1000+ images about Green river killer on Pinterest | Washington state, Green river and Superior court Forward Gary Ridgway (1949-) was convicted of 48 murders in the Green River Killer case that lasted more than 20 years. After his arrest, he confessed to more murders than any other American serial killer: 71. Many of the victims were prostitutes. He strangled the women and dumped their bodies in wooded areas in Washington state’s King County. He entered a plea bargain and agreed to show authorities where missing victims were in exchange for not facing the death penalty. See More Gary Ridgway, serial killer A.K.A. The Green River Killer. 71 women two brothers – George Leon and Thomas Edward. He was raised in McMicken Heights neighborhood of SeaTac, Washington. Well into his teenage years, Gary Ridgway was still a bed-wetter. As a child, Ridgway was tested with an I.Q. 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 single school year twice in order to attain grades decent enough to pass.

His classmates at Tyee High School describe him as congenial but largely forgettable. His teanage years were difficult and troubling for him. When he was 16, he stabbed a six year old boy, who survived the attack. According to the victim and Ridgway himself, Ridgway walked away laughing and saying, "I always wondered what it would be like to kill someone." While in high school, Ridgway joined the Navy, after graduation he was sent to Vietnam, where he witnessed combat, while serving on a Navy patrol boat. The murders Most of the murders took place during a two-and-a-half-year period in the early 1980s. Most of were dumped in and around the Green River in Washington, except for two victims found in the Portland, Oregon area. The skeletons remained, four victims are still unidentified. Ridgway would occasionally contaminate the dump sites with gum, cigarettes, and written materials that belonged to others to confuse the police. Ridgway would begin each murder by picking up a woman, usually a prostitute. He would show the woman a picture of his son, to help them trust him.

After having sex with her, Ridgway would strangle her from behind, usually with his arm. Most of the victims were killed in his truck, the others were killed in his home or in a secluded area. In the early 1980s, the King County Sheriff's Office formed the Green River Task Force to investigate the murders. The most notable members of the task force were Robert Keppel and Dave Reichert, who periodically interviewed incarcerated serial killer Ted Bundy from 1984; their interviews with Bundy were of little help in the Green River investigations, but elicited confessions from Bundy on unsolved cases. Also contributing was John E. Douglas, who nearly died as he worked the case; during the County Jail to an undisclosed location. Other news reports stated that his lawyers, led by Anthony Savage, were closing a plea bargain that would spare him the death penalty in return for his confession to a number of the Green River murders.

On November 5, 2003, As part of a plea bargain, Ridgway entered a guilty plea to 48 charges of aggravated first degree murder and agreed, exchange for his cooperation in locating the remains of his victims and providing other details, that they would been killed inside King County, Washington, and that he had transported and dumped the remains of the two women near Portland to confuse the police. Deputy prosecutor Jeffrey Baird noted in court that the deal contained "the names of 41 victims who would not be the subject of State v. Ridgway if it were not for the plea agreement." King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng explained his decision to make the deal: "We could have gone forward with seven counts, but that is all we could have ever hoped to solve. At the end of that trial, whatever the outcome, there would have been lingering doubts about the rest of these crimes. This agreement was the avenue to the truth. And in the end, the search for the truth is still why we have a criminal justice system ... Gary Ridgway does not deserve our mercy. He does not deserve to live.

The mercy provided by today's resolution is directed not at Ridgway, but toward the families who have suffered so much ... On December 18, 2003, King County Superior Court Judge Richard Jones sentenced Ridgway to 48 life sentences with no possibility of parole and one life sentence, to be served consecutively. He was also sentenced to an additional 10 years for tampering with evidence for each of the 48 victims, adding 480 years to his 48 life sentences. Ridgway led prosecutors to three bodies in 2003. On August 16 of that year, remains of a 16-year-old female found near Enumclaw, Washington, 40 feet from State Route 410, were pronounced as belonging to Pammy Annette Avent, who had been believed to be a victim of the Green River Killer. The remains of Marie Malvar and April Buttram were found in September.

On November 23, 2005, The skull of Tracy Winston, who was 19 when she disappeared from Northgate Mall on September 12, 1983, was found by a man hiking in a wooded area near Highway 18 near Issaquah, southeast of Seattle. Ridgway confessed to more confirmed murders than any other American serial killer. Over a period of five months of police and prosecutor interviews, he confessed to 48 murders, 42 of which were on the police's list of probable Green River Killer victims, plus six more murders. On February 9, 2004, county prosecutors began to release the videotape records of Ridgway's confessions. In one taped interview, he told investigators initially that he was responsible for the deaths of 65 women, but in another taped interview with Reichert on December 31, 2003, Ridgway claimed to have murdered 71 victims and confessed to have had sex with them prior to killing them, a detail which he did not reveal until after his sentencing.

He also confessed that he had sex with his victims' bodies after he murdered them, but claimed he began burying the later victims so that he would resist the urge to revisit them. Ridgway talked to and tried to make his victims comfortable before he committed the murders. In his own words, "I would talk to her... and get her mind off of the sex, anything she was nervous about. And think, you know, she thinks, 'Oh, this guy cares'... which I didn't. I just want to, uh, get her in the vehicle and eventually kill her". Later in a statement Ridgway said that murdering young women was his "career". Ridgway is incarcerated at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington.

Victims 1 Amina Agisheff 35 July 7, 1982 April 20, 1984 2 Wendy Lee Coffield 16 July 8, 1982 July 15, 1982 3 Gisele Ann Lovvorn 17 July 17, 1982 September 25, 1982 4 Debra Lynn Bonner 23 July 25, 1982 August 12, 1982 5 Marcia Fay Chapman 31 August 1, 1982 August 15, 1982 6 Opal Charmaine Mills 16 August 12, 1982 August 15, 1982 7 Terry Rene Milligan 16 August 29, 1982 April 1, 1984 8 Mary Bridget Meehan 18 September 15, 1982 November 13, 1983 9 Debra Lorraine Estes 15 September 20, 

1982 May 30, 1988 10 Linda Jane Rule 16 September 26, 1982 January 31, 1983 11 Denise Darcel Bush 23 October 8, 1982 June 1985 12 Shawnda Leea Summers 16 October 9, 1982 August 11, 1983 13 Shirley Marie Sherrill 18 between October 22, 1982 June 1985 14 Colleen Renee Brockman 15 December 24, 1982 May 26, 1984 15 Alma Ann Smith 18 March 3, 1983 April 2, 1984 16 Delores LaVerne Williams 17 March 14, 1983 March 31, 1984 17 Andrea M.

