Green River killer victim finally identified 38 years on

Serial killer Gary Ridgway murdered at least 48 people in the Washington area

A victim of the infamous “Green River killer”, who murdered at least 48 people, has finally been identified almost four decades on thanks to advanced DNA testing.

The King County Sheriff’s Office announced on Tuesday that Lori Anne Razpotnik has been named as the victim previously known only “Bones 17”, after her remains were found 38 years ago in Auburn, Washington.

Razpotnik was just 15 years old when she ran away from her family home in Lewis County in 1982. Her family never saw her again.

Three years later on 30 December 1985, a car was found abandoned on Mountain View Drive in Auburn.

When investigators got a closer look, they found human remains inside.

The Green River Task Force at the time searched the nearby area after the discovery and found a second set of human remains. For almost 40 years, the two sets of remains would be known only as “Bones 16” and “Bones 17”.

Lori Anne Razpotnik has been identified after being named ‘Bones 17’ for almost 40 years (King County Sheriff’s Office)

For years, no one knew how or why the victims’ remains ended up there, until the arrest of a man in 2001 began to unravel a series of mysterious cold cases.

Gary Ridgway had been a suspect in the so-called “Green River killings” since the 1980s, when several victims were found murdered in the Washington area.

He was finally arrested in 2001 and is now believed to have carried out at least 48 murders throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

As part of a plea agreement to avoid the death penalty, Ridgway said he would help police in their investigation and lead them to victims’ bodies.

Gary Ridgway was convicted in 2003 for 48 killings mostly in Washington state (Getty Images)

One of the places he pointed to was the area where “Bones 16” and “Bones 17” were recovered in 1985.

He pleaded guilty to these two murders in 2003.

In 2012, “Bones 16” was identified through DNA testing as Sandra Major, a 20-year-old woman last seen getting into a pickup truck in North Seattle.

Now, “Bones 17” finally also has her name after the sheriff’s office worked with forensic DNA technology company Parabon Nanolabs to identify her remains too.

Detectives had been able to track down Razpotnik’s mother, who provided a saliva sample which the University of North Texas experts then used to identify the victim.

Wendy Stephens was the last Green River killer victim identified in 2020. Her body was found in 1984 in a swamp near Seattle-Tacome International Airport.

One more set of remains – known as “Bones 20” – continues to be unidentified.

Ridgway, thought to be one of the most prolific serial killers in the United States, is currently serving 49 consecutive life sentences at the Washington State Penitentiary.