The Green River Killer

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The person I chose to research was Gary Ridgway. He is also known as The Green River Killer. Gary was a serial killer in Washington. He has been convicted of murdering 49 women, he has confessed to around 60 killings, but is estimated to have killed closer to 80 women. All the women that he had killed were prostitutes that he had picked up, had sex with them, and then strangled them. He says that he never raped or tortured any of his victims, he just killed them. Gary started killing prostitutes in 1892 and is confirmed to have killed till 1998, but is thought that his last kill was around 2001. He was called the Green River Killer because his first victims’ bodies were found around the Green River.
Gary was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 18, 1949. His father was a bus driver, who, Gary remembered, would frequently complain about the prostitutes he would see along his route. This could be the root of why Gary decided to kill prostitutes. His mother was not a very charming. She was both mentally and physically abusive to Gary and his two brothers. Gary also states that he was sexually attracted to his mother at an early age. He also showed tendencies of a serial killer at a young age. He began torturing animals, such as cats when he was little. When he was 14, he says that he stabbed a six-year-old in a wooded area, but was never caught. Then a couple years later he committed his first murder when he held a young boy underwater till he drowned. When he was old enough Gary joined the Navy and was sent to Vietnam. He returned and attempted to become a police officer, but failed. He then found a job painting at a truck shop. Gary was also married three times and had a son during his second marriage. He would even use his ...

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...osed a plea bargain. The plea bargain stated that the prosecution could no longer seek the death penalty, and in return Gary would plead guilty to the seven original charges and to the 40 to 47 additional counts of murder. He also would have to provide truthful information about his murders and help find the remains of the rest of his victims. The prosecution decided to accept the plea deal. He plead guilty to 49 charges of aggravated first degree murder and was sentenced to 480 years in prison without the possibility of parole and is serving his time at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington. He has helped investigators find his most of victims, but some he could not remember because he would only remember his dumpsite locations and not who he killed. He also has done many interviews to help understand what drove him to become a serial killer.

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