Constance Naon
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.
Kelly Ware
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.
Linda Rule
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.
The Oregon Victims
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.
Nearly three years later, in June 1985, incomplete remains of both women were found off a rural road in Tigard, just south of Portland, Oregon. This discovery led to speculation that the Green River Killer had moved south. Ridgway would later admit that he killed these women and moved their remains in an effort to confuse the task force.
Denise Bush
On October 8, 1982, 23-year-old Denise Bush disappeared from Pacific Highway South. She and an acquaintance were staying at the Moonrise Motel, located across the street from Larry’s Market and the 7-Eleven, at 144th and the highway. This was at the intersection of the sheltered bus stop where Sandra Gabbert and Kim Nelson were working as prostitutes when Ridgway picked them up and killed
them. Tina Thompson, Martina Authorlee, and Yvonne Antosh were all staying in motels at this location when they disappeared. Denise left the Moonrise for a pack of cigarettes around midday and never returned. That day, Ridgway was off work for a claimed eye ailment and purchased $26 worth of gas from a station near the Moonrise Motel, where Denise was last seen.
On October 7, 1982, the night before Denise’s disappearance, she met a girlfriend across the street from the Moonrise at the 7-Eleven. When her friend arrived, Denise was talking to a man who appeared to be working on his pickup truck. Denise’s girlfriend described him as being 5 feet 10 inches, between 29 and 30 years old, wearing a blue plaid shirt and boots. The friend thought the man was driving a dirty or dull green GMC truck with oxidized paint. The hood of the truck was up and something about the man made Denise’s friend suspicious. She later told police that when the man saw her looking at him, he jerked his head around and hid it under the hood as if he did not want her to see his face. She thought he looked like he had something to hide. The friend asked Denise who the man was; Denise dodged the question, but did say that she was going to meet him later. While the truck that Denise’s friend saw did not match anything owned by Ridgway at the time, it was similar to his brother’s turquoise truck.
In the 1980s, police interviewed Denise’s friend about the man she saw at the 7-Eleven. She selected Ridgway’s photo from a montage and said he was the man she had seen talking to Denise the night before she disappeared.
In June 1985, a construction crew discovered Denise’s skull in Tigard, Oregon. Police secured the crime scene, but allowed construction to continue on the far side of the lot. Search crews also recovered Denise’s femur and pelvis. A few days later, a worker discovered more remains at the site that turned out to be those of Shirley Sherrill, who Ridgway also admitted transporting to Tigard.
Five years later, in February 1990, a citizen discovered more of Denise’s remains near Pacific Highway South in Tukwila, among them her mandible and a shunt that had been placed in her skull six months prior to her disappearance. Her skull without the shunt had been found in Oregon five years earlier. The presence of the shunt and mandible in Tukwila proved that Denise’s body had decomposed in Tukwila and that the killer came later and took some of her bones to Oregon.
During interviews with task force detectives in 2003, Ridgway admitted killing Denise and transporting her remains to Tigard, Oregon. He correctly recalled that Denise was African American and correctly estimated her height. Ridgway told detectives he picked Denise up on Pacific Highway South and killed her where her remains were found in Tukwila. He thought that Denise had chosen the place for them to date. He said that the site was “an easy location” and that he probably had been there in the past. The Tukwila site is a minute or so drive from the intersection of Pacific Highway South and 144th Street where Ridgway picked up other victims.
Ridgway said he used his arm to strangle Denise and told her that if she did not scream, he would let her go. After he killed Denise, he covered her body with some type of plastic.
While Ridgway did not admit that he was the man talking to Denise at the 7-Eleven on the day before she disappeared, he acknowledged that at times he would park there, open the hood of his truck, check the oil, and look for a prostitute. He believed that the people at 7-Eleven knew him by sight—“a steady customer” was how he described himself—and knew that he was picking up prostitutes. He said he would meet the women there and make arrangements to meet them at another location, where he could pick them up without drawing attention to himself.
Ridgway acknowledged that, in an effort to throw off the task force, he moved Denise’s remains and those of Shirley Sherrill to Oregon in the spring of 1984. One weekend, he took his son on what he described as a “camping” trip to Oregon. He transported the remains, with son’s clothes and bicycle, in the trunk of a Plymouth Satellite. Ridgway paid cash for his food and gas on this trip and was careful not to leave any record linking him to Oregon. Based on Ridgway’s statements and financial records, investigators determined that he most likely went to Oregon the first week of April 1984. In 2003, his son recalled taking a last-minute trip with his father to Oregon in the Satellite.
