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Green River Killer
17 Plays1 month ago
He lived an ordinary life on the surface, a quiet man with a steady job, awkward manners, and a presence coworkers found slightly, but beneath it, something dark was growing. Between 1982 and 1984, dozens of young women vanished, their lives ending along the Green River while the killer blended into the community around him. For years he was questioned, watched, and even tested, yet he remained free, passing polygraphs and inserting himself into the investigation. It took nearly two decades and the certainty of DNA to reveal that the monster had been hiding in plain sight all along.
⚠️ Content Warning: This episode includes references to abuse, trauma, and death. Listener discretion is advised.
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Transcript
Introduction to Beneath the Evergreens
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Beneath the Evergreens, where murder, mysteries, and mayhem lurk in the shadows of the Pacific Northwest. I'm Jess. And I'm Anna. From haunted forests and unsolved disappearances, to true crime cases buried deep in the moss and the mist, we're digging in into the dark secrets hiding under the evergreens.
00:00:20
Speaker
Each episode will explore real cases, eerie encounters, and the legends that keep the Pacific Northwest up at night. So grab your flashlight, Lock your doors and join us beneath the evergreens.
Accents and Listener Shout-outs
00:00:54
Speaker
I love the way you say murder. Murder. No, I don't. I heard myself saying it. I was like, oh, that sounds like shit. shit I really love it. You sound like you're from New York. What did I say? It's murder, mysteries, or where murder, mysteries, and mayhem. Like, it's the weird... My mouth can't control it. Murder, mysteries, and mayhem.
00:01:15
Speaker
You say it great. You say it great. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Well, welcome to episode 11. Okay. Woo. I know. I feel like we're cruising right along. I do have a shout out to a very special person that was commenting on our Spotify and it was hilarious. I was chuckling for like a week and a half. So thank you, Jerry, so much for your input there. If you too want to comment, head over to Spotify or Apple podcasts and you can send us a little comment. Also, we had a listener,
00:01:46
Speaker
From the website, actually, send us a little shout out. So thank you, Sharon, so much for listening. We really appreciate it. And I hope you like the newsletter. Yeah, we're super excited to interact with you guys. So please keep dropping comments, interacting with us. we We really, really love talking to you guys about episodes and any kind of fun information you guys have about eerie encounters or true crime in the area. Or what holes you're going to go down.
00:02:14
Speaker
We're going to put some limiters on that discussion. Yes, we are interested.
00:02:23
Speaker
Oh, man.
Western Washington Weather Woes
00:02:24
Speaker
oh Well, it's been raining unusually a lot. I mean, it's Western Washington, so we're just kind of like used to the rain. But this past, what has it been? Like four days have been wild. It's been nuts over here.
00:02:40
Speaker
are you sick Are you staying safe, Jess? Staying safe. It's definitely like raining cows and horses, not cats and dogs. The rivers over here. So there's a river like...
00:02:52
Speaker
I don't know, six or seven streets away. And it has completely overrun its banks. I'm talking, it's probably like 20 feet on each side expanded. And I will send you the picture. going to send you the picture of a bridge where you can see just how expansive the water is and how crazy the river is like rushing down. I keep thinking to myself like...
00:03:13
Speaker
I wonder when the water recedes, if there's going to be like trash stuck in the trees or. oh yeah. like Fishing poles that were once lost now found. Just like random debris that's been yeah flowing from God knows where.
00:03:27
Speaker
Yeah. But it's massive. It's like spans. Well, you saw It's crazy. Yeah. It's so scary to see like all of those like small towns, especially like up North that are getting just kind of swept away.
00:03:39
Speaker
it's It's nuts out here. And it feels like it just happened out of absolutely nowhere. Yeah. Like I'm pretty used to rain. It is what it is. But usually there's like a cycle to it. Like it'll rain really hard for an hour and then you'll get like a couple hours off and then maybe it will sprinkle. Or maybe there's that like weird mist. It's not quite rain. But this was like someone turned a shower head on over the entirety of the Western Washington and just forgot to turn it off. Like I sometimes do when I'm filling up my water bottle and flood my kitchen.
