WASHINGTON — A lot has happened in 2025, on a local and national scale.
From the good to the bad, to the uplifting or sad, here are some of the top stories in Washington that KIRO 7 viewers read or were invested in this year, in no particular order:
Mariners make historic postseason run
The Seattle Mariners ended a season that will undoubtedly be one of the most memorable in franchise history.
For the first time in 21 years, the Mariners won their first American League (AL) West divisional title and divisional series.
They lost in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, forfeiting a spot in the World Series.
Search for Travis Decker
One of biggest stories to shake the state this year was the search for Travis Decker, the man who didn’t return his three young children after a custody visitation and killed them: Paityn (9), Evelyn (8) and Olivia (5).
Decker took his daughters for a scheduled parental visit on May 30. An endangered missing person alert was issued. The girls’ bodies were found on June 2 near Rock Island Campground, but Decker was no where in sight.
This led to a three-month continent-wide search for Decker. There were reported sightings in Leavenworth, Idaho, and Canada, and law enforcement agencies across the state (including involvement from the FBI and U.S. Marshals service) scoured rough terrain and campgrounds looking to bring Decker to justice.
Deputies said he had military training and was able to survive in the wilderness on his own.
The search came to an end when skeletal remains were found on a steep mountain in a remote area just 0.74 miles from where the Decker girls were found. Crews had to be dropped in via helicopter, and drones and cadaver dogs helped locate the remains.
The remains were later positively identified as Decker’s. A cause of death and time of death could not be determined because his remains were so scattered and badly decomposed.
Bryan Kohberger sentenced
Another major crime case that shocked the nation had local ties-- Bryan Kohberger, the man who pleaded guilty to killing four University of Idaho students while they slept-- was a PhD criminology student at Washington State University.
One of the victims, Ethan Chapin, was born and raised in Mount Vernon. Kohberger killed Chapin, his girlfriend Xana Kernodle, and best friends Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen in an off-campus home they shared on Nov. 13, 2022.
At the time of the killings, the entire country was on high alert. Kohberger had not been named as a suspect publicly, but police believed they had their man and told the public to be on the lookout for a white 2011 Hyundai Elantra that was seen on surveillance footage speeding away from the scene.
Kohberger was arrested by a SWAT team at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania on Dec. 30.
Thousands of pages of court documents detailed Kohberger’s life and interactions in the last 10 years. Detectives matched cell phone records to his phone casing the crime scene dozens of times before and after the killings. His DNA was found on a Ka-Bar knife sheath left at the scene.
After years of back and forth in court proceedings and no answers from Kohberger about why he committed the crime, he finally pleaded guilty in June 2025. This guilty plea took the death penalty off the table. He also gave up his right to any future appeals.
Kohberger will spend his life in a supermax prison in Idaho with no chance of parole (he was sentenced to four life sentences plus 10 years).
He still has not spoken of a motive or why he targeted one or more people in the King Road house.
Since his move to the super max, Kohberger has complained to prison officials that he was being verbally and sexually harassed “day and night” by fellow inmates.
The home on King Road has been demolished and has since been established as a memorial garden for Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan.
Record-breaking flooding
Washington state experienced record-breaking and historic flooding during a series of atmospheric rivers in December.
Thousands of rescues were conducted across the state as floodwater trapped folks in their homes and on the roads. More than 10 counties saw evacuation orders, downed trees and powerlines, washed out roads and other damage since the flooding started. Highways saw landslides and crumbling roads from the damage.
A 50-mile stretch of US 2 was shut down in various areas due to roads that have completely flooded. Gov. Bob Ferguson announced that the highway will reopen with alternating traffic on Jan. 1.
REAL ID in effect
After decades of pushback, REAL ID finally went into effect in the US earlier in 2025.
Anyone looking to fly domestically or enter a federal building in the United States must have a REAL ID compliant form of identification. It is not an actual piece of ID, but a designation on existing or new IDs. It was established in 2005 after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
If you come to an airport with a license that says “federal limits apply” in the upper righthand corner or a REAL ID compliant form of identification like a passport, you will not be allowed through security. Airports have given customers warnings and alternatives.
This just applies for entering federal buildings and flying domestically. You do not need one to drive.
Seattle gets women’s hockey team
Seattle is a sports town, and that continues to grow with the newly established Seattle Torrent- our area’s professional women’s hockey team.
According to PWHL Seattle, the name draws inspiration from the ‘powerful waterways that shape and connect Washington’s unique landscape, symbolizing the team’s determination to carve its own path.’
The logo features an “S” that serves as both a letterform for Seattle and mimics waterflow. The primary color palette of Slate Green and Blue — both Shadow and Glacier Blue — is a nod to Seattle’s waterways shape the region and pays tribute to Seattle’s unique sports community.
Torrent play at the Climate Pledge Arena, sharing the ice space with their NHL counterparts, the Seattle Kraken. WNBA team Seattle Storm also plays at Climate Pledge when the facility has its court installed instead of ice.
Gary Ridgway near death
America’s most prolific serial killer, Gary Ridgway (better known as the Green River Killer) was announced to be on end of life care.
Ridgway operated from 1982 to around 1998, and was arrested for his killing spree in 2001. He was convicted for nearly 50 murders of sex workers and vulnerable women in the south King County area, however, it’s believed he killed upwards of 80 women.
ALSO READ: ‘There’s never closure:’ Detective part of Green River Killer case weighs in on his declining health
He avoided the death penalty by agreeing to provide information to investigators about the whereabouts of additional victims.
MyNorthwest reported earlier in December that several anonymous sources familiar with the matter said Ridgway is in hospice in end-of-life care. It’s unclear what his condition is.
Ridgway is just one of a handful of serial killers still alive in prison. Most serial killers who operated from the 1970s to the 1990s have received the death penalty or were otherwise killed. Those still alive include David Berkowitz (Son of Sam), Ed Kemper (the Co-Ed Killer), Dennis Rader (BTK), Joseph James DeAngelo (the Golden State Killer).
©2025 Cox Media Group
