The Green River Killer - Gary Ridgway (Part 3)
Episode of Morbid · July 13, 2026 · 1 h 15 min
Morbid hosts Alaina Urquhart and Ash Kelley continue the Green River Killer case, covering 1984–85 victim discoveries, Ted Bundy's consultation, and recent DNA identifications.
Summary
In the third installment of their Green River Killer series, Alaina Urquhart and Ash Kelley opened with announcements, including Urquhart's decision to hold live signing lines on her book tour and the hosts' collaborative game with Hunt A Killer, their first sponsor. Urquhart said the series would likely run to five parts.
Urquhart then narrated the wave of discoveries in 1984, including Lisa Yates, Cheryl Wims, 14-year-old Wendy Stevens (identified only in 2021 via the DNA Doe Project), the large Star Lake Road dump site holding several teenage victims, Colleen Brockman, Mary Sue Bello and Martina Authorlee. She argued that the media had unfairly portrayed the task force as indifferent when investigators were working intensely on the case.
A large segment covered Ted Bundy's 1984 offer to help the task force, which Bob Keppel and Dave Reichert accepted. Urquhart characterized Bundy's motive as an attempt to delay his execution and argued that his accurate insights about dump sites, revisiting bodies and victim selection were essentially descriptions of himself. The hosts mocked his suggestions of a slasher film festival and his attribution of his crimes to pornography, while noting that his advice to surveil fresh dump sites was viable.
The episode closed with the 1985 lull in new victims, the discovery of Mary West's remains, the FBI's formal entry with profiler Pierce Brooks, and the decades-later identifications of Sandra Major in 2012 and Lori Razpotnik in 2023 through DNA and genetic genealogy, followed by Kelley's fun fact about King Charles's wine-fueled Aston Martin.
Chapters
- 0:00
Intro and announcements
The hosts discuss the series length, Urquhart's live book signings, and their Hunt A Killer game.
- 6:13
The letter and the media's role
Urquhart recaps the letter sent to the Post-Intelligencer and argues the press unfairly portrayed investigators as uncaring.
- 10:02
1984 discoveries begin
The remains of Lisa Yates, Wendy Stevens and Cheryl Wims are found, with Stevens identified only in 2021.
Linked moment · 14:38Skip to 14:38 using a listen link in the info box.
14:38Star Lake Road dump site
A large cluster site reveals multiple teenage victims and raises questions about where the killer kept remains.
- 18:41
Colleen Brockman and later 1984 victims
Urquhart covers 15-year-old Colleen Brockman, Mary Sue Bello and Martina Authorlee.
- 24:30
Ted Bundy reaches out
Bundy offers to help the task force, and Keppel and Reichert accept, hoping also to learn about his own unsolved cases.
- 31:09
Bundy's insights into the killer
Bundy's observations on dump sites, victim selection and possessiveness are discussed as thinly veiled self-descriptions.
- 40:58
Porn, slasher films, and the yawn
The hosts mock Bundy's pornography excuse and slasher festival idea, and describe Keppel's yawn prompting a useful surveillance suggestion and profile.
- 50:55
1985 lull and new remains
New killings seem to stop while remains of Carrie Ann Royce, Tammy Liles, Denise Bush and Shirley Sherrill surface.
- 58:55
Mary West and the FBI joins
Mary West's discovery shows the killer is still active, prompting the FBI and Pierce Brooks to join the task force.
- 1:03:45
Bones 16 and 17 identified
Sandra Major is identified in 2012 after a Lifetime special, and Lori Razpotnik in 2023 through genetic genealogy.
- 1:10:30
Fun fact
Kelley corrects a prior fact and shares that King Charles had an Aston Martin converted to run on wine.
Key points
What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart announces she will hold live signing lines at all her book tour stops.
“I decided... That I'm going to do a live signing line at all the locations of the tour that we”
- Ash Kelley
Kelley says Hunt A Killer was Morbid's first sponsor in 2018, making the game collaboration a full-circle moment.
