Decades after her 1982 disappearance, Lori Anne Razpotnik, a 15-year-old from Lewis County, Washington, was identified as a victim of Gary Ridgway, the infamous Green River Killer. The identification was made possible by advanced DNA forensic genealogy techniques.

Razpotnik’s family last saw her in 1982, and her whereabouts remained a mystery until recently. The breakthrough came from Parabon NanoLabs, a Virginia company specializing in DNA technology. Their advanced sequencing and analysis played a critical role in solving the case.

On the last day of 1985, city employees in Auburn, Washington, found possible human remains near a crashed car on Mount View Drive Southwest. The discovery led to the Green River Task Force’s involvement, uncovering a second set of remains, initially unidentified and known as Bones 16 and Bones 17.

Bones 17’s identification as Razpotnik brought closure to this long-standing mystery. Razpotnik’s mother contributed a saliva sample for DNA comparison, aiding the process, conducted by the University of North Texas.

In 2012, Bones 16 was identified as Sandra Majors, a 20 to 25-year-old African-American woman. In contrast, Bones 17, Razpotnik, was a Caucasian female aged 14 to 17.

Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, was apprehended in 2001 and admitted to the murders in 2003, pleading guilty to 48 counts of aggravated murder. He is currently serving 49 life sentences in the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.

The ongoing effort by the King County Sheriff’s Office to identify more of Ridgway’s victims continues.