Bones discovered in 1985 now identified as Green River Killer victim, WA cops say
Bones discovered along a hillside in 1985 have been identified as belonging to a victim of the notorious Green River Killer, deputies in Washington said.
DNA identified the remains of 15-year-old Lori Anne Razpotnik decades after she went missing, the King County Sheriff’s Office said in a Dec. 19 news release.
Razpotnik was one of 49 women Gary Ridgway is accused of killing in the 1980s and 1990s in Washington.
She ran away from her home in Lewis County in 1982 and never returned, deputies said.
Bones found on hillside
On Dec. 30, 1985, Auburn city workers investigating a vehicle that crashed down an embankment found human bones, deputies said.
The workers found three sets of skeletal remains on the hillside, one which belonged to Kimi-Kai Pitsor. Her skull had previously been found in the area two years earlier.
Investigators were unable to identify the other sets of human remains and named them Jane Doe “B16” and Jane Doe “B17.”
The bones belonging to Jane Doe “B16” were identified in 2012 as Sandra Majors, deputies said.
All three women were linked to Ridgway and identified as his victims, even though two bodies were unidentified, deputies said.
Ridgway, in 2002, was able to tell authorities where the bodies were placed, “which was consistent with the way the remains were found,” connecting him to their deaths, deputies said.
Forensic genetic genealogy used to ID remains
In 2003, Ridgway was convicted and sentenced in the killings of 48 women in King County between 1982 and 1998.
He was sentenced on an additional aggravated murder charge in 2011, authorities said.
Then, more recently, a DNA profile was created from the remains of Jane Doe “B17”, and forensic genetic genealogy was used to find a relative, deputies said.
Razpotnik’s mother submitted a DNA sample, and investigators confirmed the remains belonged to the missing teen.
Ridgway is serving 49 consecutive life sentences at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
He was not given the death penalty because he agreed to plead guilty and give information to any future cases in King County, authorities said.
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 7:08 AM with the headline "Bones discovered in 1985 now identified as Green River Killer victim, WA cops say."