00:04:14
Speaker
Jessie doesn't need an atmospheric river. She just has the ADHD to cover flooding. hello Fun times. So yeah, so that was, that was pretty cool to see though. nature is wild.
00:04:26
Speaker
Yeah. I did have, kind of some, funny realizations well one actually this is more of a funny story but i was driving and i passed a pumpkin patch and there were still some leftover pumpkins from october and they were like the field was completely flooded these pumpkins were just floating and like bobbing bobbers yes halloween bobbers yes halloween bobbers it was crazy i first of all didn't know pumpkins could float Me neither. Fun experiment though.
00:04:57
Speaker
I guess they are hollow inside. Right? so that makes sense. Yeah, it was it was really actually really kind of cool because it looked like a normal pumpkin patch like from a distance. Like you see them all on the ground, but like getting up close like, oh, no, they're just sitting on some water. that's Like two feet higher than it's supposed to be.
00:05:14
Speaker
Some buoyancy if I've ever seen it. her like Yeah, it's a you never really realize how destructive water can really be until you get into a storm like this where like an entire freeway is shut down right now because it's just full of water and you're like,
00:05:31
Speaker
But we have to live. We live off water. Our bodies are made of water. But man, if it chooses to, it can really just F up your life. Oh, yeah. Did you see those? like that There's this one freeway kind of out by Yakima, I think, that like the water's like eroded like half of the the freeway.
00:05:49
Speaker
That's scary. Yeah, it's just it's done. like It's going to take massive construction to rebuild it. It's nuts. Is it like a large portion or just a little bit? Like half of it. Like one lane is completely gone.
00:06:02
Speaker
It's like a two-lane highway. i Mother nature scary, man. Don't piss her off. Yeah, seriously. Especially, i feel like the the world at large is burning. Except we're drowning. So everywhere else is burning, we're just drowning. This is such a happy topic. So much fun.
Who is the Green River Killer?
00:06:20
Speaker
And it's actually only going to get more fun because on the note of rivers, our topic for today is the Green River Killer.
00:06:29
Speaker
o This is such a classic one. And to be honest with you, i know this is very un-Washingtonian of myself, but I don't know a ton. Like, I think I know the greatest. is I don't know a lot.
00:06:41
Speaker
Oh, my gosh. This was so the Green River Killer was actually the first like my first like true crime interest, if you will. I've known a lot of people in the the Green River area for a very long time. So the topic comes up not frequently, but also not infrequently of like connections to the Green River Killer.
00:06:58
Speaker
So I remember hearing about it when I was young. And then once I found out that, like he was the most like prolific serial killer in U.S. history. It's like a weird kind of, not bragging right, but like weird like trophy we have in Washington, I guess.
00:07:13
Speaker
And whenever you're in Washington and you see the gri Green River, you're like, I wonder if we found everything. Or if, I don't know, like today, this week with all the craziness, is something else going to wash up or or yeah something like like that? Yeah. So we're going to jump right in.
00:07:28
Speaker
Gary Ridgeway is the Green River Killer. I want that to be known from the point that we start. Isn't he dying? Yes, he is dying. And that's actually what what my inspiration for this episode was. Because now all this information is coming back up. And it's it's kind of cool to do a deep dive looking into all the horrors that this man committed as he's now like this frail man. Like based on basically an end of life care.
00:07:53
Speaker
So we're going to start with his early life and then kind of follow him all the way into present day and almost death, I guess. You know, i love the background. Yes. Tell me all about
Ridgeway's Troubled Past and Double Life
00:08:04
Speaker
it. Yes. So Gary Ridgeway had all of the makings of a serial killer from a very, very young age.
00:08:13
Speaker
He was born in Utah. He moved to Washington when he was about 11. Him and his family moved to the SeaTac area. And he was kind of described as a slow learner. He didn't get very good grades. He actually had to repeat two grades growing up.
