The woman featured here was discovered, along with another Green River victim, on January 2nd, 1986 by detectives in southeast King County. She is one of the victims of Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer. This composite sketch was developed in the hope she might be identified.
Illustration courtesy King County Sheriff
In 2003 Gary Ridgway, Washington’s notorious Green River killer, pleaded guilty to murdering forty-eight (48) women. As of today, two of Ridgway’s victims remain unidentified.
Parabon Nanolabs, Inc., working in concert with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, utilized their proprietary Snapshot DNA Analysis to develop this composite profile of one of these remaining women.
The investigative team, including detectives with the King County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit and forensic anthropologist Dr. Katherine Taylor, is sharing this newly developed image today so we can work to identify a woman known only to King County investigators as Bones-17.
The woman featured here was discovered, along with another Green River victim, on January 2nd, 1986 by detectives in southeast King County. Although unidentified at the time, her death was included in Ridgway’s 2003 plea agreement.
Forensic evidence indicates she was potentially in her mid-to-late teens at the time of her murder. The path and circumstances that brought her to the Puget Sound area remain unknown. Isotope analysis, already done in this case, suggests she may be a native of the eastern United States or Canada.
King County Sheriff Mitzi G. Johanknecht said, “There is renewed urgency in this case. Thirty-five (35) years have passed since Bones 17’s discovery and investigators want to connect with family before memories and other evidence fade.” Every person, in the words of Dr. Taylor, needs their name. It will take the help of a nation to give Bones-17 hers.
Persons with any information that will help investigators identify Bones-17 are asked to contact:
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-THE LOST
(1-800-843-5678)
Case TA 1151979
The King County Sheriff’s Office
206-296-3311
Case 86-000818
