Although his ties to Utah are basically birth to 11 years old, for September Infamous Utah segment we decided to discuss the monster that is Gary Ridgway.
Born February 18, 1949 in Salt Lake City, Utah. His time in Utah was short. His family moved to Seattle when Gary was 11. As with many of the criminal’s that we’ve covered over the last year, Gary came from an abusive background *and we are talking like Norman Bates stuff here*, he had a low IQ, and matched the profiling of other serial killers. Torturing animals at a young age, his first victim was when he was 14. Gary stabbed a local 6 year old. Fortunately it didn’t kill the kid, but we did notice that in our research we couldn’t find why Gary wasn’t punished for said crime. We discuss, is it because of the time frame it happened? The whole, “boys will be boys” era? Gary ended up joining the Navy in 1967 and was shipped to Vietnam.
It might true what they say, there is someone for everyone. Ridgway was married three times before he was convicted. The majority of the kills that Ridgway had were in the 80’s when serial killers were a in the front of the public mind. Women ranging between the age of 18-30’s and being transient or prostitutes, people he felt wouldn’t be missed. However, not even specifically that category, if he thought they were one of those categories, they became part of his MO. It is true what you have read, Ted Bundy was consulted about the “Green River Killer” and gave his insights about the psychology and the why on what Gary was doing.
Ridgway was arrested in 2001 and in 2003 he confessed and was convicted of 49 murders with a plea bargain given in exchange for locating the bodies he remembered, at least a few of them anyways. Ridgway believed that murdering women was his “job.” Gary is quoted as saying “I had killed so many women I have a hard time keeping them straight.” It is said that he may have killed up to 71 women, if not more. He is currently serving in Colorado after being transferred there from Washington. There has been talks to move him back to Washington, but who knows if that will happen.
Some great resources to learn more about Ridgway include; Learning History with a comprehensive timeline of his life. Ranker has also listed some of the most heinous things about Ridgway. Robert Debry also did a wrongful death series on Ridgway.
Music By: Folk Hogan; Bootleggers Dance
