Latest / Beyond The Horizon / Mega Edition: Gary Ridgway And The Green River Murders (Part 17-19) (9/20/26)

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Mega Edition: Gary Ridgway And The Green River Murders (Part 17-19) (9/20/26) · Beyond The Horizon

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. In
0:03
Speaker 1: this episode, we're going to pick up where we left
0:05
Speaker 1: off with the unmasking of Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer,
0:10
Speaker 1: to April Boutram. In July of 1983, April Boutram left
0:15
Speaker 1: her home in Spokane and headed to Seattle. She shortly
0:18
Speaker 1: became involved in prostitution. Approximately one month later, she became
0:23
Speaker 1: the victim of the Green River Killer. In late August
0:26
Speaker 1: of 1983, she disappeared and was never seen again. She
0:29
Speaker 1: was 17. A significant obstacle to the investigation of April's
0:33
Speaker 1: case and many others was the inability to determine the
0:37
Speaker 1: exact date of her disappearance. She was arrested for prostitution
0:41
Speaker 1: on August 4th, 1983 and released from juvenile detention on
0:45
Speaker 1: August 10th, 1983. The police contacted her on Rainier Avenue
0:50
Speaker 1: South on August 18th, 1983. Her pimp stated that he
0:55
Speaker 1: last saw her on Rainier Avenue South and believed that
0:58
Speaker 1: it was sometime before September 1st, 1983. He never reported
1:02
Speaker 1: her missing, claiming that he thought that she had run away.
1:05
Speaker 1: April's mother reported her missing on March of 1984. Though
1:10
Speaker 1: her body had not been found due to the circumstances
1:13
Speaker 1: and timing of her disappearance, she was added to the
1:15
Speaker 1: list of Green River victims. As with other missing victims,
1:18
Speaker 1: numerous tips trickled into the task force claiming that she
1:22
Speaker 1: was still alive. In July of 1984, After a news
1:25
Speaker 1: release that April had been added to the list of victims,
1:28
Speaker 1: several individuals claimed that April was working as a prostitute
1:32
Speaker 1: in Tacoma and California. All these tips were investigated. None
1:37
Speaker 1: were ever confirmed. In 2003, Ridgeway admitted killing April. He
1:42
Speaker 1: claimed he recognized her picture. He thought he picked her
1:45
Speaker 1: up on Rainier Avenue. Ridgeway was not completely certain where
1:49
Speaker 1: he placed April's body. He suggested that he buried her
1:52
Speaker 1: under a fern near Lake Fenwick. However, he also stated
1:57
Speaker 1: that she might be the victim he placed at a
1:59
Speaker 1: site north of intersection of Interstate 90 and Highway 18,
2:03
Speaker 1: referred to as Leisure Time site because Leisure Time Resorts
2:06
Speaker 1: has a camp nearby. He also suggested that the woman
2:09
Speaker 1: that he dumped at Leisure Time was someone other than April.
2:14
Speaker 1: Ridgway said he recalled dumping a woman at the Leisure
2:17
Speaker 1: Time site after picking her up on Rainier Avenue. Ridgway
2:20
Speaker 1: claimed that he returned to the Leisure Time site in
2:23
Speaker 1: the spring of 1984, some eight months after dumping a
2:26
Speaker 1: body there. He said there were only a few bones
2:29
Speaker 1: left at the site, and he picked up the skull.
2:32
Speaker 1: He said he transported the skull along with bones from
2:35
Speaker 1: Denise Bush and Shirley Sherrill to Oregon on a weekend
2:38
Speaker 1: trip with his son in 1984, some eight months after
2:42
Speaker 1: dumping a body there. He said that there were only
2:45
Speaker 1: a few bones left at the site, and he picked
2:47
Speaker 1: up the skull. He said that he transported the skull
2:50
Speaker 1: along with bones from Denise Bush and and Shirley Sherrill
2:53
Speaker 1: to Oregon on a weekend trip with his son in 1984.
2:57
Speaker 1: Ridgway reported he left the skull near an exit off
3:01
Speaker 1: of Interstate 5. He said he moved the bones because
3:04
Speaker 1: he thought they would be found and his discovery would
3:06
Speaker 1: confuse the task force. This skull has never been recovered.
3:10
Speaker 1: Ridgway later joined Leisure Time Resort specifically because he knew
3:14
Speaker 1: that he placed a body nearby. I, um, like, talked
3:18
Speaker 1: to my parents into buying a membership. of the campground
3:21
Speaker 1: there because I could always go up there and walk
3:23
Speaker 1: that road and knowing that there's a woman there. He
3:26
Speaker 1: said that he and his current wife would camp in
3:28
Speaker 1: the area several times a year and walk their dogs
3:31
Speaker 1: on the road near the dump site. In June of 2003,
3:35
Speaker 1: Ridgeway was taken to the Leisure Time site and he
3:38
Speaker 1: identified an area where he was 100% certain that he
3:41
Speaker 1: left a body. He claimed that the area was grown
3:44
Speaker 1: up and that the trees had been baby trees at
3:46
Speaker 1: the time he dumped the body. Historical aerial photographs from
3:49
Speaker 1: the early 1980s confirm that the body had been clear-cut
3:53
Speaker 1: before Ridgway dumped the body in 1983. In late August
3:58
Speaker 1: and early September 2003, task force detectives conducted an extensive
4:02
Speaker 1: search of the area identified by Ridgway and recovered two
4:06
Speaker 1: human bones. An empty DNA profile was developed from the bones.
4:11
Speaker 1: The profile is April Boutram's. 3. Maureen Feeney In August
4:17
Speaker 1: of 1983, Maureen Feeney moved from Bellevue into an apartment
4:21
Speaker 1: in Seattle, and her lifestyle began to change dramatically. Maureen
4:25
Speaker 1: began working at a daycare, and around the time of
4:28
Speaker 1: her move, her co-worker had noticed a change in her
4:30
Speaker 1: attitude and her behavior. While in Seattle, Maureen became involved
4:35
Speaker 1: with a new boyfriend. The boyfriend eventually admitted that Maureen
4:38
Speaker 1: became involved in prostitution, though he implausibly denied knowing any
4:43
Speaker 1: details of her activities. On September 26, 1983, two infractions
4:48
Speaker 1: were written to Chris Pons, a probable alias for Maureen.
