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The Last of Green River Killer Victim Remains Identified

The last known set of remains linked to the Green River serial killer in Washington state belonged to a teenage girl who had previously been identified as a victim of the serial killer Gary Ridgway, the Associated Press reports. On Monday, the remains were identified as those of 16-year-old Tammie Liles who was from Everett, Washington, north of Seattle, according to local media reports. As of this week, there are no other unidentified remains believed to be connected to Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River killer, according to the King County sheriff’s office. “It’s an immense feeling of satisfaction that in this case, that started in the early 80s, we are able to identify all of Gary Ridgway’s victims. All 49 of them,” said sheriff's spokesman Eric White.


During the 1980s and 1990s, Ridgway preyed on vulnerable girls and young women in the Seattle area who were in vulnerable positions, including sex workers and runaways. He was long a suspect in the Green River killings — so called because the first victims were found in the Green River waterway that runs through suburbs south of Seattle. Detectives were unable to prove his role until 2001, when advances in DNA technology allowed them to link a saliva sample they had obtained from him in 1987 to semen found on several victims. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to 48 counts of murder.



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