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Stephen Harkins and Ruth Cooper

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Cooper Harkins

Ruth Cooper and Stephen Harkins

Real Names: Stephen Alexander Harkins and Ruth Eleanor Cooper
Nicknames: Steve (Stephen)
Location: Tule Lake, Washington
Date: August 10, 1985

Case[]

Details: Twenty-seven-year-old Stephen Harkins and his forty-two-year-old girlfriend, Ruth Cooper, lived in East Side Tacoma, Washington. They were training to become machinists at a vocational school. Stephen also worked as a truck driver. Ruth was a single mother of five children. The couple had been dating for three years and had lived together for two years. They loved camping. Stephen’s brother, Michael, described him as “unforgettable in looks and personality” and “very charismatic.”
On the evening of Saturday, August 10, 1985, Stephen and Ruth attended a friend's wedding reception in Tacoma. Afterward, they went on a weekend camping trip at Tule Lake near the towns of Yelm and Roy in southern Pierce County, Washington. They planned to return home Sunday evening.
When Stephen and Ruth did not show up for work on Monday, August 12, their families reported them missing. That same day, a man drove past Tule Lake and noticed the couple’s Volkswagen station wagon parked there. He did not pay much attention to it at the time. However, two days later, on August 14, he noticed the car was still there, parked in the same spot. He decided to investigate.
Inside the car, the man found Stephen’s body. He was lying in the front seat, wrapped in a sleeping bag. He had been shot in the forehead. It appeared that he had been killed while he slept. The couple’s pet hunting dog was found shot to death about 800 yards away. Ruth’s shoes were found at the scene, but no other trace of her was found. Authorities believed she had been kidnapped. Her family searched the nearby woods but found no trace of her.
Two months later, on October 26, Ruth’s skull was found by hunters walking along the dead end of Eighth Avenue South near Harts Lake, about a mile-and-a-half from where Stephen was found. Two days later, on October 28, her body and purse were found in heavy brush about fifty feet from her skull. She had been shot in the abdomen. And around her neck, a tube sock was tied.
Some police believe that Stephen and Ruth’s murders are connected to the murder of twenty-one-year-old Diana Robertson and the disappearance of her thirty-six-year-old boyfriend, Mike Riemer. Diana and Mike lived in Puyallup, Washington, with their two-year-old daughter, Crystal Louise.
On the morning of Thursday, December 12, 1985, the family set out for a day in the mountains near Tacoma. They planned on finding a Christmas tree, and Mike intended to check his animal traps, which were located along an eighty-mile stretch of the Nisqually River between Interstate 5 and Elbe, Washington.
Later that same afternoon, Crystal was found outside the front entrance of a Kmart department store in Spanaway, Washington, thirty miles north of Elbe. She seemed stunned and silent, and her parents were nowhere to be found. After being checked at a local hospital, she was sent to a temporary foster home. The next day, Crystal and her parents were reported missing. Two days after that, a nurse from the hospital recognized Crystal from a photograph on a news broadcast about her family’s disappearance. She was then taken in by Diana’s mother, Louise Conrad.
When Crystal was asked where her parents were, all she could say was, “Mommy is in the trees.” A massive search was launched that weekend, but no trace of them was found. Mike’s father, Lloyd, hired a private investigator who found a witness who said they had seen Mike’s truck in the Kmart store’s parking lot between 4 and 5pm on the day of Mike and Diana’s disappearance. However, no other clues were found.
On February 18, 1986, two months after Mike and Diana disappeared, a man pulled off State Route 7 onto a logging road to take his dog for a walk. The area was located in the forest in Lewis County, Washington, near the Lewis-Pierce County line, three miles south of Elbe and just north of Mineral, Washington. While walking down the logging road, he made a shocking discovery: Diana’s partially decomposed body lying in the snow alongside Mike’s red 1982 Plymouth pickup truck.
Crystal was correct when she said her mother was “in the trees.” Diana was nude from the waist up. She had been stabbed seventeen times, and a tube sock was tied around her neck. Police believed the sock was used to “control” her rather than strangle her. They also believed that she had been there since the time of her disappearance. No trace of Mike was discovered, although several inches of snow made the new search difficult.
Police found bloodstains in the front passenger seat of Mike’s truck. The blood was confirmed to be human. However, its type could not be determined. A manila envelope was found in the truck’s cab, which read, “I Love You Diana.” Louise believes it was Mike’s handwriting; however, the FBI laboratory was unable to confirm this.
Police soon connected Diana’s murder to the murders of Stephen and Ruth, which occurred four months earlier. Their bodies were found just fifteen miles from where Diana was found. Their murders occurred in an area where Mike frequently set his traps. And both women had tube socks tied around their necks.
Detective David Neiser of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Department went to Pierce County to look at the sock that was found around Ruth’s neck. He says that when he looked at the sock, “the hair stood up on the back of [his] neck, and [he] shivered a little.” He and the Pierce County evidence technician realized that the socks were identical.
Two theories emerged concerning these multiple killings. One was that an unknown serial killer had taken the lives of both couples and hidden Mike’s body. Secondly, some thought it possible that Mike himself was the serial killer. According to Lloyd, Mike always carried a .22-caliber handgun when he checked his trap lines. Interestingly, Stephen was killed with a .22-caliber weapon.
Mike and Diana had a history of domestic violence, and, according to her friends and family, he had frequently beaten her. At one point, he reportedly threatened to kill her and said he could “get away with it.” In the fall of 1985, he was arrested for attacking her. Shortly afterward, she secured a court order forbidding him from seeing her. But as Christmas approached, the couple got back together for what would prove to be the last time.
Though circumstantial evidence exists that could lead to a warrant being issued against Mike for Diana’s murder, there is a legal stumbling block: the police cannot prove if he is alive or dead. Detective Neiser says that if they can prove Mike is dead, it would mean an unidentified third party is going around killing people in the woods. However, he says that if they can prove that Mike is alive, he immediately becomes a suspect, which “changes the situation dramatically.”
Lloyd believes that Mike is innocent, noting that Mike left his coat in his truck even though it was freezing cold. He also said that Mike did not have any money on him to use to escape. Lloyd believes that the killer got to Mike first. He and Mike’s friends believe that Mike’s body was dumped nearby.
Whether Mike is alive or buried somewhere in the Washington woods, the police want to find him. A few people who knew him thought they might have seen him since Diana’s murder. He was a skilled outdoorsman and may be living off the land. He also worked as a roofer and was an accomplished guitar player.
Though Louise and some police suspect Mike was responsible for Diana’s murder and possibly the murders of Stephen and Ruth, there is also evidence that suggests he might be a victim. For this reason, this baffling case cannot be solved until Mike or his remains are found.
Suspects: Mike was considered a person of interest in Stephen and Ruth’s murders. He was also considered a prime suspect in Diana’s murder. He was known to be abusive towards Diana and had once threatened to kill her. She had secured a court order forbidding him from seeing her but later allowed him back into her life. The police claim he is the only known person with a motive to kill her. However, Mike’s family and friends believe that he is innocent and that an unknown serial killer may be responsible for the murders.
Shortly after Stephen and Ruth left the wedding reception on the night they were last seen alive, a man arrived looking for Stephen. He told guests that he wanted to settle a dispute over damage that occurred to Stephen's Harley Davidson motorcycle. Stephen had allegedly been feuding with the man about the damage. It is not known if he is considered a suspect in this case.
Authorities looked into the possibility that Stephen and Ruth’s murders were connected to the murders of twenty-five-year-old Edward Smith and his twenty-six-year-old fiancee, Kimberly La Vine. The couple disappeared on March 9, 1985 (a few months before Stephen and Ruth), while on a weekend getaway in Grant County, Washington. They were later found murdered in separate locations, with Edward having his throat slashed and hands bound. In 1989, Billy Ray Ballard was arrested after his fingerprint was found in Edward’s car. He later pleaded guilty to Edward and Kimberly’s murders. However, he was never connected to Stephen or Ruth’s murders.
Authorities also looked into the possibility that Stephen and Ruth’s murders were connected to the disappearances of Robert and Dagmar Linton, who went missing in Vancouver, Washington, on August 22, 1986. Items bought with their stolen credit cards were later found in the storage shed of serial killer Charles Sinclair. In 1990, he was arrested for the Lintons’ murders. He died while awaiting trial.
Authorities have also suggested that Stephen and Ruth’s murders were related to the murders of Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg, which took place in Seattle in November 1987.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the September 6, 1989 episode.
  • It was excluded from the FilmRise release of the Robert Stack episodes.
  • The Tule Lake mentioned above should not be confused with the Tule Lake in Parkland, Washington.
  • Some sources spell Stephen’s name as “Steven” or “Stephan” and state that: Stephen was twenty-eight and Ruth was forty-three; she was decapitated; she had four children; her last name was “Cook”; she and Stephen were last seen leaving their home; and his body was found next to their car.

