1985 in Portland a 15-year-old girl gave a sketch of a man she said tried to rape and kill her. Investigators see similarities compared to a 1982, photo of Ridgway. "There was not a suspect determined, and it has some similarities to some of the Green River cases, said Sally Gilpin, Oregon State Patrol.

The victim taken from a section of Portland where prostitutes worked, was taken to the woods and choked.

In Oregon skeletal remains of 4 Green River victims found in 1985.

Two theories:

1)The killer dismembered the corpse at the slaying and dumped the remains in both Oregon and Washington.

2)The killer returned to one dump sites afterwards to separated the remains.

Shirley Sherrill, 18, last seen in 1982 in Seattle's International District, remains were found nearby. Sherrill was known to the Portland police.

Many detectives believed the women had been killed outside of Oregon.

Witnesses say the man drove a faded green pickup truck with large gray primer paint spots, a description that matches a truck driven by Ridgway.

Detectives did not recover semen or other DNA evidence at the dump sites, though other unspecified evidence was found.

Since Ridgway's arrest, a cursory check showed that the Washington County Sheriff's Office did not have any contact with Ridgway. The Portland Police Bureau said they have no records on him.

Denise Bush, 23 years old -- Left to buy cigarettes on Pacific Highway South. On June 12, 1985, her skull was unearthed by bulldozer in a wooded site in Tigard, OR . In 1990, 5 years later, a city councilman found Bush's skeletal remains in Tukwila while on a walk. Bush's killer had crossed state lines. Bush told friends she was moving to Portland.

Tammie Liles, 16, Marysville, WA, runaway, found April 23, 1985, near a golf course in Tualatin, OR. Liles was a prostitute, last seen in downtown at Third Avenue and Pine Street in Seattle on June 9, 1983.

The skeletal remains, known only as "Tualatin 1" or "Oregon 1" - A white female 17 - 19 years old discovered April 23, 1985, has never been identified, her remains were found near Tammie Liles.

Oregon state medical examiner’s officials in Portland are now unable to locate these remains. A spokeswoman for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Hillsboro, OR, which investigated the Tualatin crime scene, said the remains were taken in 1985 by the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office in Portland, which serves as the Oregon state medical examiner and is responsible for keeping remains found in Oregon.

King County medical examiners received the remains Aug. 21, 1986, from the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office, said. James Apa, a spokesman for Public Health Seattle & King County. King County medical examiner’s officials said an “evidence-transfer forms,” show remains were returned to Larry Lewman, a deputy Oregon medical examiner. They were sent back to the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office on Sept. 4, 1987. Lewman signed the form, acknowledging receipt, Apa said.

Lewman, a deputy Oregon medical examiner, said that even if he found the remains, he wouldn’t publicly acknowledge his office had them. Lewman said he was unaware of past police inquiries about the remains. “If the cops come looking for them, we will” try to find the remains, Lewman said.

In 1997, the Oregon Medical Examiner's Office wrote to then King County Medical Examiner Donald Reay "asking for the whereabouts of these remains," Apa said. Green River investigators tried unsuccessfully to find the Tualatin remains in 1999.

Ridgway has not been connected to the Tualatin remains but the bones are believed to be a victim of the Green River killer.

Copyright Kari Sable Burns 1994-2006

Green River Discussion List -- A list to discuss the nations most prolific, unsolved serial killings from the early 1980's in Washington's SeaTac area. Currently, Gary Ridgway is detained and awaiting trial for the murder.

Serial Killers Page

Historic Green River Pages

Green River Killer or Not?

FBI Profile Elements
Signature of a Killer

The Victims
Locations of Missing Women
Crime Scenes
Civil Suit

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab/the Body Farm/Where the Dead Do Tell Tales -- A pioneer of modern forensic anthropology reveals secrets of the world's first-and only-laboratory devoted to death.