Green River Killer Case: Wash. officials ID remains of Gary Ridgway victim

Topics: 911 ,; Daily Blotter

An undated photo provided by the King County Sheriff's Dept., shows Sandra Denise Major. The King County Sheriff's Office said Monday, June 18, 2012, that it has positively identified the remains of a woman killed by Green River Killer Gary Ridgway as Major, who has been missing since 1982.

/ AP Photo

(CBS/AP) SEATTLE - Washington state authorities said they have positively identified the remains of a woman killed by the "Green River Killer," Gary Ridgway, one of the nation's most prolific killers.

The King County Sheriff's Office said Monday that remains found in Auburn, Wash., in 1985 belong to Sandra Denise Major. The 20-year-old was reported missing on Dec. 24, 1982, and was last seen getting into a pickup in North Seattle.

Relatives in New York state had already assumed that she had died at the hands of Ridgway, just like dozens of prostitutes who worked in the Seattle area in the early 1980s. But it wasn't until April that Major's cousin called the King County Sheriff's Office after seeing a Lifetime channel movie about Ridgway, who was dubbed the "Green River Killer" because he dumped some of his victims in or along a river that runs through King County.

It was the first time anyone from the missing woman's family had reached out to law enforcement, sheriff's Detective Tom Jensen told The Seattle Times.

"He knew his cousin had come out here in `82," said Jensen, a longtime member of the Green River Task Force. "He said she was involved in prostitution and she disappeared."

Police in Rochester, N.Y., collected DNA samples from the Major's two brothers and sister, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children asked the University of Texas Center for Human Identification to speed up the testing, authorities said.

Results showed that DNA of the remains matched the family's DNA. Ridgway has admitted to killing Major and 48 others. He is serving a life sentence at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.

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by knewsteerrrrr June 19, 2012 1:46 PM EDT: "Relatives in New York state had already assumed that she had died at the hands of Ridgway, just like dozens of prostitutes who worked in the Seattle area"

Ugh, who in their right mind would have paid HER for anything, if that's her picture, she certainly was no "looker", must have been pretty desperate men, drunks and losers who couldn't get any better and could only afford her $5 fee.; Reply to this comment


by elenicoz June 19, 2012 1:36 PM EDT: Thank you, CBS, for including a picture of the young woman. None of the other news services showed her, just more pix of that low-life, Ridgeway. We need to see that these victims were people, young women who did NOT deserve the end they received by Ridgeway! We need to remember that these victims were not faceless names, they had families, they were NOT pieces of trash to be dumped and forgotten! Hope she has found peace and her family as well.; Reply to this comment


by elenicoz June 19, 2012 1:33 PM EDT: Thank you, CBS, for including a picture of the young woman. None of the other news services showed her, just more pix of that low-life, Ridgeway. We need to see that these victims were people, young women who did NOT deserve the end they received by Ridgeway! We need to remember that these victims were not faceless names, they had families, they were NOT pieces of trash to be dumped and forgotten! Hope she has found peace and her family as well.; Reply to this comment


by rider1956 June 19, 2012 12:55 PM EDT: So he is serving a life sentence. I don't think so. He is enjoying the Washington State's Life Entitlement Program to healthcare and socialization under a tax-payer grant.; Reply to this comment