Remains of teen girl found in Tualatin in 1985 finally identified

State medical examiners have used dental records to identify the remains of a girl police believe was a victim of Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer.

The remains were found in Washington County in 1985 in a wooded area across from the Tualatin Country Club, but had since been misplaced until earlier this year.

The Washington County Sheriff's office announced today that in October, the Oregon State Medical Examiner identified the remains as Angela Marie Girdner, 16. The Portland girl was a student at Beaverton's St. Mary of the Valley High School, now, now Valley Catholic High School, when her parents reported her missing in 1983, sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. David Thompson said.

Along with the remains of Tammie Liles, Girdner's remains were found in close proximity to two other women Ridgway earlier this decade pleaded guilty to killing. Shirley Shirell and Denise Bush were found about a mile away in Bull Mountain in June of 1985.

Ridgway pleaded guilty to murdering 48 women, most in the Seattle area, and is serving 48 life sentences in Washington. Ridgway testified that he killed Shirell and Bush in Seattle and transferred them to Oregon. Ridgway has denied killing Liles or Girdner, Thompson said. He said police do not know whether Girdner was in the Seattle area prior to her death.

Girdner was a straight-A student until 1983 when her parents believe she "met the wrong people," Thompson said. He said Girdner took a bus from Portland to school in Beaverton each day, and may have met people on the bus who led her to drugs and prostitution.
Local authorities were unable to identify Girdner or Liles after finding the bodies.