On August 15, 1982, the body of a young woman named Opal Mills was found floating down the Green River in Seattle, Washington. Upon finding her, police encountered the body of two more women. Prior to these discoveries, the bodies of three more women were also found, their corpses strangled with the clothes they were wearing. (Green River Killer: River of Death) The Seattle Police Force came to the conclusion that there was indeed a serial killer on the loose. Gathering a large group of elite detectives, forensic scientists, and crime scene investigators, the town put together the Green River Task Force, one of the largest put together since the man-hunt for the notorious killer Ted Bundy. After the initial discoveries, the body count continued to rise; the victims ranging from ages eighteen to thirty. (Green River Killer: River of Death) Endless research and police questioning allowed head chief Richard Kraske to discover that the victims had one thing in common: prostitution. Needing help in understanding a serial killer’s point of view, Kraske enlisted the help of Ted Bundy. Their combined minds brought several suspects into the light, but none were able to be singled out. The string of murders, known now as the Green River Murders, continued to plague the Seattle strip. The search eventually died off after a year of runarounds, but Kraske refused to give up. Years later as more murders occurred, the task force was able to use updated technology to test evidence. The DNA evidence from the scenes and the bodies allowed police to connect the murders to the murderer. Gary Leon Ridgway was finally convicted. The story, the evidence, and the conviction of Ridgway brought an end to the Green River Murders. After being arrested, Ridgway pleaded guilty to murdering 49 female prostitutes. His plea gave the families the comfort they needed as well as allowed Ridgway to escape the 49 death sentences in exchange for 49 life-without-parole sentences.
It was on August 15, 1982 when local Seattle man Robert Ainsworth made a discovery that would start off a 20 year killing spree. (Green River Running Red (Audio)) Mr. Ainsworth was taking his usual route along the river when he came upon a bodily figure in the water. Thinking it was a joke, Ainsworth approached the body, where he came upon the dead eyes of a young black woman, floating just beneath the surface of the water. To his horror, Ainsworth, after walking a bit down the river, encountered the body of another partially submerged woman. (Green River Killer: River of Death) After their arrival, police began to sweep the area looking for any other evidence. What they found next would serve as a link to the already growing problem. Police combed the riverbank and came upon the body of another young woman in the nearby brush. It was concluded by Chief Medical Examiner Donald Reay that all three women died of strangulation. These three bodies were not the only to be discovered in the area. A month prior, the body of Wendy Lee Coffield was discovered along the river, cause of death: strangulation. And three days prior to Coffield’s discovery, the body of Opal Mills, the body of Leanne Wilcox was found. Within the span of six months six bodies had been discovered in or near the river. Police quickly concluded that a serial killer was on the loose and that he needed to be found as soon as possible. (Green River Killer: River of Death) A task force that consisted of the police officers, detectives, and investigators dedicated to discovering the killer was assembled and titled the Green River Task Force. (Green River Running Red(Audio))
The assembly of the Green River Task Force seemed to set off the Green River killer. The force was the largest assembled since that of the Ted Bundy murders and was led by Detective Dave Reichert. The investigation started off slow because police were bombarded with would-be witnesses. (Green River Killer: River of Death) Lack of technology and means left investigators with no way to test the small DNA samples they found. However, investigators were able to narrow victims down to one category: prostitutes that frequented the Seattle Strip. Police immediately began questioning girls but had little luck because of fear of prosecution. Police did convince two prostitutes, Susan Widmark and Debra Estes to confess that they had been solicited, harassed, raped, and then let go by a man in a blue and white truck. Both women claimed that the man had referred to the killings, asking their opinions on them. That following month, police arrested Charles Clinton Clark. (Green River Killer: River of Death) Clark’s truck was searched, and police encountered two handguns that matched the description given by the women. But during his incarceration, the body of 19 year old Mary Bridgett disappeared, only to be found along the river; she had been strangled to death. Clark was released due to lack of evidence and the task force forced to start their search anew. Between September 1982 and April 1983, 14 girls had disappeared; all being prostitutes that matched the Green River killer’s M.O. (Green River Killer: River of Death) Police were able to narrow down the suspect pool again to suspect Gary Ridgway. But lack of evidence and connection cleared his name almost instantly. By the following spring, the Green River Task Force was falling apart. Prostitutes continued to disappear but no new leads appeared. The toll it took on the officers involved finally became too much and the force dissipated, being handed down to single detective Reichert. (Green River Running Red (Audio))