Childers 19 April 14, 1983 October 11, 1989 18 Kimi-Kai Pitsor 16 April 16, 1983 December 14, 1983 19 Sandra Kay Gabbert 17 April 17, 1983 April 1, 1984 20 Gail Lynn Mathews 23 April 22, 1983 September 19, 1983 21 Marie M.

Malvar 18 April 30, 1983 September 29, 2003 22 Carol Ann Christensen 21 May 4, 1983 May 8, 1983 23 Martina Theresa Authorlee 18 May 22, 1983 November 14, 1984 24 Cheryl Lee Wims 18 May 23, 1983 March 22, 1984 25 Yvonne Shelly Antosh 19 May 31, 1983 October 15, 1983 26 Carrie A.

Rois 15 June 2, 1983 March 10, 1985 27 Constance Elizabeth Naon 19 June 8, 1983 October 27, 1983 28 Kelly Marie Ware 22 July 18, 1983 October 29, 1983 29 Tina Marie Thompson 21 July 25, 1983 April 20, 1984 30 April Dawn Buttram 16 August 23, 1983 August 31, 2003 31 Debbie May Abernathy 26 September 5, 1983 March 31, 1984 32 Tracy Ann Winston 19 September 12, 1983 March 27, 1986 33 Maureen Sue Feeney 19 September 28, 1983 May 2, 1986 34 Mary Sue Bello 25 October 11, 1983 October 12

, 1984 35 Pammy Avent 15 October 26, 1983 August 16, 2003 36 Delise Louise Plager 22 October 30, 1983 February 14, 1984 37 Kimberly L.

Nelson 21 November 1, 1983 June 14, 1986 38 Lisa Yates 19 December 23, 1983 March 13, 1984 39 Mary Exzetta West 16 February 6, 1984 September 8, 1985 40 Cindy Anne Smith 17 March 21, 1984 June 27, 1987 41 Patricia Michelle Barczak 19 October 17, 1986 February 1993 42 Roberta Joseph Hayes 21 Last seen leaving a Portland, Oregon jail on February 7, 43 Rose Marie Kurran 16 August 1987 September 1987 44 Marta Reeves 36 between March 5th and April 13, 1990 September 20, 1990 45 Patricia Yellowrobe 38 January 1998 August 6, 1998 46 Unidentified White Female 12-17 Died prior

 to May 1983 March 21, 1984 47 Unidentified White Female 17-19 Unknown April 22, 1985 48 Unidentified Black Female 18-27 Between 1982 and 1984 December 30, 1985 49 Unidentified White Female 14-18 From December 1980 to January 1984 January 2, 1986 Friends and family, questioned about Ridgway following his arrest, described him as friendly but strange.

His first two marriages resulted in divorce due to infidelities by both partners. Both a prostitute and his second wife claimed that, in 1991, he had placed them in choke-holds. Gary Ridgway investigation, his stressed and overworked body was unable to fight off viral encephalitis. He has since written much on the subject of the Green River Killer. police took hair and saliva samples. These were later subjected to a DNA analysis, providing the evidence for his arrest warrant. On November 30, 2001, Ridgway was at the Kenworth factory when police arrived to arrest him. Ridgway was arrested on suspicion of murder for four deaths, nearly 20 years after first being identified as a potential suspect, DNA evidence indictment were Marcia Chapman, Opal Mills, Cynthia Hinds and Carol Ann Christensen. Three more victims, Wendy Coffield, Debra Bonner, and Debra Estes, were added to the indictment after forensics laboratories detected microscopic paint particles similar to those used at Ridgway's job at Kenworth. Copyright 2012 More Than Horror. All rights reserved 1000+ images about Gary Ridgway.

The Green River Killer on Pinterest | Missing her, Trucks and Green river Forward Rosemary Fries (L) mother of Green River Killer victim Shirley Sherrill speaks at the sentancing of Gary Ridgway as her daughters Deanna Brewer (C) and Michele Andrews listen in King County Washington Superior Court December18, 2003 in Seattle, Washington. Ridgway recieved 48 life sentences, with out the possibility of parole, for killing 48 women over the past 20 years in the Green River Killer serial murder case. See More Gary Ridgway - The Green River Killer Gary Ridgway By Charles Montaldo Updated March 01, 2016. Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer , went on a 20-year killing spree, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history. Childhood Years Born on February 18, 1949, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Gary Ridgway was the middle son of Mary Rita Steinman and Thomas Newton Ridgway. From a very early age Gary Ridgway was sexually attracted to his domineering mother.

When he was 11, the family moved from Utah to Washington State. High School Years Ridgway was a poor student, suffering from a below average I.Q. of 82 and dyslexia . Most of his teenage years were unremarkable until the age of 16 when he led a six-year-old boy into the woods, then stabbed him through his ribs and into his liver. The boy survived and said Ridgway walked away laughing. Wife #1 and the Military In 1969, when Ridgway was 20 and just out of high school, and with no college in his future, he decided to join the Navy rather than get drafted. He also married his first steady girlfriend, Claudia Barrows, before going to Vietnam. Ridgway had an insatiable sex drive and spent a lot of time with prostitutes during his time in the military. He contracted Gonorrhea for the second time, and although it angered him, he didn't stop having unprotected sex with prostitutes. Claudia, alone and 19-years-old, began dating while Ridgway was in Vietnam and in less than a year the marriage ended.

