Green River - Director's Cut
Genre: Crime/Thriller
Director: Vadim Perelman
Writer: Lon Charles
Cast: Russell Crowe, Miles Teller, Robert Downey Jr., Alessandro Nivola, Carla Gugino, Amanda Michalka, Paul Sparks
Plot: Kent, Washington. Outside of a slaughterhouse, a worker takes a cigarette break along the banks of the Green River. He spots something floating in the water. As the object gets closer, he realizes it is a woman's dead body. He scurries back inside to notify the police. Major Richard Kraske (Paul Sparks) arrives at the scene with rookie homicide detective Dave Reichert (Miles Teller) as officers in a police boat struggle to wrestle the waterlogged corpse onto their boat. Kraske tells Reichart that floaters are never easy clearances. He gives Reichart a pat on the back and tells him to start detecting.
Back at the station in Seattle, Reichert quickly links the body they found to another body found in the Green River a month prior. Kraske warns Reichert that two bodies may be an anomoly rather than some sort of spree killer. Later in the week while Reichart is awaiting lab results on the floater, he gets a call from Kraske informing him that three more bodies have turned up in the Green River. Kraske tells Reichert that with now four bodies all found in the span of a month in the river, the department is putting together a Green River Task Force and he wants Reichert to help lead the investigation. Reichart is flattered, but comments that he doesn't know anything about leading such a large investigation. Kraske suggests Reichert head over to the State Attorney General's office and talk to Robert Keppel for help. Reichart asks who Keppel is, and Kraske explains that Keppel used to be a detective with the department investigating the "Ted Murders" and had zeroed in on Ted Bundy before he left the state.
Reichert drives south to the capital in Olympia, Washington, and arrives at the office of Robert Keppel (Russell Crowe). Keppel tells Reichert that they've probably got a serial killer on their hands with the Green River bodies. Reichert asks if Keppel would be willing to volunteer his expertise as part of the task force given his background on the Ted Bundy case. Keppel comments that he may have suspected Bundy in the murders but wasn't able to prove it in time to save several more women from losing their lives. Reichert leaves Keppel with his business card and asks him to give him a call or stop by if he's willing to lend a hand.
Robert Keppel arrives home and his wife Sande (Carla Gugino) asks him how his day was. He tells her the police asked for his help in the new Green River case. She asks him if he's going to help, and he admits that he hasn't made up his mind on the matter. Part of him never wants to deal with a serial killer case again, but another part of him wants to stop the killer to help make up for missing out on Bundy years prior. Sande tells her husband that it sounds like he has already made up his mind.
At the sheriff's office, Reichert is putting up pictures of other potential Green River victims on a cork board in the conference room acting as the task force headquarters. Keppel walks into the room and asks if they've identified any of the victims yet. Reichert is happy that Keppel has come by and says that they've only been able to identify a could of them as local street walkers. Keppel suggests they start pulling the files of anyone arrested in the past few years of violence against prostitutes. At Reichert and Keppel's urging, Kraske orders officers to stake out the SeaTac strip where some of the victims were reported to be working.
Keppel enters his office in Olympia and finds an envelope post marked from the Florida State Prison in Raiford, Florida. Intrigued, Keppel opens it and find a letter. He skips to the end and sees that the letter is signed "Sincerely, Ted Bundy". Keppel brings the letter with him to the task force headquarters and shows it to Reichert, explaining that Bundy is apparently offering his assistance in capturing the killer in the Green River case, who he calls "The Riverman" in the letter. Reichert asks why Bundy would make such an offer, and Keppel says that Bundy is probably just trying to avoid death row. Reichert points out that they've got over 20 bodies found in and around the river by now so it wouldn't hurt to see what someone like Bundy has to offer.
Keppel and Reichert fly into Jacksonville and drive their rental car to the Florida State Prison in Raiford. They flash their law enforcement credentials to the guards, who lead them to the prison's death row visitation room where they find Ted Bundy (Robert Downey Jr.) waiting for them in the middle of the room. He gets up and offers them each a handshake, but the detectives turn it down and take their seats. Bundy says it's nice to meet them, but Keppel is quick to point out that they've met before. He brought Bundy in for questioning for some of his Seattle murders. Bundy apologizes for not recognizing him, but he's been around a lot of cops over the years. Keppel declines his request. Bundy laments that he isn't going to have much to go off of just from what he's read in the newspapers in the prison library. Keppel tells him to go ahead and try. Bundy suggests that the killer is probably going back to the bodies that haven't ended up in the river to have sex with them. As Bundy speaks, Reichert swiftly takes notes. He tells the detectives if they find a fresh body to stake out the area, the killer will very likely return.
Back in Seattle, the police bring Gary Ridgway (Alessandro Nivola) in for questioning when they find him hanging around the SeaTac strip. They pull his record and discover that he was arrested for soliciting prostitution. Reichert wants him hooked up to a polygraph machine. Keppel reminds him that it isn't admissible in court. Reichert says he knows that but he wants to know if he's their guy. Ridgway passes the polygraph with flying colors. Ridgway smiles at the detectives as he is released and wishes them best of luck in trying to capture the killer of all those whores. Reichert punches a wall in anger. Keppel tells him to calm down. Reichert tells him that he thought they finally had their guy after a few years on the case.