00:08:30
Speaker
Oh, wow. Yeah, like, and you know all the social stigma that kind of comes with having repeat grades. So he was like, he was kind of an odd and unfortunate kid from the beginning. He also had a really strange relationship with his mother.
00:08:45
Speaker
And that sets the stage, in my opinion, for the trajectory of the rest of his life. When we say strange, what are we talking about? his mother was a very domineering woman.
00:08:58
Speaker
She had opinions on how things worked, and that was that. She was also just had odd relationships with Gary in particular. Like Gary had a bedwetting problem when he was young, and his mother used to like bathe him afterwards.
00:09:19
Speaker
when He was like upwards to 13 years of age. like She would bathe him after he wet the bed. And so when he's 13 going through puberty and his mother is still like physically washing him, not infrequently, he got these weird like it's like weird like sexual attractions to his mother, but also he really hated her.
00:09:42
Speaker
Hated her more than anyone else, but he was still kind of attracted to her in a weird way. So, I feel like this kind of brings up, like, chicken and the egg situation, right? Was he an odd guy from the beginning? Like, was there the makings of a serial killer there? Or did his mother turn him into one? Or was it the combination of the two? Like, he had this...
00:10:03
Speaker
I don't know, Gene, he was predisposed to being a serial killer. if you will And then the treatment from his mother just activated it and sent him on this horrible, horrible trajectory in life. Yeah.
00:10:13
Speaker
I wonder what else was happening though. Cause to still wet your bed at like 13, that's really unusual. Yeah. He, so he actually had fantasies about killing his mother.
00:10:24
Speaker
like' Wow. Okay. We're just jumping right yes in off at 13. Cool. Yes. cool cool cool Yes. In fact, when he was 15 years old, he just randomly stabbed this first grader on the side of the street.
00:10:40
Speaker
like And how old was he? He was 15. 15 years old. Stabbed a first grader. The kid was all right. But Gary said, like, years later, when they connected him to this crime, because he initially he wasn't bound for it. Like, they didn't know who stabbed this kid.
00:10:57
Speaker
But he but basically was like, yeah, I just wanted to see what it was like to stab someone. Stab yourself. Stab yourself then. Right. That is. Yes. So like, essentially a six-year-old. He stabbed, just stabbed him in like, bush on a street corner.
00:11:11
Speaker
That's diabolical. Right. So he has, he had a history of violence, right? There was a lot of tendencies that I imagine if someone had been critically looking at him from a young age would have been like, he's, he's going to do some shady shit when he gets older.
00:11:26
Speaker
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. And, There was no intervention in Gary's life. He just continued on with his strange fantasies of killing people and his strange relationship with his mother.
00:11:38
Speaker
So Gary had a pretty rough upbringing that had a lot of clues to what he would he would do later on. in Post high school, he worked at Kenworth, a trucking company, for a little bit. But he then joined the Navy.
00:11:52
Speaker
While in the Navy, he... was stationed in the Philippines for a bit. And that was when he started meeting with sex workers.
00:12:03
Speaker
Nothing that we, nothing torrid that we know of happened in the Philippines with sex workers, but he did start to frequently meet with them. And when he came back to the U.S. and rejoined Kenworth, he continued his, his, I don't know, his hobby of his outlet, if you will.
00:12:21
Speaker
In May of 1982, Gary was actually arrested for a sting that some undercover police officers were pulling off. And that was what seems to be the Kickstarter for his illicit activity.
00:12:38
Speaker
Yes. So. Okay. So he essentially got arrested for trying to solicit a sex worker and then he just got pissed off about it. Potentially. Okay. Not trying to go into the inner workings of this man's brain. Really would love to stay out of that. But it does follow.
00:12:54
Speaker
And shortly afterwards was when he began murdering women in the area. We're going to get into the murders in a little bit. But while he was murdering many, many women, he was still employed at Kenworth going about his day-to-day job.
