On Tuesday, Washington officials announced that DNA testing on human remains discovered in 1985 helped identify one of the victims of the notorious Green River killer, Gary Ridgway.
According to the King County Sheriff’s Office, 15-year-old Lori Anne Razpotnik was officially identified after her mother submitted a DNA sample to the University of North Texas, which conducted a comparison linking the DNA to human remains discovered in 1985.
The DNA profile was then analyzed by Parabon NanoLabs in Reston, Virginia. Parabon generated a new DNA profile and initiated forensic genealogy testing, determining the remains of Lori.
Ridgway had already pleaded guilty to Lori’s murder, along with 48 other women in 2003. The victims were all strangled, and their bodies were subsequently discarded in forests and overgrown areas around King County.
King County officials said that City of Auburn employees responded to a call regarding a car over an embankment on the 2000 block of Mt. View Drive Southwest on December 30, 1985. Investigators uncovered human remains, prompting the Green River Task Force to further investigate.
Investigators later said two sets of human remains were found but, at the time, could not be identified.
In 2002, Ridgway led investigators to the same area and claimed he had killed Lori and another victim, identified as Sandra Majors, and then left their remains there.
Ridgway was sentenced to life in prison on November 5, 2003, after pleading to 48 counts of first-degree murder. His cooperation in assisting investigators find human remains of his victims spared him the death penalty.
He remains behind bars at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
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[Feature Photo: Lori Anne Razpotnik/KCSO]
