Try again later. She was later identified as Opal Mills, 16. My family left, and she was gone, Ms. Gaspar said. Wendy had run away from home 36 years prior, and Ms. Gaspar had long since stopped waiting for a call. They then drove out to his "usual spot", where they had sex in his truck. The prosecutor who helped convict the notorious Green River Killer of murdering at least 49 women in the 1980s says she is still haunted by the serial killer's lack of emotion over their deaths -. By mid-1983, King County investigators had found and identified eight victims, and a pattern: The killer was strangling young women sex workers or runaways many of whom were navigating the streets alone, after having escaped abuse or difficulties at home. Because she was reported missing on July 8th, 1982, it is likely that she had been dead for at least a week. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. Constance Naon She was one of those people you meet that would be like, Thats too much information!. They were both held down by rocks in the water. The Peck Bridge is located where the Frager Road and Kent-Des Moines Road intersect in Kent, Washington. Cynthia Jean Hinds document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); If tears could build a stairway, Several days earlier, the body of a woman named Deborah Bonner was discovered. It was mid-October 2020, and she and her husband, Warren, were spending the day with a grandniece, their weekly babysitting engagement. It lies 260 yards east of Kent Des Moines Road. Enjoy yourself. What mother had been missing them for decades? You need a Find a Grave account to continue. But she caught a glimpse of the visitors through her doorbell camera and, noticing their tucked-in shirts, she shrugged them off as Mormon missionaries. After falling in with the wrong friends Dub dropped out of high school, began abusing alcohol and fought with her parents. A Portland native, Denise was an experienced and fairly cautious sex worker who often traveled to Seattle, where the money was better, to work. Photo filed July 15, 1982. They stopped on the bridge over the Green River to rest. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Lisa L. Yates "I'm saying, stop moving and I'll let you go. On July 15th, 1982, Gallan Hirschi and his friend Robert spent the day riding their bikes. Thanks for your help! Shed do anything for anybody., Unfortunately there is little known about Marcia Chapmans early life. She was just an immature teenager who was trying to find her way in life. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). Colleen Renee Brockman All kinds of things go through your head, she said. There were women whose bodies were found but not identified. During his confession, Ridgway stated that he picked the young girl up on a highway. Robert Williams last saw his daughter alive on August 10th, 1982, during one of her shifts at a South Seattle barbecue restaurant. River Of Death - TIME Pammy Avent On July 15, 1982, the body of Wendy Lee Coffield was found in the Green River. Linda Rule Gisele Ann Lovvorn, 17, July 17, 1982, near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. When Wendy was 11, they moved with Ms. Gaspars second husband, Alan Hodde (who died in 2010), to a suburb of Denver, a short walk from Wendys new school and the hospital where Ms. Gaspar worked as a nurse. Everybody was a potential friend, she said. She began to feel isolated and started running away from home when she was 14. The inset photograph in the top right-hand corner shows the police removing her body from the river. By 1983, 17 year old Sandra Gabber went from star of her high school basketball team to working in one of the most dangerous corners along the Pac HiWay. She was walking towards the Kmart where she planned to shop for clothes. She loved the band so much that she followed their concerts all over the country. As the winter of 1982-83 wore on, Ms. Gaspar did her best to keep track of her daughter. He found a third body, that of a young girl who was partially clothed. November2001: Gary Leon Ridgway was arrested and subsequently charged with the murders of Cynthia Jean Hinds, Marcia Faye Chapman, Opal Charmaine Mills and Carol Ann Christiansen. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. Not a whiner. She recalled sitting with a young Wendy in her high chair and teaching her to enunciate new words. She was everybodys dream of a kid, she said. I thought of putting her on a milk carton. She kept her home phone number listed, just in case Wendy ever came looking. You can always change this later in your Account settings. Gail Matthews At Ridgways trial, her sister Michelle gave this moving speech about her sister: Gisele was very much loved by her family and has been missed very much every day for the last 20 years. Are You A Horror Filmmaker? There is little information readily available on 17 year old Delores Williams. This is the location where the body of Wendy Lee Coffield was found. Please enter your email and password to sign in. You may not upload any more photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 20 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 5 photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 30 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 15 photos to this memorial. The victim was Wendy Lee Coffield, a 16-year-old girl from Puyallup. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. As she moved into her early teens, her mother was struck and at times, frightened by her beauty and free spirit. As they later learned, the invisible match was Ms. Gaspar, who had uploaded her results to GEDMatch in early 2019, on the slim chance it could lead her to Wendy. On July 15, 1982, two teenage boys discovered the body of Wendy Lee Coffield, age 16, floating the Green River between Kent and Tukwila. He agreed to provide complete, truthful and candid information concerning the crimes that he had committed in King County and answer all questions during interviews conducted by the detectives or the prosecuting attorney. Andrea M. Childers Before long, a policeman arrived at the scene and questioned Ainsworth about his find. Delise Louise Plager Our investigation continued for decades. Soon after, the two men left in the old pick-up truck and Ainsworth continued to float down the river. Maureen Sue Feeney Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. They were young, mostly teenagers or in their early 20s. ISBN 978-0743460507 Gary Ridgway Wendy Lee Coffield at Find a Grave Wendy Coffield (Archived). Patricia Barczak A system error has occurred. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. Just a day or two later, sometime in August 1983, Wendy ran away for the last time. Cynthia had also been working as a sex worker since she was 14 years old. Call (collect if necessary): 206-263-2130, Call between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. to arrange to speak with a detective. Shed drive around looking for Wendy, once even tracking her footsteps through the snow. Along with the circumstances of Wendy's young life, when the 15-year-old girl, desperate for love and safety, tragically encountered a remorseless serial . Delores Lavern Williams Mary Bridgett Meehan In April of 2003, Ridgway was accused of murdering Wendy Lee Coffield, Debra Lynn Bonner, and Debra Estes. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. As is the case for many young women, Wendy Lee Coffield began acting out pretty much the moment she hit puberty. Wendy Lee Coffield was 16 years old and last seen on July 8, 1982 in the Tacoma, Washington area. Kimberly Nelson On August 4, 1962, Rebecca Marrero was born. Gary Ridgwaypled guilty to the homicides of the 49people listed below. Soliciting sex made it possible to live a lifestyle of traveling and being able to purchase heroinWhile Dub would go to the streets looking for business, Carl would spend time lurking in the taverns in Tacoma., The couple lived out of various motels as they traveled up and down the West Coast working the circuit. Green River Killer Frustrates Three-Year Search | AP News Coffield, The Seattle Times says, had been discovered on July 15 of the same year, and by August 16, the body count had risen to five. Call (collect if necessary): 206-263-2130, Call between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. to arrange to speak with a detective. A number of sources refer to the bridge as "Peck Bridge". To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. Wendy Lee Coffield So grief, Ms. Gaspar said, is lonely. Thus began one of the longest and largest serial murder investigations in United States history. Shed been very close to her grandmother. Investigators believe she was killed not long after her arrival in Washington. She had been killed by ligature strangulation. April 2003: Ridgway was charged with three additional murders (Wendy Lee Coffield, Debra Lynn Bonner and Debra Estes). But it seemed absurd that her daughter could be the victim of a serial killer. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. Patricia Yellowrobe June 2003:In exchange for the prosecutor not seeking the death penalty, Ridgway agreed to plead guilty to all murders that he committed in King County. She gave lessons and she was very good, and she taught dance exercise.. The last time her mother, Nancy McIntyre, saw Sandra was when they met for lunch at a Mexican restaurant where Sandra talked all about her upcoming trip to San Francisco and Hollywood. That spring, Mr. Ridgway became a suspect in the Green River case when a tip led detectives to his door. In Colorado, life had taken a turn in the Stephens household. Martina T. Authorlee DNA analysis, however, didnt turn out to be the solution investigators had hoped. Killing Time - Wendy Lee Coffield was 16 years old and | Facebook And now were doing it., Ms. Gaspar described a certain amount of comfort that came with not wondering if shes going to call me or knock on my door, or how many grandkids do I have? But, she added, When you go to bed each night, and you think about the last of her moments, thats not peace., For parents of the other Green River victims, support groups that formed in the 80s gave them a place to mourn together. Marcia Faye Chapman Sandra D. Major Colleen Brockman was only 15 years old when she disappeared. Just a month earlier, another young girl, identified as Wendy Lee Coffield, was found strangled and floating in the Green River. Your email address will not be published. Moreover, six months prior to Coffield's discovery, the body of her friend Leanne Wilcox was found several miles from the river in an empty lot. Gary Ridgwaypled guilty to the homicides of the 49people listed below. There was such a high volume of victims, she said in an interview before her death. While she was walking in an area where the Green River Killer was known to operate, Carol Ann was not a sex worker; shed just finished having lunch at the Tavern and was planning to return there later that night for her shift as a waitress. The body was that of Wendy Lee Coffield, a dropout and runaway. One week later her body . You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. Oops, something didn't work. They came by again