The Search for the Green River Killer

Rating:
Summary: How Not to Conduct a Serial Murder Investigaton
Review: "The Search for the Green River Killer" is an absolutely engrossing account of one of the worst serial murder cases ever. Even though written in 1991, when the murders were still unsolved, this account manages to keep you hooked as the task force tracks down leads and more and more bodies are discovered. Details about how criminal profiling, then in its infancy, was applied in this case, and about how the Seattle had only recently been preyed upon by another serial killer, Ted Bundy, were quite interesting.

The identity of the Green River killer was a subject of perennial speculation as I came of age in the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s. Who was responsible the unsolved murders of some 49 Seattle and Portland prostitutes? Who was the man described in a Crime Stoppers press release as "the most prolific killer of all time.... More vicious than Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy, The Boston Strangler and Son of Sam combined."

My personal interest in the Green River killings grew when the FBI interviewed my former husband about a guy who briefly had lived with him. When I picked up "The Search," I hoped I might find some insight into what characteristics of this roommate, who committed suicide in late 1984, might have attracted investigators' attention for years.

When a suspect was charged in 2001 with killing four Green River victims, police said this suspect was someone they had considered during their earlier investigation. I thought "The Search" might shed light on why he came under suspicion initially. It does-although not by name. Reviewing information from news websites about the man charged in 2001, and comparing it with an unnamed suspect in the book should help the reader make the connections, however.

"The Search" does provide a fascinating portrait of how the investigation went awry, particularly in the early months. What emerges is an initially disorganized investigation plagued by political problems, under staffing, and overlooked leads. The fact that most victims were prostitutes complicated efforts to determine what happened in their final hours since they generally attracted no notice if they got into a car with a stranger, and their absence might go unnoticed by family for days or weeks. Among the factors hampering the investigation, according to authors Carlton Smith and Tomas Guillen, were:

· Contamination of the "freshest" crime scene-the Green River "dump site"-where a rafter found several bodies as officers dropped quite a few cigarettes while processing the scene.

· Lack of surveillance at places where bodies were discovered. A few days after the discovery of Dub Bonner, whose murder prompted the investigator to consider that a serial killer might be on the loose, three more bodies were found in the Green River quite close to where Bonner had been left. Evidence indicated that one victim, Opal Mills, may have been killed and dumped AFTER Bonner's body had been discovered. Later in the book, the authors discover other indications that the killer revisited "dump sites."

· Lack of communication between different police jurisdictions, and later between the Green River Task Force and the vice cops who worked The Strip where so many missing prostitutes were last seen. Smith and Guillen describe how officers on vice surveillance failed to write down license plates of customers frequenting The Strip, and how, at times, vice cops gave the impression that the killings were over, since they had not received current information from the task force.

· Disinterest in investigating missing persons reports involving prostitutes. Given the transient nature of prostitution, law enforcement tended to discount reports of missing prostitutes since many women worked a West Coast circuit to avoid problems with law. Only later did the task force make a serious effort to come up with a list of missing prostitutes and compare their dental records with unidentified bodies.

· Anti-prostitution efforts that helped clean up the prostitution problem on The Strip, but also resulted in numerous witnesses becoming harder to find as they moved elsewhere to pursue their trade.

· Intense press coverage that could have made witnesses "remember" something that they had merely seen reported. With a shortage of manpower in the early months of the investigation, police sometimes had difficulty getting a chance to interview witnesses before the news media interviewed them.

· County politics affected how much clout the King County sheriff and the lead investigator had in pulling together resources to work on the case. (The same seemed to be true of bodies found near Portland, Oregon, but "The Search" spends less time exploring what internal department pressures may have affected the Portland police chief's level of cooperation.)

· Lack of modern crime-fighting technology. Tools that we seem to take for granted today apparently weren't standard fare in even urban police departments in the early 1980s, including computers for organizing tips, lasers for detecting trace evidence, and equipment that could compare partial fingerprints to those on file elsewhere.

