Factors of Gary Ridgway Becoming A Serial Killer

1603 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Assess the role (briefly) that all three (biological, developmental, and situational) perspectives play in influencing criminal behavior

Gary Ridgway
What are the root causes of a person becoming a serial killer? There have been many different serial killers over the past years, but only one is the infamous “Green River Killer.” Gary Ridgway was dubbed the “Green River Killer” because many of his first victims were found near the Green River in Washington. There are many factors which contribute as to why a person turns and takes their anger out on other people. Some people have a normal childhood with a loving family, while some are not so lucky. A loving family is built around the parents, but if the parents choose violence over love, then that is what the child will grow up only knowing. Gary Ridgway is an American serial killer who killed over sixty women within a twenty year period.
Gary Ridgway was born in Salt Lake City on February 18, 1949. He was the second of three brothers. Ridgway’s parents were Thomas Newton Ridgway and Mary Rita Steinman. At the time, they rented a room near a local high school. Ridgway’s older brother, Gregory, was born in 1948. Ridgway’s younger brother, Thomas, was born in 1951. In 1960, Ridgway’s parents moved the family into a small three bedroom house in a neighborhood called McMicken Heights which is now the City of SeaTac. He was “Raised near Seattle’s Pacific Highway, a deprived neighborhood near SeaTac airport …” (Biography, 2013). They lived in a working class neighborhood where many other kids lived also. All the kids played together and walked to school together. Ridgway’s father was a metro bus driver whose route was the Pacific Highway South into Seattle. The route went through the infamous strip where Gary would later find so many of his victims. His father also enjoyed running garage sales. Ridgway’s mother was a ...

... middle of paper ...

... when the rampage began. He argued that if he had only killed his second wife Marcia, then he would never have killed those prostitutes. He was really trying to hurt his wife. It’s easy not to believe Ridgway’s claim. People who worked or were involved in the case think he would have killed sooner or later anyway. Whatever his true motive, a bit more than a year after Ridgway’s divorce, the body’s of young women started turning up alongside the Green River.

References
Gary Ridgway. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved September 24, 2013 from http://www.biography.com/people/gary-ridgway-10073409
Lewis, Hal. (Director). October 26, 2013. Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer. Robert Forman (Producer). New York City, New York: CBS News Archive.
Robinson, Sean. “The Gary Ridgway they knew.” The News Tribune [Tacoma, WA] 16 Dec. 2001: All. Print.

Show More
Related

  • John Wayne Gacy Research Paper Outline

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gacy was deeply involved in many of these activities and regularly cheated on his wife with local prostitutes. He is also known to have opened a "club" in his basement, where he allowed employees to drink alcohol and play pool.

    Read More

  • Looking at the Life of John Wayne Gacy

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...theorize that serial killers have brain damage or other biological abnormalities that contribute to their actions. Damage to areas like the frontal lobe, the hypothalamus and the limbic system can contribute to extreme aggression, loss of control, loss of judgment and violence. Henry Lee Lucas, who was convicted of 11 murders, was shown to have extreme brain damage in these areas, probably the result of childhood abuse, malnutrition and alcoholism. Arthur Shawcross, another 11-time serial killer, was found to have had several brain injuries, including two skull fractures. While in prison, he suffered from headaches and often blacked out. Bobby Joe Long, convicted of nine murders, stated at one point, "After I'm dead, they're going to open up my head and find that just like we've been saying a part of my brain is black and dry and dead" [source: Scott].

    Read More

  • Arthur Shawcross Killer

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are numerous categories and classifications of crimes committed. Some classifications are based on the type of crime committed while some are some are classified by the perpetrator’s motivation in committing the crime. The serial killer behavioral patterns discussed in class are: visionary, mission based, hedonistic and power/control. While Shawcross’ murders centralized around prostitutes and could initially be classified as mission based, I believe that he was a hedonistic lust serial killer. He derived “sexual gratification from killing and who often establish a pattern, such as the manner in which they kill or the types of victims they select, such as prostitutes, children, or the elderly (Hickey 35).” Although evidence wasn’t found that Shawcross sexually penetrated his victims, the mutilation he performed on them had a definite sexual component that escalated in nature as he continued to kill. He bit one woman’s genital area, cut off another’s breasts, sodomized another and with June Stott, cut her from the top of the chest between her br...

