Skull of Green River serial killer victim found

Seattle Post Intelligencer ^ | Monday, November 21, 2005 | CURT WOODWARD

[skeptoid]

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Green_River.html

Tuesday, November 22, 2005 · Last updated 1:43 p.m. PT

Skull of Green River serial killer victim found

By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SEATTLE -- A weekend hiker found the skull of one of the 48 women Green River serial killer Gary Ridgway admitted murdering in his 2003 plea bargain with King County prosecutors.

The skull of Tracy Winston, who was 19 when she disappeared from Northgate Mall on Sept. 12, 1983, was found Sunday by a man hiking in a wooded area near Highway 18 near Issaquah, southeast of Seattle.

The sheriff's office used dental records to identify the skull, which Detective Tony McNabb said had been place alongside a dirt road sometime within the past two weeks. No other bones were found at the site.

Investigators are asking whoever moved the skull and placed it where it was found to call the sheriff's department.

Sheriff Sue Rahr said there are no plans to file any criminal charges and that detectives believe additional information could reveal important clues about other killings.

"Gary Ridgway had so many victims, and there are so many things we still don't know - about what he did with the bodies, how he treated his victims," Rahr said at a news conference in her office.

Rahr said the sheriff's office has no reason to believe the 45-year-old hiker who found the skull was the one who moved it.

"Our assumption is that a hiker or a hunter found it and for whatever reason didn't want to call the police and set it alongside the dirt road so somebody else could report it," McNabb said.

Rahr, McNabb and Detective Tom Jensen disclosed few details about the location where the skull was found, saying that doing so might compromise the investigation.

"It's quite some distance from any area where we found any other remains, and nowhere near where he took us," McNabb said, referring to guidance Ridgway gave the sheriff's office as part of his plea to avoid the death penalty.

Detectives believe some of Winston's remains - a dozen or so bones - were found in 1986 at the base of a tree in Cottonwood Park in Kent, south of Seattle. Ridgway admitted killing the woman whose remains were found there, but was "unable (or unwilling) to account for those parts of Tracy's skeleton that were not found," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Cottonwood Park is near the Green River, about a quarter mile from Peck Bridge, where the body of Wendy Coffield, Ridgway's second known victim, was found in July 1982. It is also within a quarter mile of where six other Green River victims were found.

Ridgway admitted killing 48 women from 1982 through 1998. He's serving 48 consecutive life sentences at the state prison in Walla Walla in the southeastern corner of the state. Four of his victims have never been identified.

Ridgway once said he killed as many as 71 women, according to transcripts of interviews with investigators that were released last year. Almost all of his identified victims were prostitutes or runaways.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[RMDupree]

Tracy Winston. May she rest in peace.

[GBA]

So...Washington state doesn't have the death penalty?

[conservative cat]

Oh no, Washington has the death penalty, but they decided they'd rather plea bargain with him to save the money and time of a real trial.

I am not AGAINST the death penalty- I am just disgusted that it is rarely used on the more heinous individuals. Because of the Ridgeway plea, there were plenty of people planning on appealing THEIR death sentences. (And who can blame them if you don't get it for admitting to killing over 40 women?)

[theDentist]

(sigh) the gift that keeps on giving.

[GBA]

Yeah, that's pretty disgusting. Some people are just too evil to breathe another day. Makes me wonder, though. Seriously, how many do you have to kill to get the death penalty in Wa.? Are women people too? 48 to 71 women isn't enough, how about 80? or an even 100? Is the threshold different for killing men?

[Redbob]

"additional information could reveal important clues about other killings."

I'd be curious to know what else they think they need to know: They know Ridgeway did it, they have him behind bars. What else is there to know?
Unless they have some morbid curiosity.

[Redbob]

But maybe they're trying to find that Ridgway lied to them, in his plea-bargain testimony?

Then could they try him again, and ask for the death penalty?
Try him for different murders, so it wouldn't be double-jeopardy?

[TheSpottedOwl]

This is the problem with the stupidity of the government, and their solutions to reign in violent predators. Was Gary Ridgeway known to the authorities? Had he ever been arrested, because I can't remember the minute details of the case.

