In the summer of 1982, a sense of unease began to settle over the Seattle area as a string of disappearances and murders unfolded. Among the lives tragically cut short was that of Cynthia Jean Hinds, a 17-year-old Black/African American female. Known to some of her friends as "Cookie," she lived in an apartment in the Rainier Valley. Her family last saw her two weeks before her disappearance on August 11, 1982.
A neighbor reported seeing her leaving her home with an unidentified man in a red Cadillac. A few days later, she was reportedly seen getting out of a similar car and into a black Jeep near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. This was the last time she was reported seen alive.
On August 15, 1982, the grim discovery of Cynthia's body brought the search for her to a devastating end. Her remains were found in the Green River, alongside another victim, Marcia Chapman. Investigators determined that Cynthia had been strangled. Her death was quickly linked to a growing number of homicides in the area, and she became one of the earliest victims attributed to the notorious Green River Killer. Investigators in 1982 noted a connection between Hinds and the prostitution business. She and another victim, Opal Mills, were friends who had worked together painting apartments shortly before their deaths.
For nearly two decades, Cynthia's murder, along with dozens of others, remained a haunting unsolved mystery for King County. The breakthrough in the case finally came with advancements in DNA technology. In November 2001, 52-year-old Gary Leon Ridgway, a truck painter from Auburn, was arrested and charged with the murders of Cynthia Hinds, Marcia Chapman, Opal Mills, and Carol Christensen. A saliva sample taken from Ridgway in 1987 provided the crucial DNA evidence that linked him to some of the victims. While a direct DNA link to Cynthia was not initially cited, prosecutors were confident in the evidence tying him to her death due to the circumstances and his connection to the other victims found at the same time. Ridgway had been a suspect as early as 1984. As part of a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty, Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts of aggravated murder in the first degree, including the murder of Cynthia Hinds.
