Mr. Ridgway has since told investigators that he stood against a fence in his yard during the questioning to conceal scratches Ms. Malvar had left on his inner left arm as she fought for her life.

After the detective left, Mr. Ridgway burned the gouges with battery acid to disguise them, then returned to the nearby woods where he had dumped Ms. Malvar's body and buried her.

The scars on Mr. Ridgway's arm are still visible, according to charging documents, which brings Ms. Malvar's brother some comfort.

''I know every time he looks at that scar, he remembers my sister,'' Jose Malvar Jr. said. ''At least she got that. At least she didn't go down without a fight.''

Ms. Malvar's disappearance brought Mr. Ridgway to official attention and kept him there.

Though the Des Moines detective accepted Mr. Ridgway's story, the King County sheriff's Green River task force identified him as a suspect in 1984 and continued to watch him, even after he passed a polygraph denying any knowledge of the killings.

Ms. Malvar's family kept looking, too. Her identity card was found at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, feeding their desperate hope. Mr. Ridgway acknowledged last summer that he had planted it there.

Ms. Malvar's father, especially, could not give up, her brother said. ''There were days he didn't come home, he'd just keep driving and driving,'' the younger Mr. Malvar said. Some days he would drive by Mr. Ridgway's home and ''wait to see if my sister came out of that house.''