"The Search" begins with the early river discoveries, and then backtracks to briefly describe the victims' lives just before their disappearances. From there, the book switches between describing activities of other prostitutes who fell victim and police efforts to solve the crimes. This straight-forward chronological approach creates some confusion since personal details about a particular victim are described within the timeframe of her disappearance, rather than when her body was discovered. Since most remains weren't discovered for months or even years after the woman was killed, connecting the discovery with the personal details was difficult. An index or an appendix with victim information, including disappearance and discovery date, would have been helpful. Supplemental material in the book does include maps of the sites where bodies were found and photographs of the victims, which helped to individualize them

Although the 2001 arrest makes "The Search" somewhat out of date, the details about how police attempted to investigate this difficult-to-solve series of murders remains very fresh and very fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: In depth look at the Green River Killer
Review: A very detailed, in depth, look at the notorious Green River Killer. A straight, dead on picture of what it must have been like to be a part of the Green River Task Force. I could hardly put it down. The book doesn't focus on only one area though but, rather, gives you a close look at the various victims, cops and investigators. Hopefully an update will be made to this book to discuss Gary Ridgeway and his arrest in the first four or five Green River Killings.

Excellent reading along side Kepple's "Riverman".

Rating:
Summary: The better of the two books available
Review: Better than the Ted Bundy "Riverman" book, since you don't have to wade through that maniac's ravings. One of the better true crime books in that neither you (the reader) nor they (the author and his sources) really know who did it or why. This is what makes the Green River Killer case so disturbing--the very high number of victims taken in a short period of time from the same geographical area by someone who was never identified. Was it Ridgway? Who knows. The trial is upcoming.

Strengths: gets behind the scenes of the investigation and traces the growing horror of the sheer number of bodies being discovered. Points out some critical points in the investigation where costly mistakes were made (like not searching further up the river when the first bodies were found, and blowing a chance to catch the killer returning to the river because the media got wind of the stakeout and showed up with a helicopter!)

Weaknesses: Doesn't give a very good description of the scene around the Strip in 1982-84, nor speculate just why this area was the killer's hunting ground of choice. Gives some details on the victims, but not enough to make them real people. They remain simply street prostitutes with some background information. A critical missing piece is some accounts of how they lived while they were on the strip. But maybe nobody knows much about that. That's where the author should have dug a little deeper.

Worth reading if you're interested in true crime, and essential if you follow the Green River case.

Rating:
Summary: too many details about City Hall politics
Review: For years, I was hesitant to read this book. I have little interest in reading about true crime cases that are still unsolved. In 2001, a suspect was arrested and is believed to the Green River Killer. This book is the most complete work available on the Green River Killer and the story of the case.

The story starts in the early 80's in Seattle. The bodies of prostitues are being found all over the Seattle area. The last reported number of victims is 49. However, the actual total is known to be significantly higher. If it is accurate, this total is higher than any serial killer in American history. Smith and Guillen tell the chronological story of this investigation. The people of Seattle and police continue to find bodies throughout a four year period. The community is devestated and frustrated by the police's inability to catch the killer. Among the four main suspects mentioned in the book, the truck painter is the one who is goes unnamed. Ten years after the original publication of this book the new afterword tells the name of the truck painter who has become the primary suspect of the killings. Through the use of new DNA technology, Gary Leon Ridgway was directly linked to three of the murders. He was also indirectly linked to several others.

This book is a true crime masterpiece. The story is focused and stays on a chronological path. The new edition to the book adds a sense of closure to the case. In the future, the courts will tell if this sense of closure is real. Definitely, a must read for true crime fans.

Rating:
Summary: Now that he may be caught
Review: I had read this book a few years ago and I found it interesting, maybe partly because I live in the Northwest and the places and people were familiar to me. I don't think the book is above average as true crime books go--it gets a little too bogged down in details. However, once there was a recent arrest in some of the killings, I bought another copy and found it much more interesting this time. The person arrested is in the book as the truck painter who is one of the suspects all the way through. Tracing what law enforcement did to try to figure out and apprehend the killer is more fascinating now that it looks like they know who killed at least a number of these women. What I ended up feeling was a great sense of admiration and appreciation for all the law enforcement personnel who devoted much of their careers to this case. They were faced with so many leads to follow and so much information to sort out. I just hope that the prosecution will come to a just conclusion and lead to some peace for the families of all these girls, like Opal's brother who wrote a review of the book here.

