The Case Of The Green River Killer Quiz

Answer: July 15, 1982

The killings began on July 15, 1982, when two young boys were riding their bikes across the Peck Bridge and looked over the rail. They were shocked to see a body directly below the bridge. They immediately went home and told their parents. Their parents in turn called the cops.

The name of this victim was Wendy Lee Coffield. She was sixteen years old and was a known prostitute. This was the beginning of the Green River Killer's onslaught on women.

Answer: Dave Reichert

Reichert was one of the county's youngest detectives. He had studied under Robert Keppel, who was well known for his work on the 'Ted' case. Reichert believed that if a third victim was found that a serial killer was on the loose. Reichert would have been able to solve the case by himself, but a problem arose when the killer started killing in other counties other than King County. Because of this, other detectives had their say and Reichert was over-ruled on many ideas that he had on how to capture the Green River Killer.

He was not notified when other counties had missing women and girls and so valuable evidence and time was lost, due to the other counties' incompetence.

Answer: Robert Ainsworth

Robert Ainsworth was rafting on the Green River looking for bottles when he spotted two men who were acting very suspiciously. The two men asked Ainsworth if he found anything interesting, he replied no. Shortly after the men left in their truck, Ainsworth spotted what he thought was a mannequin. When he leaned over his raft to touch it, he was horrified to find that it was the body of woman. Ainsworth then looked around and found just beneath the water's surface, another body. Ainsworth didn't know what to do, so he waited for someone to come by. When someone did he told them to call the police.

When the police finally came, they had Reichert with them, and they discovered a third body on the other side of the river's bank. Police suspected the two men, but Ainsworth couldn't describe them clearly. Major Richard Kraske was then called and he knew without a doubt that he had a major problem on his hands. Kraske knew from working on the 'Ted' case that they did indeed have a serial killer on their hands.

Answer: Richard Kraske

Richard Kraske was the head of the Criminal Investigation Division during the beginning of the Green River Killer investigation. When the bodies on August 15, 1982 were found, he became frightened because he didn't want the same mistakes to happen on this case that happened on the 'Ted' case. Unfortunately for Kraske, the same mistakes and then some were headed for this unsolvable case.

Answer: Robert Keppel

Robert Keppel was and is best known for his work on the famous 'Ted' case. Keppel had devised a method of creating a list of people who had come into contact with the victims of the 'Ted' case. It was hoped that his knowledge about serial killings would be helpful on this case. Keppel was given free reign in Washington State to investigate the best way he knew how.

Unfortunately, this didn't help.

Answer: False

The F.B.I. was not called in to take over the case, but to create a profile of the killer.

Answer: True

Bob Keppel had compiled a list of all the common links between the murder victims.

Keppel theorized that the killer had probably been at the river dumping another victim, when police were recovering Debra Bonner's body, which would account for the body being left on the bank, probably after the killer became 'spooked' by the police activity. In summation he said: 'I tell you one thing, this is not the first time that this guy has killed, and not only that, he's not going to stop until he is caught or dies'.

Answer: Barbara Kubik-Patten

After the first two bodies were found Barbara Kubik-Patten offered her psychic help in finding the killer, but the detectives in charge of the case, and there were many from different counties, decided not to use her. Kubik-Patten decided to try to locate the killer on her own. At one point she staked out the Green River and saw a man walking near the river and acting very suspicious. When she saw the man walk to the river and look at the water, Kubik-Patten became alarmed. After the man walked up the hill and got in a small white car and drove away, Kubik-Patten began looking around the area that the man was at.

She became alarmed when she found a shirt with fresh blood on it and a piece of bone where the man was looking at the river. Kubik-Patten took the items and went to the police with them. The police, seeing this, immediately interrogated her. The police discovered that she was telling the truth and released her. During her interrogation, Kubik-Patten said that there would be another victim found in the Green River. Unfortunately, she was right.

