This memorial website was created to honor the memory of Gail Lynn Mathews, aged 24 (exact birthdate unknown, but she was born in 1959), who was murdered by Gary Ridgway, the "Green River Killer."  Gail was separated from her husband and had left behind a young daughter, who was living with Gail's estranged husband. 

According to Ann Rule's book, GREEN RIVER RUNNING RED, Gail was living a precarious, day-to-day existence with a man she'd met at Trudy's Tavern near the airport, a 34 year old man named Curt.  Curt had drug and alcohol problems, and Gail had fallen into a bad lifestyle, with no job, no car and very little money, living with him and trying to work out her problems.  They lived in motels and were staying at the New West Motel when Gail was last seen by Curt in a pickup truck at the corner of Apr. 10, 1983.  Gail and Curt had been in the VIP Tavern, one of Curt's regular hangouts, when Curt decided to head out to the Midway Tavern, another place where they held regular card games, because he thought he might win something at the card table.  He regularly played cards for money in these taverns, and Gail sometimes contributed some money, but she never told him where she got it, and he never asked her. 

The evening of Gail's disappearance, Curt walked away, leaving Gail at the VIP Tavern alone, because she knew the woman bartender.  He was waiting at 216th Street and Pacific Highway South when he saw Gail sitting in the passenger seat of a pickup truck that was either blue or gray and which was noticeable because it was sanded and had primer spots, as though it was in the process of being repainted (Ridgway was a truck painter).  Although Curt waved at her, Gail did not respond. She had a "frozen" expression on her face, and his last sight of her was that look on her face as the pickup truck moved away.  216th Street and PHS was the intersection where Ridgway picked up many of his victims, including Keli Kay McGinness, who is still missing.  When Curt saw the truck with Gail sitting in it, he was terrified she was in danger and he ran after her, but the truck sped up and he could not catch up with it.  This would be the last time that Gail Mathews would ever be seen alive.

Curt walked back to the motel where he and Gail had been staying. Worried about her, he phoned the police to report her missing, but was told he could not make a missing persons' report because he was not related to her.  Curt kept looking for Gail in the days that followed, but could not find her anywhere.  He feared she had met with danger.  Ultimately, Curt moved away from the Seattle area and much later, he ended up in jail in Texas; it was then that he learned that Gail Lynn Mathews, to whom he'd grown close, had been murdered. Her remains were found on September 18, 1983, at the Star Lake Road site, a place where Ridgway left a number of his victims. 

REST IN PEACE, GAIL.

Background Music: "Gone Too Soon" by Michael Jackson.

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