Photo / Supplied. The bodies of many of his victims were dumped near the Green River in South King County. For decades the remains of the 14-year-old runaway from … FILE - In this Feb. 18, 2011, file photo, Green River Killer Gary Ridgway listens during his arraignment on charges of murder in the 1982 death of … In his confession, he acknowledged that he targeted prostitutes because they were "easy to pick up" and that he "hated most of them". "We are thankful that Wendy Stephens' family will now have answers to their enormous loss suffered nearly 40 years ago.". For Investigation Discovery, Eugenie Vink is executive producer, Sara Kozak is senior vice president of production, Kevin Bennett is general manager and Henry Schleiff is Group President … Ridgway claimed to have killed dozens more women than he was charged with - so many he said he lost count. The Denver 14-year-old, pictured at bottom left in an image made using her skeletal remains, was a Jane Doe for more than 35 years after being found in March 1984. Tim Meyer, a spokesman for the sheriff's office. The youngest known victim of the notorious Green River serial killer has been identified, almost 37 years after her remains were discovered near Seattle, Washington. In this Nov. 12, 2003 file photo, members of the Green River task force comb a hillside in an unincorporated area near Kent, Wash. Although long a suspect in the murders, his role was unconfirmed for nearly two decades before advances in DNA technology allowed detectives to identify him as the Green River Killer in 2001 from a saliva sample they had got from him in 1987. Photo: King County Prosecutor's Office/Getty After 37 years, the youngest victim of one of America’s most notorious and prolific serial killers has been identified as a 14-year-old girl who had run away to the Pacific Northwest in the early 1980s. Stephens' family requested privacy and declined to speak with reporters, said Sgt. Wendy Stephens was … After he contacted police, an investigation was launched. Wendy Stephens was identified by the King County Sheriff's Office and the DNA Doe Project using genetic genealogy, which utilises publicly available DNA databases to find relatives of unidentified victims. In this Feb. 18, 2011, photo, Green River Killer Gary Ridgway listens during his arraignment on charges of murder in the 1982 death of Rebecca … Ridgway had a bedwetting problem until he was 13, and his mother would wash his genitals every time. The remains of another Ridgway victim, Cheryl Wims, were discovered at the same time. Based on Sheriff David Reichert's book, "Chasing the Devil: My Twenty-Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer". The Green River Killer’s real name is Gary Ridgeway and he would later graduate to dumping bodies in forests and purposely contaminating his crime scenes. Green River serial killer: Youngest known victim of Gary Ridgway identified after 37 years, Undated photo of Wendy Stephens, identified as the youngest victim of the Green River Killer Pic: King County Sheriff’s Office, Ridgway pleaded guilty to dozens of murders to avoid the death penalty. "Ridgway's murderous spree left a trail of profound grief for so many families of murdered and missing women," King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said in a written statement. The victim, Wendy Lee Coffield, was a troubled teen who had experienced few joys in life before she was strangled with her panties and tossed into the river. Between killing his first victim in 1982 and his capture in 2001, he murdered at least 49 women, most of them prostitutes or teenage runaways. This would explain Gary Ridgway’s childhood to be troubled. He killed for almost two decades. Stephens' remains were found in a wooded area next to a baseball field in what is now the suburb of SeaTac on 21 March, 1984, after the groundskeeper's dog came home with a leg bone. Wendy Stephens, 14, was one of four victims who had remained unidentified, according to a Monday, Jan. 25 Sheriff’s Office press release. Ridgway preyed on young women in vulnerable positions, including sex workers and runaways, mostly from 1982 to 1984. Pictures of the alleged victims. The Green River Killer and His Methods of Murder In 1982 a man rafting in the Green River near Seattle made a shocking discovery: He found three dead bodies floating in the river within thirty feet of one another. She had been killed a year or more earlier, investigators said, and she is believed to have been Ridgway's youngest victim. How Ted Bundy Helped Catch the Green River Killer - Biography In this undated King County Prosecutor's Office handout photo, Green River killer Gary Leon Ridgway is seen at an unknown location. Wendy Stephens was 14 and had run away from her home in Denver before Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, strangled her in 1983, the … In one taped interview, he initially told investigators that he was responsible for the deaths of 65 women. The second child of Mary and Thomas Ridaway’s three sons. Young runaways and prostitutes began disappearing from state Route 99 in King County, Washington. In July 1982, Gary Ridgway earned the moniker “The Green River Killer” when two boys playing near the Green River discovered the body of Ridgway’s first … The Green River Killer . On February 9, 2004, county prosecutors began to release the videotape records of Ridgway's confessions. KING COUNTY, Wash. — A girl from Denver has