Modus Operandi
Richard Hernandez Dr. White
Criminology
July 21, 2014

Abstract Gary Leon Ridgway born February 18, 1949 is an infamous serial killer known as the Green River Killer. He was convicted of 48 murders and later on confessed to many more. He confessed to killing numerous women and girls in Washington State during the 1980’s and 1990’s. Most of his victims were alleged to be prostitutes. Gary’s Modus Operandi chocked millions of citizens across the country. His method of killing was discovered through investigation, but later on admitted through trial.

Serial killer Gary Leon Ridgway was born on February 18, 1949, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He held a job painting trucks for 30 years and was married three times. He began murdering women in 1982 and was caught in 2001 when a DNA test revealed a match. Ridgway told investigators he killed as many as 60 women along Route 99 in south King County, Washington. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
During the years of 1980s and 1990s, Ridgway is believed to have murdered 71 women. During an interview with Sheriff Reichert in 2001 near Seattle Washington. His court statements later reported that he had killed so many he lost count. The victims that were murdered were presumed to be prostitutes or runaways picked up along Pacific Highway South. Most of their bodies were dumped around the wooded areas around green river. Gary often put the victims corpses in clusters, sometimes posed, usually nude. He would return to the victims dead bodies and have sexual intercourse with the victims. Most of the bodies were not discovered until skeletons only remained. Gary Ridgway began each murder by picking up the women, usually a prostitute. He sometimes showed the women a picture of his son, to help her trust him. After having sex with her, Ridgway strangled her from behind. Gary initially strangled them manually. Many victims inflicted wounds and bruises on his arm while trying to defend themselves. Concerned these wounds and bruises would draw attention, Ridgway began using ligatures to strangle his victims. He killed most women in his home, his truck, or a secluded area. "I picked prostitutes as my victims because I hate most prostitutes and I did not want to pay them for sex," Ridgway said in his confessional statement. "I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught."
Ridgway's preferred method of murder was strangulation. In the beginning he used a chokehold then later he would use a ruler to twist fabric around the necks of his victims. Sometimes he killed his victims inside his house, other times he would kill them in the woods.
While Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty to 49 murders, prosecutors, police and his own defense team acknowledge he could be responsible for many more. Ridgway himself said the actual number of victims is closer to 75 or 80. The Kent-Des Moines Road site where the headless body was found is also one