    Read More

  • Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    Vronsky, Peter. "A "Typical" Serial Killer: Gary Leon Ridgway, "The Green River Killer"."Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 2004. . Print.

    Read More

  • Dennis Rader: Serial Killer

    1862 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dennis Rader was one normal avaergae citizen untill he shocked the public to when he was caught as a serial kiiler who caused tragedy in their town. A article stated “either in his genes or in his childhood or perhaps a grim combination of both created a hole in the spot most of us call a soul”(Klepper). Dennis rader was the oldest of four sons. He grew In Wichita Kansas. As a child dennis was known to kill and hang stray cats.( article 3) Peopl...

    Read More

  • Richard Speck: Mass Murderer

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alcoholic drifter Richard Speck stamped his name into the archives of American criminal infamy with the murder of eight student nurses in a Chicago student housing building on July 13, 1966. Even before his murderous rampage, he seemed obsessed with the criminal life, vowing that he would someday make headlines (Bachmann). A vast majority of Speck’s life was spent in prison or on the run, and his early life was no better. Born on December 6, 1941, to Benjamin and Mary Margaret Speck, Richard was one of eight children—three boys and five girls. His parents struggled to make ends meet for the family; his father picked up extra shifts at his various odd jobs. When he was old enough, Richard’s father would take him fishing, a pastime that allowed them a break from a deeply religious and strict wife and mother (Richard Franklin Speck 2011).

    Read More

  • Serial Killers: Nature Or Nurture?

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    Due to crime-inspired shows that air on television, fascination with serial killers presents itself more and more. People want to learn what makes a person break to the point of taking another’s life. Some suggest that killing releases a sexual desire, while others suggest that revenge may be the motive. A serial killer has the stereotypical look of a white male who tends to act socially awkward, not easily approachable, and possesses a mental illness. While the accuracy of this look tends to be true occasionally, the majority of the time a serial killer looks no different than anyone else and appears rather social. Some experts believe that a serial killer has codes in his DNA which causes him to kill; nonetheless, other experts believe environmental

    Read More

  • Ted Bundy Criminology Theory

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    Introduction: On the spectrum of criminal activity, serial killers are rather rare. Rarer still is a serial killer like Ted Bundy. Bundy confessed to killing 28 women in the 1970s in ghastly fashion and some believe he may have killed far more. It is hard to imagine what could cause any person to cross the mental boundary into such macabre behavior as Bundy perpetrated. Nevertheless, it is important to try to understand that behavior because only though such an understanding would society be able to identify and deter mass murderers in order to save lives.

    Read More

  • The Zodiac Killer

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    A serial killer is a person who has killed three or more people over a month apart. Their motivation for killing is usually based on psychological issue.(Sanmartín,2001) In the U.S, the most reported serial killers are lower middle class white males, usually in their late twenties to early thirties (Skrapec,2001). Serial killers, often, are liars. They have no sense of remorse or guilt. Most of the time they are not in serious relationship or have any emotional obsession to any one person, besides their victims. Most of the well-known serial killers are: Robert Pickton, Charles Manson, Anthony Sowell, Ted Bundy, The Zodiac Killer, The Green River Killer, and The BTK murderer. (Sanmartín,2001). Often, women were never seen as even a suspect

    Read More

  • Studies on The Childhood of Serial Killers

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    As years go on so will the research on serial killers and hopefully we as a society will fully understand them and one day be able to cure whatever inside that makes them have the urge to kill. Works Cited The Electronic Journal of Sociology, published by the University of Guelph, Ontario. http://www.scribd.com/doc/167086215/How-Serial-Killers-Work. According to the article “10 Most Common Traits of Potential Serial Killers By Hestie Barnard Gerber. According to Comrade Chikatilo: The Psychopathology of Russia's Notorious Serial Killer.

