"Green River Killer" redirects here. For the 2005 film, see Green River Killer (film).
Gary Ridgway
Ridgway's mugshot, November 2001
Born
Gary Leon Ridgway
(1949-02-18) February 18, 1949 (age 75)
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Other names
The Green River Killer
Spouses
Claudia Kraig Barrows
(m. 1970; div. 1972)
Marcia Lorene Brown
(m. 1973; div. 1981)
Judith Lorraine Lynch
(m. 1988; div. 2002)
Children
1[1]
Conviction(s)
Aggravated first degree murder (49 counts)
Tampering with evidence (48 counts)
Solicitation
Criminal penalty
49 life sentences without the possibility of parole
Details
Victims
49 convicted, 71–90+ confessed and suspected
Span of crimes
1982–1998 confirmed (possibly as recent as 2001)
Country
United States
State(s)
Washington, Oregon
Date apprehended
November 30, 2001
Imprisoned at
Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla, Washington
Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949) is an American serial killer known as the Green River Killer. He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders committed between the early 1980s and late 1990s. As part of his plea bargain, another conviction was added, bringing the total number of convictions to 49, making him the second-most prolific serial killer in United States history according to confirmed murders.[n 1][2]
Most of Ridgway's victims were alleged to be sex workers and other women in vulnerable circumstances, including underage runaways. Before his identity was known, the media gave him his nickname after the first five victims were found in the Green River.[3] He strangled his victims, usually by hand but sometimes using ligatures. After strangling them, he would dump their bodies in forested and overgrown areas in King County, often returning to the bodies to engage in acts of necrophilia.[4]
Ridgway had been a suspect in the murders since 1982 when he was arrested for soliciting a prostitute; however, investigators were unable to link him to the murders at that time. Later advances in DNA profiling allowed investigators to definitively link Ridgway to the murders, and he was arrested on November 30, 2001, as he was leaving the Kenworth truck factory where he worked in Renton, Washington.[4] As part of a plea bargain wherein he agreed to disclose the locations of still-missing women, he was spared the death penalty and received a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
^Hucks, Karen (December 23, 2003). "Gary Ridgway's son holds memories of regular soccer dad". The News Tribune. Tacoma, Washington.
^Bell, Rachel. "Green River Killer: River of Death". Crime Library. Archived from the original on May 30, 2014. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
^Haglund, WD; Reichert, DG; Reay, DT (1990). "Recovery of decomposed and skeletal human remains in the "Green River Murder" Investigation. Implications for medical examiner/coroner and police". The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology. 11 (1). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins: 35–43. doi:10.1097/00000433-199003000-00004. PMID 2305751. S2CID 27268528.
^ abProthero, Mark; Smith, Carlton (2006). Defending Gary: Unraveling the Mind of the Green River Killer. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass. pp. 264–265, 317. ISBN 978-0-7879-9548-5.
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