The Green River Killer: How Many Victims Are Still Unknown?

Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, confessed to murdering 71 women during the 1980s and 1990s.

But only 49 victims have been officially confirmed.

That leaves over 20 victims unaccounted for—women whose names, faces, and stories remain lost.

Why haven’t they been identified?

The answer lies in decades of forensic gaps and societal neglect.

Many of Ridgway’s victims were sex workers or runaways—people often overlooked by law enforcement.

Their disappearances weren’t always reported, and DNA technology was still in its infancy.

Some remains were scattered or incomplete, making identification nearly impossible.

These factors created a perfect storm for victims to vanish without a trace, even after their killer was

caught.

In recent years, forensic genealogy has helped identify a few of Ridgway’s unknown victims.

But progress is slow.

Cold case units are underfunded, and many remains have degraded beyond testing.

Each identification is a breakthrough, but dozens of families still wait for answers.

The question remains: how many more are buried in unmarked graves, still waiting to be found?

Ridgway claimed he lost count of how many women he killed.

Some experts believe the true number could be even higher than 71.

With unidentified remains and missing persons still linked to his timeline, the full scope of his crimes may

never be known.

The Green River Killer’s legacy is not just horror—it’s a haunting silence for the unnamed.