    Read More

  • Is a Serial Killer Born or Created?

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    Serial killers have many frightening facets. The most frightening thing about them is that experts still do not know what makes a human become a serial killer. Many experts believe serial killers become what they are because they have a genetic disposition or brain abnormality while other experts believe that a serial killer is created by childhood abuse; and some other experts believe that it is a combination of both brain abnormalities and abusive childhood experiences that creates a serial killer. A murderer is considered a serial killer when they “murder three or more persons in at least three separate events with a “cooling off period” between kills” (Mitchell and Aamodt 40). When defining a serial killer, their background, genes, and brain are not mentioned; perhaps one day those aspects of the serial killer can be included.

    Read More

  • Serial Killers: Is Pure Evil Born or Made?

    1552 Words  | 4 Pages

    By 1978, roughly thirty women were dead and mutilated by the same man with little explanation as to why. Ted Bundy, one of the most infamous serial killers in history brutally took the lives of numerous women for seemingly no reason at all. His justification for these murders was simply that he felt like committing them. A serial killer is defined as someone who has killed more than three people over a period of a month or more for seemingly no reason at all. Most serial killers have no real motive for killing; for them it is an urge that they must satisfy. Was Ted Bundy and others like him always a violent psychopath or did certain events cause him to behave this way? One common belief is that abusive childhoods and other environmental factors are the main reason serial killers develop the way they do. The other belief is that serial killers are born with an innate desire to kill. The answer to this question lies within both arguments and there is no secret serial killer formula. Serial Killers are neither born nor made; instead many factors, both biological and psychological, contribute to the making of these destructive monsters.

    Read More

  • John Wayne Gacy: The Four Main Types Of A Serial Killer

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    A serial killer is defined in Webster's Dictionary as someone who murders more than three victims one at a time in a relatively short period of time. There is no one generic profile to identify a serial killer. They usually are people seeking for a sensation, a lack of guilt or remorse, a need for control, impulsivity, and predatory behavior. These traits make up a psychopathic personality disorder. Psychopathy is a disorder manifested in people who use a mixture of charm, manipulation, manipulation, and occasional violence to control others, in order to satisfy their own wants and needs. There are four main types of serial killers; thrill seekers, mission-oriented, visionary serial killers, and power and control killers. There may be other

    Read More

  • Green River Serial Killer

    1378 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...in Ridgway's actions, which were in a certain way directly his own, albeit formed through his parents lack of direction and action. Ridgway's deviance is not constrained to one aspect of deviant theory, but seemingly draws from both sides, as he has the mental desire to commit crime but in retrospect was formed at an early age to have a disregard for personal well-being. On the other hand, conflict theory helps define the lives of the victims as created solely through the failing of society's boundaries. So while Ridgway's deviant behavior is adequately explained by both theories discussed, the victims are solely the product of outward stimuli which led them down a lifestyle of wretchedness. Gary Ridgway will likely remain as America's most prolific mass murderer and behind his name lies a deviant individual crafted by an influx of problems, both personal and social.

    Read More

  • Serial Killers

    2361 Words  | 5 Pages

    So what makes a serial killer? Levin points out that contrary to popular belief, serial killers don't just 'snap'; or 'go crazy'; (Douglas, p. 137). Many of the serial killers have been the victims of childhood abuse. Jack Levin stated 'Research shows many serial killers suffered abuse, incest or neglect as children and develop poor self images'; (Douglas, p. 137). Serial killers often have a childhood marked by the absence of any nurturing relationship. 'They often come from families where the parents were absent or ineffective, where authority was not defined, and where they could engage in destructive behavior undeterred-violent play, cruelty to animals, and incidents of arson being some of the childhood behavior patterns noted among many serial killers'; (Clark, p. 206).

    Read More

More about Factors of Gary Ridgway Becoming A Serial Killer

Open Document