Wife #2 Marcia Winslow In 1973 Marcia Winslow and Ridgway married and had a son. During the marriage, Ridgway became a religious fanatic, proselytizing door-to-door, reading the Bible aloud at work and at home, and insisting that Marcia follow the strict preachings of the church pastor. Also during that time, Ridgway wanted Marcia to participate in having sex outdoors and in inappropriate places and he insisted on having sex several times a day. He also continued to pay prostitutes for sex throughout their marriage. Marcia, who suffered with a serious weight problem most of her life, decided to have gastric bypass surgery in the late 1970s. She quickly lost weight and for the first time in her life, men found her attractive. This made Ridgway jealous and insecure and the couple began fighting. The Mother-in-Law Marcia struggled with accepting Ridgway's relationship with his mother, who controlled their spending and made the final decisions on their purchases. She went as far as buying Ridgway's clothing. She also accussed Marcia of not properly taking care of their son, which Marcia always resented.

Knowing Ridgway would never defend her, Marcia was left on her own to try to control her domineering mother-in-law. Seven years into the marriage the couple divorced. Later Marcia claimed that Ridgway placed her in a chokehold during one of their fights. Wife #3 Judith Mawson Ridgway began dating several women he met at Parents Without Partners functions and it is where he met his third wife, Judith Mawson, in 1985. Judith found Ridgway to be a gentle, responsible and structured man. She appreciated that he had worked at his job as a truck painter for 15 years. To Judith, Gary Ridgway was the perfect mate. Before moving in together Ridgway went to the trouble to update the house, including replacing the carpet. Unlike Marcia, Judith praised her mother-in-law for helping Ridgway handle things that were difficult for him, like his checking account and major purchases. Eventually, Judith took over those responsibilities, filling the shoes of Ridgway's aging mother. The Green River Killer It was around the middle of July 1982 when the first body was found floating in the Green River in King County, Washington.

The victim was 16-year-old Wendy Lee Coffield, a troubled teen who had experienced few joys in life before she was strangled to death with her own panties and tossed like garbage into the shallow edge of the river. Without much evidence to go on, her murder remained unsolved, and the person responsible was dubbed the Green River Killer. The King County police department had no way of knowing that Coffield represented the beginning of a savage killing spree that would last for years, with the majority of the murders occurring from 1982 through 1984. Most of the victims were prostitutes or young runaways who worked or hitchhike,d along an area of Pac Highway (Highway 99) which had regressed into being a two lane strip of topless bars and cheap hotels. For the Green River Killer this area proved to be a great hunting ground. Reports of women and young girls disappearing continued. Discovering some of their skeletal remains clustered together in wooded areas along the Green River and around Sea-Tac Airport was also becoming far to regular an occurrence. The victims ranged in ages from 12-15 to 31. Most had been left nude, sometimes with their fingernails clipped.

The areas where the bodies were left were sometimes littered with gum or cigarette butts, food and road maps. Some of the dead bodies had been sexually abused. The Green River Task Force was formed to investigate the murders and the list of possible suspects grew. DNA and sophisticated computer systems were not around during the early 1980s. The task force had to rely on old-fashion police work to piece together clues to profile the killer . Serial Killer Consultant - Ted Bundy In October 1983 Ted Bundy , who was sitting on death row, offered to help the task force find their killer. The lead detectives met with Bundy who gave insight into the mind of a serial killer . Bundy said that the killer likely knew some of his victims. He also said more victims were probably buried in the dumping areas where victims had been found. Bundy also put a lot of significance into the different areas the bodies had been left, suggesting that each cluster or spot was set closer to the killer's home. Although detectives found the information Bundy supplied as interesting, it did nothing to help find the killer. The "A" List In 1987 the leadership of the task force changed hands, as did the direction of how the investigation was conducted.

Instead of trying to prove who the serial killer was, the task force took their list of suspects and worked on trying to identify who the killer wasn't. Those who could not be eliminated were moved up to the "A" list. Gary Ridgway had landed on the suspect list because of two encounters he had with police in the early 1980s. In 1980 he was accused of choking a prostitute while having sex with her in his truck near the Sea-Tac Airport, which was an area where some of the victims had been discarded. When questioned, Ridgway admitted to choking her, but said it was more in self-defense, because the prostitute bit him while performing oral sex. The matter was then dropped. In 1982 Ridgway was questioned after he was caught in his truck with a prostitute. It was later discovered that the prostitute was Keli McGinness, one of the serial killer's victims. The Polygraph Exam Ridgway was questioned in 1983 after the boyfriend of a prostitute who went missing identified Ridgway's truck as the last truck his girlfriend had gotten into right before she vanished.

In 1984 Ridgway was arrested for trying to solicit an undercover police woman posing as a prostitute. He was brought in for questioning and agreed to take a polygraph test which he passed. This incident and his relationship with Judith Mawson seemed to slow down Ridgway's murderous rage. Although past victims continued to be discovered, fewer reports of missing women were being reported. Ridgway Makes the "A" List Unable to eliminate Ridgway as suspect, he moved up to the "A" list and was placed under police surveillance. The investigators scrutinized his work record and determined that he was never at work on the days that many of the victims had been reported as missing. Also, prostitutes along the strip had given police the description of a man who was seen cruising the area which matched Ridgway. This was also the road that Ridgway used to go to and from work. On April 8, 1987, the police searched Ridgway's house which was tightly packed with objects he and his fiancé had collected from dumpster diving, attending swap meets and from dump sites where some of the Green River victims had been found.

Salvaging other people's throw always was a favorite pastime that Ridgway and Judith Mawson both enjoyed. Sifting through all of it was a major challenge for the detectives. Ridgway was taken into police custody where he passed a polygraph test and agreed to allow them to take hair samples and a saliva swab before he was released for lack of evidence. Believing he had once again "fooled" the Green River Taskforce, Ridgway's confidence was riding high and soon he was back on the prowl. Revitalized Task Force In 2001 the Green River Task Force was made up of younger detectives, many of whom had been teenagers when the killings first began. This group had computers which helped create profiles based on sporadic evidence. They also had the advantage of DNA research which had advanced considerably over the past 15 years. The DNA evidence which had been carefully taken and preserved by the past task force from the victims and Ridgway was invaluable in getting the evidence that was finally needed to capture and convict the Green River Killer.

