#The capture of the green river killer serial#
#The capture of the green river killer skin#

'He told me he probably killed over 100,' says author Pennie Wood (via the Kent Reporter), who spoke to Ridgway in prison for her book on this monster’s unwitting and traumatized third wife, Judith Mawson - more on that below. That’s likely far short of the real tally. Ridgway had admitted to killing her but couldn’t recall where she was buried, so prosecutors deferred until 2011 when the Green River Killer’s official tally was upped to 49 convictions. Initially, he was convicted of 48 murders, but in 2010 the remains of another woman were found, Rebecca Marrero. There was only one problem: Ridgway killed so many sex workers during his 1980s heyday, he couldn’t remember them all. He would show investigators where he’d left the bodies in exchange for avoiding the penalty he’d seen fit to deliver to so many innocent women.

#The capture of the green river killer skin#

Ridgway saved his own skin for the final time when he struck a plea deal in 2003. In all, The Green River Killer, not identified as mild-mannered Gary Leon Ridgway until 2001, owed his bloody longevity to his cautious sense of self-perseverance - a rare trait among compulsive killers. The Green River Killer may have murdered 100 women He was taking all his anger out on me.' It would take nearly two decades before authorities would discover how correct she was and for a semblance of Ridgway’s twisted motives to be revealed. She told investigators (via Seattle PI), 'I felt like I was his little revenge toy or something, you know. She got into Ridgway’s truck like so many others but became one of the few to escape this maniac’s clutches. But to the women he attacked, he was anything but banal.

It was this 'banality' of evil, as writes The Washington Post, that kept Ridgway free and on the hunt for so long. Ridgway was a monster wearing the mask of a dull suburban family man. But conversations with Gary were never about anything. 'When I was out in the yard, I couldn’t get anything done because he wanted to talk all the time,' Seattleite Paul Winkle told The News Tribune. He was a 'model neighbor' and even 'overly friendly,' observed one slightly annoyed neighbor. To his acquaintances and family, he was reserved, even-tempered, ordinary.

#The capture of the green river killer serial#

He got away with more slayings, for a longer period of time than any other American serial killer, according to The Washington Post. Maybe that’s true for many serial murderers, but none have lived non-descript working-class lives as long as the man who haunted the Pacific Northwest for nearly 20 years. Green River Killer Gary Ridgway was the ultimate chameleon. The following article includes mentions of murder and sexual assault.