4:52
Speaker 1: Pons had the same physical description, birthdate, telephone number, address,
4:56
Speaker 1: and employer as Maureen. Pons had been cited in Seattle
5:00
Speaker 1: for jaywalking, a common citation written to suspected prostitutes. The
5:05
Speaker 1: next day, on September 27, 1983, Maureen quit her job
5:10
Speaker 1: at the daycare. The following day, on September 28, 1983,
5:14
Speaker 1: Maureen's boyfriend reported that she left her apartment sometime in
5:18
Speaker 1: the afternoon and never returned. She was 19. Ridgway's work
5:23
Speaker 1: records reveal that he left work around 3.20 p.m. that
5:26
Speaker 1: day and returned to work the next day. Maureen's family
5:29
Speaker 1: learned of her disappearance from her boyfriend, and on September 30, 1983,
5:34
Speaker 1: they reported that she was missing to the Seattle police.
5:38
Speaker 1: Her family went to considerable efforts to find her, Nearly
5:42
Speaker 1: three years later, on May 2, 1986, an Echo Glen
5:46
Speaker 1: Juvenile Detention Center employee was looking for an escapee when
5:50
Speaker 1: he came across some of Maureen's remains. They were found
5:54
Speaker 1: on the west side of Highway 18 at 105th, a
5:57
Speaker 1: short distance south of the intersection of Highway 18 and
6:01
Speaker 1: Interstate 90. A pullout and utility shed were near the area.
6:05
Speaker 1: Tina Thompson's remains had been found two years earlier on
6:08
Speaker 1: the other side of Highway 18. The task force subsequently
6:12
Speaker 1: recovered Maureen's remains, which were spread out over some distance.
6:17
Speaker 1: Some bones were found near a barbed wire fence. During
6:20
Speaker 1: interviews with the task force in 2003, Ridgway admitted to
6:24
Speaker 1: killing Maureen. He recalled that he picked her up in Seattle.
6:27
Speaker 1: He claimed that he killed her at night in the
6:29
Speaker 1: back of his truck. He recalled that Maureen was a
6:31
Speaker 1: white woman, had brown hair, and thought she was between
6:34
Speaker 1: 18 to 22 years old. In June of 2003, while
6:35
Speaker 1: directing Task Force 10, Detectives, as to the yet undiscovered
6:42
Speaker 1: Leisure Time dump site, described above in the section concerning
6:46
Speaker 1: April Bootroom, Ridgway suggested that he showed detectives where he
6:49
Speaker 1: dumped two bodies nearby. He pointed out the area where
6:52
Speaker 1: he left Tina Thompson's body, and also said that he
6:55
Speaker 1: dumped a body across Highway 18 next to a fence
6:59
Speaker 1: and near a shed, where Maureen was found. Ridgway recalled
7:03
Speaker 1: that he dropped her off around midnight, and while he
7:06
Speaker 1: was there, a work crew came by and some lights
7:08
Speaker 1: came on. He also admitted that he had sex with
7:11
Speaker 1: the body after he placed her near the fence. Tracy
7:15
Speaker 1: Winston In September of 1983, Tracy Winston was staying with
7:20
Speaker 1: her boyfriend at the 99 Motel on Aurora Avenue in
7:23
Speaker 1: the north end of Seattle. She finished serving a jail
7:26
Speaker 1: sentence for prostitution on September 12, 1983, and returned to
7:31
Speaker 1: the 99 Motel. Later that day, she called a man
7:34
Speaker 1: whom she had previously dated and asked him to meet
7:37
Speaker 1: her and give her money to pay her rent. The
7:39
Speaker 1: man drove to the 99 Motel and gave Tracy some money.
7:43
Speaker 1: After paying rent, Tracy asked for and received a ride
7:46
Speaker 1: to the Northgate Mall. The man dropped her off around
7:49
Speaker 1: 6 p.m. Although another acquaintance reports seeing Tracy three days
7:53
Speaker 1: later on September 15, 1983, it's believed that Tracy disappeared
7:57
Speaker 1: on the night of September 12, 1983. She never returned
8:01
Speaker 1: to the 99 Motel and her family had no further
8:04
Speaker 1: contact with her. She was 19. In March of 1986,
8:09
Speaker 1: two park employees discovered human remains at the base of
8:12
Speaker 1: a large tree in Cottonwood Park in Kent. The park
8:16
Speaker 1: is a relatively small piece of land along the banks
8:19
Speaker 1: of the Green River. The remains were approximately one-quarter mile
8:22
Speaker 1: from the Peck Bridge, where Wendy Caulfield's body was found
8:26
Speaker 1: in July of 82. The remains essentially consisted of a
8:29
Speaker 1: human torso. Despite extensive search, detectives were unable to find
8:34
Speaker 1: either the skull nor any other portion of the skeleton.
8:38
Speaker 1: Without the skull or mandible, an identification of the remains
8:41
Speaker 1: cannot be made. Thirteen years later, in 1999, advances in
8:46
Speaker 1: DNA analysis made identification of these bones possible. The empty
8:51
Speaker 1: DNA profile of the bones revealed that they were the
8:53
Speaker 1: remains of Tracy Winston. In June of 2003, Ridgway admitted
8:59
Speaker 1: he killed the woman found at Cottonwood Park. Like many
9:02
Speaker 1: of his victims, Ridgway has little memory of killing Tracy.
9:05
Speaker 1: Despite his lack of specific memory, Ridgway has convincingly maintained
9:10
Speaker 1: that he was responsible for her death, including her on
9:13
Speaker 1: a list of his victims that he provided to investigators
9:15
Speaker 1: shortly after interviews began in June of 2003. Ridgway recalled
9:21
Speaker 1: that he killed Tracy at night and he dumped her
9:23
Speaker 1: body in or near the park. He previously visited the
9:27
Speaker 1: park multiple times and had sex with one of his
9:29
Speaker 1: wives and a girlfriend not far from where he left Tracy.
