The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer (76 page)

1. 1975 Dodge pickup, Washington license PR-5996, maroon in color with a black hood and numerous rust-colored primer spots. This pickup was known to have two canopies associated with it, one white and the other black. The truck was purchased on 6/5/77 by Gary Ridgway and totaled in an accident on 2/21/84. This vehicle has since been destroyed.
   

2. 1973 Plymouth Satellite, 4-door, brown in color, Washington license FRD275. This vehicle was purchased by Girlfriend C on 12/2/83 and sold to Gary Ridgway on 2/22/84. Girlfriend C was Ridgway’s girlfriend during 1982, 1983, and early 1984.
   

3. 1970 Dodge pickup, blue-green (aqua) in color, with a white cab-high canopy, Washington license A48731. This vehicle was later painted dark blue by Gary Ridgway. The vehicle was purchased on 7/9/81 by Gary Ridgway’s brother, Thomas E. Ridgway.
   

4. 1977 Dodge pickup, brown and gold in color, Washington license XS5535. This vehicle was purchased on 10/18/78 by Gary Ridgway’s father, Thomas N. Ridgway, and sold on 8/11/83.
   

5. 1983 Ford pickup, red and white in color, with cab-high canopy, Washington license HZ6684. This pickup was purchased on 8/11/83 by Gary Ridgway’s father, Thomas N. Ridgway, and sold on 8/15/86.
   

6. 1970 Ford pickup, off-white or very faded light green in color, Washington license A01419. This pickup was previously owned by Girlfriend C and her ex-husband, who
   signed off his interest in the pickup on 8/17/82 as part of a divorce settlement. Girlfriend C sold the pickup on 5/7/83.
   

7. 1977 Ford pickup, brown in color, Washington license PZ9609. This pickup was purchased by Gary Ridgway on 4/16/84 and occasionally had a gold-and-white 8-foot camper on it.
   

8. 1969 Dodge Dart, 2-door, beige/brown in color, Washington license OLF212. This vehicle was purchased by Gary Ridgway on 2/13/85 from his brother, Thomas E. Ridgway, who purchased this vehicle from his brother, Gregory L. Ridgway, on 3/24/75.
   

9. 1992 Ford Ranger pickup, red in color with red canopy, Washington license 75935Y. This vehicle is currently registered to Gary Ridgway.
   

10. 1992 Mercury Sable, 4-door, tan in color, Washington license 721EXO. This vehicle is currently registered to Gary and Judith Ridgway.
    

11. 1992 Flair Motorhome, beige in color, Washington license 131EKO. This vehicle is currently registered to Gary and Judith Ridgway.
    

It is also possible that Ridgway’s employment allowed him unfettered temporary use of vehicles he was assigned to work on. Ridgway, in his statement to Detective Randy Mullinax, also said that he used his father’s 1978 Dodge pickup, which was brown and tan and did not have a canopy associated with it. Dawn White, in her first interview, told Detectives Mullinax and Dave Reichert that she believed Ridgway had just sold a white pickup truck.

Alma Smith was last seen by a friend, Cynthia Basset-Ornelas, when they were working together as prostitutes on March 3, 1983, in front of the Red Lion Hotel on Pacific Highway South. At about nine
P.M.,
Ornelas got a date, and when she returned about thirty minutes later, Smith was gone. Ornelas saw a white and blue pickup truck in the Red Lion parking lot and thought Smith might be on a date in it, so she went over and looked inside. Smith was
not inside. The truck was occupied by a white male, 27 to 30 years old, approximately six feet tall, 160 pounds, with dark brown hair and blue eyes, and wearing jeans and a jeans jacket. The truck was described as white and blue in color, a standard-size pickup, of unknown 1970s make.

This male occupant asked Ornelas what she wanted, to which she replied, “Not you.” She then began to walk away and the man exited the pickup and began following her. Ornelas told the man to leave her alone, and he then asked her where her blond friend was. (Alma Smith was blond. Ornelas had never previously worked with Smith on Pacific Highway South, and this contact is similar to Ridgway’s contact with Paige Miley concerning Kim Nelson.) A short time later, Ornelas was told by a separate subject that Smith had left in that same pickup.

