/ Green River Killer

10:33 AM PST on Saturday, December 20, 2003

Associated Press

SEATTLE - Lewis County Prosecutor Jeremy Randolph says he believes Green River Killer Gary Ridgway dumped the bodies of three women in his county. Randolph said he would be willing to take the death penalty off the table if Ridgway confessed to the killings.

Scientists are examining sets of remains found in 1984, 1985 and 1991. So far, they have been unable to develop a DNA profile of a likely suspect. Still, Randolph said he hopes to meet with other area prosecutors and Ridgway's lawyers to discuss a possible deal.

KING/NWCN Confessed Green River serial killer Gary Ridgway listens to a judge during his formal sentencing in a courtroom in Seattle Thursday, December 18, 2003.

"First I need to find out, do I have any evidence whatsoever? If there's no reasonable likelihood that we are going to have any, it may be just a system of trying to clear these cases and bring the families of these three girls some peace." Ridgway pleaded guilty Nov. 5 to 48 counts of aggravated first-degree murder in a deal with King County to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without release.

As part of the deal, Ridgway agreed to help investigators solve any Green River cases - so called because that's where he dumped his first victims - in King County. Ridgway told investigators he killed more than 60 women, but detectives could only verify 48 of them. They did not question him about any killings outside King County, because those were not covered by the plea deal.

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"We can't say. We just did not ask him about it."

Ridgway's lawyers have said they do not believe he committed any killings outside King County. They did not return messages left by The Associated Press late Friday.

Randolph said the three women whose remains were found in southwest Washington's Lewis County matched the profile of dozens Ridgway admitted to killing, mostly during a murderous binge from 1982-84: vulnerable, involved in street life, not likely to be reported missing any time soon.

Ridgway has said he strangled all his victims, and these three all died of strangulation or other trauma to the head and neck, Randolph said.

Monica Anderson, 32, of Tacoma, was last seen getting into a brown van on Commerce Road in Tacoma on June 24 or 25, 1984. Her body was found in the Chehalis River on Aug. 12 that year.

Susan L. Krueger, 41 or 42, was last seen March 11, 1985, when she was released from the Pierce County Jail. She was found along Lacamas Creek, between Toledo and Interstate 5, on May 5, 1985.

Mignon Hensley, 21, was last seen June 19, 1991, leaving a Deja Vu strip club in Federal Way. Her remains were found Aug. 5, 1991, in a brushy area along U.S. 12, half a mile east of I-5.

Randolph said he would want to consult with the Pierce County prosecutor, since two of the women were from Tacoma, before making any deal. Pierce County Prosecutor Gerry Horne was not immediately reachable by phone after business hours Friday.

Even if his county does come up with DNA evidence linking Ridgway to the crimes, Randolph said, he still might not pursue the death penalty. If Ridgway did not get the death penalty for 48 murders in King County, the state Supreme Court might find it disproportionate to sentence him to death for three in Lewis County, Randolph said.