Giselle Lovvorn, 17, traveled America following The Grateful Dead, but the freckled blond teenager with a genius I.Q. had decided to go home to her California family when she vanished from the Strip in July 1982. Her body was found in late September, the first victim of the GRK to be left away from the river.

Melvyn Foster, a taxi driver, knew the Strip and its habitués well. When he came forward to offer his advice to the task force, he instead became a “person of interest” as he revealed startling knowledge of the young prostitutes along the highway.

Detective Dave Reichert (LEFT) and Detective Mick Stewart during an extensive search of Melvyn Foster’s father’s home near Olympia, Washington, in September 1982.

Mary Bridget Meehan, 18, was a bright Irish adventuress, much loved by her family. She was a rebel who longed for a safe harbor, babies, and music, but she wandered too far to come home again.

Mary Bridget and her longtime boyfriend Ray. She was 8½ months pregnant with Ray’s baby when she disappeared from the Strip on September 15, 1982.

Detectives and medical examiners remove the remains of Mary Bridget Meehan and her unborn child from a shallow grave only a few blocks off the Strip in November 1983. She was one of the few victims who had been buried rather than just dumped.

Constance Elizabeth “Connie” Naon lived in her car, worked at a minimum-wage job, and occasionally on the streets, trying to make it on her own.

Green River Task Force detectives look for physical evidence at the site where Connie Naon’s, Mary Bridget Meehan’s, and Kelly Marie Ware’s bodies were found near SeaTac Airport.

Shawnda Leea Summers at the beach in a happier time. Missing for a long time, her remains were finally identified as those found in an apple orchard south of the SeaTac Airport, not far from those of Giselle Lovvorn’s.

Frank Adamson led the Green River Task Force longer than any other command officer. He had high hopes of closing the cases, but after seven years the killer was still elusive.

Sandra Kay “Sand-e” Gabbert, 17, was a free spirit full of life. She told her mother that she could make more in one night on the Strip than she could in two weeks at a fast-food restaurant. In the spring of 1983, Sand-e promised her, “I’ll be careful,” and walked away into the night…forever.

Carrie Ann Rois, 16, wanted to be a model and actress but she met the wrong man. Once, he let her go, and she trusted him. In the spring of 1983, he didn’t.

Carrie, age five, opens her Christmas presents. Her happy childhood days evaporated as she entered her teens and became a truant and runaway.

Carrie Ann Rois ended up in a dank ravine at this Star Lake body-cluster site. A dirt biker thought her skull was a football before realizing what it really was. Six victims were found here, and Carrie was the last to be discovered.

1985. Ann Rule stands at the Star Lake Road site next to a tree still emblazoned with a bright red “1” to mark where the first body was found. It was Gail Lynn Mathews, whose boyfriend had seen her last riding with a stranger in a pickup truck on the Pac HiWay.

Kimi-Kai Pitsor, 16, vanished within a day of Sand-e Gabbert, but her remains were found far away in a different cluster—at Auburn’s Mountain View Cemetery. This stolen Lincoln Town Car, pushed over a ravine, was unconnected to the four murder victims, but led searchers to the remains found nearby. Kimi-Kai was the only one identified.

Four witness drawings—individuals’ memories varied greatly. Were any of them the Green River Killer?

Randy Mullinax spent many years on the Green River Task Force. A young detective here, he would become both a shrewd investigator and a tremendous comfort to grieving families.

Mary Sue Bello, 25, tried to help the Green River Task Force stop the roving killer when she reported a suspicious John.

While Mary Sue Bello had her wild side, she was also a loving daughter and granddaughter who was turning her life around when she disappeared. This is her mother’s favorite picture of her.

The small house on 32nd Street South looked much like others. Friends, neighbors, and the owner’s girlfriends who were invited inside had no idea what horrors took place here.

The Green River Killer’s fortunes rose steadily as he moved to a better house and neighborhood during the two decades he eluded detectives.

The Green River Killer took his un-suspecting prey to his master bedroom in his first house to have sex, knowing what would happen afterward. Ironically, he chose a wall mural that resembled the lonely woods where he planned to leave their bodies.

Ann Rule helped Forensic Artist Betty Pat Gatliff rebuild a face on the skull of an unknown Green River victim found at the Star Lake cluster. It took X-rays of Gail Lynn Mathews’s broken bones from a boating accident to confirm her identity.

Matt Haney joined the Green River Task Force in the mideighties, and partnered first with Randy Mullinax. Haney honed in on one suspect, but it would take almost fifteen years to prove he was right.

Delise Louise “Missy” Plager in one of her rare happy moments. A twin, she had to be resuscitated at birth and survived despite great odds. The space between her front teeth helped to identify her skeletonized remains.

Randy Mullinax (LEFT) and Fae Brooks (RIGHT) dig and sift dirt near where Missy Plager’s remains were found in the forest near Highway 18 and I-90.