On December 30, 1986, Ornelas was shown a six-person photomontage, which included a photograph of Ridgway. Ornelas picked out Ridgway as “looking like the guy but having longer, thinner hair and thinner lips.” She stated that she could not positively say that Ridgway was the driver of the pickup she had seen in the Red Lion parking lot.

Gail Mathews was known to be involved in prostitution activities on Pacific Highway South from field interview reports and witness accounts. On April 10, 1983, Mathews was with her boyfriend, Curtis Weaver, at the VIP Tavern on South 208th and Pacific Highway South. Shortly before six
P.M.,
Weaver left Mathews at the tavern and walked to South 216th and Pacific Highway South so that he could catch a bus to another tavern, where he planned to gamble. Neither Mathews nor Weaver had money to pay for a room that night at the New West Motel at South 216th and Pacific Highway South.

Approximately ten minutes after Weaver left Mathews at the tavern, he saw her sitting in a blue-green pickup truck that had a white canopy over the bed. The driver was described as a white male, 25 to 35 years of age, with curly brown hair and wearing a flannel shirt. Weaver described the truck as having numerous primer spots
down the passenger’s side. The truck was sitting in the left-hand turn lane of the Pacific Highway South, southbound, waiting to turn eastbound onto South 216th. Weaver said he attempted to get Mathews’s attention but she appeared to be in a trance and never acknowledged his gestures. She continued to look straight ahead as if he weren’t there. After watching the truck disappear eastbound on South 216th, he never saw the truck or Mathews again. Gail Mathews’s remains were found on Star Lake Road on September 18, 1983, an area that yielded the remains of five additional Green River victims.

Kimi-Kai Pitsor was last seen by her boyfriend of two years, Stephen Smith, on April 17, 1983, at about ten
P.M.
in downtown Seattle working as a prostitute. Smith said that a white male adult, in his mid-twenties, with dark hair, a two-inch tattoo on his right arm, and wearing a white T-shirt, drove past both Pitsor and him. Pitsor was approximately a half-block ahead of him and waved to the driver as he approached her, as if he were a known “date.” The pickup slowed and Pitsor began to run toward it as it went past her. Both Pitsor and the pickup disappeared from Smith’s view as it pulled into a parking lot and Pitsor followed it. Smith ran to see if Pitsor was going to make the date, only to discover both Pitsor and the pickup gone. Smith waited for seven hours for Pitsor to return, but she never did, and he never saw her again.

Pitsor’s skull was discovered at Mountview Cemetery on December 18, 1983. On January 9, 1987, Smith was shown a six-person photomontage, which included the photograph of Gary Ridgway. Smith tentatively picked out Ridgway as the driver of the pickup truck. Smith requested to see a side view of Ridgway to attempt a more positive identification. On January 13, 1987, Smith was shown another montage including a side view of Ridgway. Smith again tentatively identified Ridgway but said that he “couldn’t be a thousand percent sure.”

Gary Ridgway was surveilled between October 9, 1986, and October 24, 1986, when he was working the second shift (3:40
P.M.
to 12:10
A.M.
Monday through Friday) at Kenworth on East Marginal Way. He was surveilled from the time he left his residence in the morning hours until he arrived at work in the afternoon. Ridgway was driving his 1977 Ford truck. He was also periodically surveilled after leaving work.

During the time that Ridgway was surveilled, he displayed his familiarity with the area on and around Pacific Highway South near Sea-Tac Airport and was observed cruising Pacific Highway South and parking in areas known to be high areas of prostitution. Specifically, he was seen parked at Larry’s Market, located at South 144th and Pacific Highway South, and at the 7-Eleven located at South 142nd and Pacific Highway South. Several Green River victims disappeared from these locations: Sandra Gabbert, Kim Nelson, Tina Thompson, Denise Bush, Terry Milligan, Shawnda Summers, Carol Christensen, and Yvonne Antosh. Ridgway was also observed on several occasions eating at fast-food restaurants in the immediate area. He also visited his parents’ house, located at 4404 South 175th in Sea-Tac, several times.

On one occasion during this period of surveillance, Ridgway went to Rainier Avenue South between Seward Park Drive and Andover Street, where he drove back and forth two times. This section of Rainer Avenue South is also a very popular location for prostitution, and several Green River victims disappeared from it, specifically Lisa Yates, April Buttram, Pammy Avent, and Mary West.

