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Accident – Death – Obituary News :
Seattle: Last Known Remains of Green River Serial Killer’s Victim Identified as Tammie Liles
SEATTLE — The King County Sheriff’s Office confirmed on Monday that the recently identified remains linked to the Green River serial killer in Washington state belong to 16-year-old Tammie Liles, a teenage girl who was previously identified as a victim. Liles hailed from Everett, Washington, a city located north of Seattle, according to local media reports.
The authorities had previously identified another set of partial remains as belonging to Liles. The King County Sheriff’s Office has now confirmed that there are no other unidentified remains believed to be connected to Gary Ridgway, popularly known as the Green River killer.
Gary Ridgway, famously known as the Green River killer, terrorized the Seattle area in the 1980s and 1990s, targeting vulnerable individuals such as sex workers and runaways. The moniker “Green River” originates from the fact that the initial victims were discovered in the waterway that flows through the southern suburbs of Seattle. However, it wasn’t until 2001 that advancements in DNA technology allowed authorities to definitively link Ridgway to the crimes. They matched a saliva sample obtained from him in 1987 to semen found on several victims.
According to Eric White, a spokesperson for the King County sheriff’s office, the identification of the last known remains brings a sense of relief to officials. They can now provide answers to the families of Ridgway’s victims, offering closure about the fate of their loved ones. White expressed immense satisfaction in being able to identify all 49 victims of Gary Ridgway, concluding a case that began in the early 1980s.
In 1988, law enforcement identified Tammie Liles as a victim of the Green River killer by comparing her dental records to remains found near Tigard, Oregon. Ridgway later led authorities to the discovery of another set of Liles’ remains in southern King County in 2003.
Back in 2003, investigators obtained a DNA sample from the second set of remains and uploaded it to a national law enforcement database in search of potential matches. However, no matches were found at the time. In 2022, the King County Sheriff’s Office collaborated with Othram, a Texas-based genetic genealogy company specializing in forensic DNA work.
Utilizing the DNA profile of the unknown victim, Othram’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team tentatively identified her as Tammie Liles. Subsequently, investigators obtained a DNA sample from Liles’ mother, confirming the match and providing closure for the family.
Gary Ridgway has already pleaded guilty to 49 slayings, including the murder of Tammie Liles. He is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
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