Green River victim’s mother files lawsuit against suspect

Associated Press

SEATTLE — The mother of one of the Green River Killer’s first victims is suing Gary Ridgway, who is charged with four deaths in the case.

Dorothy Mills, the mother of Opal Charmaine Mills, filed the wrongful-death lawsuit Wednesday in King County Superior Court. The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages, including funeral and burial expenses and compensation for pain and suffering.

But Mills said she does not expect to see any money from Ridgway. She said she filed the lawsuit to prevent Ridgway from profiting from his story through book or movie rights.

"I just don’t want him to make a lot of money off of these girls," she told KOMO-TV.

Mills’ daughter was 16 when she was strangled and dumped beside the Green River in August 1982.

Ridgway, 52, of Auburn, was arrested late last month after investigators used DNA evidence to link him to Mills and three other victims, authorities say.

Detectives have attributed the deaths of at least 49 women between 1982 and 1984 to the Green River Killer. Dozens of other cases of killed or missing women from San Diego to Vancouver, B.C., could be related.

Mills said she was stunned by Ridgway’s arrest.

"Actually, what I thought was, ‘Oh no,’ because I didn’t want to go through this again," Mills told KOMO.

Mills said she saw Ridgway in court last week when he pleaded innocent to the charges.

"I thought he’d be a strong-type person, but he didn’t look as strong as I thought he would," she said. "It wasn’t so much hate or anything, just, ‘How could you do this?’ That’s what kept coming through my mind: ‘How could you do this?’ "

The lawsuit names Ridgway and his wife, Judith Ridgway, as defendants.

Mills is being represented at no charge by Seattle lawyer William Bailey.

"It would make the pain of losing her daughter all the worse that Gary Ridgway made money on it," he said.

Bailey said he expected the amount of damages, if Mills wins the lawsuit, to be "substantial." Attorneys are barred by state law from stating specific amounts sought in civil suits.

He noted that Washington, unlike several other states, does not have a law preventing convicted criminals from profiting by selling the rights to their story.