been identified as one of the victims of Washington state's infamous Green River Killer. Ridgway sometimes showed the women a picture of his son, to trick them into trusting him. In 2003, in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, Ridgway pleaded guilty to 49 murders and agreed to cooperate in locating the remains of his victims and providing other details. Wendy Lee Coffield, 16 was found dead due to strangulation. The youngest known victim of the notorious Green River serial killer has been identified, almost 37 years after her remains were discovered near Seattle, Washington. In July 1982, the first body had been found floating in the Green River in King County, Washington. The victims were believed to be either sex workers or runaways, whom he picked up along Pacific Highway South. The 14-year-old was murdered by Gary Ridgway after running away from home in Denver. Gary Ridgway, in full Gary Leon Ridgway, byname Green River Killer, (born February 18, 1949, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.), American criminal who was the country’s deadliest convicted serial killer. She had been killed a year or more earlier, investigators said, and she is believed to have been Ridgway's youngest victim. The Green River Killer was named such because he killed and disposed of some of his victims on the banks of the Green River in Washington state. The remains of another Ridgway victim, Cheryl Wims, were discovered at the same time. According to his own statement, he picked prostitutes because he thought he can kill as many he wants and won't get caught. Researchers at the DNA Doe Project, a volunteer organisation that uses publicly available DNA databases to find relatives of unidentified victims, helped make the identification. The Green River Killer: Mind of a Monster is produced for Investigation Discovery by Arrow Media with Sam Starbuck as executive producer, John Owens as series producer and Tom Brisley as creative director. Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, is one of America's most prolific serial killers, so named because his first five victims were found along the Green River in Washington state. The first body was found along Seattle’s Green River on July 15, 1982. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Ridgway is believed to have murdered at least 71 teenage girls and women near Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. Gary Leon Ridgway was born on February 18, 1949, in Salt Lake City Utah. Ridgway has been convicted of … Wendy Stephens was identified by the King County Sheriff's Office and the DNA Doe Project using genetic genealogy, which utilises publicly available DNA databases to find relatives of unidentified victims. The King County Sheriff’s Office has identified another victim of the notorious Green River killer Gary Ridgway. Four of the victims - including Stephens - had not been identified. Wendy Stephens was 14 and had run away from her home in Denver before Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, strangled her in 1983, the King County Sheriff's Office announced on Monday. Green River Killings Ridgway's slayings began in 1982, when young runaways and prostitutes began disappearing from state Route 99 Most serial killers are fairly intelligent, but … Nobody would have guessed that the person responsible for over seventy murders was their town’s local trunk painter, Gary Ridgway. Gary Ridgway terrorised the state of Washington in the 1980s and early 1990s, mainly targeting sex workers and runaways. SEATTLE (AP) — Genetic genealogy helped identify the youngest known victim of Green River Killer Gary Ridgway — the Pacific Northwest serial killer who admitted killing dozens of women and girls — after her remains were found almost 37 years ago near a baseball field south of Seattle.Wendy Stephens was 14 and had run away from her home in Denver in 1983, the King County In court statements, Ridgway later reported that he had killed so many that he lost count. They had all … Wendy Stephens, pictured top left in a family photo, has been identified as one of the 49 known victims of Gary Leon Ridgway, the infamous Green River Killer. It makes him the second most prolific serial killer in United States history according to confirmed murders, after Samuel Little, who confessed to 90 murders between 1970 and 2005, with 50 of them verified by the FBI.. In fact, it took 20 years for the man dubbed The Green River Killer to be locked away forever. Alternative Titles: Gary Leon Ridgway, Green River Killer. He wasn’t the brightest fellow in his high school class. Ridgway terrorised the Seattle area in the 1980s and has pleaded guilty to killing 49 women and girls since 2003. "We are thankful that Wendy Stephens' family will now have answers to their enormous loss suffered nearly 40 years ago.". A majority of the murders occurred between 1982 and 1984. The women in King County, Washington, lived in fear of the Green River Killer from 1982, when the first victim’s body was found face down in the Green River, to 2001 when he was finally caught. Stephens' remains were found in a wooded area next to a baseball field in what is now the suburb of SeaTac on March 21, 1984, after the groundskeeper's dog came home with a leg bone. They woul… Throughout Ridgway’s life in … Now aged 71, he is serving life without parole at the Washington State Penitentiary. 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