This week’s missing person is Margaret Elaine Diaz, missing from Washington since 1988. She vanished on her 32nd birthday, leaving behind three kids. She had a “high-risk lifestyle” whatever that means.
Whenever I hear about a woman going missing in the Seattle-Tacoma area in the eighties, particularly those with “high-risk lifestyles,” I think of Gary Leon Ridgeway. I’m quite sure he committed many more homicides than the 49 he pleaded guilty to.
The Charley Project Blog 
I’m pretty sure he did as well. Law enforcement and prosecutors have been looking really hard for victims he either forgot about or was never identified as being one of his victims who were not included on his plea deal so they can get an excuse to execute his sorry ass.
I posted a potential one the other day:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/j/jackson_linda.html
Linda Jackson is still listed on the Green River Killer page on the King County Sheriff’s Office website. She is still listed in the section titled “Help Us Identify These Women”, though her name is indicated in the caption.
So they seem to think she was a Ridgeway victim even before they knew who she was.
http://www.kingcounty.gov/safety/sheriff/Enforcement/Investigations/GreenRiver.aspx
They won’t be executing him. Even if they brought him to trial for more killings he will die of old age. Anyway he’s around sixty now, he’s had the best years of his life as a free man.
If I was paying taxes int he state of Washington I wouldn’t want to pay for another trial when he is never getting out of prison. Bad enough I’d have to pay for his upkeep as it is.
While I agree Ridgway will most likely die in prison it should be noted that he only has a plea agreement with King Country, (Seattle)
He has no such deal with Pierce County, (Tacoma) which is were Margaret was last seen alive. He has never confessed to murdering anyone outside the King County jurisdiction even though several victims remains were located far beyond its boarders.
I was watching a segment on him this morning on Twisted. They noted on there they think he is responsible for the disappearance and murder of well over 60 women.
I also thought of him when I read where Margaret was from.
Hi JJ I agree.
I have always wondered if all of Ridgway’s victim’s fit the profile, working girls from the Seattle area, or did he on occasion travel in his pursuit of victims?
Tami Faye Kowalchuk, 17, was last seen alive on December 26, 1999 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington.
She was last seen in front of her families home on East Morton Avenue in Tacoma, getting into a small white car occupied by person/ persons unknown.
In various interviews Ridgway has claimed to have murdered as many as 71 teens/young women, far more then were ever on the Green River Task Force victims list.
Patricia Yellowrobe, who disappeared in January 1998, is the last of Ridgway’s confessed victims, but he was not apprehended till November 30, 2001 and he continued picking up prostitutes till the time of his arrest. For that reason Tami has been discussed as possible victim, although investigators have never stated that he, or anyone else, is a suspect in her disappearance.
it’s entirely possible it was Green river.Sometimes i see missing persons on Doe Network from Washington or Oregon, young women missing in the 80s and I think of him.
I don’t support the death penalty, but I understand why people would want this guy executed. However, he did make a deal and agreed to help authorities locate bodies. He will die in prison one way or another, but at least maybe some more of those women will be found or identified.
I am Margaret’s daughter and I know that Ridgeway did not commit her murder due to DNA, however it is my belief that a Pascual Diaz did either commit her murder himself or employed someone else to do it after they divorced. He was deported back to Cuba in 1996 therefore “supposedly” nothing can be done. In anyone has any information please contact the police.
Out of curiosity, since your mother’s body has never been found, how could they use DNA to prove Ridgeway was not involved?
Margaret was a beautiful young woman. I hope you get resolution to her case someday.
She is my sister and I agree with joscelyn my niece, from what I understand he called our mother and told her ” when I find her I will cut her up in so many pieces you’ll never find he” tomorrow is her birthday and another year we don’t have any answers, I wish someone could help us to put this to rest can’t enjoy this holiday!
God hear our prayers!
Hi, have you guys ever thought about making a Facebook page for her? I know it’s been a long time since she disappeared but it still doesn’t hurt. I could make a facebook page for her with the permission of the family.
Have you or anyone in your family submitted your dna for missing persons and the unidentified? If not you should really do it just in case something come up or has come up.
Hi, have you guys ever thought about making a Facebook page for her? I know it’s been a long time since she disappeared but it still doesn’t hurt. I could make a facebook page for her with the permission of the family.
You don’t need permission of the family to make a Facebook page for a missing person. That’s not something I do though.
I figured but thought I’d still ask.