Dr. Kathy Taylor, the state of Washington’s only forensic anthropologist who helped identify the youngest Green River Killer victim in late 2020, died on Aug. 1, according to Public Health – Seattle & King County. The cause of death was not available at post time.

Taylor, 55, was a Mercer Island High School (MIHS) class of 1984 graduate and received the school’s Pathfinder Award for distinguished graduates on March 31.

In a statement from Chief King County Medical Examiner Dr. Richard Harruff posted on publichealthinsider.com, he noted that KT — as they often called her — was passionate about sharing her knowledge with students, doctors, law enforcement members, coroners and the public.

“The impact of Dr. Taylor on forensic investigation locally, regionally and nationally was profound, as was her impact on the colleagues, families, students and the countless others she touched. We will miss her,” Harruff said of the Renton Highlands resident.

Taylor began her work as a forensic anthropologist and death investigator for King County in 1996 and became the state and county’s full-time forensic anthropologist in 2004 while Green River Killer Gary Ridgway was leading the Sheriff’s Office to sites with victims’ remains, according to a Reporter story in April of 2020.

In 1996, Taylor laid out nearly an entire skeleton of who was referred to as Bones 10, which forensic genealogy and DNA experts identified as Wendy Stephens late last year. The 14-year-old runaway from Colorado in 1983 was Ridgway’s youngest victim.

“We got word that it was a positive match. Literally that brought tears to my eyes and dancing around my office. Green River is what got me interested in the field. I got to work on the case and we solved the one that was really on my bucket list,” said Taylor in the Reporter story, noting that they went public with the identification announcement in January of 2021.

Taylor, who was into detective stories and crime dramas in high school, developed a burgeoning interest in one day working on a Green River Killer-type case, she told the Reporter. In the early ’80s, she frequently perused the stories in the Seattle Times, which told of members of the King County Sheriff’s Office locating skeletons of Green River Killer victims.

“I remember just reading that and thinking, ‘How are they figuring out who this is? How are they figuring out it’s a female? How are they determining how old she is? And all of that from bones when it’s skeletal,” said Taylor, who remembers people being horrified that a serial killer was on the loose.

Taylor said she was honored to receive the MIHS award, for which she was nominated by Lauren Bouju Davies, a 2017 MIHS graduate who is now studying forensic science at Seattle University.

Following her MIHS schooling — during which she took a bio-med course during her senior year — Taylor continued her studies in college and later received her bachelor of science degree in anthropology and zoology from the University of Michigan and her master’s and doctoral degrees in anthropology from the University of Arizona.

During the MIHS bio-med course, students witnessed a non-forensic autopsy at a King County hospital, “which was awesome,” Taylor said.

Over the years, Taylor has made a major impact on a multitude of people inside and outside of her field, as noted by Harruff.

“Kathy was one of a kind. She will be very missed,” reads one post on the Mercer Island School District Facebook page.

Another poster on the Public Health Facebook page wrote: “Rest In Peace Dr. Taylor. Your tireless efforts to help give people back their name made our community better. Condolences to her family.”