9:33
Speaker 1: He explained why he chose the park as a dump site.
9:37
Speaker 1: Like Cottonwood Park was a good place along the river,
9:39
Speaker 1: and it was a while after the other ones were found,
9:42
Speaker 1: so that's why I chose it. Cottonwood Park is within
9:46
Speaker 1: a quarter mile of where Ridgeway dumped the bodies of
9:49
Speaker 1: six other women that he murdered. The five women left
9:52
Speaker 1: in the Green River and the unidentified woman just found
9:55
Speaker 1: off of Kent, Des Moines Road, Jane Doe B-20. Ridgeway,
10:00
Speaker 1: equivocated on the exact location where he placed the body,
10:03
Speaker 1: eventually deciding that it was not far from the road
10:06
Speaker 1: and likely in the park itself. He was unable to
10:09
Speaker 1: account for those parts of Tracy's skeleton that had not
10:12
Speaker 1: been found. N, Interstate 90, Exit 38. Delise Plager, Kim Nelson,
10:19
Speaker 1: and Lisa Yates. Ridgway has admitted that he killed three women,
10:23
Speaker 1: Delise Plager, Kim Nelson, and Lisa Yates, whose bodies he
10:27
Speaker 1: dumped near Exit 38 off Interstate 90. All three women
10:31
Speaker 1: were prostitutes and they disappeared from Seattle or PHS within
10:35
Speaker 1: approximately three months of each other. The bodies of Delise
10:38
Speaker 1: Plager and Lisa Yates were left on different sides of
10:41
Speaker 1: the exit 38 road not far from each other. Ridgeway
10:45
Speaker 1: placed the body of Kim Nelson a few miles up
10:47
Speaker 1: a dirt road. 1. Denise Plager Denise Plager, 22 years old,
10:52
Speaker 1: worked as a prostitute in downtown Seattle. At the time
10:55
Speaker 1: of her disappearance, Delise was living with a friend in Seattle.
10:59
Speaker 1: On Sunday, October 30, 1983, at approximately 3 p.m., she
11:04
Speaker 1: was dropped off at a bus stop in the Beacon
11:05
Speaker 1: Hill neighborhood of Seattle. She promised to return with a
11:09
Speaker 1: Halloween costume for her friend's child. She was never seen again.
11:13
Speaker 1: Ridgeway was off work the Sunday that Delise disappeared. Almost
11:17
Speaker 1: five months later, on February 14, 1984, Delise's remains were
11:22
Speaker 1: discovered at Exit 38 off of Interstate 90. Her body
11:26
Speaker 1: was found underneath a pile of logs. At the time,
11:29
Speaker 1: the bones were not identified. Delise had not yet been
11:32
Speaker 1: reported missing. In April of 1984, a friend reported her
11:36
Speaker 1: missing because she thought Delise matched the Green River victim profile.
11:40
Speaker 1: A year later, the King County Medical Examiner identified Delise's
11:44
Speaker 1: remains through a comparison of medical records. During interviews, Ridgway
11:49
Speaker 1: stated that he killed and placed three women near Exit 38.
11:53
Speaker 1: He correctly recalled that he placed two women on opposite
11:56
Speaker 1: sides of the Exit 38 road, the old Interstate 90.
12:00
Speaker 1: Delise Plager and Lisa Yates were on opposite sides of
12:03
Speaker 1: the road from one another. Ridgway recalled that he placed
12:07
Speaker 1: Delise on the south side of the road between two logs.
12:10
Speaker 1: He further recalled that it was raining and and that
12:12
Speaker 1: he was in a hurry to dump her. He has
12:15
Speaker 1: suggested that he went back and had sex with the body.
12:18
Speaker 1: Ridgway claimed to remember virtually nothing about killing Delise, other
12:22
Speaker 1: than where he dumped her body. He mistakenly said that
12:25
Speaker 1: she was black, Delise was white. Ridgway said he was
12:29
Speaker 1: angry during this period of time because he was forced
12:32
Speaker 1: to work the night shift at Kenworth beginning on November 1, 1983.
12:35
Speaker 1: In 2003, the task force took Ridgway to Exit 38.
12:41
Speaker 1: He had difficulty pointing out precisely where he placed his victims.
12:45
Speaker 1: He accurately recalled that the lease was on the other
12:47
Speaker 1: side of the street from Lisa Yates. He also accurately
12:51
Speaker 1: recalled that the women were left on different sides of
12:54
Speaker 1: a bridge. The exit 38 road also bridges a stream
12:58
Speaker 1: near the dump sites. All right, folks, we're going to
13:00
Speaker 1: wrap up right there. And in the next episode, we're
13:02
Speaker 1: going to pick up with two Kim Nelson. All of
13:06
Speaker 1: the information that goes with this episode can be found
13:09
Speaker 1: in the description box. What's up everyone and welcome back
13:12
Speaker 1: to the program. In this episode, we're going to continue
13:16
Speaker 1: unmasking Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer. 2. Kim Nelson
13:22
Speaker 1: Less than two days after Delise was killed, Ridgway picked
13:25
Speaker 1: up and killed another woman, 21-year-old Kim Nelson. Kim worked
13:29
Speaker 1: as a prostitute in several cities on the West Coast.
13:33
Speaker 1: She was distinctive in appearance. She was nearly six feet
13:36
Speaker 1: tall with very short, bleach blonde hair. Kim came to
13:40
Speaker 1: Seattle in August of 1983 and was arrested numerous times.
13:44
Speaker 1: On October 30, 1983, she was released from the King
13:48
Speaker 1: County Jail. She and fellow prostitute Paige Miley began staying
13:52
Speaker 1: at the Ben Carroll Motel at South 144th and PHS.
