Gary "Green River Killer" Ridgway

Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949), an American serial killer known as the Green River Killer, was initially convicted of 48 separate murders and later confessed to nearly twice that number. As part of his plea bargain, an additional conviction was added, bringing the total number of convictions to 49. He murdered numerous women and girls in Washington state during the 1980s and 1990s. Most of his victims were alleged to be prostitutes. The press gave him his nickname after the first five victims were found in the Green River; his identity was not known. He strangled the women, usually with his arm but sometimes using ligatures. After strangling them, he would dump their bodies throughout forested and overgrown areas in King County, often returning to the dead bodies to have sexual intercourse with them.

On November 30, 2001, as he was leaving the Renton, Washington, Kenworth truck factory where he worked, he was arrested for the murders of four women whose cases were linked to him through DNA evidence. As part of a plea bargain wherein he agreed to disclose the whereabouts of still-missing women, he was spared the death penalty and received a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.

Early life

Ridgway was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Mary Rita Steinman and Thomas Newton Ridgway. He has two brothers, Gregory Leon and Thomas Edward.

Ridgway's homelife was somewhat troubled; relatives have described his mother as domineering and have said that young Ridgway witnessed more than one violent argument between his parents. As a boy, Ridgway had a habit of wetting the bed. His mother would often be the one to discover the accidents and would bathe him immediately. She would also belittle and embarrass him in front of his family. From a young age, Ridgway had conflicting feelings of sexual attraction and anger toward her.

As a young child, Ridgway was tested with an IQ of 82, signifying low intelligence, and his academic performance in school was so poor that at one point in high school he had to repeat a year twice in order to pass. His classmates described him as congenial but largely forgettable. His teenage years, however, were troubled; when he was 16, he stabbed a six-year-old boy, who survived the attack. He had led the boy into the woods and then stabbed him through the ribs into his liver. According to the victim and Ridgway himself, Ridgway walked away laughing and saying, "I always wondered what it would be like to kill someone."

Adult life

At age 21, after graduating from high school, Ridgway married his high school girlfriend Claudia Barrows. He joined the Navy and was sent to Vietnam, where he served on board a supply ship and saw combat. During his time in the military, Ridgway began spending a lot of time with prostitutes and contracted gonorrhea. This angered him, but he continued to have unprotected sex with prostitutes. Meanwhile, his wife Claudia, alone and 19 years old, had an extramarital affair, and the marriage quickly ended within a year.

When questioned about Ridgway after his arrest, friends and family described him as friendly but strange. His first two marriages resulted in divorce because of infidelities by both partners. His second wife, Marcia Winslow, claimed that he had placed her in a chokehold. Ridgway had become religious during his second marriage, proselytizing door-to-door, reading the Bible aloud at work and at home, and insisting that Marcia follow the strict teachings of their church pastor. Ridgway would also frequently cry after sermons or reading the Bible. Ridgway continued to solicit the services of prostitutes during this marriage; he also wanted Marcia to participate in sex in public and inappropriate places, sometimes even in areas where his victims' bodies were later discovered.

According to women in his life, Ridgway had an insatiable sexual appetite. His three ex-wives and several old girlfriends reported that Ridgway demanded sex from them several times a day. Often, he would want to have sex in a public area or in the woods. Ridgway himself admitted to having a fixation with prostitutes, with whom he had a love–hate relationship. He frequently complained about their presence in his neighborhood, but he also took advantage of their services regularly. It has been speculated that Ridgway was torn between his uncontrollable lusts and his staunch religious beliefs.

In 1975, his second wife gave birth to Ridgway's son, Matthew.

Source: Wikipedia