Accident – Death – Obituary News :

Law enforcement identifies human remains of Green River Killer’s victim

Law enforcement authorities have made a significant breakthrough in the Green River Killer case by identifying the human remains of one of the killer’s unidentified victims. Gary Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer, confessed to 48 counts of aggravated murder in 2003, spanning from 1982 to 1998.

Utilizing forensic genetic genealogy testing, a leading DNA technology company has concluded that the remains of an unidentified victim, known as Bones 17, discovered in Auburn in 1985, belong to a girl named Lori Anne Razpotnik.

Lori Anne Razpotnik, a 15-year-old girl, went missing in 1982 after running away from her family’s home in Lewis County. Tragically, she was never seen by her family again.

The discovery of potential human remains was made on December 30, 1985, when City of Auburn employees were called to inspect a car that had gone over an embankment in the 2000 block of Mt. View Drive Southwest. During the investigation, a second set of human remains, now known as Bones 17, was found in the vicinity.

The unidentified victims were initially referred to as Bones 16 and Bones 17 by the police. A forensic anthropologist examined the skeletal remains and determined that Bones 16 was an African American woman aged between 20 and 25. Her remains were found placed along a large fallen tree trunk.

Bones 17, lying approximately 40 to 50 feet uphill, was identified as a Caucasian female aged between 14 and 17. Located about 250 yards west of Bones 16 and Bones 17 were the remains of another teenage victim, Kimi-Kai Pitsor, who had been discovered two years earlier.

During questioning, Gary Ridgway claimed to have no recollection of Bones 16 and Bones 17, except that he believed he had killed one of the women before Kimi-Kai and the other after her. When asked about his choice of the Mountain View location in Auburn, Ridgway stated, “There’s a fantastic bench and trees. Just an excellent place to drop a woman off, and I can look ahead when I drop her off,” according to records from the Public prosecutor’s office.

In 2002, Ridgway led investigators to the gravesites of his victims, which included the location where Bones 16 and Bones 17 were found. The cases of the unidentified victims remained open but had gone cold over the next fifteen years.

In 2012, Sandra Majors was identified as Bones 16 through DNA testing. To further advance the investigation, law enforcement enlisted the services of Parabon Nanolabs to conduct forensic genetic genealogy testing on Bones 17, utilizing the latest advances in DNA technology to develop a new DNA profile.

King County detectives reached out to Lori Anne’s mother, who provided a saliva sample to aid in the identification process. The University of North Texas confirmed that the victim was indeed Lori Anne through DNA comparison testing.

Lori Anne Razpotnik’s murder was among the 48 counts of aggravated murder for which Gary Ridgway was convicted in 2003. Ridgway ultimately pleaded guilty to the murders of the two unidentified victims found at the Auburn location.

Currently, Gary Ridgway is serving 49 consecutive life sentences at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. In 2011, an additional 49th count was added, resulting in another conviction for Ridgway.

.