Almost 20 years passed since the discovery of Opal Mill’s body in the Green River in Seattle, Washington. But Detective Reichert refused to give up. In April of 2001, he reopened the case and reviewed the murder files. A new task force was formed, including new DNA and forensic experts. The new force quickly grew to a 30 man team. Since DNA evidence collected was 20 years old, Reichert decided that it was too fragile to test, preferring to wait until a more advanced, dependable method of testing came along. The first samples to be sent were samples taken from Mills, Chapman, and Christensen. These were supposedly semen left from the killer. These were compared to a saliva sample taken from Ridgway in 1987, after he was arrested for soliciting an undercover cop. On September 10, 2001, Reichert received the DNA results that reduced him to tears; the samples were a match to none other than Gary Ridgway. (Green River Killer: River of Death) Ridgway was intercepted and arrested on November 30th on four counts of murder. The search to find the evidence needed to keep him behind bars was reinvigorated; the police had their killer and they were determined to keep him. According to Ridgway’s past, he was no stranger to violent actions. He was originally born in Salt Lake City, Utah and was prone to violent behavior. When he was 16, he attacked and stabbed a neighborhood boy. According to Time Magazine’s Terry McCarthy’s interview with past wives, Ridgway had an unusual sexual appetite. His three ex-wives and old girlfriends all claimed that he was sexually insatiable. (Green River Killer: River of Death) He also has an obsession with prostitutes. He is known to complain about their choice of work but has been seen accepting their ‘favors’ numerous times. At the time of his arrest, Ridgway worked part time as a truck painter. He owned several vehicles, one being a 1977 Ford F-150 that was retained by police. Evidence was gathered continually linking him to the murders until his trial in 2003, where Ridgway pled guilty to the murders of over 60 victims. (Green River Running Red(Audio))
The Green River murders are not all that different from other prolific murders. However, they are an interesting set. Ridgway’s M.O. did not compare to the M.O. of typical sexual predators. Most sexual predators are drawn to their victims based on certain characteristics such as hair color, age, height, ect. Ridgway targeted women that were grouped into a single class; prostitution. He targeted female prostitutes because they are used to being picked up so it wouldn’t have been too suspicious for them to get into a random. This was a smart move on Ridgway’s part. His obsession with them bordered on a love-hate relationship. If he simply hated them, he would have outright killed them instead of getting them comfortable like he later admitted to doing. He instead chose to engage in sexual acts and make them less nervous before actually killing them. This could be because of some psychological disorder that is associated with his insatiable desire. The fact that Ridgway’s conviction took 20 years is unusual but not shocking. Forensic and DNA technology was very unreliable and could have resulted in the loss of valuable evidence. So it was smart of detective Reichert to hold off on testing the evidence.
In the early 1980’s, DNA testing technology was very underdeveloped. So police had to rely on strong circumstantial evidence and matter-of-fact DNA. Police detectives did not have much to go on other than the numerous bodies they found. And since most of the bodies were found in the river, all possible DNA evidence was washed off or too small a sample to be tested immediately. When the remains of the first six victims were found, police were only able to conclude the method of death. The bruises found around the necks of each victim showed the medical examiners that they were strangled to death. Because there was no way to use skin-graphing to test the victims, police were unable to narrow down any suspects on the basis of solid DNA. Police then moved on to depending upon eye-witness reports as evidence. At first, several reports were filed by anonymous sources claiming that a man in a blue and white truck was seen frequenting the same strip as the victims. When the body of Marie Malvar was found, the police questioned her boyfriend. From him they learned that she had indeed gotten into the same blue and white truck from the reports. He claimed that he followed the suspected vehicle. Police used this to trail down Ridgway, who owned a truck matching the description. However, when given a polygraph test, Ridgway passed claims saying that he had never had any contact with Malvar. (Timeline: DNA Testing Helped Lead Investigators to Green River Killer) A year later, five more sets of remains were found, all of which had enough genetic material to let the police narrow down on Ridgway once again. But lack of evidence set him free. The body count continued to rise and police struggled to find usuable evidence.
After the body of yet another victim was discovered, head detective Reichert decided it was time to use the evidence. Police had been able to use a new DNA processing method to identify her remains, so it was believed that they would also be able to identify the DNA of the killer. But the police had no suspects. Instead, police tested the fibers found on the victim. These fibers turned out to be from the floor mat of a Ford F-150. Ridgway, who had been previously arrested because of his ownership of a similar truck, immediately became a suspect. He was also the last person to be seen with the victims. Police received a search warrant and combed Ridgway’s home. (Timeline: DNA Testing Helped Lead Investigators to Green River Killer) With the search warrant, police took carpet fibers, ropes, and plastic tarps to be used as evidence. (Catching the Green River Killer) However, none of the samples taken matched the samples found on the victim. Ridgway was once again unable to be charged with the murders. Instead, police took saliva samples from Ridgway. These samples were stored along with the semen found on the bodies of Mills and Coffield. Reichert decided to hold them instead of testing them since they were fragile and technology still a bit behind. (Catching the Green River Killer) On November 2, 1999, the remains of Tracy Winston were discovered. Her naked body was found strangled and violated. Police took samples. (Timeline: DNA Testing Helped Lead Investigators to Green River Killer) Detective Reichert decided to run these samples with the old samples using a new DNA analysis technique to see if they corresponded. They were a match. Then using the recently taken samples from Winston, Reichert decided to run them against the saliva samples taken from Ridgway. The DNA samples were a match. The police force that had been working for 20 years finally had enough evidence needed to catch the Green River killer.