Rating:
Summary: Really excellent book
Review: I read this book about 11 years ago and even did a college report on it. Really good in detail and certain suspects(probaly couldn't go into all of them because or privacy and sensetive subject material pertaining to the case). The most interesting of these suspects was Willam Jay Stevens. They did find I.D of a Portland prostitute who had been murdered in his possession. He died and the case reamins open although they did arrest another guy recently Gary Ridgeway. The evidence they have on him..material evidence..Opal Mills is the same as the one they found in Mel Foster's car( the beads, well maybe not the same evidence but, pertains to the same murder victim). It's kind of makes you wonder if there was more than one killer. I think that is a great possibility. Lots of good suspects and leads..still the case is unsolved to this day.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty darn good
Review: I've always been facinated by true crime stories. And this was the first book I picked up. In the past getting me to read was a task, and I just never cared much about reading. Therefore getting through a 200 page book took me months. I bought this book in an airport on my way to Las Vegas. It grabbed me in the airport waiting for a plane, I couldn't put it down. In fact I ended up reading for hours on my trip in Vegas instead of gambling (might have saved me a few bucks). Regardless, I finished this book in about 4-5 days. It's over 500 pages long so I even impressed myself.

I agree the politics gets a little too much at times, and it gets a little repetitive, but it does tell the story of "the search" for the Green River Killer. What makes this book even better now is that the killer has been caught and the book has been updated with more details. There were times late a night reading this book where I felt like someone was in the room with me, and that felt freaky. Obviously nobody was, but it's just the feeling I got that scared me pretty good.

Needless to say, I thought it was a great book to read. It's a tragedy that so many people died and that the police were so screwed up on this, but could I have done a better job? I doubt it, hind-sight is always 20-20. If you like good stories about true crime or serial killers, this one will get to you. Not many killed more than he did and even more rare is how long he was loose in today's times.

Reinhart and Kranske have my blessings for all that they went through over the years, and the toll it must have taken on their families as well as all the others that were involved. And to know they were so close but just didn't know is disturbing.

Buy this book, you won't regret it. You might find the police politics interesting as I did, or you might skip over a few paragraphs and get back to the discoveries, either way you shouldn't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty darn good
Review: I've always been facinated by true crime stories. And this was the first book I picked up. In the past getting me to read was a task, and I just never cared much about reading. Therefore getting through a 200 page book took me months. I bought this book in an airport on my way to Las Vegas. It grabbed me in the airport waiting for a plane, I couldn't put it down. In fact I ended up reading for hours on my trip in Vegas instead of gambling (might have saved me a few bucks). Regardless, I finished this book in about 4-5 days. It's over 500 pages long so I even impressed myself.

I agree the politics gets a little too much at times, and it gets a little repetitive, but it does tell the story of "the search" for the Green River Killer. What makes this book even better now is that the killer has been caught and the book has been updated with more details. There were times late a night reading this book where I felt like someone was in the room with me, and that felt freaky. Obviously nobody was, but it's just the feeling I got that scared me pretty good.

Needless to say, I thought it was a great book to read. It's a tragedy that so many people died and that the police were so screwed up on this, but could I have done a better job? I doubt it, hind-sight is always 20-20. If you like good stories about true crime or serial killers, this one will get to you. Not many killed more than he did and even more rare is how long he was loose in today's times.

Reinhart and Kranske have my blessings for all that they went through over the years, and the toll it must have taken on their families as well as all the others that were involved. And to know they were so close but just didn't know is disturbing.

Buy this book, you won't regret it. You might find the police politics interesting as I did, or you might skip over a few paragraphs and get back to the discoveries, either way you shouldn't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: An intense read of graphic horror... unfortunately-it's true
Review: The story developes along the Seattle, WA Police tw0 decade Department's hunt for a real-life serial killer of prostitutes, young girls, and mothers along the a strip between the Sea-Tac cities of the Pacific Coast area. Similar to the suspense novels of the fictional writers, authors Smith and Guillen portray a tale of unspeakable horror that keeps the reader glued to each page in anticipation of each chapter, only to be shocked of each and every outcome. Definately a once in a lifetime read. I would only recommend reading the book once, for it remains a strong tale of what nightmares are all about.

Rating:
Summary: Not good writing or pacing
Review: This book meandered for hundreds of pages, dwelling on minute details and long-winded memories. I cannot recommend this book. These people actually made serial murder boring. And that is almost unforgivable. Go buy something interesting instead.