00:13:11
Speaker
He had been married. He got divorced. He had a son. He was still dating. He was really living these double lives where if you met him at work, you thought, Gary's a little weird. Kind of an odd guy, but maybe he's okay. Okay.
00:13:27
Speaker
oh But no, this this man was doing horrible, horrible things on the side. i hate it. I hate it. So when he was not working his day job or being a semi-family man.
00:13:41
Speaker
Could you imagine your dad being the Green River Killer? Absolutely not. I mean, my father in particular, no. But any like anyone I cannot imagine coming close face to face with this man.
00:13:54
Speaker
Yeah, so he was arrested in May of 1982 in that sting. And then he started killing, objecting and killing other women in July of 82. Okay, so you know, just this tiny ass situation. Yes, is and he ended up killing 49 confirmed women between July of 1982 and March 1984.
00:14:16
Speaker
in march of nineteen eightyf four that's a piece of That is not a long time. That's almost 50 women in under two years. That's disgusting.
00:14:28
Speaker
That is. Yeah. No, it's, it's horrible. His first victim is a woman named Amina Agishev. She went missing on July 1982, but she wasn't found until April 1984.
00:14:39
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:43
Speaker
So she was not initially considered to be his first victim. However, Wendy Lee Cofield was actually for a long time perceived to be his first victim. She was actually his second. She was last seen on July 18th.
00:14:58
Speaker
And then she was found on July 15th. And he was killing roughly like one woman a week for certain stints. That's gross. That's disgusting.
00:15:10
Speaker
He predominantly... victimized sex workers. In his mind, they were easy to find and they didn't often have support systems around that would report them missing or have accurate information on where they were last seen. So a lot of these women were either sex workers or runaways that were presumed to be sex workers. And one thing that really struck me as I was researching this was just how young a lot of these women were.
00:15:39
Speaker
Like i I always thought they were i on the older side, somewhere as young as 15, 16, they range between 15, 16 to their early twenties. There were a couple of women that were older than that, but they were, they were young. They were.
00:15:55
Speaker
Break my heart. What do imagine the life you have had to live? to get into this industry, particularly in America, maybe in other countries where it's legalized, it's a little bit better, but particularly in America, and then to have your life ended in such a disgusting way, like, it breaks my heart.
00:16:14
Speaker
It's been reported that Gary actually used his son to help him lure in victims sometimes. He'd be looking for sex workers. He would sometimes show them photos of his son to make him seem more trustworthy. sometimes or a couple times he had a son in the back seat and so they people would feel more comfortable right and he would then take them home and kill them diabolical okay i get dexter now like serial killers for serial killers i mean let's make his death as painful as possible like what a disgusting disgusting person and the other piece of information that
00:16:54
Speaker
I didn't know for a long time that makes this whole thing even worse. So Gary was the prime suspect in these killings 18 years before he was actually arrested and charged with them.
00:17:12
Speaker
For 18 years, they were just sleeping on this guy? Yes. So police first noticed him. What it in the actual freak? So they police first kind of noticed him, thought he was a suspect in 1983.
00:17:26
Speaker
So remember, his killing spree was July of 82 through March of 84. So right in the middle of it, they started to kind of get hints that, you know, this is a person of interest.
00:17:37
Speaker
mostly because Yeah, if he's going every week and every week this these girls are going missing. like So his truck matched descriptions of a truck that was associated with my earth with one of the disappearances.
00:17:51
Speaker
And at up to that point, he had been in contact with three of the victims. they Gary had been known to talk to these women. So he was on a list.
00:18:03
Speaker
However...
How Did Ridgeway Evade Capture?
00:18:04
Speaker
In 1984, he passed a polygraph and there was no further evidence to tie him to the murders. So one, polygraphs don't work.
00:18:15
Speaker
they They do not work. But also, this guy was meticulous. He was, so he would go back and visit some of his victims as well, like post burying them or I guess discarding them if you will. And he would clean up after himself.