13:57
Speaker 1: Two days after Kim's release from jail, on the morning
14:00
Speaker 1: of November 1, 1983, at approximately 11 a.m., Kim and
14:04
Speaker 1: Paige went to the bus stop in front of the
14:06
Speaker 1: car wash at South 144th 144th and PHS. Shortly after
14:12
Speaker 1: arriving at the bus stop, Paige got a car date
14:15
Speaker 1: and left Kim alone at that location. Paige turned the
14:18
Speaker 1: quick car date nearby and returned to the bus stop
14:21
Speaker 1: to find Kim gone. Kim never returned. This was the
14:25
Speaker 1: only time the two had been on PHS together. Several
14:29
Speaker 1: nights later, while Paige was working on PHS, a man
14:32
Speaker 1: driving a red pickup truck approached her and asked her
14:36
Speaker 1: for a car date. Page later described him as a
14:38
Speaker 1: white man, late 20s to early 30s, with brown hair
14:42
Speaker 1: and a wispy mustache. The truck had a white cab,
14:45
Speaker 1: high canopy over the bed. This description matches the truck
14:49
Speaker 1: Ridgway was driving at the time. The man asked Page
14:52
Speaker 1: where the tall blonde friend was, an obvious reference to
14:55
Speaker 1: Kim Nelson. Knowing that she and Kim had only been
14:58
Speaker 1: together on PHS a very short time, on the day
15:01
Speaker 1: that Kim disappeared, Page correctly suspected that this man was
15:05
Speaker 1: involved in Kim's disappearance. and she refused to go with him.
15:09
Speaker 1: A few days later, Kim was reported missing. Page told
15:12
Speaker 1: police about the man who had asked about Kim. In
15:15
Speaker 1: April of 1984, Ridgway was interviewed about his contacts with
15:19
Speaker 1: prostitutes on PHS and admitted that he had seen Kim
15:23
Speaker 1: and had contact with her roommate shortly after her disappearance.
15:26
Speaker 1: Ridgway claimed that the roommate had told him she believed
15:30
Speaker 1: the Green River Killer had gotten Kim. In June of 1986,
15:35
Speaker 1: almost three years after she disappeared, Kim's skull and a
15:38
Speaker 1: few bones were recovered in a deeply wooded area off
15:42
Speaker 1: of I-90 and Exit 38. Two other murdered women, Delise
15:46
Speaker 1: Plager and Kim Yates, had been found near this location
15:50
Speaker 1: a couple miles away. In 1987, as the investigation into
15:54
Speaker 1: Ridgeway progressed, Page was recontacted and shown a montage containing
15:59
Speaker 1: Ridgeway's photo. Page quickly identified Ridgeway as the person who
16:03
Speaker 1: approached her on PHS and inquired about Kim Nelson. In 2003,
16:08
Speaker 1: Ridgeway admitted that he killed Kim. Ridgeway provided a fairly
16:11
Speaker 1: detailed description of killing Kim and disposing of her body.
16:15
Speaker 1: Ridgeway recalled that he had just went out on the
16:18
Speaker 1: night shift and that he picked up Kim during the
16:20
Speaker 1: morning hours. He stated that he picked her up near
16:23
Speaker 1: a car wash on PHS on the day after Halloween.
16:26
Speaker 1: He recalled that she was tall and that she was blonde.
16:29
Speaker 1: Ridgeway admitted he approached Paige Miley and asked her for
16:32
Speaker 1: a date When asked why he mentioned Kim Nelson to her,
16:35
Speaker 1: Ridgway claimed that he had not given it much thought
16:38
Speaker 1: and was simply trying to date Paige Miley. Ridgway claimed
16:41
Speaker 1: that he took Kim to his house and killed her
16:44
Speaker 1: in his bedroom. He thought that she fought with him
16:47
Speaker 1: and noted that she was taller than he was. After
16:50
Speaker 1: he killed her, he took her clothing and her jewelry.
16:52
Speaker 1: He wrapped her body in a rug, pulled his truck
16:55
Speaker 1: up in front of the door, and swung her onto
16:58
Speaker 1: the truck bed. He covered the body with his green
17:00
Speaker 1: rug and drove out to exit 38. He recalled driving
17:04
Speaker 1: up a long dirt road because it was in the
17:06
Speaker 1: middle of the day and he wanted to take her
17:08
Speaker 1: where no one would see him. He pulled her out,
17:11
Speaker 1: placed her on the left side of the road, which
17:13
Speaker 1: sloped downhill. He said the dirt road ran parallel to
17:17
Speaker 1: Interstate 90. Ridgway's description of where Nelson's body was found
17:21
Speaker 1: was accurate. Although he had difficulty recognizing the area, in 2003,
17:26
Speaker 1: Ridgway claimed it was due to the fact that the
17:28
Speaker 1: trees had grown significantly since he deposited Kim's body. Number three,
17:34
Speaker 1: Lisa Yates. 19-year-old Lisa Yates worked as a prostitute on
17:38
Speaker 1: Rainier Avenue in Seattle and on PHS. According to her
17:42
Speaker 1: pimp boyfriend, he last saw Lisa sometime in December of 1983.
17:47
Speaker 1: She left at approximately 11 a.m. to work on Rainier Avenue.
17:51
Speaker 1: She was never reported missing. Three months later, on March 13, 1984,
17:56
Speaker 1: a soldier in a convoy that stopped at Exit 38
17:59
Speaker 1: discovered Lisa's remains. The body was north of the road,
18:03
Speaker 1: lying between two large logs and the remains of an
18:07
Speaker 1: old logging skidder. She was not far from the stream
18:10
Speaker 1: that ran next to the road. Ridgway admitted killing a
18:14
Speaker 1: woman and leaving her in the area where Lisa's remains
18:17
Speaker 1: were found. He recalled that he killed her at night,
18:20
Speaker 1: in the winter, and that it was cold and wet.
18:23
Speaker 1: He recalled that he was in a hurry when he
18:25
Speaker 1: dumped her body at exit 38. He thought there was
18:28
Speaker 1: a bridge near the dump site. There is a bridge nearby.