Answer: t

The residents of Washington State did indeed believe that a policeman or someone pretending to be a policeman was the killer. Prostitutes were warned to be on the look out for suspicious activity. The prostitutes thought that they would be able to handle whatever came their way.

They had no idea what they were in for. More and more prostitutes were being murdered and no one, not even the detectives in charge of the case, knew when, where, or how the killer would strike.

Answer: Larry Mathews

Larry Mathews was suspected of pistol whipping prostitutes. He even told one woman, Debbie Estes, that she would never work again and told her about the Green River murders. Estes was able to escape and told the police the license plate number of Mathews' truck. Then and there Larry Mathews became a suspect in a long list of suspects.

Answer: Allen Whitaker

Allen Whitaker was nominated by Kraske to go to the F.B.I.'s Behavorial Science Unit in Quantico, Virginia to obtain a psychological profile of the Green River killer.

Answer: John Douglas

John Douglas, along with Robert Ressler, had pioneered the use of profiling in serial murder cases. Leaning on his experience, Douglas had found that serial killers tended to fall into two broad categories, the organised and the disorganised. The disorganised were killers who were more impulsive in the execution of their crimes; often leaving behind clues in their haste to leave the scene. Douglas believed the reason for this was that the 'fantasy process' that fuelled most serial killers was in its earliest stages of development.

The organised killers, on the other hand, were those that had a higher skill level when committing murder. They were more meticulous in both planning and execution, often bringing the necessary equipment with them and taking great care to avoid detection. (This is taken directly from the Crime Library's 'Green River Killer Case).

Answer: True

In the police documents of the case, TD, which stands for 'taxi driver', was the prime suspect in the case only because he fit the F.B.I.'s profile. Fortunately for for TD, he had solid alibis for his whereabouts on all the murders and was eventually taken off the list of suspects.

Answer: Blue and white

A patrol car stopped a blue and white pickup truck because its driver was acting extremely suspiciously. The driver of the vehicle was Charles Clinton Clark who also had registrations for various handguns. The police asked Susan Widmark, a prostitute who had been attacked, if Clark was her attacker. When Widmark saw Clark she positively identified him as her attacker.

Clark was immediately arrested for the incident on Widmark and also for incidents involving other women. Clark admitted that he had abused several women. A few days later, while Clark was still being held, police obtained a search warrant and searched his home. Fortunately for Clark the police found no evidence linking him to the Green River murders.

Answer: True

On September 26, 1982, a trail biker discovered the remains of Gisele Lovvorn, a woman who was missing for several months.

Answer: April 17, 1983

On April 17, 1983, Sandra Kay Gabbert and Kimi Kai Pastor were both abducted and murdered. This marked the first time that two people were murdered on the same night. This heightened the fear in Washington State to the maximum.

Answer: Sea-Tac airport

A cleaner for Sea-Tac airport discovered the driver's license of Maria Malvar at gate B. Maria Malvar had disappeared several months prior to this. The fact that the licence may have been left at the departure gate by the killer, complete with fingerprints, didn't occur to the investigators until 1985.

By then, not only had the licence been destroyed, but also the flight records. (Part of this was taken directly from the Crime Library's Green River Killer case).

Answer: True

On August 11, 1983, a man picking apples discovered a skeleton on Raper's Road. This discovery marked the first victim to be found out of water.

Answer: Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy, in prison for the Chi Omega Murders in Tallahassee, Florida, offered his help to the detectives working the Green River Killer case. Bundy wrote a letter to his old nemesis, Bob Keppel, offering to give insight into the mind of a serial killer. Keppel was uneasy about accepting Bundy's offer, but it intrigued him. Keppel wrote back to Bundy accepting, but with conditions. Bundy responded with a long, detailed letter outlining what he believed were the Green River Killer's habits and motivations. Bundy believed that the key to finding the killer was the locations where the killer had placed the bodies. He suggested that they provided strong insights into the motivations of the man responsible. The selection of the sites related directly to the way the killer had selected, lured and killed his victims.