Results: Unsolved - On March 26, 2011, a hiker discovered a partial human skull in the woods off State Route 7 in Lewis County near Mineral, Washington, about a mile from where Diana's body had been found. Police searched the scene and discovered a lower jawbone with teeth, a rubber boot, and some pieces of clothing. In April, the remains were identified as Mike’s through dental records.
No other traces of Mike have been found, and his cause of death could not be determined. However, they were able to rule out a gunshot wound to the head. His gun was reportedly never found. According to the hiker who found the skull, there was a large hole in its side. Following this discovery, authorities said Mike might have been a homicide victim. They speculated that an unknown serial killer may have been responsible for all four deaths.
In November 2011, detectives submitted DNA found at the crime scenes to the Washington State Patrol crime lab for analysis. They also released a detailed description of the sock found wrapped around Diana’s neck. It was a white, stretchy, knee-high basketball sock, about three feet in length, with dark, navy-blue colored rings around the top. It was a “little dingy.” When it was found around her neck, it was tied in multiple knots.
In 2018, Jay and Tanya’s case was solved when DNA evidence linked William Talbot to the crime. He was later convicted of their murders and sentenced to life in prison. It is not known if Talbot is considered a suspect in Stephen and Ruth’s murders.
In 2020, Pat Beall, a Lewis County cold case detective, was interviewed for the “Washed Away” podcast. He said the police still believe that Mike is a suspect in Diana’s murder, and they were trying to get a DNA profile from Mike’s teeth to compare to a DNA profile found on the ligature used to tie Diana’s hands. He also stated that testing was being done on evidence from Stephen and Ruth’s crime scenes. He said he was not sure if the cases were connected, noting that the socks were not from the same “batch.” He said that if the DNA does not match Mike, then they will try to compare it to any DNA that may have been found at the other crime scenes.
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