Cold Cases in Washington
ColdCaseIndex documents 20 cold cases in Washington, spanning 1947–2019. 8 of these cases remain fully unsolved. Each case page includes documented details, status, and information on how to submit a tip.
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By Status
All Washington Cases
Nikki Kuhnhausen
Seventeen-year-old transgender girl Nikki Kuhnhausen was murdered by David Bogdanov after he discovered she was transgender. Her body was found months later. Bogdanov was convicted.
Ingrid Lyne
Forty-year-old Ingrid Lyne was murdered in Renton, Washington. Her dismembered remains were found in multiple locations including trash bins. John Robert Charlton, a man she had met through online dating, was convicted o
Sky Elijah Metalwala
Two-year-old Sky Metalwala was reported missing in Bellevue, Washington, in November 2011 after his mother said she left him in a car that ran out of gas. Investigators found the car had fuel and no one had seen Sky for
Lindsey Baum
Lindsey Baum, 10, vanished while walking home from a friend's house in McCleary, Washington, in June 2009. Her remains were found by hunters in remote eastern Washington in 2017 and identified in 2018, turning the case i
Sofia Lucerno Juarez
Four-year-old Sofia Juarez disappeared near her Kennewick, Washington, home the night before her fifth birthday in February 2003, prompting the state's first Amber Alert. A witness reported seeing a girl led crying into
"Lyle Stevik" (John Doe)
A man who checked into a Grays Harbor County, Washington, motel under the alias "Lyle Stevik" was found hanged in his room in September 2001, and his identity eluded investigators for nearly 17 years. In May 2018 the DNA
Thomas C. Wales
Federal prosecutor Thomas Wales, also known for his gun control advocacy, was shot through the window of his home-office in Seattle by a single bullet. A suspect was identified but never charged due to insufficient evide
Leah Roberts
Leah Toby Roberts, a 23-year-old from Durham, North Carolina, disappeared in March 2000 after driving across the country to Bellingham, Washington. Her wrecked Jeep was found days later off a remote road near the North C
Teekah Lewis
Two-year-old Teekah Lewis vanished from the arcade of a Tacoma, Washington, bowling alley while her family bowled nearby in January 1999. Despite more than 700 tips and descriptions of a man and a car seen that night, no
Mia Zapata
Mia Zapata, the 27-year-old lead singer of Seattle punk band The Gits, was raped and strangled in 1993 in a killing that shook the city's music scene. The case went unsolved for nearly a decade until DNA evidence identif
Sarah Yarborough
Sarah Yarborough, 16, was sexually assaulted and strangled at Federal Way High School near Seattle in 1991. The case went cold for nearly three decades until forensic genetic genealogy identified Patrick Nicholas, who wa
Michella Welch
Michella Welch, a 12-year-old girl, was abducted, sexually assaulted, and killed after disappearing from a park in Tacoma, Washington, in 1986. The case went cold for decades until investigative genetic genealogy identif
Wah Mee Club Massacre
Thirteen people were robbed and murdered at the Wah Mee private gambling club in Seattle's Chinatown. Ng Wai-chiu, Tony Ng, and Willie Mak committed the massacre. Mak and Ng Wai-chiu received death sentences; Tony Ng rec
Gary Ridgway Unidentified Victims
Beyond his confirmed 49 victims, Gary Ridgway claimed to have killed as many as 90 women. Several of the confirmed victims were not identified for years. Ridgway continues to provide information from prison about additio
Green River Killer Victims
Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, murdered at least 49 women in Washington State. He targeted mostly sex workers and runaways. Ridgway was convicted in 2003 after DNA evidence linked him to four victims. He pleaded g
Robert Lee Yates Victims
Robert Lee Yates Jr. was a decorated Army National Guard helicopter pilot who confessed to 13 murders in eastern Washington and convicted of two in Oregon. He targeted mostly sex workers in Spokane. He was sentenced to 4
Ted Bundy Washington Victims
Several of Ted Bundy's earliest confirmed victims disappeared from Washington State in 1974, including Lynda Ann Healy. Bundy attended the University of Washington before his killing spree expanded across the country. Mo
D.B. Cooper
A man calling himself Dan Cooper hijacked Northwest Orient Flight 305 in 1971, extorted $200,000 in ransom, and parachuted from the plane somewhere over the Pacific Northwest. He was never identified or found. A small bu
Ann Marie Burr
Eight-year-old Ann Marie Burr vanished from her Tacoma, Washington home. Serial killer Ted Bundy, who lived nearby as a teenager, has been speculated as a suspect but the connection was never proven.
Fred Crisman & Harold Dahl
Two Army Air Force investigators were killed when their B-25 bomber crashed near Kelso, Washington while transporting alleged UFO debris from the Maury Island incident. The crash was officially attributed to engine failu