Gary Ridgway The Green River Killer

Childhood Born on February 18th, 1949 in Salt Lake City, Utah His parents were Mary Steinman and Thomas Ridgway He has two brothers, Gregory and Thomas Jr. His home life was a bit troubled with a domineering mother and having to witness many violent arguments He had a problem with wetting the bed and his mom would embarrass him about it and belittle him in front of their family This lead him to have conflicting feelings of sexual attractions and anger towards her

Childhood He did poorly in school and had very low intelligence When he was a teenager, he led a 6 year old boy into the woods and stabbed him, luckily the boy lived The boy said that Gary walked away laughing and heard him say “I always wondered what it would be like to kill someone.”

Adult Life He graduated from high school and married Claudia Barrows He joined the navy, where he spent a lot of time with prostitutes and ended up contracting a STD He had a second marriage after divorcing Claudia, who he had a son, Matthew, with and that marriage also ended. Both of his ex wives claimed that he was abusive and would even place them in chokeholds at times, as well as trying to make them perform sexual acts in inappropriate, public places. He married a third time in 1988 to Judith Mawson

Crimes *He was convicted of 49 murders but confessed to killing 71 in total Crime Date Victims Punishment Murder (all first degree) July 8th, 1982 Wendy Lee Coffield Life sentence Murder July 17th, 1982 Gisele Ann Lovvorn July 25th, 1982 Debra Lynn Bonner August 1st, 1982 Marcia Fay Chapman August 11th, 1982 Cynthia Jean Hinds August 12th, 1982 Opal Charmine Mills August 29th, 1982 Terry Rene Milligan September 15th, 1982 Mary Bridget Meehan September 20th, 1982 Debra Lorraine Estes September 26th, 1982 Linda Jane Rule October 8th, 1982 Denise Darcel Bush 11/49 of his victims that he was convicted of killing

Evidence he was guilty tiny spheres of sprayed paint were discovered at a number of the crime scenes and it was the same paint from where Ridgway worked at a truck factory his DNA was a match with some found on the bodies of the victims He was able to lead the police to exact locations where other bodies were He lived in/around the area where all the victims were killed He had an obsession with prostitutes and almost all of his victims were prostitues

Charges and Sentence Convicted in January 2004 48 charges of first degree murder 48 life sentences with no possibility of parole and one life sentence to be served consecutively Sentenced to an additional 10 years for tampering with evidence for each of the 48 victims, adding 480 years to his 48 life sentences He is currently serving his time at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington.

Nickname The Green River Killer

Books Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule Defending Gary by Mark Prothero The Green River Killer by The King County Journal Staff Green River Serial Killer by Pennie Morehead

Movies Green River Killer The Capture of the Green River Killer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e6FmBMCMqM

Songs “Deep Red Bells” by Neko Case “I Wanna Know What Love Is” by Julie Ruin This song was inspired by her own life while she was growing up as a teenager during the time of the murders “He led you to this hiding place His lightning threats on silver tongue The red bells beckon you to ride A hand print on the driver’s side It looks a lot like engine oil” This song mentions the Green River Killer and his violence against women “how many girls stay awake all night too scared to sleep and too scared to fight back i know you know what i'm talking about another woman killed and hardly a pout about it green river killer my f****** a** the cops have gotta be deaf, dumb, and spastic to not catch the killer(s) of one hundred woman i guess it'd be different if they thought we were human”

Theory Gary Ridgeway’s crimes and harmful acts can be observed and categorized within the differential-association theory, which states how criminal behavior is learned from interactions with others. Based on his belittling and shameful childhood, it leads to belief that he was grown up with an internal anger. His mother abused him and embarrassed him, making him feel of lesser value in life. Growing up that way, he was used to that kind of aggressive environment, so he thought it was ok to act in the manner that he did. Also, his bus driver father constantly complained to their family about the prostitutes on the side of the road on the routes that he took. Gary’s victims were almost all prostitutes, so he learned to develop a sort of grudge against them while growing up and held onto it. The differential-association theory also states that one is more inclined to become a criminal if their values and the values of the individuals who has a strong influence over them supports criminal activity. There are various aspects in his life that support this reasoning. His mother, someone a child is supposed to look up to, beat and abused her children. The Ridgway home was a rough household but it was just normal to Gary, so he thought nothing wrong of the behavior. Also, Gary received little to no punishment when he stabbed a six year old boy in the woods, leading him to believe he can get away with things like this. If Gary Ridgway would have been raised and taught differently at an early age, then there may not have ever been a “Green River Killer”.