scenes in U.S. history.
On the evening of September 16, 1968, Carol Jenkins was doing her job. She was 21 years old, ambitious, stylish, and hopeful selling encyclopedias door-to-door in Martinsville, Indiana. She wore a beautiful yellow scarf. By 9:00 p.m., Carol was lying on a sidewalk, dying from a single stab wound to the heart delivered with a screwdriver. Her case went cold for more than 30 years until an anonymous letter, a deathbed confession, and the memory of a child finally revealed the truth.