while she was out. Shawnda Leea Summers She was the first victim found.. Wendy, was only 14 when she ran away from her home in Denver, Colorado, in 1983. But then she met 27 year old Robert L. Martin, a known drug dealing pimp in the Tacoma area. Green River Killer Gary Ridgway's victims in photos - seattlepi.com 3 Unidentified victims, Find certified small business contractors and suppliers. After strangling Coffield to death, he dragged her down to the river and pushed her into it. In the fall of 2019, the King County Sheriffs Office contacted Colleen Fitzpatrick, a co-founder, along with Margaret Press, of the DNA Doe Project. Within hours of Sandras last known sighting, 16 year old Kimi-Kai Pitsor was seen for the last time in Downtown Seattle. To his horror, he realized that the figure was not a mannequin, but a dead woman. Officials remove the body of 16-year-old Wendy Lee Coffield from the Green River on July 15, 1982. TM & 2015 Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc. A Time Warner Company. From there, the genealogists quickly pieced together the family tree, filling in distant cousins and eventually drawing a line connecting the mother and father, or the smoking gun couple, as Ms. Binder calls them. We use cookies to deliver personalized advertisements, improve your online experience, and to analyze our site's performance. Marie Malvar GreenRiverKillings. As the the landslide of human loss steadily accelerated, police even those who normally hesitated to cooperate with neighboring jurisdictions quickly noticed a horrific pattern appearing in instances that were previously considered simply isolated tragedies. To avoid the death penalty, Ridgway agreed to plead guilty to every murder he had committed in King County. Within a month, five bodies of young women had been discovered in and along the Green River. Mary Exzetta West GREAT NEWS! Kelly Kay McGinnis was 18 years of age and was last seen on June 28, 1983 at South 216h Street and Pacific Highway South. Theclay reconstructions were done by National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to assist us in identifying the women. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. Love Real Life Ghost Hunting Shows? She was a murder victim of Gary Leon Ridgway, known as "The Green River Killer" who was responsible for the murders of 49 women in Seattle, Washington, between 1982 and 1984. Green river homicides investigation - King County At some point during her young life Denise had a medical procedure involving her brain and her skull had a small hole in the bony process there. Victims Spotlight: Remembering the Victims of the Green River Killer, She was described as cheerful, outgoing and someone who could take care of herself. Green River Killer Gary Ridgway: Photos from the archives. Failed to delete flower. We have set your language to Then, remarkably, DNA profiling arrived on the scene, revolutionizing criminal investigations and leading to the first breakthrough in the Green River Killer case in years. Sandra K.Gabbert Gail Matthews She had shown advanced signs of decomposition. The guy that manages the Little League Baseball field in Burien said a dog just came home with a bone, recalled Detective Tom Jensen, who had joined the Green River Task Force just weeks prior. By 1982 Becky was 20 and was supporting herself as a sex worker. Make sure that the file is a photo. Sandra D. Major The two separated soon after, but Ms. Gaspar, 17 at the time, said raising Wendy as a single, teenage mother was surprisingly easy. Before her disappearance, Wendy was, in her mothers words, a magical kid. Born on Oct. 10, 1968, she was the only daughter of Ms. Gaspar and her then-husband, Charles Stephens (who died in 2014). This will never put an end or closure on her death or murder. The thing that caught my eye was tennis shoes. She left her family home though she called her parents often to check in became pregnant and miscarried twice and was experimenting with drugs, mostly marijuana and LSD. Terri adored her baby boy but she dropped out of school and never had the chance to go back. She remembered the presiding fear. But after nearly 40 years of worrying and wondering, Ms. Gaspar now knows what happened to her daughter. Were it not for a change in the databases opt-out policy that made Ms. Gaspars profile visible to everyone except for law enforcement investigators, they would have identified her immediately. Its not anything that were privy to in our small but tangible realm. Toys, Gifts, Collectibles, Board Games & Horror Lifestyle Items. Try again later. As he drifted slowly downstream, he noticed a middle-aged balding man standing by the riverbank and a second, younger man sitting in a nearby pickup truck. It was just really strange.. Murder Victim. She would leave in the winter without a coat., Ms. Gaspars sister, Judy Dove, remembered hearing about the change in Wendy, but never thought her disappearances were more than a phase. Below, you will find the address and the GPS coordinates for this location. Your email address will not be published. By 1982 Debbie decided to leave her family home, stole $250 from her mothers purse and began living in various motels with an older boyfriend/pimp; whether or not he knew she was underage isnt known. Her reason for doing so was never disclosed. Gary Ridgway | Victims | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers Thus began one of the longest and largest serial murder investigations in United States history. For more information, please read our Privacy & Cookie Policy.
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