00:18:33
Speaker
every single time like scraping fingernails making sure there wasn't anything left behind and which is crazy because in the 80s it's not like dna is really big is it it's not big it's still like in its infancy so like and this is before law and order and all that stuff so he's he was hate to say it but he perfected his craft That's disgusting. In 1987, his home was searched, but there was still was not enough evidence to connect him officially to the cases.
00:19:09
Speaker
He even... This man even contacted police back in 1984 to give tips slash ask questions about some of the cases. Like, he was...
00:19:21
Speaker
Everyone kind of knew he was the guy. They just couldn't prove it. So he's just being real disgusting with it. He was almost like flaunting it like, ha ha. know I'd go as far as flaunting it, but yeah he wasn't like, he was meticulous about leaving any evidence, but like, was still curious. The curiosity got the better of him.
00:19:39
Speaker
He is just... So for 18 years, he is just out there where people kind of think that he's involved, but no one can prove it. And he's already a kind of a weird guy to begin with. So people are just a little a little weird about him, a little cautious about him.
00:19:53
Speaker
So in that time frame, he is still working at ken work Kenworth. He's actually a painter. He paints some of the the trucks. Okay. And...
00:20:05
Speaker
There are some accounts of him where he was just an odd guy. he would read his Bible quite a bit. Ew, you would read a Bible at work? Yes, yes. I mean, no offense to Bible readers out there. I very much appreciate you.
00:20:21
Speaker
But that's an odd flex at work. Right, especially given what he's doing in his free time. Like, does is it a cover? Does he think it's going to save him? Like, what that thought press process is very interesting to me. I would like to know what Jesus has to say about these instances. Great.
00:20:37
Speaker
But I actually have a family friend that worked with him at Kenworth. so a little Tell me all that. First hand accounts of kind of what she noticed.
00:20:49
Speaker
He so kind of just odd things about him. he would wear ankle weights at work while he worked like just abnormal behavior.
00:20:58
Speaker
he spit when he talked, he loved to talk about the Bible. he would come up to people, mostly women, like come up behind them. and like in a loud factory, like, you know, what like, like how like, yeah, noise, right. And machinery all over the place and just kind of like lowly behind the me like, well, hello there.
00:21:18
Speaker
Ew. despise that. Yes. Yeah. In the depths of my soul. Right. Right. Right. Especially now that, I mean, I would hate that just generally, but then to know what he's doing after, oh my God, that, ew. Yeah. So this family friend, she worked with him from about, she worked at Kenworth from 92 to 2001. So okay in that period, that's when people kind of have an idea that he's the killer, but you can no one can prove it, right?
00:21:48
Speaker
Yeah. So he would like sometimes leave like jewelry around around Kenworth or like, hey, is this someone's jewelry found in the bathroom, whatever. And he would give this weird like, i don't know, like weird, like just enjoyment from other women wearing jewelry from his victims around work.
00:22:10
Speaker
That's. Yeah. And but the thing is, it all like it's creepy in hindsight. It was creepy in the moment. But there was not that connection wasn't there. Right.
00:22:22
Speaker
And I can imagine people being like, well, like the like everyone knew the police had talked to him, but they wouldn't like they don't have like they wouldn't just leave him out in the public. Right.
00:22:33
Speaker
If they knew that he did it. So it's like oh maybe Gary's just weird. Maybe he's just a weird dude. Yeah. Apparently he also used to sell used gloves and safety glasses he got from Kenworth at us at swap meets.
00:22:48
Speaker
So weird fact about Gary, he was really into like swap meets and garage sales. Like that was this guy's other hobby. So ankle weights, the Bible and swap meets. Yeah. This paints a very interesting picture.
00:23:02
Speaker
Yeah. God. Dudes. it Odd dude. And this family friend actually went to his house to to get cats.
00:23:14
Speaker
No. Yes. Yes. Oh, my God. Yeah. So she she been that she was there. She met his wife. I guess his wife. So this was in the ninety s But she was dressed like a 50s housewife.