18:31
Speaker 1: He correctly recalled that he killed this victim after he
18:34
Speaker 1: killed Kim Nelson. He claimed not to recall any details
18:38
Speaker 1: about killing Lisa and could not remember where he picked
18:40
Speaker 1: her up. Ridgway had a new roof placed on his
18:43
Speaker 1: house on or around December 17th, 1983, the same period
18:49
Speaker 1: of time Lisa Yates disappeared. He distinctly recalled picking up
18:53
Speaker 1: and killing a woman on the day the roof was
18:55
Speaker 1: being worked on. After picking up the woman, he drove
18:58
Speaker 1: her to the house, but the workers were still there.
19:01
Speaker 1: He then took her to the Levitt's parking lot near
19:03
Speaker 1: the South Center Mall and strangled her in the back
19:05
Speaker 1: of his truck. Though this murder would have occurred close
19:09
Speaker 1: in time to when Lisa disappeared, Ridgway equivocated on whether
19:13
Speaker 1: Lisa Yates could be his victim. Ridgway was taken to
19:16
Speaker 1: Exit 38 while being interviewed by the task force in 2003. Initially,
19:21
Speaker 1: he had difficulty pointing out the precise locations where he
19:24
Speaker 1: placed his victims. He accurately recalled that Delise Plager was
19:28
Speaker 1: on the other side of the street from Lisa Yates.
19:31
Speaker 1: The Exit 38 road bridges a stream near the dump sites,
19:34
Speaker 1: and he also accurately recalled that the women were left
19:38
Speaker 1: on different sides of the bridge. O. Mary West Mary
19:43
Speaker 1: West worked as a prostitute in Seattle's Rainier Valley along
19:47
Speaker 1: Aurora Avenue north and in downtown Seattle. On February 6, 1984,
19:52
Speaker 1: around 11.30 a.m., Mary left her aunt's house located several
19:56
Speaker 1: blocks west of West Rainier Avenue. She was last seen
20:00
Speaker 1: a few hours later on Rainier Avenue. She was 16.
20:04
Speaker 1: Mary had been punctual in her comings and goings, and
20:06
Speaker 1: her aunt reported her missing to the police two days
20:09
Speaker 1: later on February 8, 1984. Over a year and a
20:13
Speaker 1: half later, on September 8, 1985, a teacher on a
20:17
Speaker 1: field trip found Mary's skull in Seward Park. A later
20:20
Speaker 1: search recovered her entire skeleton, which was lying near the
20:24
Speaker 1: base of a large fir tree. No clothing or other
20:27
Speaker 1: items were found with the body. During interviews in 2003,
20:31
Speaker 1: Ridgway admitted killing Mary West. He remembered that she was
20:34
Speaker 1: black and under 20 years old. When shown her photograph,
20:37
Speaker 1: he acknowledged that she looked familiar. Ridgway said he believed
20:40
Speaker 1: he killed Mary on a weekday in the morning. He
20:43
Speaker 1: claimed not to remember where he picked Mary up, but
20:45
Speaker 1: speculated it would have been in the Rainier Valley area.
20:49
Speaker 1: Ridgway had been to Seward Park before. He told investigators
20:53
Speaker 1: in 2003 that he figured it was a good place
20:56
Speaker 1: to have a date and kill a woman. According to Ridgway,
20:59
Speaker 1: he and Mary walked up a trail, put down a blanket.
21:02
Speaker 1: Ridgway claimed that he killed Mary after having sex with her.
21:06
Speaker 1: He said he distracted her by suggesting that a car
21:08
Speaker 1: was coming and when she raised her head, he grabbed
21:10
Speaker 1: her neck and he strangled her. When she fought him,
21:13
Speaker 1: he told her that if she would stop fighting, he
21:15
Speaker 1: would let her go. Ridgway said she continued to struggle
21:18
Speaker 1: and that he had scratches on his back after killing her.
21:21
Speaker 1: When she was dead, he said, he pulled her farther
21:24
Speaker 1: into the park and covered her body with debris. He
21:26
Speaker 1: took her clothes and jewelry and later disposed of them.
21:30
Speaker 1: In 2003, Ridgway was able to direct the task force
21:33
Speaker 1: to Seward Park and while in a van, correctly pointed
21:36
Speaker 1: out the area where Mary West's body had been found. P.
21:41
Speaker 1: Highway 18, Cindy Smith and Patricia Barczak 1. Cindy Smith
21:49
Speaker 1: In March of 1984, Cindy Smith called her mother from
21:52
Speaker 1: California and told her she wanted to come home to Seattle.
21:56
Speaker 1: Cindy grew up in Seattle but had recently moved to
21:58
Speaker 1: California with her boyfriend. For the past couple of years,
22:01
Speaker 1: Cindy had been involved in topless dancing and prostitution. When
22:06
Speaker 1: she called her mother, she told her she was ready
22:08
Speaker 1: to get away from the boyfriend and the life that
22:10
Speaker 1: they had been leading. Her mother immediately arranged for an
22:13
Speaker 1: airline ticket, and Cindy flew home a few days later.
22:16
Speaker 1: Cindy spent her first few hours in Seattle with her family.
22:20
Speaker 1: Around 11 a.m. on March 13, 1984, Cindy left her
22:24
Speaker 1: parents' home in Des Moines and headed toward PHS. According
22:28
Speaker 1: to her family, Cindy... intended to go to Seattle and
22:32
Speaker 1: visit her sister or apply for a job at one
22:34
Speaker 1: of the topless dance establishments located along PHS. She disappeared
22:39
Speaker 1: that day and has never been seen again. She was 17.
22:43
Speaker 1: Ridgeway did not work until 4 p.m. on March 13, 1984.
