Timeline of Events

Here is a Timeline of some of the more important events.

• July 15, 1982 - Body of Wendy Lee Coffield, 16, Puyallup, found floating in the Green River south of Seattle
• Aug. 13-15, 1982 - Bodies of Cynthia Hinds, 17, Opal Mills, 16, and Marcia Chapman, 31, found in or near Green River.
• Aug. 20, 1982 - Police announce arrest of a "potential suspect" in slayings but he is later released.
• April 27, 1983 - Green River killer becomes target of largest murder investigation in the country. Sheriff Vern Thomas estimates cost for 1983 at $2 million.
• April 30, 1983 - Marie M. Malvar, 18, disappears. Boyfriend follows pickup suspected in the disappearance; pickup is identified as Ridgway's. Des Moines police respond and Ridgway denies any contact with Malvar.
• May 8, 1983 - Body of Christensen found in wooded area in Maple Valley southeast of Seattle.
• Nov. 20, 1983 - Police say the same man killed 11 young women found murdered in south King County since summer 1982.
• Dec. 9, 1984 - Death toll rises to 42 - 28 identified bodies and 14 other women missing.
• April 8, 1987 - Police search home and vehicles of Kent-area man. Two witnesses say man was seen with at least two of the victims, now thought to number 46. Police take "bodily samples" from the man but there is insufficient evidence to arrest him. The man was Gary Ridgway.
• Nov. 30, 2001 - Gary Leon Ridgway, a married man from Auburn who painted trucks for Kenworth Truck Co. in Renton, arrested in connection with four slayings. Ridgway's DNA is linked to three victims. Ridgway is jailed without bail.
• Nov. 5, 2003 - Ridgway pleads guilty to 48 counts of aggravated first-degree murder.