00:23:27
Speaker
Like wearing a red polka dot dress with ankle socks, like the lace and the pink heels. what the hell yeah and while she was at his house gary asked friend's boyfriend to change the porch light just read just randomly like what the picture that i'm trying to paint here is just this odd man like just very off and you kind of get that like social cues and the his ability to interact with people it didn't come natural to him
00:24:04
Speaker
Like, just odd, odd behavior that isn't isn't right. That's gross. Also, didn't you say like his victim's back to his house? Yeah.
00:24:16
Speaker
So where was his wife, 50s housewife? She wasn't at work. I do not know. Maybe had a basement that was off limits or something.
00:24:28
Speaker
I don't know. There was also periods where... Kind of in between wives where he was living alone. so he very well could have changed behavior as his like personal life evolved.
00:24:39
Speaker
Oh, okay. That makes sense. oh But still weird. I don't know how you can be married to someone and not know that they're a mass murderer. Like, that blows my mind.
00:24:50
Speaker
Yeah. i You got to have some type of inkling. Although, if he's just weird in general, maybe it's harder to... I mean, I'm thinking of a couple people that I used to work with that were bizarre like that, but I never thought they were, like, serial killers. so I was just like, they're a little quirky. They're definitely a little weird. They're definitely more socially awkward than I am, so that says a lot. Well, now I'm, like, rethinking all of the people that I've met that are, like, a little bit weird. Like, are you just odd or is it a serial killer vibe? Like,
00:25:23
Speaker
i cross my fingers, have not met many serial killers in my life. So I don't know what that delineation looks like, but now I'm a little, I'm a little nervous. So Gary was a weird guy and there was a lot of weird behavior.
00:25:36
Speaker
It took the police, like I said, 18 years before they were finally able to connect him to these crimes. In that time, my family friend reported that Gary had told another employee that he had written a book about being a subject, a suspect.
00:25:54
Speaker
But his lawyers told him not to publish it. So I not only am calling to say I have tips and i'm I know I'm a suspect, but now I'm also writing a book about how I'm suspect. That is.
00:26:08
Speaker
Wow. This is like an OJ situation. Like, if I did it, it's nuts. It's absolutely nuts.
Arrest and Conviction
00:26:15
Speaker
However, in 2001, investigators were finally able to get DNA evidence to link him to multiple murders.
00:26:27
Speaker
And that eventually led to his arrest and conviction. So, Gary Ridgway has been confirmed that he killed 49 women.
00:26:39
Speaker
However, he self-reports that number to be closer to 70 or 80.
00:26:46
Speaker
Which is disgusting. That is disgusting. And I mean, i don't doubt that either. If he was doing one a week and then just stopped. Right. I'm not sure about all that. No.
00:26:59
Speaker
Especially, i think there had to have ones before and after. Like, it seemed like once he got married the second time, the murders to kind of died down a little bit. But I can't imagine if you're, if you're like, murdering that frequently, you can't just stop.
00:27:14
Speaker
Like, imagine, like, any other habit, right? Well, if you're that sick, like, that is a sickness. Like, I don't know if it's a demonic possession or what, but, like, something is wrong with you if you kill one person. But then you go on to, like, the double digits.
00:27:33
Speaker
That's insane. Right? Right? Like, this just a horrible, horrible human being. yeah so since 2001 he has been incarcerated the death penalty was taken off the table in exchange for him guiding investigators to some where some of his victims were buried so they were able so that 49 is ones that they can confirm were killed by gary bridgeway and they have identified most of them so that was kind of the one i guess nice thing he did
00:28:09
Speaker
give his victims families a little bit of closure no that was not nice that was him just wanting to relive his glory days i'm saying nice immigrants like one little tidbit of i don't want to say decency yeah but well i guess there was something i guess i see where you're coming from at least the family's got closure a little bit but yeah and you can yeah you can have at least some kind of I don't know, relief that they're they're with you now. they're not They're no longer with this man.