“they were our first sponsor on morbid back in 2018 So to now be like collabing with them is such a full circle moment for us”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart argues the press made the public believe investigators and the task force did not care, which she says was untrue.
“they were making the public feel like the uh investigators and the task force didn't care oh and that was in fact not true”
Listen from 7:33 · Media coverage of serial killer investigations
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart contends Bundy helped the task force solely to try to obtain a stay of execution.
“He did not do it for any other reason but to try to get a stay of execution. He was not. He was just scared to die”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart reports that Wendy Stevens's remains went unidentified for nearly 40 years until a 2021 DNA database match.
“these remains would sit unidentified and unclaimed for nearly 40 years. Oh, my God. Until 2021”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart notes that Colleen Brockman's runaway report went nowhere because runaway cases were not taken seriously at the time.
“But at a time when runaway cases weren't taken very seriously, the report went nowhere”
- Ash Kelley
Kelley says the public struggles to accept that investigators withhold information for legitimate reasons.
“when things are being kept close to the chest for real reasons, people can't wrap, like the public has a hard time wrapping their head around that”
Listen from 25:19 · Media coverage of serial killer investigations
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart argues Bundy's accurate insights came only from his being the same kind of killer, so he deserves no credit.
“the only reason he was able to do that is because he's the same kind of sick fuck that this guy is”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart explains that sexually sadistic serial killers carefully scout dump sites because they want to keep killing and return to the bodies.
“they would like to keep doing this and they would like to keep coming back to these corpses they don't want this to stop so they really make it an effort to make sure they scope these dump sites out”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart believes Bundy was lying when he claimed to dislike publicity, using the claim to justify keeping his cooperation secret.
“I think he's a bullshitter here. I think he just wanted to look like I'm not doing, that's why he made sure to say like, don't go to the media with me doing this”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart argues Bundy wrongly believed all serial killers operate like him, ignoring individual differences.
“i think ted bundy thinks he knows all of them and like this is the way all of them run and i know and it's like you can't know that because they're all gonna have their little nuances”
- Ash Kelley
Kelley argues that attributing Bundy's crimes to pornography ignores the many factors behind his development.
“there's a lot at work here so to just chalk it up to porn is nuts yeah because there was many things that went into the making of ted bundy”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart rejects Bundy's claim that pornography turned him into a killer.
“It's not because you watched porn that you suddenly turn from a completely normal child or human into the worst serial killer that the world has ever known”
- Ash Kelley
Kelley allows that violent pornography could exacerbate existing tendencies even if it is not the cause.
“I'm sure if you're already Ted Bundy and you watch crazy porn, that's not going to help anything”
- Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart judges that Keppel and Reichert's interviews with Bundy ultimately helped move the case along.
“So Bob Keppel and Dave Reichert doing this ended up being a pretty, a pretty good thing that they did”
People
In the conversation
- Ash KelleyCo-host of the true crime podcast Morbid
- Alaina UrquhartCo-host of Morbid, autopsy technician and author of the Butcher novels
Discussed
- Gary RidgwayAmerican serial killer known as the Green River Killer
- Ted BundyAmerican serial killer newly linked by DNA to a 1974 Utah victim
- Robert KeppelWashington investigator on the Bundy case and chief consultant to the Green River Task Force; author of The Riverman
- Dave ReichertKing County detective who led much of the Green River investigation
- John DouglasFBI profiler who doubted the letter came from the killer
- Pierce BrooksFormer LAPD homicide captain and profiler who joined the Green River investigation
- Fae BrooksSpokesperson for the Green River Task Force
- Ann RuleTrue crime author of The Stranger Beside Me
- Melvin FosterSeattle cab driver who was an early suspect and later ruled out
- Charles IIIKing of the United Kingdom
Topics
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From the publisher
(Part 3) In the summer of 1982, it became obvious that a serial killer was operating in the Tacoma area and dumping his victims in the waters of the Green River. In time, The Green River Killer, as the press soon dubbed him, would claim a staggering number of victims to become the most prolific serial killer in American history, a title he would hold until relatively recently.
Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 30, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.