35 Facts About Gary Ridgway

Gary Leon Ridgway was born on February 18,1949 and is an American serial killer known as the Green River Killer.

Gary Ridgway was initially convicted of 48 separate murders committed between the early 1980s and late 1990s.

Gary Ridgway strangled his victims, usually by hand but sometimes using ligatures.

Gary Ridgway had been a suspect in the murders since 1982; however, investigators were unable to link him to the murders at that time.

Gary Ridgway was born on February 18,1949, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the second of Mary and Thomas Ridgway's three sons.

Gary Ridgway is dyslexic, and was held back a year in high school.

Gary Ridgway had led the boy into the woods and then stabbed him through the ribs into his liver.

Gary Ridgway's IQ was recorded as being in the "low eighties".

Gary Ridgway graduated from Tyee High School in 1969 and married his 19-year-old high school girlfriend, Claudia Kraig.

Gary Ridgway joined the United States Navy and was sent to Vietnam, where he served on board a supply ship and saw combat.

Gary Ridgway became religious during his second marriage, proselytizing door-to-door, reading the Bible aloud at work and at home, and insisting that his wife follow the strict teachings of their pastor.

Gary Ridgway frequently complained about their presence in his neighborhood, but he took advantage of their services regularly.

Some have speculated that Gary Ridgway was torn between his lusts and his staunch religious beliefs.

In court statements, Gary Ridgway later reported that he had killed so many that he lost count.

Gary Ridgway sometimes showed the women a picture of his son, to trick them into trusting him.

Gary Ridgway killed most victims in his home, his truck, or a secluded area.

Gary Ridgway occasionally contaminated the dump sites with gum, cigarettes, and written materials belonging to others, and he even transported a few victims' remains across state lines into Oregon, to confuse the police.

The body of Gary Ridgway's first known victim was found in July 1982.

Gary Ridgway was arrested in 1982 and 2001 on charges related to prostitution.

Gary Ridgway became a suspect in the Green River killings in 1983, when 18-year-old Marie Malvar disappeared.

Gary Ridgway was interviewed in conjunction with that event, and police received several other tips that mentioned him.

Around 1985, Gary Ridgway began dating Judith Mawson, who became his third wife in 1988.

Gary Ridgway claimed that she had not suspected Ridgway's crimes before she was contacted by authorities in 1987, and had not even heard of the Green River Killer before that time because she did not watch the news.

Gary Ridgway said that while he was in a relationship with Mawson, his kill rate went down and that he truly loved her.

Gary Ridgway had been arrested on suspicion of murdering four women nearly 20 years earlier after initially being identified as a potential suspect.

Early in August 2003, Seattle television news reported that Gary Ridgway had been moved from a maximum security cell at King County Jail to an Airway Heights Minimum-Medium Security Level Tank.

On November 5,2003, Gary Ridgway entered a guilty plea to 48 charges of aggravated first degree murder as part of a plea bargain that would spare him execution in exchange for his cooperation in locating the remains of his victims and providing other details.

Gary Ridgway was sentenced to an additional 10 years for tampering with evidence for each of the 48 victims, adding 480 years to his 48 life sentences.

On November 23,2005, the Associated Press reported that a weekend hiker found the skull of one of the women Gary Ridgway admitted murdering in his 2003 plea bargain with King County prosecutors.

Gary Ridgway confessed to more confirmed murders than any other American serial killer.

Gary Ridgway was placed in solitary confinement at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla in January 2004.

In September 2015, after a public outcry and discussions with Governor Jay Inslee, Corrections Secretary Bernie Warner announced that Gary Ridgway would be transferred back to Washington to be "easily accessible" for open murder investigations.

Gary Ridgway was returned by chartered plane to Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla from USP Florence High, on October 24,2015.

In September 2024, Gary Ridgway was briefly transferred from the Washington State Penitentiary to the King County jail for a few days before being transferred back to WSP.

The transport order was unsealed in March, 2025, revealing that Gary Ridgway was temporarily transferred to help locate more victim remains.