00:28:41
Speaker
But since then, he has been incarcerated in the state penitentiary in Walla Walla. There's really no no point in thinking about when he's going to 2024, he actually came back to King County. i don't know if you heard about kind of a big stir of he was being transported back here and everyone's like, oh my God, what's happening? What's going on? like why why is he here I did hear something about that, yeah. So it turns out he was over here to work with prosecutors to tell them where more bodies could be located.
00:29:15
Speaker
I haven't heard anything about any new location since then. So it was either a bust or they're still looking for them. But, I mean, it has been, what, 40 years since since he murdered a lot of those women? So I imagine his memory isn't quite as good as it used to be.
00:29:34
Speaker
But like we talked about at the beginning, he is now receiving end-of-life care. So he is not expected to make it much longer. And that will kind of be the final chapter in this horrible, horrible story of Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer's life.
00:29:53
Speaker
I'm a little irate. I want this end-of-life care to be the end-of-life care that he gave to all his victims. Right? Like, just make them suffer as much as Yeah.
00:30:05
Speaker
Have somebody do onto you what you did on the others. Also, why if they knew, why didn't they just put him in one of those interrogation rooms for like 22 hours, like all those other cases where people are trying to be like railroaded into something that I don't know.
00:30:22
Speaker
I mean, part of me thinks that, like, because there was so much media attention around this case when it was happening, right? So I almost have to think that they they tried everything they could. And, I mean, practices in the 80s weren't quite as regulated as they are now. Yeah. So maybe they did do something questionable. And for some reason, Gary was able to just stay strong and might not give anything.
00:30:48
Speaker
Because he's a psychopath. That is crazy. I could not imagine like looking back and be like, oh, one time Gary Ridgeway snuck up behind me and said, hey, really softly in my ear. Right.
00:31:02
Speaker
Right. I think I would have nightmares. Yes. Especially when you like you look at a photo of him and he he looks so creepy. He is creepy. He's a creepy guy.
00:31:12
Speaker
Yeah. I did want to end this episode with a little bit of a tribute though, because i do think, especially with the number of victims that he had, there's isn't a lot of talk about them. Mostly because a lot of information isn't known about all the victims. So, so I wanted to go through and just read all of their names so that we can kind of take a second to to think about them. Cause really they just, they had up really tough lives from the beginning that got them into the situation and They didn't deserve what happened to them. No one ever deserves this, but it is
Honoring the Victims
00:31:47
Speaker
quite sad. So I'm going to read their names, their age, and the last time they were seen.
00:31:54
Speaker
So we have Amina Agashev. She was 36. She was last seen on July 1982. We have Wendy Lee Cofield. She was was and LaVorne.
00:32:04
Speaker
was 17. She was 17.
00:32:08
Speaker
gille and lavone she was seventeen she was last seen on July 1982. Deborah Lee Bonner, who was 23. She was last seen on 1982. Marsha Faye Chapman, who 31. She was last seen on August 1st, 1982. Cynthia Jean Hines, who was 17. Last seen August 11th, 1982. Opal Charmaine Mills, who was 16. Last seen on August 12th, 1982.
00:32:26
Speaker
cynthia jean hines she was seventeen lasting on august eleventh nineteen eighty two opal charmaine mills who is sixteen last scene on august twelfth nineteen eighty two Case Ann Lee, 16, last seen on 28, 1982. Terry Milligan, 16, last seen August 29, 1982. Mary Bridget Meehan, 18, last seen September 15, 1982.
00:32:43
Speaker
Deborah Lorraine Estes, 15, last September 20, 1982. Denise Darcelle Bush, 22, last seen October 8, 1982. mary bridget mihem eighteen last scene september fifteenth nineteen eighty two deborah lorraine estas fifteen last scene on september twentieth nineteen eighty two denise darce bush twenty two last scene october eight nineteen eighty two Shondalia Summers, 17, last scene October Patricia Ann Osborne, last Avent, 16, last seen on October 26, 1983. Rebecca Marrero,
00:33:20
Speaker
shirley marie cheryl eighteen last scene between october twentieth and november seventh in nineteen eighty two pammy annette avent sixteen last scene on october twenty sixth to nineteen eighty three rebecca t morerero twenty last seen December 1982. Colleen Renee Brockman, last December last seen March 1983.