His main strategy for catching the man was to place the latest dumpsite under constant surveillance, in the belief that the killer would return to it. A further suggestion was that the killer had a sound knowledge of the lifestyle of his victims and was probably involved in their 'scene,' to the point where he was able to move freely among them. Ted then outlined the reasons why the murders were difficult to solve. Speaking from the killer's point of view, Bundy believed that the ready access to a wide variety of victims, the delays in reporting the girls missing and the initial apathy of the police and media to the number of missing prostitutes, all contributed to the killer's level of confidence. Another contributing factor was that information about the victims and their associates was difficult for the police to trace. In describing the method the killer used to lure his victims, Bundy suggested that the killer was probably posing as a cop. He explained how easy it was to get a 'police style' badge and use it to persuade a potential victim to get into a vehicle, particularly a woman with a history of prostitution. Once the killer had lured the victim into his vehicle, it was a simple matter to convince her that he was taking her to a quiet spot for a talk. When he had her where he wanted her, the rest was easy.

Ted also believed that the killer probably presented an image of being a 'nice guy' when talking to the women he targeted, which would put them at ease and make them more vulnerable to his advances, a method Bundy described as the 'front end' of the operation. The 'back end,' were the events leading up to, and including, the murders and placement of the bodies. Keppel realised from reading the letter that Ted was actually imagining himself as being the Riverman and, in so doing, was leading them into an area that only a killer could understand and interpret. For the Bundy analysis to be of any practical value, Keppel knew he would have to interview him face to face. (This information is directly from the Crime Library's Green River Killer case).

Answer: Theodore Robert Bundy

A few weeks after receiving Bundy's letter, Keppel flew over to Starke, Florida to interview Bundy. Bundy was brought into the small interrogation room just off of Death Row in the Florida State Penitentiary. Bundy was brought handcuffed and shackled to the room. Keppel asked Bundy how the Riverman approached his victims and where the Riverman was from. Bundy expanded on his letter about how he approached his victims and Bundy said he believed that the killer probably lived near Pierce County. When asked why, he replied that he believed that the killer was dumping bodies further and further to the south probably getting closer to his 'home.' He added that they would probably find more bodies in the area where they had found the last ones.

Answer: When evidence indicated that the killer was operating in two states

Soon after the discovery that the killer was now operating in two states, an F.B.I. team travelled to Portland to meet with the task force and local authorities. They conducted a new search that revealed evidence that was later also matched to Bush. In addition, they studied a report of the discovery of two unidentified female skeletons that had been found several months earlier in the town of Tualatin, just south of Portland. Dental charts and X-rays were taken and sent to King County for comparison with the list of missing girls. (This is taken directly from the Crime Library's Green River Killer case).

Answer: Pierce Brooks

Pierce Brooks, who also helped unlock Christie Downs' fear of the night she was shot by her mother Diane, was brought in to consult on the Green River Killer case.

Answer: V.I.C.A.P.

V.I.C.A.P, better known as the Violent Criminal Apprehension system, was formed to enable every police department in the country to enter data on previously unsolved homicides in their area and compare it with similar data in the system in an attempt to track an offender as he moved around the country.

The system was a joint project with the FBI and was housed at their headquarters in Quantico, Virginia.

Answer: 49

As of February 1990, the police and F.B.I. acknowledge 49 victims to the Green River Killer. There may be more that the police are unaware of.

Answer: Gary Ridgway

On November 30, 2001, Gary Ridgway was arrested after DNA evidence linked him to three of the 49 murders. Ridgway had been a suspect as far back as 1984. In 1987, a court order forced Ridgway to submit to saliva testing by chewing on a piece of gauze.

This piece of evidence was preserved. On December 2, 2001, a judge denied bail to Ridgway because there was sufficient evidence and probable cause for his arrest. Ridgway is linked to Opal Mills, Marcia Chapman, Cynthia Hinds, and possibly a fourth victim.

He was convicted of 49 murders in December 2003 and sentenced to death, As part of a plea bargain, he was sentenced to 49 life terms without parole, to be served consecutively.