Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer Case and DNA Evidence

Introduction

In 1982, the remains of a number of young women began to appear in the area surrounding Seattle. These women were all relatively young and shared a lifestyle — prostitution and street life — that made them easy targets for a killer. Before the slayings officially ended in 1998, a total of 42 women were thought to be potential victims of the Green River Killer, with the potential for many more to be added to the list. Some believe that as many as 90 women may have been murdered by Gary Ridgway. Ridgway eluded police for almost two decades, even though he was a suspect in several of the disappearances, and was finally caught as a result of DNA evidence obtained from some of his earliest victims. This paper examines the early life of Gary Ridgway as it applies to the case, the murders themselves, how forensic evidence helped to solve it, the final capture, and Ridgway's day in court.

Gary Ridgway's Background and Early Life

Gary Ridgway was born in 1949 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was one of three brothers and the son of a domineering mother. One report states that Ridgway's mother maintained such control over him that she remained on his checkbook even after he was married and always had to be consulted when major purchases were made (Lackey, Jones & Johnson, 2005). According to his first wife, Ridgway's mother dressed in tight clothes and wore a great deal of makeup. She apparently dominated the entire family throughout Ridgway's young life and was a major factor in the breakup of at least two of his marriages (Lackey, Jones & Johnson, 2005).

Ridgway committed his first deadly act at age 16 when he critically stabbed a six-year-old boy. The police did not pursue the complaint. During his adult married life, he also displayed sexual behaviors that seemed to foreshadow his later obsession. A wife and a girlfriend later admitted that he liked to tie them up and choke them during sexual intercourse (Lackey, Jones & Johnson, 2005). Ridgway went through three marriages and a number of girlfriends before the first killings began in 1982, when he was 33 years old (Prothero & Smith, 2007, p. 64).

The Murders

Ridgway would later claim that his mother's domineering nature and the way she dressed like a prostitute had something to do with why he killed so many women. He told the court, after sentencing, that "I also picked prostitutes as victims because they are easy to pick up without being noticed… I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without being caught" (Young, 2008). From a psychological standpoint, Ridgway's motivations are both disturbing and compelling, particularly given that he continued to commit murders while a massive investigation was unfolding around him.

Most serial killers, like Gary Ridgway, choose their victims based on a profile (Douglas, 2007). While some victims did not fit the overall profile of a teenage prostitute or runaway — several of the women were in their thirties — they all lived on the streets and most were engaged in prostitution. Ridgway has admitted to killing 48 women, but similar crime signatures have been found from Vancouver to Portland. Many of those murders, though unsolved, are attributed to the Green River Killer (Guillen & Smith, 2003). Unfortunately, many of the remains are too degraded to yield a positive DNA match.

Conclusion

The final tally of the deaths caused by Gary Ridgway may never be known. Because he believed that these women were society's disposable, he felt justified in discarding them. It is a testament to the advances in forensic science that he was eventually apprehended. The Green River case remains a landmark illustration of how patient, science-driven investigation can ultimately bring even the most elusive killers to justice.