The Beasts of Men: Lurking Inside Serial Killers

The Green River Killer had twenty-years of free killing and was one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. But, the DNA matched him to four kills. Ridgway protested his innocence and his family backed him 100%. With time and all the evidence against him, his wife became convinced. In 2003 he pled guilty to 48 murders to avoid the death penalty. Watching the video of his sentencing, you would be in shock as you heard, “guilty …. guilty …guilty” after each victim’s name was announced by the Judge. With no emotion coming from the killer, he was at ease. It was like watching serial killer, Dennis Rader in his trial. Ridgeway came across as a dutiful soldier repeating his faithful dirty deeds that he had to do. He stood, with almost a sick sense of pride for his accomplishments.

Victim’s families could speak, and they said all the things you would expect to hear. He showed no emotion until one man stood before him and gave him mercy and forgiveness. Robert Rule, father of Linda Rule had a few things to say and it was to give the gift of forgiveness and mercy to Ridgway. He crossed over to a place where most people cannot, and he stood before his daughter’s killer with mercy. A very memorable and tender moment, even for the toughest of individuals. This is the only time we got to see emotion in the killer. Ridgway broke down and wept and later offered an apology to the left-over victims.

Gary Ridgway was born on February 19,1949 in Salt Lake City, Utah. His father was Thomas Ridgway and was a transportation bus driver.

His mother, Mary Ridgway was described as a mixed emotion with him. On one hand, he had hatred for her for ways in which she treated him. On the other hand, he held lust for her. Some articles go into longer detail, which I choose to leave out of this article. It’s easy to say that their relationship was not normal.

Siblings: Gregory and Thomas Edward

At sixteen-years old, Ridgway stabbed a younger child. The boy did live, and the reason he gave the child was, “I just wanted to see what that felt like.”

His IQ was listed in the low 80’s and he finally graduated from high school when he was twenty-years old.

On August 15^th, 1970, he married Claudia Kraig Barrows. She divorced him on January 14, 1972. Ridgway had said that he believed she had cheated on him.

Married Marsha Winslow and the two were very sexual, having encounters all the time and everywhere. They would drive around and have sex anywhere they saw fit. All along the Green River, they would pull aside and do their deal. It is odd that when it came time to disposing of his victim’s bodies, that he chose Green River. Was he doing this to re-live his encounters with his ex-wife?

One child came from that marriage, a son named Matthew.

During their sexual encounters, he would choke her and performed many deviant sexual acts on her. She ended the marriage, and this left him with a very bitter taste in his mouth. One year later is when his killing spree began.

Gary Ridgway was named the Green River Killer because of the placement of his victim’s bodies. His first five kills were dumped into the Green River. According to different reports, he confessed to anywhere from 70 to 90 murders. He preyed on street-workers and run-aways. He would stalk the streets in his vehicle, zoom in on one, take her away as she agreed to getting paid for sex and she was never seen again. His method of kill was strangulation. A ligature was used to leave no evidence behind.

It was reported that he would use pictures of his son to lure the women into his vehicle; them believing that he must be safe to have pictures of his son and showing them off.

Ridgway’s murders were carefully planned out and no evidence was left behind. With the thoughtful planning, he would leave false clues that investigators would eventually be thrown off by, such as leaving gum wrappers and cigarettes near the strewn bodies. The investigation on these kills went on for two decades until his arrest in 2001. DNA matches to four of his victims would finally lead to his arrest. Two, Robert Keppel and Dave Reichert were reported in one source as being the ones who brought Ridgway to justice.

In one statement, he describes his victims as garbage. Picking on the weak and the most vulnerable made it easy for Ridgway to get victims in his vehicle. Being working-girls of the streets, he knew they would be over-looked or forgotten. While being questioned, he made the comment that he thought “it was his job to kill them.” He wanted to rid the streets of the prostitutes.

His method was to pick them up, get them naked and then strangle them. He wasn’t in it, by that time for the sex. It was for the kill. Later he would return to the bodies and have sex with them. He said that “it was a sex act that I didn’t have to pay for.”

