Gary Ridgway: the Green River Killer

Gary Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer, was born February 18, 1949, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Gary Ridgway held a steady job for 30 years, but was married three times through his life. Gary Ridgway got his nickname “The Green River Killer” before they even knew who was doing the killings. In 1982, when Ridgway was 33 years old, he began killing women, prostitutes and runaways, which were his main targets. Gary was one of the suspects when the case was first opened, however they had no proof to legally tie Gary to the crimes; Gary even took a polygraph test and passed (Gary Ridgway Biography, 2012, para.1). They were having so much trouble with this case that, in 1985, serial killer Ted Bundy decided to offer his assistance to the officers working the case (Gary Leon Ridgway: Green River Killer, n.a., p. 1-7). The officers took Gary’s DNA and stored it, waiting for the day it would come that they could use it against him. It wasn’t until the year 2001 that his victims would see justice. King County sheriff Dave Reichert, who was the first officer assigned to the case was the man that brought the cold case out of storage in 2001. They tested the DNA and Gary matched three of the victims, although he would later admit to killing more than 60 women (Prosecutor 's Summary of the Evidence, n.a., p. 16). This is more confirmed killings than any other serial killer in the history of the United States. He was sentenced to life in prison. In this paper we will walk through his early stages of life, social behavior, and criminal history.
EARLY STAGES OF LIFE
Gary’s parents would move him and his two brothers, Tom and Greg, from Utah and Idaho frequently throughout their young lives. It wasn’t until Gary was nine his parents found a place in Washington to settle in for years and call home. Gary and his brothers grew up poor. The family lived in a 600 square foot house off the Pacific Highway (McCarthy & Thornburgh, 2002, para. 2-4). Their father drove

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