The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer (88 page)

This second body was approximately one hundred feet from the first, again buried in a shallow grave. As police undertook the task of processing that scene, they continued their search. Approximately two weeks later, directly across the street from the two buried bodies, a search dog uncovered a third grave. The two previously discovered victims had been found in shallow graves, but this third set of remains was different. The killer had gone to a lot of effort to fully bury this victim. The only parts of her anatomy that protruded from the ground were her teeth. Six years later, in October 1989, investigators discovered that they had missed one victim during the 1983 searches. This fourth body was approximately 40 feet north of the spot where the bike riders had made the first discovery. Like the others at South Airport, this victim had been concealed from view. Her remains, remarkably intact, had been covered by a car fender and a wooden tabletop.

In all, the killer left four women at 25th South and South 192nd. Each was naked, each had been strangled, each had been hidden from view, and each had been engaged in prostitution at the time of her disappearance. They were, in the order in which they were found), Constance Naon, Kelly Ware, Mary Meehan, and Andrea Childers.

In 2003, Ridgway readily admitted responsibility for all four murders and recounted in detail what he recalled about killing and dumping each of those young women. Ridgway was taken to the area where the bodies were found and accurately pointed to the locations where these remains were found. He also correctly identified the position of each body in relation to the others.

Nineteen-year-old Mary Meehan disappeared some time after 8:30
P.M.
on September 15, 1982. At the time of her disappearance she was living at the Western Six Motel at 165th and Pacific Highway South and, like the other victims, she was known to have engaged in prostitution along the highway. Mary was seven months’ pregnant at the time of her disappearance, although, according to her boyfriend, her pregnancy was not so obvious as to deter her potential dates.

On November 13, 1983, Mary’s remains were found, directly across the street from Constance Naon and Kelly Ware. Her grave was approximately 18 inches deep and long enough to accommodate
her entire body. She was lying faceup, missing her clothes, jewelry, and the purse she was seen carrying the night of her disappearance.

During interviews in 2003, Ridgway had a distinct memory of picking Mary up and killing her. According to Ridgway, she was the first victim he killed at the South Airport location and the first victim he ever buried. Although he could not pinpoint exactly when he killed her, Ridgway said he began using the airport site after his first dump site, the Green River. He said it was a summer night some time after nine
P.M.
when he contacted Mary on Pacific Highway South. They agreed to date, and he drove to the Sandstone Motel. Ridgway parked his truck there and persuaded Mary to walk several blocks to the area of 25th South and South 192nd so the two could have sex outdoors. Ridgway claims Mary agreed to this arrangement. He said that when they arrived at the wooded area, Mary would only agree to engage in oral sex, not vaginal intercourse. This apparently angered him. Ridgway repeatedly told investigators in 2003 that he was “paying for the vagina,” not for oral sex.

He described Mary performing the act. Ridgway said that he was “not getting hard,” so he quickly jumped behind Mary and began choking her. After killing Mary, Ridgway said he was concerned that the body was too close to the road. He decided to bury her, and retrieved a shovel from his truck. He dug a shallow grave, undressed Mary, and laid her down. He then covered her with the soil, put the grassy sod back on top, and pressed down on it. Ridgway said he placed Mary somewhat on her side, with her face pointing up toward the sky, which is exactly how she was discovered. He then collected her clothes and jewelry and left.

Ridgway was vigorously questioned about Mary’s pregnancy. Throughout interviews, Ridgway maintained that he did not know she was pregnant. He claimed she was not naked until after her death and that by that time he said it was dark and he could not see her body clearly. Ridgway did say, however, that even if he had known she was pregnant, he would still have killed her.

On April 14, 1983, 19-year-old Andrea Childers disappeared. She was last seen in Seattle at a bus stop located at 21st and Union and was reportedly headed to Southcenter Mall. Not much is known
about her disappearance, although she was known to engage in prostitution and had been arrested for this offense by Seattle Police just one month earlier.