The Green River Killer is Arrested On November 30, 2001, Gary Ridgway was arrested for the 20-year-old murders of Marcia Chapman, Opal Mills, Cynthia Hinds, and Carol Ann Christensen. The evidence was a positive DNA match from each victim to Gary Ridgway. Later, paint samples matched up to paint spray used where Ridgway worked, and three additional victims were added to the indictment . Worried that DNA could confuse a jury, the lead detective for the task force wanted more evidence. He interviewed Ridgway's ex-wives and old girlfriends and discovered Ridgeway had taken one girlfriend for picnics and outdoor sex in various areas he had used to cluster the bodies of his victims. Death Penalty - Plea Bargain - Confessions Ridgway knew he would be facing execution and he did not want to die. In a plea bargain , he agreed to fully cooperate with the investigation into the remaining Green River murders. For months detectives methodically interviewed Ridgway, getting details of each of the murders he committed. He took them to locations where he had left several of the bodies and disclosed how he killed each one and the evidence he left to throw off police.

Ridgway's preferred method of murder was strangulation. In the beginning he used a chokehold then later he would use a ruler to twist fabric around the necks of his victims. Sometimes he killed his victims inside his house, other times he would kill them in the woods. In one revealing confession which showed the deepest of Ridgway's darkest side, he said he would use a picture of his son to help gain the trust of his victims. He also admitted to killing one of his victims while his young son waited in the truck. When asked if he would have killed his son had the son realized what he was doing, his answer was yes. In the released video tapes of Ridgway detailing the murders to investigators, he confessed once to killing 61 women and in another tape he said it was 71 women. But at the conclusion of the interviews, Ridgway could only recall 48 murders, all of which he said occurred inside King County, Washington. On November 2, 2003, Ridgway pled guilty to 48 charges of aggravated first degree murder.

He also confessed to moving body parts to Oregon to throw off the investigation and to having sex with six of the bodies after he had killed them. On December 18, 2003, Ridgway was sentenced to 480 years without the possibility of parole. He is currently at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington. Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer Known as the most prolific American serial killer, Gary Ridgway was convicted of several murders in Washington state. The conviction, based on guilty plea of 48 charges of aggravated first degree murder, occurred in 2003. For these crimes, Ridgway was sentenced to life in prison. By King County Sheriff's Office. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons At the time of Ridgway's conviction, the death penalty was considered. However, a plea bargain was made. Ridgway agreed to plead guilty to the charges if the death penalty was taken off of the table. He also agreed to help law enforcement locate the remains of his victims that had not yet been found.

In 2011, Ridgway pled guilty to a 49th murder charge after the remains of the victim were found. He had originally admitted to the murder so the charge fell under the previous plea bargain. At the time of the original trial, the admittance of the murder could not be confirmed. Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife Gary Ridgway's Victims At the time of the 2003 conviction, forty-eight victims were confirmed. Ridgway confessed of many more. He is suspected in several murder cases that he has not yet been charged with. The Green River investigation is still ongoing as some of the suspected or admitted victims have still not been found, and some of the victims have not been identified. The spree of murders is thought to have begun in July of 1982. At that time the first victim was found in the Green River. The majority of the murders attributed to the Green River Killer occurred between 1982 and 1984; although sparse killings continued into the late 90s. Gary Ridgway admits to targeting prostitutes.

Several of the victims did engage in prostitution; however, runaways and hitchhikers also fell into the mix of victims of this serial killer. Prostitutes were his preference because he hated them, they were easy to pickup, and he thought he could kill them without being caught. Green river Killer Prior Arrests Over the twenty-some years prior to his arrest for the murders, Ridgway had been arrested. His prior arrests were related to soliciting prostitution. At one time he was a suspect in the Green River murders. He had even been investigated in relation the murders. He passed a polygraph test at that time. By King County Sheriff's Office [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons A DNA sample was taken years before he was arrested for the serial murders. When new DNA-testing technology became available, the evidence is the case was re-examined. Gary Ridgway was identified as the killer of several of the victims through a DNA match. Green River Killer's Method of Murder Ridgway would pick up women, have sex with them or rape them, strangle them and dump their bodies.

Sometimes he revisited the dump site to engage in necrophilia, or he would drive by the areas where he disposed of the remains in clusters to think about the women he had killed. In describing the murder sites, Ridgway admitted to killing women in his house on Military Road. He also stated that sometimes he killed them outside, or in his truck near where the women were picked up. Gary Ridgway | Serial Killers Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit Ridgway murdered numerous women in Washington during the 1980s and 1990s, earning his nickname when the first five victims were found in the Green River. He strangled them, usually with his arm but sometimes using ligatures. After strangling the women, he would dump their bodies throughout forested and overgrown areas in King County. 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. History Edit Gary Leon 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. He was raised in the McMicken Heights neighborhood of SeaTac, Washington. 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 belittle him 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 I.Q. 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 single school year twice in order to attain grades decent enough to pass.

His classmates at Tyee High School describe 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. According to the victim and Ridgway himself, Ridgway walked away laughing and saying, "I always wondered what it would be like to kill someone." While in high school, Ridgway joined the Navy. After graduation, he was sent to Vietnam, where he served onboard a supply ship and saw combat. Friends and family, questioned about Ridgway after his arrest, described him as friendly but strange. His first two marriages resulted in divorce because of infidelities by both partners. Both partners, Rebecca Guay and his second wife Marcia, claimed that he had placed them in chokeholds, Marcia in 1972 and Guay in 1982. In 1975 his second wife gave birth to his son, Matthew.

