Ridgway was sentenced for the deaths of each of these 48 victims,[34] 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."[35]. By August 1982 police believed that a serial killer was at work, and they eventually formed a special task force. Documentary about Ridgway’s victims that includes all the confirmed murders as well as speculation that he may have killed as many as 90 women.The following is a list of the 49 victims Gary Ridgway was convicted of murdering, making him the most prolific serial killer in American history. [1], Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Ridgway is believed to have murdered at least 71 teenage girls and women near Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. The crimes of Gary Ridgway appalled King County, in Washington, as bodies after bodies were discovered along the banks of the Green River in the 80s. In 1980 Ridgway was arrested for allegedly choking a prostitute, but no charges were filed after he claimed that the woman had bit him. [8], Ridgway's IQ was recorded as being in the "low eighties". Eventually, with Bundy's help, Gary Ridgway was caught and admitted to his 49th murder on February 18, 2011, with actual estimates being closer to 80 … His first two marriages resulted in divorce because of infidelities by both partners. [21], 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. Ridgway had a bedwetting problem until he was 13, and his mother would wash his genitals every time. The younger Ridgway later claimed that his mother engaged in inappropriate behaviour. He was convicted and sentenced to death but died while in prison. Two years later he was arrested for solicitation. Agisheff does not fit the, Although he has never been charged with her murder, during police interrogations in 2003, Ridgway did confess to killing Kasee Ann Lee (née: Woods). The victims were believed to be either sex workers or runaways, whom he picked up along Pacific Highway South. He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders. [29], Ridgway later said that murdering young women was his "career. [12], In the early 1980s, the King County Sheriff's Office formed the Green River Task Force to investigate the murders. [5] When he was 16, he stabbed a six-year-old boy who survived the attack. [5] During his time in the military, Ridgway had frequent sexual intercourse with sex workers and contracted gonorrhea; although angered by this, he continued this activity without protection. The mercy provided by today's resolution is directed not at Ridgway, but toward the families who have suffered so much ...[22], 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. The Zodiac Killer remains at large although … Over the next 30 years, he married three times and had a son. He committed the majority of his murders between 1982 and 1983, during which time the bodies of many of his victims were found near Green River in Washington. In addition to his confirmed murders, Ridgway has been linked to at least 22 other murders. Gary Leon Ridgway was born on February 18, 1949, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the second of Mary and Thomas Ridgway's three sons. Early in August 2003, Seattle television news reported that Ridgway had been moved from a maximum security cell at King County Jail to an Airway Heights Minimum-Medium Security Level Tank. Updates? Spokane Man May Have Pulled Ultimate Con By Getting Himself Off Suspect List", "William J. Stevens, 40, Once A Suspect In Green River Case", "A&e's The Riverman Flows Into Some Murky Psychological Waters", "Gary Ridgeway - The Green River Killer: Gary Ridgeway, Ellen Goosenberg Kent", "HLN to premiere true crime series "Beyond Reasonable Doubt" on Fri., June 2 at 9PM ET/PT", "Bundy and the Green River Killer gets Poster and Release Date", "Green River | Biography, Albums, Streaming Links", "This Interview Strategy Led a Serial Killer to Confess", A copy of Ridgway's infamous letter to the press (PDF), National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Unidentified decedents in the United States, Unidentified murder victims in the United States, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gary_Ridgway&oldid=1015888420, United States Navy personnel of the Vietnam War, American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, Crimes against sex workers in the United States, People convicted of murder by Washington (state), Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Washington (state), Violence against women in the United States, Articles with dead external links from September 2020, Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2021, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 1982–1998 confirmed, but could be as recent as 2001, Unidentified White Female (Jane Doe B-17). [5] 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 pastor. 1 of 80 A decade after striking a plea deal in the Green River killings, Gary Ridgway has been convicted in 49 slayings of women and girls who disappeared in the 1980s and 1990s. Kurran's name is alternatively spelled as "Curran" in the media. Serial Killer Gary Ridgway (aka) The Green River Killer, The Riverman, was active for 19 years between 1982-2000, known to have ( 49 confirmed / 90 possible ) victims.This Serial Killer was active in the following countries: United States Gary Ridgway was born … Serial killer Gary Leon Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, murdered at least 49 women in Washington state before he was caught in 2001. Ridgway was believed to have begun his killing spree shortly thereafter. He joined the United States Navy[8] and was sent to Vietnam, where he served on board a supply ship[9] and saw combat. "[19], The samples collected in 1987 were later subjected to DNA profiling, providing the evidence for his arrest warrant. After strangling them, he would dump their bodies in forested and overgrown areas in King County, often returning to the bodies to have sexual intercourse with them.