22:48
Speaker 1: On June 27, 1987, two children were playing in a
22:52
Speaker 1: ditch alongside Southeast 312 Way, and this roadway is a
22:57
Speaker 1: turnoff from Highway 18 on leading to the Green River
23:00
Speaker 1: Community College campus. They began exploring a pile of garbage
23:04
Speaker 1: and debris. Using a stick, they poked at the garbage
23:07
Speaker 1: pile and out rolled the human skull. Task force detectives
23:11
Speaker 1: quickly located the remainder of the skeleton under the pile
23:14
Speaker 1: of garbage. A piece of old wood, likely from a door,
23:17
Speaker 1: had been placed over the body, shielding it both from
23:19
Speaker 1: the elements and scavenging animals. The investigation continued. revealed that
23:24
Speaker 1: the victim was naked with the exception of a piece
23:26
Speaker 1: of material later determined to have been a tube top
23:30
Speaker 1: that was wrapped around the clavicle area. The medical examiner
23:33
Speaker 1: quickly identified the remains as those of missing person Cindy
23:37
Speaker 1: Ann Smith. Like most of his murders, Cindy's case remained
23:41
Speaker 1: unsolved until June of 2023, when Ridgway began talking to
23:45
Speaker 1: detectives about his crimes. Although Ridgway claimed not to recall
23:49
Speaker 1: the specifics surrounding Cindy's murder, He was insistent that he
23:53
Speaker 1: did kill her and described the dump site. Ridgway stated
23:56
Speaker 1: that he placed her off a small road that exited
23:59
Speaker 1: to the left from Highway 18 near the community college.
24:03
Speaker 1: Ridgway also recalled that he placed the body very close
24:06
Speaker 1: to the road and that he covered it with some
24:08
Speaker 1: debris he found at the site. Ridgway correctly recalled that
24:12
Speaker 1: one piece of debris was a piece of wood. He
24:14
Speaker 1: expressed surprise that it took three years to find Smith.
24:17
Speaker 1: He expected since she was so close to the road
24:20
Speaker 1: that she would be found quickly. In fact, Ridgway considered
24:23
Speaker 1: his placement of this body close to the road as
24:26
Speaker 1: a mistake. He made and he should have put her
24:28
Speaker 1: further out so she would not have been found. During
24:31
Speaker 1: one of the many trips taken with Ridgway, detectives asked
24:35
Speaker 1: him to show them where he left Cindy's body. Ridgway
24:38
Speaker 1: was unable to direct detectives to the correct location and
24:41
Speaker 1: was unable to find the exit that he used the
24:43
Speaker 1: night that he dumped the body. In fact, the exit
24:46
Speaker 1: that Ridgway took to gain access to Southeast 312 no
24:48
Speaker 1: longer exists. and the area has changed significantly. When shown
24:54
Speaker 1: aerial photos from 1984 depicting Highway 18, Ridgway quickly pointed
24:58
Speaker 1: to the exit that he had taken to access Southeast 312.
25:03
Speaker 1: Ridgway was also shown photos of the scene where Cindy
25:06
Speaker 1: was found. He was not told the location, but rather
25:09
Speaker 1: asked if he recognized what was depicted in the photographs.
25:13
Speaker 1: Ridgway correctly identified the photographs as the location where he
25:16
Speaker 1: placed her body. All right, folks, we're going to wrap
25:19
Speaker 1: up right there. And in the next episode, we're going
25:21
Speaker 1: to pick up with number two, Patricia Barczyk. All of
25:25
Speaker 1: the information that goes with this episode can be found
25:28
Speaker 1: in the description box. What's up, everyone? And welcome back
25:31
Speaker 1: to the program. In this episode, we're going to get
25:33
Speaker 1: right back to the unmasking of the Green River killer,
25:37
Speaker 1: Gary Ridgway. Two, Patricia Barczyk. In 2003, while discussing Cindy Smith,
25:44
Speaker 1: Ridgway also disclosed that he placed another victim nearby. He
25:48
Speaker 1: referred to the victim as Sir Seattle International Raceway Lady.
25:52
Speaker 1: Ridgway considered this body and Cindy Smith as sort of
25:56
Speaker 1: a cluster, his word for a dump site with numerous bodies,
25:59
Speaker 1: because the two were less than one half mile apart.
26:02
Speaker 1: Ridgway believed that this woman's body had not been found.
26:06
Speaker 1: Ridgway claimed that he placed her body in the area
26:09
Speaker 1: where people take shortcuts into Sir and that he expected
26:12
Speaker 1: she would be found. Ridgway was shown a historical aerial
26:15
Speaker 1: photograph that depicts the Seattle International Raceway, he pointed to
26:19
Speaker 1: a spot where he left the woman killed. The area
26:23
Speaker 1: identified by Ridgeway was the location where the remains of
26:26
Speaker 1: Patricia Barczak had been found in 1993. Patricia Barczak had
26:31
Speaker 1: disappeared on October 17, 1986, several years after the Green
26:36
Speaker 1: River Killer had purportedly stopped killing. She had been staying
26:39
Speaker 1: at the airport motel on PHS, went out to engage
26:43
Speaker 1: in prostitution, and never returned. Patricia was 19 years old
26:47
Speaker 1: when she disappeared. She had dark brown hair and was
26:50
Speaker 1: slightly overweight. Ridgeway began working the swing shift at Kenworth
26:54
Speaker 1: in October of 1986 and did not report to work
26:57
Speaker 1: until late afternoon on October 17th, 1986. Six and a
27:02
Speaker 1: half years after Patricia's disappearance, in February of 1993, a
27:07
Speaker 1: road worker found her skull just off Highway 18 between
27:10
Speaker 1: Milepost 8 and 9. This area was commonly used by
27:13
Speaker 1: people sneaking into Seattle International Raceway. Ridgway incorrectly thought that
27:19
Speaker 1: he killed Patricia prior to 1985 and that she was
27:22
Speaker 1: either black or black-haired. He correctly recalled that she was
27:25
Speaker 1: approximately 20 years old and a little bit overweight. Ridgway
27:30
Speaker 1: further remembered that he killed Cindy Smith prior to killing Patricia. Q.
27:34
Speaker 1: Patricia Yellow Robe On Tuesday, August 4, 1998, at approximately 1.30 p.m.,
27:41
Speaker 1: the owner of a South Park King County business, All
27:44
Speaker 1: City Wrecking, located at 9328 Des Moines Way South, closed
27:49
Speaker 1: his office and locked the fence surrounding the wrecking yard.