In June 2003, Ridgway led detectives to the site in Tukwila where he killed Denise Bush and left her body. According to a detective familiar with the crime scene, Ridgway led the task force right to the spot where Denise’s remains were found. Ridgway did this despite changes to the area since 1982.
Shirley Sherrill
Eighteen-year-old Shirley Sherrill began working as a prostitute in Portland and Seattle in the summer of 1982, just a few months before she disappeared. Around this time, she also worked at the Goodwill store in Seattle on Dearborn Street. Shirley was last seen sometime between October 20 and 22, 1982.
Her pimp, who could not recall the precise date, reported that he last saw Shirley when he dropped her off in Seattle’s International District in the morning. A fellow prostitute reported that she last saw Shirley at approximately four P.M. talking to two white men in a black pickup truck with a canopy. The pickup was “big, possibly a Ford” circa 1977 or 1978. The other prostitute left on a date and when she returned, Shirley was gone. In June 1985, construction crews found most of Shirley’s remains, including her skull, along with Denise Bush’s in Tigard, Oregon.
In 2003, Ridgway admitted killing Shirley. He claimed he could not remember any details about killing her other than transporting her remains to Oregon. Ridgway initially claimed that he had left Shirley at a site in King County and later returned and quickly picked up her skull and a few bones to take to Oregon. In 2003, the task force searched the site and did not find any remains. Most of Shirley’s bones were found in Oregon, not simply the “few” that Ridgway initially claimed he picked up. When confronted with this, Ridgway equivocated on whether he just took Shirley’s bones to Oregon or whether, after killing her, he transported her entire body there.
The North Airport Victims
In the 1980s, the task force discovered another dump site used by the Green River Killer: an area directly north of the Sea-Tac Airport. Three victims were found there: Shawnda Summers, Cheryl Wims, and an unidentified Caucasian female, designated Jane Doe “B10.” Two of the women were found 200 yards apart and the third was a half-mile away. In the early 1980s, the road near where the women were found was largely undeveloped, aside from a few vacant lots, baseball fields and a tow yard.
Shawnda and Cheryl both worked as prostitutes and disappeared within eight months of each other. The background and circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the unidentified woman are, of course, unknown. The remains of all three were found unclothed. The cause of their deaths was unspecified homicidal violence.
In 2003, Ridgway admitted killing the three women. He referred to the North Airport site as one of his “clusters”—an area in which he grouped multiple victims—so he would not forget where he placed them. He was familiar with the area. A former girlfriend said that she and Ridgway had sex near the site and police had contacted him dating a prostitute nearby. He also stated that he took advantage of the frequent flights overhead, and acknowledged that “I used that noise for advantage for one thing, you know, cut down any, ah, noise in case she screamed.”
The North Airport site has undergone significant development since the early 1980s. A Boeing Company warehouse is now located where the police found Shawnda’s remains. The water tower is still there, and the baseball fields where Cheryl and Jane Doe “B10” were found still exist. A fourth baseball diamond has been added. The vacant lots are all gone and much of the surrounding area has been either paved or developed.
Shawnda Summers
Seventeen-year-old Shawnda Summers was last seen alive sometime during the first week of October 1982. She was known to work as a prostitute along Pacific Highway South. There were no witnesses to her disappearance. Shawnda’s stepfather filed a missing-persons report just weeks after she disapp
eared. Her mother traveled from California to search for her. They never saw her again.
At the time of Shawnda’s disappearance, Ridgway was working at the Kenworth plant and had killed another woman he picked up on Pacific Highway South, Denise Bush.
On August 11, 1983, Shawnda’s remains were found near the northwest corner of South 146th Street and 24th Avenue South. She had been placed in a shallow grave underneath an apple tree. Across the street and to the south of the dump site was a large, circular water tower. A vacant lot, where homes were frequently placed on blocks before they were moved elsewhere, was located to the south, between her body and South 146th Street.
In 2003, Ridgway admitted murdering Shawnda and placing her body by a water tower near Sea-Tac airport. Though he recalled that she was black, he was unable to recognize her photograph. Ridgway said that he took Shawnda to the North Airport site, had sex with her, and then choked her with his arm. While killing her, he wrapped his legs around her to keep her from moving. He then took off her clothes and jewelry and left. Ridgway could not recall whether he covered Shawnda’s body. He believed he killed her at night and remembered that there was a house on blocks in a vacant lot near where he killed her, approximately four to five feet up off the ground.
In June 2003, Ridgway led task force detectives to the location where he killed Shawnda and left her body. According to a detective familiar with the crime scene and present with Ridgway during the visit to the North Airport site, Ridgway pointed out and described the specific area in which Shawnda’s body was found.
The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer Page 68