Who Was The Green River Killer? How Many People Did Gary Ridgway Kill?

America, among other things, is also famous for its abundance of gruesome serial killers. One of them is a serial killer, also known as the Green River Killer. This serial killer’s original name was Gary Leon Ridgway. He was born in 1949 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Gary was the second son of Mary and Thomas Ridgway’s three kids.

He was one of America’s deadliest convicted serial killers. Ridgway was convicted of 48 life imprisonment with him admitting to murdering 49 women originally. But the actual number goes much higher, which we will find out below.

Who Was The Green River Killer?

Serial Killer Gary Leon Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer, is convicted of having murdered 48 women. Although in reality, the number goes up as high as 80. Ridgway claimed that he had begun fantasizing about killing his mother, as a very young boy. Later on, when he turned 16, he stabbed a young boy.

Before beginning his killing spree, Ridgway was arrested twice, for allegedly choking a prostitute and for solicitation. But was let out later. He was known to rape and murder women, mostly prostitutes and runaway women. He also said that he targeted them because there were fewer chances of them being reported, and also he hated these workers.

How Did Get The ‘Green River Killer’ Moniker?

The reason why Gary was also known by the popular nickname “The Green River Killer” was that most of his victims were found dumped in a river called the Green River. This started with his first victim who was a 16-year-old girl and thereafter followed by many other of his women victims.

After killing his first victim, he raped and killed nearly 40 women, in just a span of two years. He committed various other murders afterward, until 1998. However, he wasn’t arrested until 2001, when finally his DNA matched the evidence found on some of his victim’s bodies.