Cold case squad needs public’s help to solve decades-old disappearance

The Cold Case Squad of the King County Sheriff's Office is now trying to solve the 1985 disappearance of Virginia "Anne" Rambus. There isn't new evidence in the case or new technology that will help detectives tie a suspect to her and her disappearance.

By Dean Radford • January 25, 2012 5:08 pm
Virginia ‘Anne’ Rambus was reported missing in Skyway in May 1985.
Virginia ‘Anne’ Rambus was reported missing in Skyway in May 1985.

The Cold Case Squad of the King County Sheriff’s Office is now trying to solve the 1985 disappearance of Virginia “Anne” Rambus.

There isn’t new evidence in the case or new technology that will help detectives tie a suspect to her and her disappearance.

But there is the cold-case squad, which was formed with a federal grant in 2009. Since then, two detectives have worked through a backlog of 200 cold cases.

County detectives have had success recently in solving decades-old crimes.

Arlene Roberts, an 80-year-old widow, was found dead more than 30 years ago in her trailer at the Lakeshore Manor Mobile Home Park on Lake Washington. Late last year 50-year-old Ronald Way MacDonald of Nevada pleaded not guilty to homicide charges.

MacDonald was tracked down because of advances in Automated Fingerprint Identification System or AFIS technology. The detectives had submitted fingerprints in evidence that the new technology was able to analyze.

They’re now at Rambus’ case and need the public’s help, nearly 27 years after she disappeared from her apartment complex in the 6800 block of South 123rd Street in Skyway.

Rambus was 19-years-old when she left her apartment on May 22, 1985, to go to a party with a friend who hasn’t been identified. She hasn’t been seen since.

Detectives are interested in hearing from anyone who has information linking Virginia to Jesse Pratt, who is serving a life sentence in Oregon.

Pratt lived near Virginia at the time of her disappearance and witnesses told detectives that Virginia was known to Pratt, according to Sgt. Cindi West, a Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.

“He’s a person of interest,” said West.

Pratt, who used the moniker “The Candy Man,” had contact with many of the teens in the area where he lived, West said. He has a long history of violence against women and is currently serving a life sentence in Oregon for the 1986 murder if Seattleite, Carrie Love.

During the time of the disappearance Pratt had access to a yellow 1978 Cadillac Eldorado.

Anyone with information is asked call King County Sheriff’s Detective Tompkins at 206-205-7810