By Chris Thew
Chronicle staff

     NESPELEM — A 31-year veteran of law enforcement, Matt Haney, 55, will take over as Colville Confederated Tribes police chief Feb. 16.
     But what many people may not know about him is that he was the first police officer to zero in on the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway.
     Haney started his career in law enforcement in 1977 as a Port Angeles volunteer reserve officer.
     A year later, he began testing for a full-time job. After one of his first tests, Haney was hired by the Kent Police Department and was sent to the police academy.
     Haney said he came back as a patrolman and soon took on the role of the department’s defensive tactics and firearms instructor.
     In 1983, Haney was hired for a lateral officer position for the King County Sheriff’s office. Two years later, Haney was named to the Green River Task Force.
     For 11 years, Haney said he hoped for the break that would bring the Green River Killer to justice and save the women who were being murdered while investigators were chasing empty leads.
     “It’s hard to explain to folks who haven’t been there how it becomes such an obsession,” Haney said. “We want to be that person who’s out there making something better. You’re at work and he’s out there killing.”
     Haney said he stumbled upon Ridgway’s name while looking at a list of possible suspects who had been cleared and was amazed.
     “I couldn’t understand how he had been cleared,” Haney said, adding that his own partner was the investigator who had cleared Ridgway.
     “We didn’t agree. He still believed (Ridgway) was free and clear,” Haney said. “The more I dug, I couldn’t see how he was cleared as a possible suspect.
     Haney said he wrote a 67-page affidavit asking for a search warrant on Ridgway’s property in 1987, but it went nowhere when others passed on Ridgway as the killer.
     Haney picked up Ridgway in 1987 to try and close the case, but the department could not find a “smoking gun,” so Ridgway walked.
     “I knew this was the guy,” Haney said. “I just couldn’t convince anyone else.”
     Haney said he left the department in 1996 still trying to think of ideas that might finally tie up the case on Ridgway, but all of the evidence he collected was circumstantial. The only thing that he hung onto when he left was the affidavit that he had written to search Ridgway’s home and belongings.
     After working at various police departments in Alaska and Washington, Haney had became a lieutenant at Bainbridge Police Department in 2001 when he received a call from the King County Sheriff’s Office.
     His hunch was right.
     Lab techs going through evidence of the Green River Killer case and using technologies not available in 1987 found Ridgway’s DNA on evidence from three of the victims.
     The Bainbridge department secretly loaned Haney to the King County Sheriff’s Office until the summer of 2002 to help put together the case against Ridgway.
     “You have to give all the credit to the lab folks,” Haney said. “That was the piece that put us over the top.”      “I held onto that affidavit for search warrant for 14 years,” Haney said. “When we arrested him on Nov. 30 of 2001, we used that affidavit that I wrote — we just had to add the DNA to it.”
     In 2003, Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts of aggravated murder to avoid the death penalty.
     Haney returned to Bainbridge, became interim chief and was named chief in 2003. He resigned his post this month.
     Haney said several family members and friends live on the Colville Indian Reservation and his family has vacationed in the area since 1980.
     He said his new position was an “incredible opportunity.”
     Haney said he and his wife, Darlene, will soon be celebrate their 35th anniversary. They have four sons, four grandsons and one granddaughter.
     Haney is replacing Rory Gilliland, who left the force to take over as police chief for the Spokane Tribe in March 2008. AssistantChief Cory Orr served in the interim.
     Colville Business Council Chairwoman Jeanne Jerred said the council chose Haney for his wide variety of experience and expertise.
     “The business council feels this individual is exactly what we need at this time,” Jerred said. “We are very pleased we have someone of this caliber.”