ipl-logo

Gary Ridgway Case Study

2024 Words9 Pages

This essay will examine the case study of the convicted serial killer Gary Ridgway, who was eventually caught and convicted for the murders 48 women. Ridgway, went on a killing spree of women without getting caught for over two decades, he went on to become the Green River Killer (Reichert, 2004). The essay will explore and evaluate the characteristics including the attribution of Garry Ridgway’s horrific crimes. In the 1980s and 1990s Ridgway targeted prostitutes, runaway girls, hitchhikers and vulnerable women in the locality of where he lived in Washington State, USA (Reichert, 2004). It baffled the authorities as to how he was able to commit these crimes whilst working and living in the locality of his crimes however, he was not suspected …show more content…

At Ridgway’s sentencing he stated that he had picked prostitutes as his victims as he hated all of the prostitutes and did not want to have to pay them for sex (State of Washington v. Gary Leon Ridgway 2003). Ridgway also picked prostitutes as there was no aggravation in doing so and would not be noticed. Ridgway’s attitude was that a prostitute would not be missed or be reported missing, there for he could kill as many as he wanted and would never get caught (Missen, 2000). A third of Ridgway’s victims were from a minority backgrounds and most of them were younger that the 22 years old (Levi-Menzi & Shields, 2007). It is prostitutes that are more prevalent to becoming victims as they are already in harm’s way through the nature of their work and profession. Ridgway’s manifestation of these killings was seen as a career achievement and he was very proud of himself and that he was the best at what he did (Reichert, 2004). Ridgway’s thoughts were that he was helping the police of ridding society of these women and was doing the world a favour, as he thought the police can’t control them but he could and he did (Dalla et al., 2003). Ridgway also thought prostitutes were an infestation and a disease and he had the cure, he cured these young women of their underserving and pathetic lives (Levi-Menzi & Shields, 2007). Even though not all the women he killed were prostitutes, never the less according to Ridgway, he thought they all got what they deserved (Dalla et al., 2003) There was never any official diagnosis of Ridgway, however life history, attitude and crimes were a result of an antisocial behaviour disorder of some sort (Burgess et al., 1986). Ridgway’s crimes all had an element of sadistic violence, a trait that is prevalent in psychopathic criminals, (Boer et al., 2003). It is the belief of the authorities that Ridgway

Show More
Related

  • Summary: The Life Of Brenda Myers-Powell

    1212 Words  | 5 Pages

    These men had no remorse or control because they knew it was okay to do whatever they wanted to Brenda since she was being paid. Most of the time she would have a knife to her throat, a man strangling her or holding a pillow to her face trying to try and suffocate her. Brenda witnessed many young girls like herself and other women killed but she had no one to run too neither could she report these crimes to the police because the police never cared about what happened to prostitutes. To numb her pain, she turned to cocaine as an escape, enduring her abuse just like she had as a child because she felt trapped.

    Read More

  • Gary Ridgway Case

    149 Words  | 1 Pages

    Gary Ridgway was finally arrested on November 30, 2001 at the age of fifty one. On December 5, 2001 he was charged with four counts of aggravated murder. “It was twenty years after first being identified as a potential suspect when DNA evidence conclusively linked semen left in the victims to the saliva swab taken by the police (Murderpedia).” In 2002, there was a written document noting he would seek the death penalty. In order to not prolong the trail, the King County Supeior Court set a charging deadline for March 28, 2003.

    Read More

  • Why Is Gary Ridgway Called The Green River Killer?

    282 Words  | 2 Pages

    Background: Gary Ridgway remains one of the most prolific serial killers in history. He haunted police for years, earning the nickname “The Green River Killer” when investigators uncovered five of his victims near Green River. As a child Ridgway was determined to have a low IQ and was the target of abuse at school and at home. At only 16 years old, Ridgway exhibited violent behavior, stabbing a 6-year-old boy. Sexual Depravities: Mary Ridgway, Gary’s mother, often told her son inappropriate stories about her work in the men’s section of a department store.

    Read More

  • Eric Edgar Cooke Essay

    2734 Words  | 11 Pages

    Abstract Eric Edgar Cooke the ‘Night Caller’ has struck Perth with murder, stabbings, hit-and-runs and burglaries which during 1931-64 until his death. Due to a neglected childhood with a alcoholism father and bullying Cooke’s murderous out take on the world and random killings not only make his next target difficult to find but also Cooke himself. Studies on Cooke have shown his psychopathic styles of killing are not only unique but also the work of a ‘Nedland monster’ in Perth district. As Cooke was physically and emotionally abused from childhood he discovered his getaway through disassociation and imagination, obtained in order to boost his low self-esteem through self-aggrandisement, fumed against the society that ostracized him, thus

    Read More

  • Research Paper On Gary Ridgway

    425 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gary Ridgway also referred to as "The Green River Killer" is among the most prolific serial killers in the United States. Ridgway was on a two-year killing spree in the 1980’s whereby almost 50 people were killed (Hickey, 2016). He was named the “Green River Killer” as most of the victims’ bodies were dumped in or around the Green River in Washington. Most of the people were killed in the Tacoma and Seattle areas of Washington State after which the Green River Task Force was formed by the country sheriff to track down the serial killer (Hickey, 2016). Most of the victims were women, presumably prostitutes, who were disappeared someday apart or once or twice yearly.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Heidnik's Cellar Of Horror

    1890 Words  | 8 Pages

    Throughout history there have been many cases in which defiant people commit horrendous acts that one cannot even fathom. Often times if these individuals perform acts in violation of moral laws and regulations, they are subject to confinement in a jail or prison. Of these non-obedient individuals are those who are known as serial killers, who murder innocent lives, due to their desire to receive relief. A famous example of a devious serial killer who raped, tortured, and fed the remnants of human flesh to his captives was Gary Heidnik. Like most criminals, his story is revolved around the achievement of a particular goal, which in his case was to create a ‘baby factory’ from the women he kidnapped.

