The Green River Serial Killer
By: Bri Steele
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Gary Ridgway began his criminal career in
Washington, 1982. He is known for strangling
young runaways and prostitutes after bringing
them back to this house.
People refer to him as the Green River killer for
one reason, his first five murders that he
committed were thrown and found in the
notorious Green River.
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He murdered numerous amounts of women.
November 30, 2001, after leaving his work he
was arrested for the murders of four women
that was linked to him through DNA.
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Gary was born in Utah, February 18, 1949. His
childhood was very peculiar. His mother would
wear inappropriate clothing and heavy make-up
that later led Gary with sexual attraction towards
her.
In 1960 The Ridgway family moved to Washington
where he grew up.
At the age of 16 he laughed while attempting to
kill a six year old boy. He critically injured him by
stabbing him. The police didn’t think anything of
Gary, even when the boy blamed him.
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He attended elementary school, middle school,
and graduated high school.
At the age of twenty, Gary was hired as a truck
maker. He left to join the U.S Navy but
returned to his job when arrived home.
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On August 15, 1970, Gary married Claudia
Borrows. They had a son but got divorced in
January 14, 1972. One years later he married for
his second time, Marcia Winslow. They to had
a son.
Gary took part in prostitution and was accused
of choking one on July 21, 1980.
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May 21, 1980, Marcia and Gary got a divorced.
Gary might have been having an affair with
another women.
Then in 1982 was when he began killing.
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Ridgway didn’t stand out. Though in high
school he was known for getting in trouble. He
wasn’t a bad kid, he just would say the wrong
things.
Gary acted very religious. He would attend
church and watch television with a bible in his
lap. His second wife said he was very close
with his mother and would do anything to
please her.
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After returning for the navy, friends and family
still thought he was nice but something
changed about him, he was more strange.
Behind closed doors, Gary wasn’t a normal
adult. Both of his marriages ended and Marcia
and Claudia said that during there relationship
they were placed in chokeholds.
Gary was also obsessed with pornography and
prostitution.
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Gary had planned out his killing. He worked
night shifts only, so on the way home he could
pick up a prostitute or a runaway and bury her
in the morning.
He would take them back to his house and
strangle them dumping their bodies in river,
playgrounds, parking lots, and deep woods.
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He would sometime have sex with the victims
or even the victims dead body.
He aimed for the prostitutes because they were
easy to get and he usually hated them. He
would calm them down my acting like he
cared even though all he wanted was to kill.
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One of his trade marks were stuffing stones
inside the women's body. Little did he know he
was setting himself up. The stones preserved
vital DNA to the police.
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Ridgway had been confronted for these crimes
more then once.
On November 30, 2001, he was questioned
during work. After, he went to lunch and
everything seemed normal to him. Though the
law enforcement knew they had caught him in
a lie during the interview.
For example, he admitted of knowing one of
the victims, but when it came to sex he denied
it. In the lab it said it was his semen on her
body.
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Later that day he was arrested for the murder
of four women. People said he seemed
unsurprised.
He used his right of silence and asked for his
attorney. He was sent to jail without bail.
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In April 2003, Gary confessed to killing 48
women. Later he confessed to killing 65 women
in order to get a life sentence instead of the
death penalty. He is now in a cell spending the
rest of his life.
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The first thing people think as they look at
Gary Ridgway is how could he of done this?
His friends and family thought he was to nice
to commit a crime like this. Others are thinking
how could this small, calm, polite, and
ordinary man kill over fifty women?
There is a psychology profile of the Green
River Killer. It was written by John Douglas.
The profile isn’t public and never will be.
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Psychology profiling is used to rank serial
killers in high, medium, or low priorities.
Profile elements include: 49 killings done by
one person, drives in van or four door car,
intelligent, divorced, sees prostitutes,
smoothing talker, and others.
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This project was very interesting. Reading and
studying about serial killers can actually be
very helpful. For example, you can not trust
any strangers. Gary Ridgway looks like a nice
charming guy but really is a man who thrives
off of killing women.
Gary Ridgway was a typical serial killer. He
strangled women and would dump there
bodies mostly anywhere.
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After reading about Gary’s case I became very
interested about how serial killers operate.
Yes, I am very disgusted to read about what
Gary has done to these women, but it also lets
me know that any stranger could be the next
Green River Killer.
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Burns, Kari. "Green River Psychological Profile
." Green River Killer - Psychology Profile. N.p.,
01/01/2006. Web. 27
Oct 2010.
<http://karisable.com/grprofile.htm>.
Gary Ridgway: Biography From Answers.com.
Creative
Commons Attributions,
01/01/2010. Web. 27 Oct 2010.
<http://citationmachine.net>.
Lachey, Breanda. "Gary Leon Ridgway."
maamodt.asp. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct 2010.
<http://citationmachine.net>.
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Osborn, Jim. "Gary Ridgway." Gary Ridgwat:
The Green River Killer. N.p., 03/14/2009.
Web. 27 Oct 2010.
<http://citationmachine.net/>.