Six years after the discovery of the remains of Mary Meehan, Constance Naon, and Kelly Ware at the South Airport site, a Port of Seattle employee stumbled on the remains of Andrea Childers. Her body was found only 40 feet from the remains of Constance Naon. Like the others, she had been covered to conceal her from view. Her skeleton was remarkably intact because it was beneath a car fender and a large piece of wooden tabletop, which had protected her from the elements and animals. In the area of her body were numerous blackberry bushes and garbage. On the skeleton itself were pieces of rotted twigs and branches. She had been positioned face-down, with her legs spread wide.

In 2003, Ridgway admitted killing Andrea Childers. He correctly recounted that he killed her within months of Constance Naon and Kelly Ware. Ridgway could not recall where he met Andrea but said that he drove her to the South Airport location, where they walked to a place to have sex. Ridgway recounted that he later killed and buried Constance Naon at the spot where he had sex with Andrea.

According to Ridgway, he had sex with Andrea, then strangled her. Ridgway said he believes that Andrea may have defecated when he killed her, and that he “cleaned her up” and removed her clothes and jewelry. Once she was dead, Ridgway dragged Andrea’s body about 50 feet, toward a fence, where he began digging a grave. While doing so, Ridgway realized he could be seen. He filled in the hole and dragged the body 50 yards or so to the east, near some blackberry bushes. Ridgway said he covered her body with dead brush, tree limbs, and other garbage he found there. Ridgway also recalled that he may have had sex with the corpse. Ridgway recalled correctly that Andrea’s body was the one he dumped farthest to the east at the South Airport site.

Less than two months after he killed Andrea Childers, Ridgway returned to South Airport with the woman who would become his third victim at that location. In June 1983, 20-year-old Constance “Connie” Naon was working at Obertos, a local sausage factory.
She had an expensive cocaine habit that she funded by engaging in prostitution. According to her friends, Connie would drive her prized Camaro to the Red Lion Inn at 188th and Pacific Highway South, park in the lot at the hotel, and then find customers by walking from car to car and soliciting the drivers. When she had earned enough to purchase her cocaine, Connie would quit for the day. Connie had been working as a prostitute for just a few months prior to her disappearance.

On June 8, 1983, Connie left work, returned to the apartment she shared with her boyfriend, changed her clothes, and told her boyfriend that she was going to a friend’s house to buy cocaine. She left sometime around 4:30 or 5:00
P.M.
She called about an hour later and said that she would be home in about 20 minutes. She never arrived. Several weeks later, her family and friends found Connie’s Camaro, still locked, in the parking lot of the Red Lion Inn.

More than four months after her disappearance, on October 27, 1983, some bicycle riders discovered Connie’s body at a vacant lot at 25th South and South 192nd, her remains partially buried in a shallow grave, beneath three to four inches of soil and leaves. In the pelvic area of the skeleton was a small triangular-shaped rock reminiscent of the rocks placed in the vaginas of Marcia Chapman and Cynthia Hinds, found in the Green River the previous year. Her clothing and jewelry were missing.

In 2003, Ridgway admitted that he killed Connie Naon. He recalled meeting her at the Red Lion Inn. They agreed on a date and Ridgway drove in his truck to the vacant lot south of the airport, where he parked. Ridgway said they had sex some 20 feet from the truck. Ridgway claimed that Connie would not allow him to touch her breasts. He said this angered him, and that immediately after he strangled Connie to death, he bit her on the breast.

After killing her, Ridgway used a shovel from his truck to dig a shallow grave. He estimated only three inches of dirt covered the body. When asked why he buried Connie, Ridgway claimed that he did so to suppress his “urge” to return and have sex with the body. Ridgway also admitted putting a rock in Connie’s vagina after she was dead. Ridgway claimed to recall that she had a Camaro, although he could not remember whether he saw it, or she told him that she had one, or he saw a Camaro emblem on her key ring. He said he considered stealing the Camaro but rejected the idea.

Ridgway accurately described the location of Naon’s remains, which were found between those of Kelly Ware and Andrea Childers.

