The remains of the last known victim of the Green River Killer have finally been identified.
The partial remains, labeled until now as “Bones 20,” were found on Kent-Des Moines Road at the Tualatin Golf Course near Tigard, Oregon, in 1985, along with those of another unidentified woman.
Ms. Liles was originally identified as a victim through a dental records match in 1988 to a separate set of remains found at a location in King County.
On July 15, 1982, the body of 16-year-old Wendy Lee Cofield was found floating in the Green River. Within a month, the bodies of four other women—Cynthia Jean Hinds, Marcia Faye Chapman, Opal Charmaine Mills, and Carol Ann Christiansen—were also found on the riverbank. All of the victims had been strangled.
On Aug. 15, 1982, the body of 31-year-old Marci Chapman was found on the river’s shoreline along with the naked body of 17-year-old Cynthia Hinds. In the nearby undergrowth, they discovered the body of 16-year-old Opal Mills.
On Aug. 16, 1982, the KCSO established the Green River Task Force to investigate the murders.
The Green River Killer was Gary Ridgeway.
While Mr. Ridgway, known for associating with prostitutes, first became a suspect in the spring of 1983, he passed a polygraph test in May 1984.
Desperate for leads or any information that would move the investigation forward, KCSO detective David Reichert accepted the help of an unlikely individual, a convicted and incarcerated serial killer named Ted Bundy.
Having followed the story in the press, Mr. Bundy contacted Mr. Reichert in 1986 to offer his assistance in finding the killer. After Mr. Reichert flew to the Sunshine State, where Mr. Bundy was being held on death row at the Florida State Prison, Mr. Bundy reportedly suggested that the Green River Killer might be revisiting the bodies of his victims to perform sexual acts on them.
It was a theory later confirmed to be true by Mr. Ridgway.
In 1987, Mr. Ridgway consented to provide police with a DNA sample, which would later link him to the crimes.
He was arrested on Nov. 30, 2001, and charged with the murders of Ms. Chapman, Ms. Mills, Ms. Hinds, and Ms. Christensen.
Over two decades, Mr. Ridgway had kept a low profile, maintaining his long-held job as a truck painter at the Kenworth Truck plant in Renton and getting married for a third time. All the while, he was systematically sexually assaulting and strangling dozens of women, primarily prostitutes and runaways, and dumping their bodies all over King County.
In November 2003, Ridgway pled guilty to the murder of “Bones 20,” along with Denise Bush, Shirley Sherrill, and 45 other victims. He was sentenced to life in prison.
To avoid the death penalty, Mr. Ridgway agreed to lead police to the locations where he had dumped several of his victims, including the woman who would be identified as Ms. Liles.
According to the Jan. 22 press release, KCSO officials met with representatives from Othram in the fall of 2022 to discuss the case of “Bones 20.”
Othram was contracted by the KCSO and asked if they could try to build a suitable DNA profile of “Bones 20.” If successful, they would conduct forensic genetic genealogy testing.
In August 2023, Othram told the KCSO that they successfully built a DNA profile for “Bones 20” and had tentatively identified the victim as Ms. Liles. Through mitochondrial DNA testing, using a sample from the mother of Ms. Liles, the University of North Texas confirmed that the remains of “Bones 20” were those of Ms. Liles.
In all, Mr. Ridgway pled guilty to killing 49 women. However, he claims he killed as many as 80.
With Ms. Liles’ identity confirmed, the KCSO said, “There are no other unidentified remains associated with the Green River Case.”
