Gary Leon Ridgway The Green River Killer

The Green River Killer  Born Gary Leon Ridgway on  Born in Salt Lake City, Utah  Homelife was troubled; mom was domineering  Gary wet the bed often & mom would immediately bathe him & belittle him; he was angry towards her and sexually aroused by her

The Green River Killer  As a child, tested with an 82 I.Q.  Repeated a grade twice  Classmates in high school describe him as friendly but forgettable  At the age of 16, he lured a 6 yr old boy into the woods & stabbed him through the ribs…boy survived & GRK was quoted as saying, “I always wondered what it would be like to kill someone.”

Green River Killer  At age 18, he joined the Navy  After hs graduation, he married his hs girlfriend, Claudia Barrows  Went to Vietnam & saw combat  Began spending a lot of time with prostitutes; developed an std & blamed prostitutes but kept seeing them anyway  Claudia was also “dating” & they divorced after a yr of marriage

Green River Killer  Second marriage to Marcia Winslow also ended in divorce  He became a religious fanatic- reading Bible obsessively, going door- to-door proselytizing, & crying after sermons  He seemed to be torn between his desire for prostitutes & his love of God  Had a love-hate relationship with them; complained about their presence in his neighborhood but continued to be a client  1975, his wife Marcia gave birth to their son, Matthew

Green River Killer  On July 15, 1982, the body of Wendy Lee Coffield was found in the Green River in a rural area of the City of Kent in King County, Washington  4 more bodies of young women were soon discovered, and thus began one of the longest & largest serial murder investigations in United States history  Eventually, the deaths of 48 women would be linked to the GRK

Green River Killer  Throughout the 1980s & 1990s, Ridgway is believed to have murdered at least 71 women near Seattle & Tacoma, Washington  He claims he killed so many that he lost track  Victims were believed to be either prostitutes or runaways  He would pick them up, show them a picture of his son to relax them, have sex with her, and manually strangle her from behind

Green River Killer  He would dump most of the bodies in wooded areas around the Green River (except for a couple he moved to Oregon)  Bodies were left in clusters, sometimes posed, usually nude  He would sometimes return to have intercourse with the dead bodies  In the early 1980s, King County Sheriff’s Office formed the Green River Task Force to investigate the murders

Green River Killer  Actually asked for help from incarcerated Ted Bundy, but to no avail  Ridgway was arrested in 1982 & 2001 on charges of prostitution  He became a suspect in 1983  In 1984, he passed a polygraph test  In 1987, police took hair & saliva samples from him

Green River Killer  In 1985, he began dating Judith Mawson, who became his 3 rd wife in 1988  He claimed his urge to kill was reduced while he was in a relationship with Mawson & that he truly loved her  Judith said “I feel I have saved lives…by being his wife and making him happy.”  His DNA provided evidence for an arrest warrant  Arrested on Nov. 30, 2001 at work

Mrs. Gary Leon Ridgway (#3)

Judith Mawson Ridgway

I married a serial killer

Happy couple in 2001

Green River Killer  On November 5, entered a plea of guilty to 48 charges of aggravated 1 st degree murder as part of a plea bargain that would spare him execution in exchange for his cooperation in locating the remains of his victims & providing other details  On December 18, 2003, King County Superior Court Judge Richard Jones sentenced GRK to 48 life sentences with no possibility of parole & 1 life sentence to be served consecutively. He was also given an additional 10 yrs for tampering with evidence for each of the 48 victims, adding 480 more years to the 48 life sentences

Green River Killer  GRK confessed to more confirmed murders than any other American serial killer  He admitted he targeted prostitutes because they were easy to pick up & he hated most of them.  He tried to make his victims comfortable before he killed them. “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 Killer’s Victims  #1 Wendy Lee Coffield, 16  Disappeared …found

GRK’s Victims  #2 Gisele Ann Lovvorn, 19,  Disappeared ….found

GRK’s Victims  #3 Debra Lynn Bonner, 25  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #4 Marcia Fay Chapman, 31  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #5 Opal Charmaine Mills, 16  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #6 Terry Rene Milligan, 16  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #7 Mary Bridget Meehan, 18  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #8 Debra Lorraine Estes, 15  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims #9 Linda Jane Rule, 16 Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #10 Denise Darcel Bush, 23  Disappeared …found 06.85

GRK’s victims  #11 Shawnda Leea Summers, 16  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #12 Shirley Marie Sherrill  Disappeared …found 06.85

GRK’s victims  #13 Colleen Renee Brockman, 15  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #14 Alma Ann Smith, 18  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #15 Delores LaVerne Williams, 17  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #16 Gail Lynn Mathews, 23  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #17 Andrea M. Childers, 19  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #18 Sandra Kay Gabbert, 17  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #19 Kimi-Kai Pitsor, 16  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #20 Marie M. Malvar, 18  Disappeared …found (my 33 rd bday)

GRK’s victims  #21 Carol Anne Christensen, 21  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #22 Martine Theresa Authorlee, 18  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #23 Cheryl Lee Wims, 18  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #24 Yvonne Shelly Antosh, 19  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #25 Carrie A. Rois, 15  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #26 Constance Elizabeth Naon, 19  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #27 Kelly Marie Ware, 22  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #28 Tina Marie Thompson, 21  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #29 April Dawn Buttram, 16  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #30 Debbie May Abernathy, 26  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #31 Tracy Ann Winston, 19  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #32 Maureen Sue Feeney, 19  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #33 Mary Sue Bello, 25  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #34 Pammy Avent, 15  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #35 Delise Louise Plager, 22  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #36 Kimberly L. Nelson, 21  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #37 Lisa Yates, 19  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #38 Mary Exzetta West, 16  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #39 Cindy Anne Smith, 17  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #40 Patricia Michelle Barczak, 19  Disappeared …found 02.93

GRK’s victims  #41 Roberta Joseph Hayes, 21  Disappeared …found

GRK’s victims  #42 Marta Reeves, 36  Disappeared between …found

GRK’s victims  #43 Patricia Yellowrobe, 38  Disappeared 01.98…found

GRK’s victims  #44 Unidentified white female,  Died prior to 05.83…found

GRK’S victims  #45 unidentified white female,  Disappeared- unknown…found

GRK’s victims  #46 unidentified black female,  Disappeared between 82-84…found

GRK’s victims  #47 unidentified white female,  Disappeared between …found

Green River Killer  Gary Leon Ridgway is incarcerated at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington.  “Most of the time I killed them the first time I met them and I do not have a good memory of their faces. I killed so many women I have a hard time keeping them straight.”  “I picked prostitutes as my victims because I hate most prostitutes & I did not want to pay them for sex…I pick prostitutes b/c I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.  “Choking is what I did and I was pretty good at it.”

Green River Killer  At his sentencing in Dec. 2003, some of the victims’ families say they hope he’ll be killed in prison. He breaks down as he listens to them & then reads out a note he’s prepared in which he references his other victims whose bodies have not been found: “I am very sorry for the ladys (sic) that were not found. May they rest in peace. They need a better place that what I gave them.”  Ridgway has been in solitary confinement since 2003.