Gary Ridgway

Lore & Background

Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, was an American serial killer convicted of murdering forty-nine women, making him at the time of his arrest the most prolific confirmed serial killer in U.S. history. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1949, the second of three sons. His childhood was troubled; his mother was domineering and physically punished her sons for minor offenses, while his father, a bus driver, frequently complained about prostitutes on his route. Ridgway, who had dyslexia and an IQ recorded in the low eighties, was held back a year in high school. At age sixteen, he lured a six-year-old boy into woods and stabbed him, though the boy survived. After graduating high school in 1969, he married his high school sweetheart and joined the Navy, serving on a supply ship in Vietnam. He contracted gonorrhea from prostitutes during this time. His first two marriages ended in divorce; his second wife reported he placed her in a chokehold. Ridgway became religious, reading the Bible aloud and proselytizing, yet continued to solicit prostitutes and demanded sex from his wives several times a day, often in public or wooded areas. He admitted to a fixation with prostitutes, describing a love/hate relationship, and said he hated paying them for sex. Most of his victims were prostitutes or vulnerable women, including underage runaways, whom he picked up along Pacific Highway South. He would strangle them by hand or with ligatures, usually after sex from behind, then dump their bodies in forested or overgrown areas, often returning to engage in necrophilia. The first five victims were found near the Green River in Washington, giving him his media nickname. He was a suspect since 1982 but was only arrested in 2001 due to advances in DNA profiling. As part of a plea bargain to disclose locations of missing women, he received life imprisonment without parole.

Reader's Guide

Gary Ridgway’s significance in the field of serial murder stems from his status as one of the most prolific confirmed killers in United States history, with a victim count that placed him as the most prolific at the time of his 2001 arrest. His crimes, spanning from 1982 to 1998, predominantly targeted vulnerable women—specifically prostitutes and underage runaways—whom he would pick up, strangle by hand or with ligatures, and then dump in forested or overgrown areas. A distinctive behavioral pattern was his frequent return to the bodies to engage in necrophilia, which he later explained served to reduce his need to seek living victims and thus lowered his risk of detection. Ecologically, his dumping sites were concentrated around the Green River in Washington State, near Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, and in South King County, with some victims also found in the Portland, Oregon, area. His capture was made possible by advances in DNA profiling, which finally linked him to the murders after he had been a suspect since 1982. In a plea bargain that spared him the death penalty, Ridgway agreed to disclose the locations of still-missing women, receiving life imprisonment without parole. His case illustrates how forensic technology can resolve long-standing investigations and highlights the predator’s method of exploiting systemic vulnerabilities among marginalized populations.

Did You Know?

• Gary Ridgway is the second most prolific serial killer in terms of confirmed murders.
• Ridgway is among the notorious serial killers known for killing or operating in Oregon.

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