TRACE EVIDENCE: The Hunt for the I-5 Serial Killer by Bruce Henderson

Author:Bruce Henderson [Henderson, Bruce]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: True Crime, Murder, Serial Killers
ISBN: 9780989467506
Google: Ig8gAgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Bruce Henderson Books
Published: 2013-11-19T11:00:00+00:00

THE MISSING persons report on Darcie Renee Frackenpohl collected dust for more than a month before being reviewed by a King County detective.

The report finally landed on the desk of Detective Mike Hatch, formerly of the Green River Task Force and recently assigned to a new squad formed to track missing persons and teenage runaways who fit the profile of Green River victims.

The first bodies in the local unsolved murder series had been discovered in July and August 1982, when the remains of five young women were found in and near the meandering Green River in southern King County. Two of the bodies had heavy rocks placed on them to hold them underwater. The press dubbed the unknown suspect as the “Green River Killer.” Since the grisly discoveries that summer, a total of forty-one young women had been killed in what was to become one of the largest serial murders in U.S. history.

A majority of the bodies were skeletonized by the time they were found, but most of the victims were thought to have been strangled, and usually with their own clothing, although in numerous cases no clothing was found. After being abducted, the victims were transported to rural dump sites.

Over time, a clear profile of the victims had emerged. The majority were young—or young-appearing—females last seen on Pacific Highway South near the Sea-Tac Airport, the Rainier Valley area of Seattle, or downtown. The majority had some connection with a street-type lifestyle (although thirteen victims did not), either as known prostitutes or through having friends or associates involved in the illicit trade.

The special squad—consisting of Hatch and two other detectives—had been formed to investigate a growing backlog of some 200 missing persons cases in King County, including about two dozen young women with street lifestyles. One of the goals of the squad was to determine if the Green River Killer was still active. A similar effort three years earlier that evaluated reports on missing persons and teenage runaways had given police their first understanding of just how prolific this serial killer was.

Hatch called Judy Frackenpohl on October 8, 1987, to see if she’d heard from her daughter in the thirty-four days since Judy had filed the report. She told him that she had not.

The next morning, Hatch checked King County Vice records and found several contacts his department had had with Darcie, including a prostitution-related arrest in June (1987). That same morning, he called Judy and asked for copies of her phone bills showing the collect calls from Sacramento. Judy said she would copy the records, and be available to meet with him. Hatch said he wouldn’t be able to sit down with her. Three days later, the detective picked up the bills from the receptionist in the lobby of Judy’s office. He called the California numbers, finding them to be pay phones.

When she heard nothing more from Detective Hatch, Judy telephoned him as the two-month anniversary of Darcie’s disappearance approached. She called to say she still hadn’t heard from Darcie, and to remind him that someone cared.

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