[4]. His second wife, Marcia Winslow, claimed that he had placed her in a chokehold. The remains of Marie Malvar and April Buttram were found in September 2003. Probably yes — despite 46 murders, little has changed", "Episode 5: Gary Ridgway "Green River Killer" Part 03", "Did Serial Killer Trick Police? However, following the advent of more sophisticated tests, a match was made in 2001, and Ridgway was arrested later that year. In September 2015, after a public outcry and discussions with Governor Jay Inslee, Corrections Secretary Bernie Warner announced that Ridgway would be transferred back to Washington to be "easily accessible" for open murder investigations. Grab a copy of our NEW encyclopedia for Kids! [n 1] He killed many teenage girls and women in the state of Washington during the 1980s and 1990s. No charges have been filed. But by his trial, Ridgway faced 48 first-degree murder charges and even admitted that he was culpable for 23 more. Gary is alive and kicking and is currently 72 years old. Ridgway soon became a suspect. After Ridgway’s 2001 arrest, he revealed disturbing details about his … Nearly 30 years later, Garde spoke about her escape as part of CNN… 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. [27], In his confession, he acknowledged that he targeted prostitutes because they were "easy to pick up" and that he "hated most of them. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gary-Ridgway. Jane Doe B-20, also unidentified, was discovered in August 2003. Detectives later told her he had probably wrapped a body in the carpet. Had two brothers one younger one older. 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. Ridgway is suspected of — but not charged with — murdering the remaining six victims of the original list attributed to the Green River Killer. 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. This agreement was the avenue to the truth. Sandra Denise Major was not identified until June 2012. A majority of the murders occurred between 1982 and 1984. Ridgway led prosecutors to three bodies in 2003. In 2003, Ridgway claimed responsibility for her death. [4] Most of their bodies were dumped in wooded areas around the Green River, Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, and other "dump sites" within South King County. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. [18], Author Pennie Morehead interviewed Ridgway in prison, and he said while he was in the relationship with Mawson, his kill rate went down and that he truly loved her. [14], Ridgway was arrested in 1982 and 2001 on charges related to prostitution. 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. In court statements, Ridgway later reported that he had killed so many that he lost count. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. 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.[23]. [30] On May 14, 2015, he was transferred to the USP Florence High, a high-security federal prison east of Cañon City, Colorado. Detectives later discovered a 1982 report about police finding Ridgway with a prostitute in a parked car; two years later a body was found nearby. [12] Ridgway sometimes showed the women a picture of his son, to trick them into trusting him. The press gave him his nickname after the first five victims were found in the Green River before his identity was known. DNA confirmed Major's identity. Gary Ridgway, in full Gary Leon Ridgway, byname Green River Killer, (born February 18, 1949, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.), American criminal who was the country’s deadliest convicted serial killer. "[7], Ridgway was placed in solitary confinement at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla in January 2004. He is linked to the deaths of 48 young women; most were strangled to death around Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. In 1983 he was questioned in the disappearance of a prostitute who a witness claimed had gotten into his truck. Terry was 16 years old, she was last seen on August 29th in 1982. [33] In each case, either Ridgway did not confess to the victim's death, or authorities have not been able to corroborate their suspicion with reliable evidence. 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. [5], With his second wife Marcia, Ridgway had a son, Matthew (b. [7] Because most of the bodies were not discovered until only the skeletons remained, two victims are still unidentified. Gary described his mother as domineering and had conflicting feelings of anger and sexual attraction towards his mother and sometimes f… At some point he began fantasizing about killing her, and in the mid-1960s he stabbed a young boy.After graduating from high school in 1969—at the age of 20—Ridgway served a two-year stint in the U.S. Navy and later settled in the Seattle area, where he worked as a truck painter. Ridgway raped killed women by strangling them to death. [31] Ridgway was returned by chartered plane to Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla from the High Security Federal Prison in Florence, Colorado, on October 24, 2015. Gary Leon Ridgway, a.k.a. He wet the bed until his early teens he was belittled by his mother because