Murders Edit Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Ridgway is believed to have murdered at least 71 women (according to Ridgway, in an interview with Sheriff Reichert 2001) near Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. His court statements later reported that he had killed so many, he lost count. A majority of the murders occurred between 1982 to 1984. The victims were believed to be either prostitutes or runaways picked up along Pacific Highway South (International Blvd. 99) whom he strangled. Most of their bodies were dumped in wooded areas around the Green River (Washington) except for two confirmed and another two suspected victims found in the Portland, Oregon area. The bodies were often left in clusters, sometimes posed, usually nude. He also sometimes later would return to the victims' bodies and have intercourse with them (an act of necrophilia). Because most of the bodies were not discovered until only the skeletons remained, four victims are still unidentified. Ridgway occasionally contaminated the dump sites with gum, cigarettes, and written materials belonging to others, and he even transported a few victims' remains across state lines into Oregon to confuse the police.

Ridgway began each murder by picking up a woman, usually a prostitute. He sometimes showed the woman a picture of his son, to help her trust him. After having sex with her, Ridgway strangled her from behind. He initially strangled them manually. However, many victims inflicted wounds and bruises on his arm while trying to defend themselves. Concerned these wounds and bruises would draw attention, Ridgway began using ligatures to strangle his victims. Most victims were killed in his home, his truck, or a secluded area. In the early 1980s, the King County Sheriff's Office formed the Green River Task Force to investigate the murders. The most notable members of the task force were Robert Keppel and Dave Reichert, who periodically interviewed incarcerated serial killer Ted Bundy from 1984. Their interviews with Bundy were of little help in the Green River investigations but elicited confessions from Bundy on unsolved cases. Also contributing was John E. Douglas, who has since written much on the subject of the Green River Killer. Ridgway was arrested in 1982 and 2001 on charges related to prostitution.

He became a suspect in 1983 in the Green River killings. In 1984, Ridgway took and passed a polygraph test, and on April 7, 1987, police took hair and saliva samples from Ridgway. Around 1985, Ridgway began dating Judith Mawson, who became his third wife in 1988. Mawson claimed in a 2010 television interview that when she moved into his house while they were dating, there was no carpet. Detectives later told her he had probably wrapped a body in the carpet. In the same interview, she described how he would leave for work early in the morning some days, ostensibly for the overtime pay. Mawson speculated that he must have committed some of the murders while supposedly working these early morning shifts. She claimed that she had not suspected Ridgway's crimes before he was contacted by authorities in 1987, and in fact had not even heard of the Green River Killer before that time because she didn't watch the news.

Author Pennie Morehead says that when she interviewed Ridgway in prison, he said his urge to kill was reduced while he was in a relationship with Mawson, causing him to commit fewer murders than he otherwise would have, and that he truly loved her. Mawson told a local television reporter, "I feel I have saved lives ... by being his wife and making him happy." The DNA samples collected in 1987 were later subjected to a DNA analysis, providing the evidence for his arrest warrant. On November 30, 2001, Ridgway was at the Kenworth Truck factory, where he worked as a spray painter, when police arrived to arrest him. Ridgway was arrested on suspicion of murder of four women nearly 20 years after first being identified as a potential suspect when DNA evidence conclusively linked semen left in the victims to the saliva swab taken by the police. The four victims named in the original indictment were Marcia Chapman, Opal Mills, Cynthia Hinds, and Carol Ann Christensen.

Three more victims (Wendy Coffield, Debra Bonner, and Debra Estes) were added to the indictment after Skip Palenik identified microscopic spray paint spheres at his laboratory, Microtrace LLC in Elgin, IL, as a specific brand and composition of paint used at the Kenworth factory during the specific time frame when these victims were killed. Plea bargain, confessions, sentencing Edit Early in August 2003, Seattle television news reported that Ridgway had been moved from a maximum security cell at King County Jail to an undisclosed location. Other news reports stated that his lawyers, led by Anthony Savage, were closing a plea bargain that would spare him the death penalty in return for his confession to a number of the Green River murders. On November 5, 2003, Ridgway entered a guilty plea to 48 charges of aggravated first degree murder as part of a plea bargain, agreed to in June, that would spare him execution in exchange for his cooperation in locating the remains of his victims and providing other details.

In his statement accompanying his guilty plea, Ridgway explained that all of his victims had been killed inside King County, Washington, and that he had transported and dumped the remains of the two women near Portland to confuse the police. Deputy prosecutor Jeffrey Baird noted in court that the deal contained "the names of 41 victims who would not be the subject of State v. Ridgway if it were not for the plea agreement." King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng explained his decision to make the deal: "We could have gone forward with seven counts, but that is all we could have ever hoped to solve. At the end of that trial, whatever the outcome, there would have been lingering doubts about the rest of these crimes. This agreement was the avenue to the truth. And in the end, the search for the truth is still why we have a criminal justice system ... Gary Ridgway does not deserve our mercy. He does not deserve to live.

The mercy provided by today's resolution is directed not at Ridgway, but toward the families who have suffered so much ..." On December 18, 2003, King County Superior Court Judge Richard Jones sentenced Ridgway to 48 life sentences with no possibility of parole and one life sentence, to be served consecutively. He was also sentenced to an additional 10 years for tampering with evidence for each of the 48 victims, adding 480 years to his 48 life sentences. Ridgway led prosecutors to three bodies in 2003. On August 16 of that year, remains of a 16-year-old female found near Enumclaw, Washington, 40 feet from State Route 410, were pronounced as belonging to Pammy Annette Avent, who had been believed to be a victim of the Green River Killer. The remains of Marie Malvar and April Buttram were found in September. On November 23, 2005, The Associated Press reported that a weekend hiker found the skull of one of the 48 women Ridgway admitted murdering in his 2003 plea bargain with King County prosecutors.

