Gary Ridgway

Gary Ridgway

Gary Leon Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer, is an American serial killer. He killed many teenage girls and women in the state of Washington during the 1980s and 1990s. He strangled his victims, usually by hand but sometimes using ligatures. 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.

About Gary Ridgway in brief

Summary Gary RidgwayGary Leon Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer, is an American serial killer. He killed many teenage girls and women in the state of Washington during the 1980s and 1990s. Most of his victims were alleged to be sex workers and other women in vulnerable circumstances, including underage runaways. He strangled his victims, usually by hand but sometimes using ligatures. 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. He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders. As part of his plea bargain, another conviction was added, bringing the total number of convictions to 49, making him the second most prolific serial killer in United States history according to confirmed murders. He is believed to have murdered at least 71 teenage girls, women and runaways, whom he picked up along the Pacific Highway near Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. Some have speculated that Rid gway was torn between his lusts and his staunch religious beliefs. With his second wife, Marcia Winslow, he had a son, Matthew Matthew, who he raised with his wife. They would sometimes trick his son into trusting him into sexual activity in order to trick him into believing he was a good man. He would also cry after sermons or reading the Bible, and would often ask his wife to participate in sex in public and inappropriate places, sometimes even in areas where his victims’ bodies were later discovered.

According to women in his life, Ridg way had an insatiable sexual appetite. He had a bed-wetting problem until he was 13, and his mother would wash his genitals after every episode. He has an IQ of the “low eighties”; he was held back a year in high school. He joined the U.S. Navy and was sent to Vietnam, where he served on board a supply ship and saw combat. He married his 19-year-old high school girlfriend, Claudia Kraig, and had an extramarital affair. His three ex-wives and several ex-girlfriends reported that he demanded sex from them several times a day. His first two marriages resulted in divorce because of infidelities by both partners. His second wife claimed that he had placed her in a chokehold. When questioned about his arrest, friends and family described him as friendly but strange. He frequently proselytized door-to-door, read the Bible aloud at work and at home, and insisting that his wife follow the strict teachings of their pastor. He later reported that many of the murders occurred between 1982 and 1984, and that he lost so many count that he later said he had killed so many that he didn’t know how many he had lost. He admitted to having a fixation with sex workers, with whom he also had a love relationship. He also took advantage of their presence in his neighborhood, but he also regularly complained about the presence of their services.