In the summer of 1982, a dark chapter in Washington state's history began to unfold with the disappearance of 23-year-old Debra Lynn Bonner. A Caucasian female, Bonner was last seen on July 25, 1982, near the Three Bears Motel on South 216th Street. Her family's worry turned to grief when her body was discovered on August 12, 1982, floating in the Green River, not far from a slaughterhouse in Kent.
The discovery marked a chilling realization for law enforcement as they began to connect her death to other recent disappearances and bodies found in the area.
The investigation into Bonner's death quickly escalated as more victims were found in and around the Green River. This led to the formation of the Green River Task Force, which was tasked with hunting a serial murderer who would become known as the Green River Killer. The killer targeted vulnerable young women, and Bonner's case was one of many that instilled fear in the community. For nearly two decades, the identity of the killer remained a mystery, leaving families like the Bonners without answers and justice.
A major breakthrough in the case came in 2001 with the arrest of Gary Leon Ridgway, a man who worked as a painter at a truck factory. Advances in DNA technology linked Ridgway to several of the victims. In a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, Ridgway confessed to a staggering number of murders, providing details that only the killer would know. He admitted to killing Debra Bonner and dozens of other women. In 2003, Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts of aggravated first-degree murder, including that of Debra Bonner, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