The skull of Tracy Winston, who was 19 when she disappeared from Northgate Mall on September 12, 1983, was found by a man hiking in a wooded area near Highway 18 near Issaquah, southeast of Seattle. Ridgway confessed to more confirmed murders than any other American serial killer . Over a period of five months of police and prosecutor interviews, he confessed to 48 murder, 42 of which were on the police's list of probable Green River Killer victims. On February 9, 2004, county prosecutors began to release the videotape records of Ridgway's confessions. In one taped interview, he told investigators initially that he was responsible for the deaths of 65 women, but in another taped interview with Reichert on December 31, 2003, Ridgway claimed to have murdered 71 victims and confessed to having had sex with them prior to killing them, a detail which he did not reveal until after his sentencing.

In his confession, he acknowledged that he targeted prostitutes because they were "easy to pick up and that he hated most of them." He also confessed that he had sex with his victims' bodies after he murdered them, but claimed he began burying the later victims so that he could resist the urge to commit necrophilia. Ridgway talked to and tried to make his victims comfortable before he committed the murders. In his own words, "I would talk to her... and get her mind off of the, sex, anything she was nervous about. And think, you know, she thinks, 'Oh, this guy cares'... which I didn't. I just want to, uh, get her in the vehicle and eventually kill her." Green River Serial Killer - archivesmost Green River Serial Killer serial · green · killer · river Early life edit Ridgway was born the second of three boys in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1949. His home life 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. 4 As a young child, Ridgway was tested with an IQ of 82, signifying below average intelligence.

He did very poorly in school and his classmates described him as being quiet and largely forgettable. His teenage years were troubled; he wet the bed up until the age of 14. When his mother found out about the incidents, she would have him march naked all the way into the bathroom. There, she would bathe him. This both aroused and embarrassed Ridgway, which caused him to have both sexual and violent fantasies about his mother. 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. 5 According to the victim and Ridgway himself, Ridgway walked away laughing and saying, I always wondered what it would be like to kill someone. citation needed Adult life edit Ridgway graduated from Tyee High School at age 20 in 1969 and married his 19-year-old high school girlfriend Claudia Kraig. He joined the Navy 5 and was sent to Vietnam, where he served on board a supply ship 6 and saw combat. 4 During his time in the military, Ridgway began frequenting numerous prostitutes and contracted gonorrhea.

Although angered by this, he continued to have unprotected sex with prostitutes. While Ridgway was abroad, Kraig had an extramarital affair. The marriage ended within a year. 5 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. 4 He had become religious during his second marriage, proselytizing door-to-door, reading the Bible aloud at work and at home, and insisting that his wife follow the strict teachings of their church pastor. 5 Ridgway would also frequently cry after sermons or reading the Bible. 7 Ridgway continued to solicit the services of prostitutes during this marriage; he also wanted his wife to participate in sex in public and inappropriate places, sometimes even in areas where his victims bodies were later discovered. 5 According to women in his life, Ridgway had an insatiable sexual appetite. His three ex-wives and several ex-girlfriends reported that Ridgway demanded sex from them several times a day. 7 Often, he would want to have sex in a public area or in the woods.

5 Ridgway himself admitted to having a fixation with prostitutes, 8 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. 7 Murders edit Ridgway after a 1982 booking Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Ridgway is believed to have murdered at least 71 women according to Ridgway, in an interview with Sheriff Reichert in 2001 near Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. His court statements later reported that he had killed so many, he lost count. A majority of the murders occurred between 1982 and 1984. The victims were believed to be either prostitutes or runaways picked up along Pacific Highway South International Blvd. 99 , who he strangled. Most of their bodies were dumped in wooded areas around the Green River, except for two confirmed and another two suspected victims found in the Portland, Oregon area. The bodies were often left in clusters, sometimes posed, usually nude.

He would sometimes return to the victims bodies and have sexual intercourse with them. Because most of the bodies were not discovered until only the skeletons remained, three victims are still unidentified. Ridgway occasionally contaminated the dump sites with gum, cigarettes, and written materials belonging to others, and he even transported a few victims remains across state lines into Oregon to confuse the police. 9 Ridgway began each murder by picking up a woman, usually a prostitute. He sometimes showed the woman a picture of his son, to help her trust him. After having sex with her, Ridgway strangled her from behind. He initially strangled them manually. However, many victims inflicted wounds and bruises on his arm while trying to defend themselves. Concerned these wounds and bruises would draw attention, Ridgway began using ligatures to strangle his victims. He killed most victims in his home, his truck, or a secluded area. 3 In the early 1980s, the King County Sheriff s Office formed the Green River Task Force to investigate the murders. The most notable members of the task force were Robert Keppel and Dave Reichert, who periodically interviewed incarcerated serial killer Ted Bundy from 1984.

Bundy offered his opinions on the psychology, motivations, and behavior of the killer; he suggested that the killer was revisiting the dump sites to have sexual relations with his victims, which turned out to be true, and if police found a fresh grave, they should stake it out and wait for him to come back. 10 Also contributing to the investigation was John E. Douglas, who has since written much on the subject of the Green River Killer. 11 Ridgway was arrested in 1982 and 2001 on charges related to prostitution. He became a suspect in 1983 in the Green River killings. In 1984, Ridgway took and passed a polygraph test quality control protocols later developed in the FBI after careful review determined that Ridgway actually failed his polygraph test, and on April 7, 1987, police took hair and saliva samples from Ridgway. Around 1985, Ridgway began dating Judith Mawson, who became his third wife in 1988. Mawson claimed in a 2010 television interview that when she moved into his house while they were dating, there was no carpet.

Detectives later told her he had probably wrapped a body in the carpet. 12 In the same interview, she described how he would leave for work early in the morning some days, ostensibly for the overtime pay. Mawson speculated that he must have committed some of the murders while supposedly working these early morning shifts. She claimed that she had not suspected Ridgway s crimes before she was contacted by authorities in 1987, and had not even heard of the Green River Killer before that time because she did not watch the news. 12 Author Pennie Morehead interviewed Ridgway in prison, and he said while he was in the relationship with Mawson his kill rate went down, and he truly loved her. 12 Mawson told a local television reporter, I feel I have saved lives by being his wife and making him happy. 13 The samples collected in 1987 were later subjected to a DNA analysis, providing the evidence for his arrest warrant. On November 30, 2001, Ridgway was at the Kenworth Truck factory, where he worked as a spray painter, when police arrived to arrest him.