00:33:47
Speaker
alma an smith eighteen last scene march third nineteen eighty three dolores laverne williams seventeen last scene march eight nineteen eighty three Gail Lynn Matthews, 24, last seen 10, 1983. Andrea Childers, 19, last April 16, 1983. Sandra Gabbert, 17, 17, 1983. Kimikai Pitzor, 16, last Maria M. Malver, 18, last seen April 30, 1983.
00:34:09
Speaker
sandra k gabbbert seventeen last scene april seventeenth nineteen eighty three kimmikai pitzor sixteen last scene april seventeenth nineteen eighty three maria m malver eighteen last seen april thirtieth nineteen eighty three Carol Christensen, 21, last seen May Teresa Arthur Lee, 18, May 22, 1983. Cheryl Lee Wins, 18, last seen May 23, 1983.
00:34:32
Speaker
Yvonne Shelley Antosh, 19, last seen May 31, 1983. Carrie Royce, 15, last seen May 31,
00:34:39
Speaker
chel lee wins eighteen lasting may twenty third nineteen eighty three yvonne shelley andtosh nineteen last scene may thirty first nineteen eighty three carrie a royce fifteen lasting may 31st to June 13th, 1983. Constance Elizabeth Known, Last seen June 1983.
00:35:00
Speaker
Kelly McGinnis, 18. Last seen June 1983. Kelly Marie Ware, 22. Last seen July 19th, 1983. Tina Marie Thompson,
00:35:10
Speaker
kelly k mcginni eighteen last scene june twenty eighth nineteen eighty three kelly marie ware twenty two last scene july nineteenth nineteen eighty three tina marie thompson 22, seen July seen 18, 1983. Debbie Abernathy, 26, last seen September 5, 1983.
00:35:30
Speaker
april dawn butttram seventeen last scene august eighteenth nineteen eighty three debbie may abernathy twenty six last scene september fifth nineteen eighty three Tracy Ann Winston, 19.
00:35:45
Speaker
seen September 12th, 1983. Maureen Feeney, 19. Last September 28th, 1983. Mary Sue Bellow, 25. Last seen October 1983. Patricia Osborne, 19. Last seen October 20th, 1983. Pammy Avent,
00:35:57
Speaker
mary sue bellow twenty five last scene october eleventh nineteen eighty three patricia osborne nineteen last scene october twentieth and eighteen eighty three pammy avant 16, last seen October Lisa Yates, March 21, 1984.
00:36:17
Speaker
What we call Remains 10, found on March 24,
00:36:22
Speaker
maria exedta west sixteen last scene february six nineteen eighty four cindy annen smith seventeen last scene march twenty first nineteen eighty four what we call remains ten found on march twenty four 1984 Oregon remains found on April remains found on December
00:36:53
Speaker
and remain seventeen found january second nineteen eighty six that's too many names way too many way too many names Well, hope they're all resting peacefully. They definitely deserve that.
00:37:09
Speaker
Absolutely. Like we said earlier, there's still about 30 victims that Gary Bridgeway says he killed that investigators have not been able to link to him. So if you know anyone that was around the Seattle area in the early eighty s that was either a runaway or a sex worker that you haven't heard of in quite some time and you think could have been a victim of Gary Ridgway, please contact the King County Sheriff's Department. They are continuing to to find victims and at least try to put names to some of the remains that we've also found. Well, Well, that was tragic.
00:37:51
Speaker
That was very sad.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:37:53
Speaker
Well, that's it for today's dive into the dark corners of the Pacific Northwest. If you love the stories or shivered a little, be sure to subscribe and follow so you don't miss what's lurking beneath the evergreens next time.
00:38:04
Speaker
Thanks for joining us on Beneath the Evergreens. We appreciate you diving into the mysteries with us. Until next time, keep your eyes open and your doors locked.