Remains of a Green River killer victim found near Issaquah

Within the past week or so, someone found the skull of Green River serial-killer victim Tracy Winston and moved it to an old logging road near Tiger Mountain in Issaquah, where it was found by a hiker Sunday.

"We don't know if it was moved 10 feet or 10 miles," King County Sheriff Sue Rahr said at a Tuesday news conference. Detectives want to speak to whoever moved the skull from its original site so they can look for additional remains of women slain by Green River killer Gary L. Ridgway, she said.

Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 homicides, including Winston's, in November 2003.

On Monday, the King County Medical Examiner's Office used dental records to identify the skull as Winston's, Rahr said.

Winston was last seen at Northgate Mall around 7 p.m. on Sept. 12, 1983. Some of the 19-year-old's remains were found at the base of a tree in Kent's Cottonwood Grove Park in March 1986. The park, near the Green River, is about a quarter-mile from the Peck Bridge, where the body of 16-year-old Wendy Coffield was discovered in July 1982. The park is also near the site where six other Green River victims were found.

The logging road off Highway 18 where the skull was found Sunday "is quite some distance from where we found other remains and it's nowhere near any place he ever took us," said sheriff's Detective Tom Jensen, who has spent 20 years investigating the Green River slayings. Jensen was among the officials who accompanied Ridgway to various sites around the county searching for remains. Providing such locations was part of the plea deal that spared Ridgway the death penalty.

Ridgway was known to sometimes move body parts of his victims, and in many cases, only partial skeletons have been found, Jensen said. He said about 12 bones belonging to Winston were found in Cottonwood Grove Park.

Jensen said he was stunned by the discovery because the skull was found "so far away from the other sites." He spoke to Winston's mother Tuesday morning.

"Mrs. Winston was accepting ... she's always been prepared for the discovery of additional remains," Jensen said. "It's a partial relief. Additional remains are still missing, so it's partial closure."

The logging road where Winston's skull was found is popular with hikers, said Detective Tony McNabb, who is working with Jensen to wrap up the county's Green River investigation. Whoever found the skull "set it alongside a dirt road," leading detectives to believe that it was moved recently because otherwise, "we think somebody would've found it earlier," he said.

A 45-year-old man from Startup, Snohomish County, discovered the skull while hiking in the area. A gate blocks the logging road, so whoever placed the skull likely hiked into the area, McNabb said.

The sheriff's office is not considering any criminal charges against the person who moved the skull and anyone who contacts detectives may remain anonymous, Rahr said.

Ridgway admitted killing 48 women between 1982 and 1998 and is serving 48 consecutive life sentences at the state prison in Walla Walla. Remains of four of his victims never have been identified.

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at 206-296-3311 or CrimeStoppers at 206-343-2020.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654