The 1987 saliva sample that waited 14 years to name a killer

A truck painter from Auburn, Washington, gave the investigators his saliva in 1987.

Gary Leon Ridgway was a suspect in the Green River murders, and the sample was meant to place him at the crimes.

The technology in 1987 could not do what they needed it to do.

It could not match his DNA to the evidence found on the victims, per the source.

So the sample sat.

It sat through the years when the task force chased other suspects.

It sat through the discovery of more bodies in the river and the woods around Seattle–Tacoma.

It sat while the case went cold, and the families waited.

The record does not say where the sample was stored.

It does not say which technician handled it.

It does not say why it was not retested sooner.

Those details are not in the record.

What the record does say is that Ridgway was a suspect early on, stopped in 1984 with a prostitute but not arrested.

What it says is that in 1987, he gave the saliva.

What it says is that the sample waited 14 years.

By 2001, the testing had improved.

Improved DNA testing matched that saliva to semen found on several victims, according to the source.

The match was conclusive, the source states.

A single biological sample, collected before the science could read it, finally spoke.

What changed was the science.

What changed was the patience of the evidence.

What changed was the technology that turned a truck painter's spit into a name.

1982–1998: THE BODIES IN THE GREEN RIVER

Between 1982 and 1998, a series of murders occurred in Washington State, primarily in the Seattle–Tacoma area, per the source.

The victims were mostly young women, many of whom were sex workers or runaways, the source states.

The killer became known as the Green River Killer, named after the Green River near Seattle where the first victims were discovered.

The investigation began in 1982 when the bodies of two victims were found in the Green River.

Detectives formed a task force, which at its peak involved dozens of investigators, according to the source.

The case remained unsolved for nearly two decades.

Sixteen years of searches, of riverbanks and ditches, of names added to a list.

Sixteen years of families waiting.

The exact number of victims during this period is not specified in the source beyond the range of murders.

What the record establishes is the range: a series of killings stretching from 1982 to 1998.

What the record does not establish is a precise count that would close the list.

The task force grew, then shrank, then kept working.

The lead detective was Dave Reichert of the King County Sheriff's Office.

The river gave up bodies, and the task force gave up leads.

Some suspects were followed; some were cleared.

The science was not ready.

Not because the evidence was missing, but because the technology could not yet read it.