Reichert goes to see Bundy back in Florida without Keppel. Bundy is pleasantly surprised to see him. Reichert shows Bundy the case files he wanted to see before. Bundy asks Reichert if they ever staked out the body dump sites. Reichert says they didn't turn up nything that way although there was a guy he liked for the murders but he passed a polygraph. Bundy laughs, saying any sociopath can pass a lie detector, it's not rocket science. Reichert asks why he suspected the Riverman of necrophilia. Bundy admits that's what he would have done with the bodies.
Keppel finds out that Reichert went to see Bundy without him and admonishes him at the station. Reichert admits it was mostly a waste of time and agrees with Keppel's initial theory that Bundy is just trying to avoid the electric chair a little longer. Keppel apologizes for getting angry. He says that he doesn't blame Reichert. It's been over four years since they took on the case and they are no closer to stopping the bastard with over 30 bodies on the victim board. Reichert tells Keppel that Bundy did say one interesting thing: that any sociopath could pass a polygraph. He then tells Keppel that he wants to take another run at Gary Ridgway since there was just something creepy about him. Keppel suggests Reichert round up any and all circumstantial evidence they had on him and take it to a judge. Maybe it will be enough to get a search warrant for the suspect's house.
Sande Keppel shows her husband the morning paper and points out an article about Ted Bundy that the governor of Florida has refused any more execution postponements. Keppel comments that the man deserves to die, even if he never confessed to all of the murders they suspect him of, including some that he investigated himself.
Reichert arrives at the residence of Gary Ridgway with a search warrant as well as a warrant to collect DNA samples from him via hair and saliva. Ridgway seems stunned, but has no choice but to go along with everything. Reichert quickly notices that the floors of the house are bare as if carpet had been recently removed. Ridgway claims that he ordered some new carpet but it hasn't come in yet.
Keppel arrives in Florida to talk to Bundy one last time before he's executed. Bundy asks if Keppel is there to watch him fry. Keppel says he's there to get closure for the family of Georgeann Hawkins. Bundy asks who that is, but Keppel isn't buying it and says that he doesn't think someone who takes as much pride in his work as Bundy would forget anyone he killed. Bundy asks for a refresher. Keppel tells Bundy that Georgeann Hawkins (Amanda Michalka) was a pretty young woman who was a student at the University of Washington. Bundy jokes that could describe many women he already confessed to killing. Keppel says that surprisingly he never confessed to this one and the body has never been found. Bundy says he must not have done that one then. Keppel tells Bundy that he doesn't buy that one bit. Keppel eggs him on a bit, and Bundy finally slips that he did indeed kill Hawkins. Bundy describes using crutches and purposely dropping his briefcase. She came over to help him take his briefcase to his car. Once they got to his car, Bundy grabbed a hidden crowbar and beat Hawkins over the head with it. He then put her in his car and drove away. While he drove she woke up, but only incoherently talked about her upcoming Spanish test, so he beat her again with the crowbar. He drove her to a secluded location near Lake Sammamish where he cut her head off and buried it. Keppel pulls out a map of Washington and asks Bundy to mark the spot he buried the head. After Bundy draws a little 'X' on the map, he pleads with Keppel to talk to the judge because he doesn't want to be executed. Keppel tells Bundy that he should have thought of that before he killed dozens of young women. Keppel then gets up and leaves the prison.
Back in Washington, Keppel tells Reichert that he's retiring now that he has closure for the Hawkins family. He wishes Reichert all the best in capturing the so-called Riverman. Reichert shakes his hand and wishes him a good retirement.
Reichert is looking through all of the evidence in the Green River case. He notices trace amounts of a commercial-grade truck spray paint were found underneath three of the victim's fingernails. Reichert has an apiphany and looks through Ridgway's file. Sure enough, Ridgway works as a painter at the Kenworth truck factory. Reichert has every piece of evidence and every DNA sample run through the lab again. Through all the evidence, Reichert is able to connect Ridgway to 49 different victims. Reichert arrives at Ridgway's door backed by a group of deputies. Ridgway is less happy to see Reichert this time as he is arrested.
- Between 1982-1998, Gary Ridgway killed at least 49 women, although he has confessed to killing as many as 71. In order to avoid the death penalty, he agreed to disclose the location of still-missing women that he murdered. He is currently incarcerated at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington.
- Ted Bundy was executed via the electric chair in 1989. He had confessed to 30 murders, although Robert Keppel always suspected that the total was much higher.
- Dave Reichert was appointed sheriff of King County in 1997. He ran for Congress in 2004 and served the US House of Representatives for 12 years before retiring.
- Robert Keppel retired from law enforcement and became a professor of criminal justice in 2004.
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