of this. Mawson told a local television reporter, "I feel I have saved lives...by being his wife and making him happy. Ridgway pleaded guilty to the murder of 48 women in King County Court, Seattle, WA, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2003. After 1984 he committed several more murders, the last occurring in 1998. He frequently complained about their presence in his neighborhood, but he also took advantage of their services regularly. The four victims named in the original indictment were Marcia Chapman, Opal Mills, Cynthia Hinds, and Carol Ann Christensen. [2], Most of Ridgway's victims were alleged to be sex workers and other women in vulnerable circumstances, including underage runaways. Ridgway was arrested on suspicion of murdering four women nearly 20 years earlier 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. According to reports,…, Ted Bundy, American serial killer and rapist, one of the most notorious criminals of the late 20th century. Her body was found a week later, in the Green River. For the 2005 film, see, In documentaries and films (fiction and non-fiction). Ridgway Was A Troubled Child. Ridgway grew up in what became SeaTac, Washington. 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." [7] On April 7, 1987, police took hair and saliva samples from Ridgway. Investigators believe her remains had lain undiscovered for one year or more prior to their March 1984 discovery. Because the remains were partial, her face could not be reconstructed and her race could not be determined, but she was estimated to be between 13 and 24 years old at the time of her death. It took nearly 20 years for Ridgway to be caught and brought to justice. A family member asked the King County Sheriff to investigate after seeing a TV movie about Ridgway. Omissions? [3] He strangled his victims, usually by hand but sometimes using ligatures. However, none of the items—including carpet fibres and ropes—could be linked to the victims. That brings his kill count to more than 70 people. [25][26] On February 9, 2004, county prosecutors began to release the videotape records of Ridgway's confessions. [32], Before Ridgway's confession, authorities had attributed 49 murders to the Green River Killer. Ridgway has been considered a suspect in the disappearances/murders of several other women not attributed at the time to the Green River Killer. Ridgway later explained that he did not find necrophilia more sexually satisfying, but having sex with the deceased reduced his need to obtain a living victim and thus limited his exposure to being caught. Bundy offered his opinions on the psychology, motivations, and behavior of the killer. Bundy had a difficult childhood; he had a strained relationship with his stepfather, and his shyness made him a frequent target of bullying. Various spellings exist of McGinniss' name, such as "Keli/Kelli" and "McGinness". He does not deserve to live. Her body was found a week later, in the Green River. Shortly before her disappearance, McGinniss was questioned by a Port of Seattle police officer while "dating" Ridgway near the. [7] He would later tell defense psychologists that, as an adolescent, he had conflicting feelings of anger and sexual attraction toward his mother, and fantasized about killing her. Gary Ridgway’s life growing up Gary Ridgway was Born February 18th, 1949 In Salt Lake City, Utah. Ridgway was believed to have begun his killing spree shortly thereafter. On Tuesday, December 21, 2010, hikers near the West Valley Highway in Auburn, Washington found a skull in the vicinity of where Marie Malvar's remains had been found in 2003. His first victim was thought to have been a 16-year-old girl who went missing after leaving her foster home in July 1982. Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949), also known as the Green River Killer, is an American serial killer. [16] In 1984, Ridgway passed a polygraph test. [6][7], Ridgway is dyslexic, and was held back a year in high school. [8], According to women in his life, Ridgway had an insatiable sexual appetite. Grew up in a deprived neighborhood near Seatac Airport. [15] He became a suspect in the Green River killings in 1983. The skull was identified as belonging to Rebecca "Becky" Marrero, who was last seen leaving the Western Six Motel at South 168th Street and Pacific Highway South on December 3, 1982. The King County, Washington, prosecutor has filed murder charges against Gary Ridgway; He says he expects Ridgway to plead guilty Friday in the death of Becky Marrero, last seen in 1982 They also obtained a DNA sample from Ridgway, but the technology then available was unable to match it with semen recovered from the bodies. [7], Ridgway graduated from Tyee High School in 1969 and married his 19-year-old high school girlfriend, Claudia Kraig. His first victim was thought to have been a 16-year-old girl who went missing after leaving her foster home in July 1982. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Richard Ramirez, American serial killer, rapist, and burglar who murdered at least 13 people in California in 1984–85. [5], Ridgway had a bed-wetting problem until he was 13,[6] and his mother would wash his genitals after every episode. 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. Another time, he … Mawson claimed in a 2010 television interview that when she moved into his house while they were dating, there was no carpet. SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- Hatred and arrogance fueled Gary Leon Ridgway's killing spree. 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