KING5 Seattle News | Green River Killer

Green River Task Force resumes search for more victims

01:03 PM PST on Wednesday, November 12, 2003

From KING Staff Reports

KENT - Detectives with the Green River Task Force were back in the field Wednesday, looking for more victims of confessed serial killer Gary Ridgway.

The search was the first since Ridgway pleaded guilty last week to murdering 48 women. Investigators are hoping to find the remains of at least four women who may have been killed in the early 1980s.

The site on a hillside near Kent, south of Seattle, is a place detectives have already looked at six times. But Ridgway is adamant he placed one victim there, but he doesn't remember the specific spot, said Det. Kathleen Larson of the Green River Task Force.

KING

Members of the Green River task force hope to find more bodies before the weather changes.

The task force is looking under a rock field, where the county dumped truckloads in the mid 1980's but the work can be dangerous.

The crews have to rush as they have only have six months to make their cases against Ridgway, before his sentencing. Also, winter weather will make searches nearly impossible.

Ridgway has confessed to 60 murders in King County. But detectives have yet to prove those with additional evidence.

KING

Admitted serial killer Gary Ridgway appears in court, Nov. 5, 2003.

"He admitted more crimes then the ones we charged him with, but we did not take his word alone," Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Baird said.

Detectives say Ridgway has pointed them to 18 possible gravesites in King County, but only four bodies were recovered.

Many sites will be searched again.

"Its been really painful watching the families, and it's not over, we're going to continue work to find additional victims," said Det. Sue Peters, with the Green River Task Force.

Sources tell King 5 News that additional physical evidence has been uncovered in several cases that could be tied directly to Ridgway.

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Plus, investigators from San Diego to Vancouver, Canada have learned new details of Ridgway's crimes that are being compared to as many as 90 homicides of women.

KING 5's Darin Watkins contributed to this report.

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