Police And Media’s Handling Of Murdered Latina Prostitutes In Albuquerque Lead Some To Allege Xenophobia
28 April 2009, 2:17 PM. By Alex Alvarez
The recent excavation of a giant, 18-foot deep pit - the largest crime scene in the United States - containing the bodies of at least 12 slain prostitutes has a New Mexico community wondering whether there is a serial killer in their midst bent on killing Latina sex workers.
The women, at least one of whom was pregnant at the time, were buried in the New Mexico desert after their murders. One of the murdered women, Cinnamon Elks, cryptically told friends that “a dirty cop” was decapitating prostitutes and burying them in the desert - just before she too disappeared in August of 2004. Police have revealed little information about the crimes, only telling concerned citizens that, if the murderer was a serial killer, he or she had either stopped or died given all the women were murdered between 2001 and 2006.
Little is known about the women except that they were all Latinas, prostitutes and that some were addicted to heroin and others were police informants. Authorities have released a photo of an acrylic nail featuring a unique design in the hopes that someone close to the victim or a local salon worker might recognize it and identify the owner.
Families of the victims and of other missing Latinas yet to be identified say authorities have refused to answer their questions and that the local media has seem wholly uninterested in reporting the disappearances of these women. Some speculate this is the result of xenophobia, but we wouldn’t discount the role that this women’s occupation may have played in how their cases have been treated by police and covered by the media.
Police have described the women’s lifestyles as being “high-risk.” Might that have colored their perception of the crimes and, to some extent, thinking that this murder was “bound to happen” or that the women were somehow “asking for it” due to their line of work?
Who’s Murdering the Prostitutes of Albuquerque? [The Daily Beast]
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As a recovering addict I can tell you that people on dope and living on the streets “disappear” all the time, for many reasons. The fact that 12 addicts disappeared between 2001 and 2006 wouldn’t have made me think twice. And my parents got about the same response from police as the parents in this story did when I was “missing” even though I’m “blond haired and blue-eyed” - if a dope fiend doesn’t want to be found, the police aren’t likely to spend a lot of time looking for them, and I don’t blame them one bit.
that doesn’t mean that these women or “dope fiends” deserve to be murdered or forgotten.
I certainly didn’t say anyone deserved to be murdered or forgotten. My point is that getting angry at the police for not saving someone who doesn’t want to be saved is not productive. Programs for drug treatment and intervention in lieu of conviction are great ideas, but as long as someones’ on the street they will be an easy target, and if they don’t want to get off the street, should the police really be held responsible when the inevitable happens?