    Read More

  • Richard Kuklinski Research Papers

    828 Words  | 4 Pages

    Carson Hays Mrs.Dixon Criminal justice III 23 october 2017 Richard Kuklinski Throughout this year we have studied many different types of serial killers, but under no circumstance is Richard Kuklinski like any other serial killer we have studied. Richard Kuklinski was a stone cold killer and nothing would stop him from completing his objective of murdering his target. Serial killers that we have studied had many different categories that they fell under disorganized, organized, power control, etc… But with Richard you never knew the certain way he was going to kill his victims. Like most of the serial killers we’ve studied they have had a troubled upbringing and so did Richard kuklinski.

    Read More

  • Prostitute Diversion Initiative (PDI)

    931 Words  | 4 Pages

    Another Dallas Police Sgt. , Byron A. Fassett, was frustrated with how teen prostitutes were rarely willing to help convict their pimps. He discovered while researching old case files that the vast majority of teen prostitutes had run away from home over four times a year. In response, he presumed that a new approach (again involving the carrot, not the stick) would be the more appropriate measure. Thus, he initiated the “High Risk Victim” unit to identify those teens most at risk.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Radder And Ridgway

    1543 Words  | 7 Pages

    Although there has been a recent awareness of serial killers and development of entertainment using serial killers it is still a rare occurrence. Schmid states that Serial murders account for less than or equal to 2 % of all homicide (2005). In addition, since there are many types of murder one needs to know a proper definition of a serial killer. According to Culhane there are three different elements that define a serial killer these elements are (1) three or more victims; (2) three or more occurrences; and (3) an emotional ‘cooling off’ period in between the killings. Using the definition provided by Culhane two serial killers were chosen to be study in this paper.

    Read More

  • Murdered Indigenous Women

    735 Words  | 3 Pages

    During my research I had found that these women were more targeted as in the case of Pamela George (Razack, 2000). Pamela George was an Aboriginal woman who was brutally murdered by two men (Razack 2000). These men were given light sentences and George was never fully received justice. Instead George was just ignored to be another prostitute. But if you can see the statistics it is clear that George was not the only one.

    Read More

  • Richard Kuklinski Criminological Theory

    966 Words  | 4 Pages

    Richard "Iceman" Kuklinski was viewed as a normal man by society for much of his adult life. This man was far from normal. Kuklinski was a psychopath and a sociopath who was driven to kill by his troubled childhood and his lifestyle as a paid hit man. This paper will focus on the criminological theory of why Kuklinkski committed these murders. Richard Leonard Kuklinski was born in 1935 to Stanley and Anna Kuklinski ("Meet Notorious Contract Killer Richard Kuklinski").

    Read More

  • Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer

    1475 Words  | 6 Pages

    The crimes, methods, and bizarre thought behaviors of serial killers never cease to amaze us. Sadly, the most interesting cases are typically the ones that baffle authorities, allowing the killer to execute his insidious plans, upping the body count as the days tick on. The name of this case comes from the Green River, a river that meanders its way through Washington State. The river runs through King County, an area that once was a bustling business area but slowly transformed into a dingy club, sleazy motels, and prostitute filled area. During the early 1980’s, this ghost town of abandon businesses, houses, and shops, became the scene of one of the most perplexing and iconic serial killings the county has ever witnessed.

    Read More

  • Single Homicide Vs Single Murder Essay

    996 Words  | 4 Pages

    The serial killings were almost sure to be used for sexual gratification In short prostitution is already a dangerous profession what makes it even more scarey is the fact some men who are customers condone violence against women(Moses,2006). Seems the murder of prostitutes is quite common because noone has respect for them. This is a

    Read More

  • Magnotta's Theory Of Criminality

    173 Words  | 1 Pages

    An attribute of society that has been constant throughout history is criminality, and due to the continuing effort to understand crime, this has resulted in the emergence of many schools of thought. In the 21st century, the world is continuing to see petrifying and outrageous murder cases, a recent one being the case of Canadian citizen Luka Magnotta, who murdered Lin Jun and recorded himself stabbing, dismembering, and performing acts of necrophilia on Jun, mailing his body parts to multiple places in Canada, including to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. After an analysis of the case of Luka Magnotta, when considering a psychological explanation, Magnotta’s criminality can be sufficiently explained through Eysenck’s theory of crime and personality,

    Read More

  • Sex Trafficking In Russia

    1212 Words  | 5 Pages

    Many of them have only attended school for one year or have graduated college and are unable to find employment (41). The economy does not supply adequate learning facilities or a stable environment for expecting women, single mothers, or abandoned children and pushes them to the sex industry in order to earn money and protection. Younger woman tend to travel abroad in the sex industry in the hopes of a better life in a different country. When the victims are asked why they are reluctant to leave the sex industry they answer with “the wish to survive”, “to be independent from their families”, or the need “to help the family” (41). With many children being born into poverty everyday, prostitution is viewed more as a positive lifestyle for all rather than something detrimental to their lives, it becomes more widely accepted.

    Read More

More about Gary Ridgway Case Study

Open Document