In the winter of 1985, Diane Robertson & Mike Riemer set out into the Washington backwoods with their toddler to cut down a Christmas tree— they never returned. Later that evening, their 2-year-old, Crystal was found wandering alone in a Kmart parking lot. She couldn’t say who she was or how she got there, only repeating: “Mommy is in the trees.”

Her mother, Diana Robertson, would be discovered months later — murdered and left in the woods with her hands bound and a tube sock tied around her neck. Her father, Mike Riemer, vanished without a trace.

But this wasn’t the first crime of its kind. Just months earlier, another couple — Steven Harkins and Ruth Cooper — had also been killed in the wilderness, Ruth was also found with a tube sock knotted around her neck.

For decades, theories swirled. Was Mike a violent killer who struck twice? Or the fourth victim of a predator still at large?

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SOURCES:

Amazon.com: '85 Remembrances and Threads of Truth: Seeking Justice for the Victims of the Tube Sock Killer *Book by Sheryl Cooper, the daughter of a victim of the notorious Minerals Tube Sock Killer

Seattle Times Skull discovery revives Washington murder mystery WAYBACK 4/14/2011

Mystery lingers: Discovery of trapper's skull adds clue to couple's 1985 disappearance | The Olympian

Google Newspapers

Timgruver-the-tube-sock-killings

Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 6, Episode 20