During the surveillance, Ridgway usually drove well below the legal speed limit, and while driving he was very attentive to the activities of the area. On numerous occasions, while driving on Pacific Highway South, Ridgway would suddenly turn off the road, use a side street to turn around, and then begin driving in the opposite direction on Pacific Highway South for no apparent reason. It was obvious that he was also very familiar with the side roads in this area.

On October 17, 2001, detectives briefly surveilled Ridgway’s
travel from his job at Kenworth Trucking in downtown Renton to his home in Auburn. Instead of taking the most direct and quickest route, I-5, Ridgway drove on Pacific Highway South from Sea-Tac to Auburn. Again, he traveled below the speed limit and was distracted by a lone woman on the street, who appeared to officers to be working as a prostitute.

On October 23, 2001, detectives again briefly surveilled Ridgway on his way home after his workday ended at three
P.M.
and again observed him taking Pacific Highway South from Sea-Tac to Auburn. On both days, he first dropped by his mother’s home in Sea-Tac for several minutes before continuing his trip. During his trip after he left his mother’s house, Ridgway made two unexplainable U-turns in the middle of the highway. His speeds again varied from slow to fast, as if he were seeking something.

On November 28, 2001, detectives began another surveillance of Ridgway. Ridgway left his home at about 4:20
A.M.
and once again went out of his way to take an indirect route to work that took him to Pacific Highway South. A commute that should have taken approximately twenty minutes, given the time of day, ended up taking almost an hour due to Ridgway’s circuitous route.

Ridgway drove from Military Road to South 320th, then headed north on Pacific Highway South. Ridgway’s driving was consistent until he passed an individual on the side of the road at about Pacific Highway South and South 150th. He then turned into a business parking lot and began making U-turns in parking lots and at intersections, which enabled him to look closer at the individual on the street. Ridgway then continued on Pacific Highway South and turned onto Martin Luther King Way and traveled to South Henderson, then Rainier Avenue to Airport Way. About a quarter-mile onto Airport Way, Ridgway took a hard right and went behind some businesses for no apparent reason, then reappeared and went to his job, where he arrived early and sat in the parking lot for forty-five minutes.

It has been documented that Gary Ridgway was contacted on at least two occasions by the Port of Seattle Police during 1982 and 1983. The first contact was at 1:14
A.M.
on August 29, 1982, while
Ridgway was in his 1975 Dodge pickup, Washington license PR-5996, at South 192nd and the old Alaskan Airlines maintenance building. To illustrate the importance of this contact, it was made at the end of a dead-end street within a hundred feet of where victims Naon and Ware were later discovered, but prior to their disappearances. Victim Mary Meehan’s remains were also recovered from this same street, but closer to Highway 99. The time and date of this contact is also significant because it occurred during the early Sunday morning hours following the Saturday noon (August 28, 1982) disappearance of Green River missing person Kase Lee. Also, victim Terry Milligan went missing from 144th and Pacific Highway South on August 29, 1982. Milligan’s body was discovered on April 1, 1984, in the Star Lake area.

Ridgway’s second contact involved his February 23, 1983, date with Green River missing person Keli McGinness. As documented, McGinness and Ridgway were contacted at South 140th and 22nd South in Ridgway’s 1975 Dodge pickup, Washington license PR5996.

On November 16, 2001, Ridgway was arrested by a King County Sheriff’s Department undercover officer working as a prostitute decoy on Pacific Highway South at the 16500 block. The decoy was approached by Ridgway in front of Motel 6. Ridgway waved money at her through the window. He then pulled his red Ford Ranger pickup (Washington license 75935Y) into the parking lot and walked to the bed of his truck. Ridgway asked the decoy if she was dating. The decoy said she was interested and he told her he thought a cop was watching her from the cemetery lot up the street. Ridgway told the decoy he would meet her down the road at the bank. She said she would meet him and gave the arrest signal to the police. Ridgway was stopped en route to the bank at the 16200 block of Pacific Highway South in Sea-Tac and arrested. He was searched and found to have thirty dollars cash and latex gloves in his possession. Ridgway was booked into the King County jail for “loitering.”