All this would take place even while he had visits with his son. On one kill he took the child along and made him stay in the truck while he took his victim to the woods and finished her off.

During the time that they were investigating the murders, he was interviewed several times. He came across as calm and passed the poly-graph tests. One comment mentioned that it is easy to pass one if you feel no guilt about what you have done. The tests are based on guilt feelings in the person.

One thing to note is that many of his victims were killed inside his home, in the bedroom. Yet, no evidence was ever found that a killing had taken place. He would clean it up immediately after each kill.

He himself, got caught up in a tantalizing game at work. He would take pieces of jewelry and plant them around the place, so that employees would find them and take them for themselves. Sooner or later he would see a bracelet, a necklace or ring placed on some co-worker’s body. This was exciting for him and satisfied his needs of having his victim’s misfortunes around him and that he was winning the game.

He worked at Sea Tac Kenworth Plant and was an excellent painter. He demanded perfection of his work and would spend his time getting his work perfect.

Serial killer, Ted Bundy assisted in the investigation and shared his views on the suspect. He told them that the killer would return to the dump sites and they should leave the bodies there; in place, because he would return to perform necrophilia.

That came to be true... the part about him returning to the bodies and performing necrophilia.

By 1988 forty women had been reported missing. With all the interviews, co-workers began wondering if he was the killer. Many believed he was and yet, many believed he was not. They called him “Green River Gary”.

In 1988 he married Judith Loraine Lynch, and was married at the time of his arrest. She divorced him in 2002.

Eventually, the Task Force in place for the murders would dwindle down until finally there was just one person left on the case. But in 2001 DNA came along and this would be the beginning of the end for Green River Gary. It wasn’t long till matches would come along.

Ridgway made a deal by pleading guilty of 48 kills. And then aided the authorities in locating some of the missing. He also agreed to provide more information on more kills.

In December of 2003 he received life in prison. In 2001 another body was found, which added another life sentence to him.

Many killers have very questionable pasts with their mothers. Some never breathe a word about their mother, whether she was nurturing or not. They take that secret to their graves. Others spew out their hatred and blame their mothers. Others defend their mothers to the end.

Ridgway commented about his mother and claimed that he lusted after her. And, in other reports he clearly hated her. It is my belief that his relationship with his mother must have played a part in the shaping of his mind on women.

I do believe that inside the womb, there is a bond taking place that will last forever. But, I also believe that if that mother cannot provide for that child in the healthy manner they need, then much can go wrong from that minute on.

Life on earth would almost be perfect if we could erase evil murder.

It’s hard for one side of the population to even fathom such evil things making us feel good. But, no matter how you look at it, their evil deeds will always come back to haunt them. Satan gives and takes away. He always comes back to collect what is his. By and by, we may have one that will, by the mercy of God; find their way to forgiveness and repentance. Imagine a heaven and running into one of the evilest people that were on earth.

We don’t know who and we don’t know when, but it is likely that we will share eternity with what used to be all evil. But, until then all we can do is try to live our lives as wisely as we can and try to avoid meeting any of this kind of people while we walk this earth.

This video shows the horrible multiple findings. Murders that stretched a 20 year span by one man. Trouble on Green River began in 1982 and in 2003 the Green River Killer himself, assisted the investigation by trying to remember where all his victims were. Video goes through the investigation, everyone involved and the end of Ridgway's story … up to his day in court. As you watch him say "guilty" to each victim's death count, chills go through you. That is when you get the full scale of just how many died at this man's hands. It is still believed that there are still bodies lost along the river that have not been found.

At nearly the end of the video, as the Judges speaks to him, the Judge clearly tells Ridgway that he does not believe his tears as he wept when one family member showed him mercy through forgiveness. Regardless of what any of us may think, only God knows if the Green River Killer felt, maybe for the first time … someone's true forgiveness and mercy.

he will go on to serve 48 consecutive life terms in prison.

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