DNA Profile May Help Identify Unknown Green River Killer Victim

SEATTLE — The above composite profile, created through a recent DNA analysis, may be the key to identifying one of the last remaining unknown victims of the Green River Killer.

In 2003, Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty to killing 48 women in the 1980s and 1990s. At the time, multiple victim's identities were unknown, though investigators have given names to several of Ridgway's victims in the years since.

This January, detectives and a forensic anthropologist identified one of the remaining girls - the serial killer's youngest victim, Wendy Stephens, who was just 14 when Ridgway killed her in 1983.

Now, just two unidentified victims remain, and investigators are hopeful that the new profile will help put a name to one of them.

For decades now, investigators have known the unidentified girl only as "Bones-17" or "Jane Doe B17". Her remains, along with the remains of two other women, were discovered in the woods near Mountain View Cemetery, stumbled upon after a car went off an embankment on Dec. 30, 1985.

One of the so-called "Mountain View Cemetery Victims" was quickly identified as Kimi-Kai Pastor, a 16-year-old girl whose skull had been found two years before. The second, "Jane Doe B16" was unidentified for decades until 2012, when DNA analysis identified her as 20-year-old Sandra Denise Major.

Now, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Parabon Nanolabs Inc. are hoping they can do the same for Jane Doe B17. Their DNA analysis has created this composite profile, an image showing how the victim may have appeared shortly before her murder.

Forensic evidence indicates Jane Doe B17 was in her mid-to-late teens at the time of her death. She may not have been native to the Puget Sound: the sheriff's office says isotope analysis indicates she came from the eastern U.S. or Canada.

Still, officers say they are hopeful that someone may recognize her, and put this case to rest after decades of searching.

“There is renewed urgency in this case," said King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht. "Thirty-five years have passed since Bones 17’s discovery and investigators want to connect with family before memories and other evidence fade.”

Anyone who recognizes the image, or who may know more about Jane Doe B17 is asked to call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE LOST They can also contact the King County Sheriff's Office at 206-296-3311.