Ridgway was arrested on suspicion of murdering four women nearly 20 years after first being identified as a potential suspect, when DNA evidence conclusively linked semen left in the victims to the saliva swab taken by the police. The four victims named in the original indictment were Marcia Chapman, Opal Mills, Cynthia Hinds, and Carol Ann Christensen. Three more victims Wendy Coffield, Debra Bonner, and Debra Estes were added to the indictment after a forensic scientist identified microscopic spray paint spheres as a specific brand and composition of paint used at the Kenworth factory during the specific time frame when these victims were killed. 12 Plea bargain, confessions, sentencing edit Early in August 2003, Seattle television news reported that Ridgway had been moved from a maximum security cell at King County Jail to an undisclosed location. Other news reports stated that his lawyers, led by Anthony Savage, were closing a plea bargain that would spare him the death penalty in return for his confession to a number of the Green River murders.

citation needed On November 5, 2003, Ridgway entered a guilty plea to 48 charges of aggravated first degree murder as part of a plea bargain, agreed to in June, that would spare him execution in exchange for his cooperation in locating the remains of his victims and providing other details. In his statement accompanying his guilty plea, Ridgway explained that all of his victims had been killed inside King County, Washington, and that he had transported and dumped the remains of the two women near Portland to confuse the police. 9 Deputy prosecutor Jeffrey Baird noted in court that the deal contained the names of 41 victims who would not be the subject of State v. Ridgway if it were not for the plea agreement. King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng explained his decision to make the deal: We could have gone forward with seven counts, but that is all we could have ever hoped to solve. At the end of that trial, whatever the outcome, there would have been lingering doubts about the rest of these crimes. This agreement was the avenue to the truth. And in the end, the search for the truth is still why we have a criminal justice system Gary Ridgway does not deserve our mercy.

He does not deserve to live. The mercy provided by today s resolution is directed not at Ridgway, but toward the families who have suffered so much 14 On December 18, 2003, King County Superior Court Judge Richard Jones sentenced Ridgway to 48 life sentences with no possibility of parole and one life sentence, to be served consecutively. He was also sentenced to an additional 10 years for tampering with evidence for each of the 48 victims, adding 480 years to his 48 life sentences. citation needed Ridgway led prosecutors to three bodies in 2003. On August 16 of that year, the remains of a 16-year-old girl found near Enumclaw, Washington, 40 feet from State Route 410, were pronounced as belonging to Pammy Annette Avent, who had been believed to be a victim of the Green River Killer. The remains of Marie Malvar and April Buttram were found in September.

On November 23, 2005, The Associated Press reported that a weekend hiker found the skull of one of the 48 women Ridgway admitted murdering in his 2003 plea bargain with King County prosecutors. The skull of Tracy Winston, who was 19 when she disappeared from Northgate Mall on September 12, 1983, was found on November 20, 2005 by a man hiking in a wooded area near Highway 18 near Issaquah, southeast of Seattle. 15 Ridgway confessed to more confirmed murders than any other American serial killer. Over a period of five months of police and prosecutor interviews, he confessed to 48 murders 42 of which were on the police s list of probable Green River Killer victims. 16 On February 9, 2004, county prosecutors began to release the videotape records of Ridgway s confessions.

In one taped interview, he told investigators initially that he was responsible for the deaths of 65 women, but in another taped interview with Reichert on December 31, 2003, Ridgway claimed to have murdered 71 victims and confessed to having had sex with them before killing them, a detail which he did not reveal until after his sentencing. 17 In his confession, he acknowledged that he targeted prostitutes because they were easy to pick up and that he hated most of them. 18 He confessed that he had sex with his victims bodies after he murdered them, but claimed he began burying the later victims so that he could resist the urge to commit necrophilia. 19 Ridgway talked to and tried to make his victims comfortable before he committed the murders. In his own words, I would talk to her and get her mind off of the, sex, anything she was nervous about. And think, you know, she thinks, Oh, this guy cares which I didn t. I just want to, uh, get her in the vehicle and eventually kill her. 17 Later in a statement Ridgway said that murdering young women was his career.

20 Life imprisonment edit Ridgway was placed in solitary confinement at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla in January 2004. 21 On May 14, 2015, he was transferred to the USP Florence, a high-security federal prison east of Cañon City, Colorado. In September 2015, after a public outcry and discussions with Gov. Jay Inslee, Corrections Secretary Bernie Warner announced that Ridgway would be transferred back to Washington to be easily accessible for open murder investigations. 22 Ridgway was returned by chartered plane to Washington from the High Security Federal Prison in Florence, Colorado, on October 24, 2015. 23 Victims edit Before Ridgway s confession, authorities had attributed 49 murders to the Green River Killer. 24 Ridgway confessed to murdering at least 71 victims. 17 Confirmed edit At the time of his December 18, 2003 sentencing, authorities had been able to find at least 48 sets of remains, including victims not originally attributed to the Green River Killer.

Ridgway was sentenced for the deaths of each of these 48 victims, with a plea agreement that he would plead guilty to any and all future cases in King County where his confession could be corroborated by reliable evidence. 25. I had the perfect husband but he was the perfect murderer : Wife reveals moment she found out she was married to Green River Serial Killer who murdered up to 70 women. A pair of girls seeking adventure beyond the their Western Washington trailer park encounter the area s most ruthless serial killer. Based on Sheriff David Reichert s. Jul 08, 2013 I killed so many women I have a hard time keeping them straight. In the spring of 1984, Gary Ridgway took his son on a weekend camping trip to Oregon. May 06, 2013 Gary Ridgway was a truck painter who confessed to killing 71 women from 1982 to 2000. He was the United States most prolific serial killer and was also.

