The capture of the green river killer
Eight bodies were found in and near the Green River.
#The capture of the green river killer full#
The King County detectives had their hands full at the onset of bodies in the Green River in the summer of 1982. However, Ridgway would sometimes return to busy areas near his home and throw a body over a roadside steep edge. One might further wonder how this killer could consistently kill, transport bodies, return to bodies to engage in sex acts, and not be caught by law enforcement? The challenge grew for law enforcement as Gary began to expand the geographic area for body dumps away from the Green River out to more remote areas in the Cascade Mountain range.
#The capture of the green river killer serial#
Many convicted serial killers engaged in necrophilia including Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Edmund Kemper.) One might also wonder, how could the killer return to bodies he had previously placed and engage in the act of necrophilia (engaging in sex acts, including intercourse, with a dead body) without being seen? (This act is not unique to Gary Ridgway’s behavior. One might wonder, how in the world could a man murder and transport bodies to a river whose banks were commonly peppered with fishermen, hikers, swimmers, and families enjoying a picnic on sunny days without being seen-ever-over a period of twenty years? What are the odds? In the early phase of his killing career, Gary dumped bodies in and along the Green River, therefore, the name, “Green River Killer” evolved and permanently adhered to the killer, both before and after capture. Washington’s Puget Sound community was terrorized for two decades by a mystery killer who killed young women and girls who were runaways and sex workers. While Gary Ridgway may lack the charisma and good looks of a serial killer such as Ted Bundy, his personality and unwavering commitment to killing is fascinating and worthy of scrutiny. Gary Ridgway, a Washington State home-grown citizen, was born and raised in the Puget Sound area in what most people would consider an average, normal, American family-a father and mother-who both worked at blue collar jobs, owned a modest home, celebrated holidays together, and went on camping trips with Gary and his two brothers. Interestingly, Gary Ridgway murdered women and girls for the same amount of time.
(More details about the brief, controversial transfer can be found in She Married the Green River Serial Killer – The Story of an Unsuspecting Wife.) The killer has been living in the Walla Walla (Washington) State Penitentiary for two decades now except for a brief transfer to the USP Florence High Federal Prison in Colorado. November 30, 2021, marked the twenty-year anniversary of Gary Ridgway’s capture.