27:53
Speaker 1: He returned on the morning of Thursday, August 6, 1998,
27:57
Speaker 1: and discovered the body of Patricia Yellow Robe lying just
28:00
Speaker 1: outside the fence on the east side of the tow
28:02
Speaker 1: yard in a gravel lot west of an entrance ramp
28:06
Speaker 1: that led to southbound lanes of Highway 99. Patricia had
28:09
Speaker 1: a history of prostitution and chronic alcohol abuse. The body
28:14
Speaker 1: lay at the margin of the parking lot near some
28:16
Speaker 1: tall bushes. It was fully clothed in a bra, t-shirt, underpants, jeans, socks,
28:20
Speaker 1: and boots. An autopsy was performed at the office of
28:24
Speaker 1: the King County Medical Examiner. No evidence of significant injury
28:27
Speaker 1: was found. No spermatosa were seen on vaginal, anal, or
28:32
Speaker 1: oral swabs. High levels of alcohol and controlled substances were
28:36
Speaker 1: found in the blood. Patricia's vaginal swab and pubic hair
28:40
Speaker 1: were subjected to DNA typing. at the WSPCL. The vaginal
28:44
Speaker 1: swab showed a low amount of semen that was insufficient
28:48
Speaker 1: to obtain a profile. A partial male profile was developed
28:51
Speaker 1: from the pubic hair, Ridgeway, can be excluded as a
28:55
Speaker 1: source of this DNA profile. The autopsy report concluded the
28:59
Speaker 1: cause of death is acute combined opiate and ethanol intoxication.
29:04
Speaker 1: The circumstances, seen investigation and post-mortem examination, which did not
29:08
Speaker 1: reveal evidence of significant injury, indicate that the manner of
29:11
Speaker 1: death is probable accident. Because Patricia was believed to have
29:15
Speaker 1: died from accidental drug overdose, and because she died in 1998,
29:19
Speaker 1: she was never considered a Green River victim. No documents, photographs,
29:23
Speaker 1: or other material on her death were ever provided to
29:26
Speaker 1: Ridgway or his attorneys before he began discussing her death
29:29
Speaker 1: with investigators. However, during his interview in 2003, Ridgway confessed
29:34
Speaker 1: to killing Patricia and leaving her body at that location.
29:37
Speaker 1: His admissions came slowly, but in the end, he provided
29:40
Speaker 1: details to investigators that only the killer would have known.
29:44
Speaker 1: His statements concerning the homicide unfolded as follows. On June 26, 2003,
29:50
Speaker 1: Ridgway said he never killed anyone in South Park, the
29:53
Speaker 1: neighborhood where Patricia's body was discovered. On July 3, 2003,
29:56
Speaker 1: Ridgway said said that he had not killed or even
30:00
Speaker 1: hurt any of the prostitutes he dated in the 1990s.
30:04
Speaker 1: On July 7, 2003, Ridgway said, I don't think that
30:08
Speaker 1: I killed anybody in South Park. On July 9, 2003,
30:11
Speaker 1: detectives took Ridgway to various sites in King County where
30:15
Speaker 1: they had found bodies associated with the Green River Killer
30:18
Speaker 1: and others like South Park where they had not. The
30:21
Speaker 1: purpose of the trip was, in part, to determine whether
30:24
Speaker 1: Ridgway could recall sites where he had dumped some bodies
30:27
Speaker 1: some 20 years before. Some of the sites visited were
30:30
Speaker 1: considered false sites, where no homicide victim had been found,
30:33
Speaker 1: to test Ridgeway's veracity. Investigators chose South Park site as
30:38
Speaker 1: one of the false sites, even though the victim of
30:40
Speaker 1: an apparent drug overdose had been found at that location
30:44
Speaker 1: in 1998. The scene had changed dramatically. New buildings had
30:48
Speaker 1: been erected. While at that location, Ridgeway told detectives that
30:52
Speaker 1: he dated nearby, but only once, and that he had
30:55
Speaker 1: never assaulted anyone at that location. At the other false locations,
30:59
Speaker 1: Ridgeway maintained that he had not left any bodies there. Then,
31:03
Speaker 1: on July 22, 2003, toward the end of a lengthy
31:06
Speaker 1: interview session, which ranged over a number of topics having
31:10
Speaker 1: nothing to do with South Park, the following exchange took
31:13
Speaker 1: place between Ridgeway and a detective. Detective, what else? There
31:17
Speaker 1: anything else I should talk to you about? Ridgeway, I
31:21
Speaker 1: promised I wouldn't lie, but... Detective, you know if you
31:24
Speaker 1: told me a lie, I don't care. Ridgeway, I know. Detective,
31:27
Speaker 1: I just want to know the truth. Ridgway, I thought
31:29
Speaker 1: and thought about that site South Park, and I told
31:32
Speaker 1: you I'd never been there before and everything, you know,
31:34
Speaker 1: you got it on tape. Ridgway recounted a vague memory
31:38
Speaker 1: of killing a woman in South Park. He said he
31:40
Speaker 1: was not certain that he had murdered someone there, but
31:43
Speaker 1: he had been thinking about the murder and it had
31:45
Speaker 1: been bugging him for days. The memory, he said, involved
31:48
Speaker 1: killing a black woman after struggling with her on the
31:51
Speaker 1: ground at a site next to the freeway that was
31:54
Speaker 1: surrounded by blackberry bushes and a road going in, it
31:57
Speaker 1: was like a U-turn. This describes the site where Patricia's
32:00
Speaker 1: body was found. Highway 99 is a divided freeway at
32:04
Speaker 1: that location. Ridgway said he could not recall whether she
32:08
Speaker 1: was naked or clothed, which was unusual since most of
32:11
Speaker 1: the victims were unclothed when he dumped them. He said
32:15
Speaker 1: he could not recall what vehicle he had driven to
32:17
Speaker 1: the spot or the decade in which the murder took place.
32:20
Speaker 1: He said he believed that he seemed to be pretty
32:22
Speaker 1: easy to kill. Ridgway told detectives that he thought he
32:25
Speaker 1: remembered a lot of glass on the ground where he
32:28
Speaker 1: struggled with a woman. Crime scene photographs taken from the
32:31
Speaker 1: parking lot where the body was found depict numerous glass fragments.