There are two other threads running here at the moment, dealing with sexual predators. What people don't understand is that the Gary Ridgeways, the BTK killers, and the Jeffrey Dahmers, were unkown to the authorities while they victimized countless innocent people. The worst offenders don't get caught until they've raped and killed countless people.

We live in a sick, sick world. The government is more interested in nailing innocent men, and keeping tabs on them, than ridding our communities from real predators. They could start by repealing gun laws and relaxing CCW requirements for vulnerable citizens.

[Kirkwood]

Might find out something more about how the bodies were hidden. May help narrow down geographically where to look for more victims.

[wideminded]

they decided they'd rather plea bargain with him to save the money and time of a real trial.

I think the real reason was to get Ridgeway to make full disclosure about all the murders he was involved with. IIRC this was with the consent of the families, some of whom wanted to locate remains, etc. This was the only leverage authorities had to get him to cooperate.

[wideminded]

Was Gary Ridgeway known to the authorities?

Yes, he had been a prime suspect for many years.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Really. Why weren't they able to catch him sooner? This is inexcuseable.

[wyattearp]

Try him for different murders, so it wouldn't be double-jeopardy?

He was only tried for the murders in King County. If they can link him to murders in Pierce County (among others), they can try him for those murders and finally hang the bastard. We can only hope.

I can't believe that the sheriff who couldn't make the case for YEARS got elected to congress, in the seat vacated by Jennifer Dunn. Reichert makes RINOs look good.

[cherry]

sadly, I think some detectives think its a big deal to know the "why" and "how" a murder occurs, even years later when the perp is in jail.....why?.....they have this false sense that what they do is SOOOO very important.....

I say....police should work on PREVENTING crime.....that solving crime is nice and good but the damage..the tragedies....they have already happened...

ever notice how gleeful cops are when they make an arrest of somebody?....like they "solved" the crime...

the Green river killer as well as the BTK killer as well as any of the well known serial killers operate at will at raping and torturing and killing innocent women.....

to think that "solving " the crime is a big deal after 20..30....40...women are slaugthered is arrogant.....

in most cases, the cops have info that would lead them to the serial killers door if they only used their noggins and their computers....

[Private_Sector_Does_It_Better]

http://www.metrokc.gov/sheriff/news/green_river/
On June 13, 2003, the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office and Gary Leon Ridgway entered into an agreement. In exchange for the Prosecutor not seeking the death penalty, Ridgway agreed to plead guilty to all murders that he committed in King County. He agreed to provide complete, truthful and candid information concerning the crimes that he had committed in King County and answer all questions during interviews conducted by the detectives or the prosecuting attorney. Ridgway agreed to disclose the existence and precise location of all undiscovered remains of victims.

[wideminded]

Why weren't they able to catch him sooner?

At least part of the answer is that DNA technology had not developed far enough when the case was first investigated to tie him to the crimes. Apparently the perpetrators DNA was only on a few of the many victims due to the length of time they had been outdoors, etc. Back in 1987 the police had Ridgeway chew on a piece of gauze. But DNA amplification (PCR) had not even been discovered then. Also, over the years there had been severe budget cutbacks on the Green River case so that eventually only one detective was involved. IIRC there were no more murders after the early 1980's, so the public and the police probably weren't so focused on the case. Earlier on, several people had been arrested who sounded like they might be the GRK and details were in the media. I remember one guy in particular who seemed really suspicious. But all these people had to be released for lack of evidence. This probably increased the tendency of the police to want a really solid case before they closed in. It still seems like they could have tied it together a little sooner though. You can read more details online, maybe at crimelibrary, etc.

[Citizen Soldier]

Investigators are asking whoever moved the skull and placed it where it was found to call the sheriff's department.

Not to make light of this tragedy, but when I heard this statement on the local news tonight I found it pretty strange. "Hello..... I am the one who moved the skull......." I mean, WHO would own up to this?

[GBA]

This is the only reason to let him continue breathing. I very much hope he lived up to the deal and gave all the information so the families of his victims some closure and peace. If not, fry him.