In July 1983, a little over one month after Constance Naon was killed, 22-year-old Kelly Ware disappeared. Kelly had worked as a prostitute for several years. Her sister reported that Kelly was afraid to work downtown or the Sea-Tac area but was “very comfortable” working Chinatown and Aurora. On July 18, 1983, Kelly called her parents’ home and was never heard from again. In December 1984, her sister reported her missing.

Kelly’s remains were discovered in late October 1983, two days after those of Constance Naon. Like Connie, Kelly was covered with a thin layer of soil. Her remains were approximately 100 feet west of Connie’s. Kelly’s body was lying on its back with the arms outstretched and the legs extended straight down. Kelly’s remains went unidentified for over a year.

In 2003, Ridgway correctly recalled that Kelly Ware was the last of the South Airport victims. He stated that he picked her up on a weekend, and dated and killed her near the other bodies at that site. Ridgway said that he returned to Kelly’s body a few days after killing her. He recalled that it was night, and that his son was sleeping in the truck. Ridgway said that he believed that this occurred when he and his family were celebrating his son’s birthday. Kelly disappeared on the weekend of Ridgway’s brother’s birthday. Ridgway said that he returned to have sex with the body. Just as he finished the sex act, Ridgway said, he heard and saw a police car. According to Ridgway, a Port of Seattle police officer pulled up and asked him what he was doing. Ridgway claims he calmly explained that he had stopped to urinate, and the officer did not investigate further. Ridgway said it was this police contact that caused him to stop using the South Airport dumpsite. This particular contact with Ridgway cannot be verified through police records or incidence reports. If true, the patrol officer most likely did not write it up. However, one year earlier, a Port of Seattle police officer contacted Ridgway one hundred feet from where Kelly’s body was subsequently found.

Ridgway said that within a day or two after this police contact,
he returned to the site. He moved Kelly’s body, had sex with her yet again, and then dug a shallow grave and buried her.

Ridgway claimed he was most proud of killing Kelly Ware because of the “fine” way he hid the body. In his writings, Ridgway noted that he “would have” covered Kelly’s grave with grass from the site because she was close to the road.

Sixteen-year-old Linda Rule was last seen on Sunday, September 26, 1982, around 2:30
P.M.
while she was on her way to the Kmart at Aurora and 130th Street, in north Seattle. She worked as a prostitute on the Aurora strip and was known to date at the parking lot of Northwest Hospital in Seattle. Four months later, on January 31, 1983, construction workers found Linda’s skeletal remains in a wooded area at Northwest Hospital. All of her clothes and property were missing. The Sunday she disappeared, Ridgway was in the county and withdrew $50 from an ATM machine. In 1984, Ridgway admitted to a task force detective that he dated prostitutes he picked up on north Aurora Avenue.

Though Linda was never included as a victim of the Green River Killer, her murder had all the characteristics of a Green River case and occurred during the period of the Green River murders. Like most of the official Green River victims, she was involved in prostitution, and her body was both unclothed and outdoors when discovered.

In June 2003, Ridgway admitted killing Linda Rule. During the first day of interviews with task force detectives in 2003 and prior to any questioning about her case, Ridgway announced that he had killed a woman and dumped her body at Northwest Hospital. He recalled meeting Linda on Aurora Avenue during the day and driving to a field near Northwest Hospital. “We were just drivin’ around,” he said, “and found a vacant lot in front of the hospital and had a date and I killed her there, outside the … truck.” He choked her from behind. After killing Linda, Ridgway claimed that he went through her pockets and found matches. Twice, he lit the back of her hair on fire. He was afraid that someone would see the smoke, and extinguished the fire.

When Ridgway was shown Linda’s picture, he stated that she looked familiar. On July 10, 2003, Ridgway was taken to Northwest
Hospital. He was unable to pick out the exact location where he left Linda’s body; construction since 1982 had changed the campus.

There is now a parking lot where the body was found.

Denise Bush and Shirley Sherrill, both known to work as prostitutes, disappeared within two weeks of each other in October 1982. Denise disappeared from Pacific Highway South on October 8; Shirley disappeared from the Chinatown area near downtown Seattle between October 20 and 22.