The Green River Killer, reportedly the nation s worst unsolved serial killer spree was responsible for 49 deaths of women in Portland and Seattle between 1982 and 1984. Nov 12, 2012 Documentary about The Green River Killer Gary Leon Ridgeway. Mar 30, 2015 Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, went on a 20-year killing spree, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in. Gary Ridgway | Criminal Minds Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit View of the Green River near where several victims were found. Ridgway committed his first confirmed serial murders in the 1980s, most of them in 1982 and 1983. He was brought in for questioning as a person of interest when the first bodies were found and took a polygraph test twice, once in 1982 and once in 1986, passing both times, and was a suspect during the entire investigation.

He came close to being arrested a few times; in 1985, a woman accused him of grabbing her in a choke-hold in 1982, and in 1983, a witness saw victim Marie M. Malvar get into his car. In October of 1984, Ted Bundy , who was on death row in Florida at the time, contacted the Green River Task Force and offered his personal insights on the case and the area. He was interviewed a few times, though nothing useful came of it besides more confessions of his own murders. Maps denoting the locations of where Ridgway's victims were discovered. The police learned from several prostitutes in the Green River Killer's usual area that they had seen him driving on that strip, which was the route he took to get to work. It was also noted that he had been reported as absent from work on every single occasion that a victim had disappeared. In 1987, the police searched his house and took samples of his hair and saliva. Because there wasn't enough evidence to make an arrest, he was released. Ridgway's involvement in the investigation led his coworkers to nickname him "Green River Gary".

As the years went by, more remains of his victims were found; the most recent finding was on December 21, 2010. In 1991, the Green River Task Force was reduced to a single person, Tom Jensen. For a decade afterwards, the case remained completely dormant. During that time, Ridgway is only confirmed to have committed a single murder. Ridgway's court statement. It wasn't until 2001 that the big break in the case finally came when the murders were re-investigated with a task force consisting of 30 people, including forensic and DNA experts. A DNA comparison of semen found on the victims' bodies and the samples taken from Ridgway in 1987 was made using more recent technology and came back a match. Ridgway was consequently arrested, charged with the murders of Opal Mills, Marcia Chapman, Carol Christensen and Cynthia Hinds; the first three were connected to him by DNA evidence and the fourth by circumstantial evidence.

Three more charges, those of Wendy Coffield, Debra Bonner and Debra Estes, were added when the investigators found traces of a kind of spray paint Ridgway used at work on their remains. In 2003, Ridgway made a plea bargain with the prosecution, agreeing to make a full confession and help the authorities find the remains of his victims in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. In total, he was convicted of 49 murders. He confessed to a total of 71, though some estimate that he may have killed more than 90 women. At one point during the legal proceedings when the victims' families gave testimonies, Ridgway broke into tears and told them he was sorry. As part of his plea bargain, the investigators began driving him between dump sites, where he would direct them to bodies which hadn't previously been found. He is currently serving his sentence at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington.

Modus Operandi Green River Killer Claims He Murdered Dozens More Women - ABC News ABC News Green River Killer Claims He Murdered Dozens More Women By Kevin Dolak WATCH Green River Killer Claims Dozens More Victims 0 Shares Email Gary Ridgway, the Seattle-area truck painter who was unmasked as the Green River serial killer and went on to plead guilty to killing 49 women, now claims that he killed closer to 80 women over two decades. In exclusive interviews with ABC News affiliate KOMO , Ridgway, who is currently serving 49 consecutive life sentences in a Washington State penitentiary, told reporter Charlie Harger that he is confessing to dozens more murders to help bring closure to the families of his unidentified victims. "The total number [of victims] is 75 to 80," Ridgway said in a phone interview recorded by Harger and broadcast on KOMO. Ridgway, who said he is a changed man who has found God, now says that while he was telling police of his crimes following his 2001 arrest and subsequent confession, there was more he could have said to help locate other victims.

But Harger said he remains skeptical about Ridgway's motive and tendency to lie. "The strange thing about Gary Ridgway is if you didn't know the depravity, if you didn't know the evil that this man committed, you would have no clue when you talked on the phone with him," said Harger, a reporter for KOMO Newsradio. "This man sounds like he would be a perfect neighbor." Ridgway confessed that he picked up prostitutes and teen runaways throughout the 1980s and 1990s in Washington's King County, strangled them during sex and dumped their bodies in remote areas near King County's 65-mile long Green River. "Gary Ridgway is ... playing everybody when he talks," Harger said. "I don't think Gary Ridgway can even comprehend the truth." -- journalist Charlie Harger Ridgway had been a suspect in the killings for years, but it wasn't until 2001 that he was arrested, thanks to DNA testing advances. To avoid the death penalty, Ridgway confessed to 48 murders in 2003.

In 2011 a 49th body was found, and he received an additional life sentence. Now that he has admitted to dozens of other murders, the question remains whether he is now genuinely trying to help the families of supposed victims, or if he's trying to "up his count" for further notoriety. Harger said that Ridgway is a sly, deceptive man. "Gary Ridgway is absolutely playing me. He's playing everybody when he talks," Harger said. "I don't think Gary Ridgway can even comprehend the truth. "I think he wants to show the world that, 'Here I am, Gary Ridgway, the truck painter from Kenworth, the guy who everybody thought was slow since elementary school, somebody who couldn't hold a candle to Ted Bundy. But, here I am, and I'm the best at something,'" Harger said. Ridgway has been speaking with Air Force criminal investigator Rob Fitzgerald for years about his crimes, and for the past five years, Fitzgerald has hunted for unidentified victims of the Green River Killer.

The two men speak multiple times per week, KOMO reports, and Ridgway even provides Fitzgerald with photos of supposed "dump sites" that he says should be searched. Despite Ridgway's dubious motive for divulging these locations, Harger said he should still be heard, for a possible "nugget of truth" in what might be a web of lies. "Maybe if we listen to the clues and cut through his lies, we will find a nugget of truth, the clue investigators have waited for," he said. "It's a chance we have to take."

Question: Who was the American serial killer, nicknamed 'The Green River Killer', who at his trial in 2003, confessed to the murders of 48 women in Washington state?
Answer: GARY RIDGWAY