Tammie Liles, a 16-year-old White female from Everett, Washington, disappeared from downtown Seattle on June 9, 1983. For years, her family lived with the uncertainty of what had happened to her. The investigation into her disappearance would eventually intertwine with the hunt for one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer.
Ridgway preyed on young women in vulnerable situations in the Seattle area throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
The first breakthrough in Tammie's case came in 1988 when some of her remains were discovered near Tigard, Oregon, and were identified using dental records. This discovery tragically confirmed that she was one of the many victims of the Green River Killer. However, the full story of what happened to her was not yet complete. Her family was left with the painful knowledge that not all of her remains had been found, a fact underscored when they had to use a small casket for her burial.
In 2001, advancements in DNA technology finally allowed investigators to definitively link Gary Ridgway to several of the murders. As part of a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty in 2003, Ridgway agreed to lead authorities to the locations of his victims. He led investigators to a site in south King County where a search uncovered 23 human bones and teeth. For nearly two decades, these remains could not be identified and were logged as "Bones 20." Although Ridgway pleaded guilty to the murder of the person known as "Bones 20" as part of his deal, he did not specifically name Tammie Liles in connection to that site.
It wasn't until 2022 that further advances in forensic science brought the final chapter of Tammie's story to a close. Investigators contracted a specialized forensic laboratory to build a DNA profile from the "Bones 20" remains. In August 2023, the lab's genetic genealogy team tentatively identified the remains as belonging to Tammie Liles. Detectives then contacted Tammie's mother to obtain a DNA sample, which confirmed the match. This definitive identification meant that all known remains connected to the Green River Killer case had finally been identified, bringing a measure of closure to a long and painful investigation. Gary Ridgway is serving multiple consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole at the Washington State Penitentiary for the 49 murders he was convicted of, including that of Tammie Liles.