32:36
Speaker 1: Detectives did not ask Ridgway any questions about the incident
32:39
Speaker 1: during the following week. On July 30, 2003, a forensic
32:43
Speaker 1: psychologist interviewing Ridgway was addressing the issue of Ridgway's last
32:47
Speaker 1: victim when the following exchange took place. Detective, so, alright,
32:53
Speaker 1: who was next after her? Ridgway, I vaguely remember killing
32:56
Speaker 1: a woman over in South Park. Detective, where and tell
33:00
Speaker 1: me again in South Park. That doesn't mean anything to me. Ridgeway, South.
33:05
Speaker 1: South to South Park. You know, right next to the freeway.
33:07
Speaker 1: I first thought that I killed her and she was naked,
33:10
Speaker 1: but I'd been thinking about it and I think I
33:11
Speaker 1: was having sex with her in the back of the
33:13
Speaker 1: truck and I was ready to, you know, walk out
33:16
Speaker 1: the passenger side to open the door for her and
33:18
Speaker 1: I didn't want to pay for the sex and I
33:20
Speaker 1: choked her and she was fully clothed, I think, and
33:23
Speaker 1: I don't remember if she was one of the women,
33:25
Speaker 1: you know, when I choked her, she wet her pants.
33:27
Speaker 1: but I don't know if that was the one or not.
33:31
Speaker 1: It cannot be determined whether or not Patricia urinated at
33:34
Speaker 1: the time of her death. However, according to Ridgway, the
33:38
Speaker 1: vast majority of his victims were naked when he murdered
33:40
Speaker 1: them and therefore could not have wet their pants. During
33:44
Speaker 1: the rest of the psychologist interview, Ridgway occasionally protested that
33:48
Speaker 1: his memory about the incident was vague. However, he provided
33:52
Speaker 1: considerable detail about the murder, He said that he had
33:55
Speaker 1: sex with her in a parking lot right next to
33:57
Speaker 1: the freeway and at a dead end driveway. This, he said,
34:02
Speaker 1: was also where he left the body. He explained, I
34:04
Speaker 1: left her in the park and the dead end circle
34:07
Speaker 1: you drive around. I think I just left her on
34:09
Speaker 1: the ground. The parking lot where Patricia was found was
34:12
Speaker 1: indeed a dead end. Ridgway also told the psychologist that
34:17
Speaker 1: he had sex with the woman in the back of
34:18
Speaker 1: his truck at that location, but he did not kill
34:21
Speaker 1: her then. He said he killed her after she redressed
34:24
Speaker 1: and was standing at the passenger door of the truck
34:26
Speaker 1: preparing to get in the passenger compartment. Asked to describe her,
34:30
Speaker 1: Ridgway said that she was a little skinny and, um, 100,
34:34
Speaker 1: maybe 135 pounds, 140. According to autopsy reports, Patricia was
34:39
Speaker 1: 5 feet 10 inches in height and weighed 132 pounds.
34:44
Speaker 1: Ridgway told the psychologist that the murder at South Park
34:47
Speaker 1: was somewhat abnormal for him. This killing was not well
34:50
Speaker 1: planned as the others. He said he became enraged when
34:53
Speaker 1: Patricia's sexual performance failed to meet his expectations. I just
34:58
Speaker 1: don't want to pay for somebody just laying around. On
35:00
Speaker 1: the following day, July 31st, 2003, detectives showed Ridgeway an
35:05
Speaker 1: aerial photograph depicting the wrecking yard, the parking lot, and
35:08
Speaker 1: Highway 99 as they appeared in 1998. He pointed to
35:13
Speaker 1: the location where Patricia's body was discovered. When the detectives
35:17
Speaker 1: showed him a photo of her body lying at the scene,
35:19
Speaker 1: he said, yeah, that looks like her. Ridgway could not
35:22
Speaker 1: identify Patricia from a photograph taken of her while alive.
35:26
Speaker 1: Ridgway also told detectives that he recalled that the business
35:29
Speaker 1: nearby was not open and the gate was closed. Detectives
35:33
Speaker 1: later interviewed the owner of the fenced business, the wrecking
35:36
Speaker 1: yard adjacent to the parking lot where Patricia's body was found.
35:39
Speaker 1: The body was left in the parking lot on a Wednesday,
35:42
Speaker 1: when the fenced gate to that business had indeed been locked.
35:46
Speaker 1: On August 8, 2003, Ridgway's memory of killing Patricia at
35:49
Speaker 1: Yellow Robe seemed to have improved. I remember that one.
35:53
Speaker 1: The one at South Park, yeah. She wouldn't. She wouldn't
35:55
Speaker 1: let me get behind her and screw her. And so
35:58
Speaker 1: I got madder and madder. And when we got out
36:00
Speaker 1: of the back of the truck, I opened the door
36:02
Speaker 1: for her and I started choking her. Later, he contended
36:05
Speaker 1: that Patricia was responsible for her death. She didn't want
36:08
Speaker 1: to spend an extra three or four minutes to, you know,
36:10
Speaker 1: have a climax and to have a customer. She just said,
36:14
Speaker 1: you're over with, you know, something like that and got dressed.
36:16
Speaker 1: And when I got out, I was still angry at
36:18
Speaker 1: her and I choked her. And after that, I panicked.
36:21
Speaker 1: I didn't put her in the back at the truck
36:23
Speaker 1: and take her someplace. I just left her there. Later still,
36:26
Speaker 1: Ridgway told detectives again that he did not climax during
36:30
Speaker 1: intercourse with Patricia. Ridgway's admissions were brought to the attention
36:34
Speaker 1: of the King County Medical Examiner. According to the medical examiner,
36:38
Speaker 1: manual strangulation can be accomplished without any physical findings whatsoever.
36:43
Speaker 1: It's possible that Patricia Yellow Robe's level of intoxication compromised
36:48
Speaker 1: her ability to withstand even a few seconds of asphyxia.
36:51
Speaker 1: All right, we're going to wrap up right here, folks.
36:54
Speaker 1: And in the next episode, we're going to pick up
36:56
Speaker 1: with our Jane Doe B20. All of the information that
37:00
Speaker 1: goes with this episode can be found in the description box.