40+ year old bones identified as victim of Green River Killer
Dec 19, 2023, 4:31 PM
Gary Ridgway, left, led investigators to the spot where Lori Anne Razpotnik’s remains were found in 2002. (Photo from Washington State Penitentiary and King County Sheriff's Office)
(Photo from Washington State Penitentiary and King County Sheriff's Office)
Forty years after going missing, investigators have now positively identified the remains of a victim of the Green River Killer.
Lori Anne Razpotnik went missing in 1982 when she was just 15 years old. She left her home in Lewis County and was never seen again.
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In 1985, employees with the City of Auburn were investigating a car over an embankment when they found the unidentifiable remains of two people, subsequently referred to as Bones 16 and Bones 17.
Now, extensive DNA forensic genealogy testing has identified Bones 17 as belonging to Razpotnik. DNA testing had previously identified Bones 16 as belonging to Sandra Majors.
Gary Ridgway is known as the Green River Killer because of where he dumped the bodies of some of his victims. He admitted he placed the bodies there, and he pled guilty to the murder in 2003.
The remains were identified after Razpotnik’s mother provided a DNA sample to investigators.
Researchers at the University of North Texas were able to do a comparison between Razpotnik’s sample and the DNA found by detectives investigating Ridgway in the 1980s.
Ridgway led investigators to the spot where Razpotnik’s remains were found in 2002.
“We’re likely to find additional victims because we all suspect Ridgway had a lot more victims than he admitted to in his plea bargain,” former Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist said.
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Ridgway is suspected of killing more than 90 women and girls, but he pleaded guilty to just 48.
“It is unlikely another County Prosecutor would want to pursue additional charges just for an arguably redundant murder conviction without the possibility of the death penalty,” Lindquist said.
Ridgway, now 74 years old, remains incarcerated at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, where he is serving 48 consecutive life sentences without parole.
According to the King County Sheriff’s Office, only one set of bones remains left to be identified. Bones 20 were found Aug. 2003.
