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Green River Serial Killer Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife

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Green River Serial Killer Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife

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Pennie Morehead

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In 1960, before meeting Gary, Judith,"the young, blonde, teenager with a body that was beginning to blossom into the full flower of womanhood, posed in front of a much nicer trailer home, probably the fanciest in the park, while the man took pictures of her. She wore a bathing suit for him and posed for the camera."  Her mother told her to never go their again and admitted her to the Ryther Facility, which was "a warm, safe home in Seattle where prostitutes, orphans, runaways, pregnant girls, and the like could live and be free from the dangers on the city streets" Judith shared a room with 5 other girls and attended high school classes their while working as a cook. Although Judith bonded with some of the women there, she missed her family and ran away from the facility on several occasions. Even though she was always brought back, she never stopped plotting her next escape to go home. She finally went home on November 15, 1960 after attending classes their for 12 months (29, 30, 31)

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After November 15, 1960, Judith lived at home for a while before her mom got pregnant again and sent her to a Western State hospital which was previously called an "insane asylum", since their new house was getting tight to live in. "Most mental patients were deemed a danger to society and were locked up, having little chance of ever leaving the facility... How is it that young Judith became a patient in such a facility...Voluntarily committed at seventeen years of age, and was coaxed into signing a voluntary commitment form"(31, 32)

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In 1964, Judith met her first husband as she was out with her friend,"Judith did not know she was about to meet the man who would become her first husband...first of two husbands who would carefully use her to frame their lives so as to would appear normal to society as they secretly led darker lives."(39)

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Judith told her mom she wanted her little sister to be named Charlene and then said "i want to have my own baby...Exactly nine months later, December 16, 1965, Judith gave birth to her first baby...Judith named her Marie."(46)

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Judith gave birth to her second daughter Rachel in 1968. Sometime in 1968, Lee walked into the room Judith was in looking troubled,"Judith, I have something I need to tell you...You know how I told you i was going to union meetings...well that's not how i was really spending my time. You see, Judith, My lady,  I am what they call bisexual. I have been going on dates with men" Judith did not know what being bisexual was and thought it was "some contagious bug that created the bisexual symptoms just as a viral infection might induce coughing and fever". Once Lee explained to her what it meant, he told her they would stay married while he went on dates with other men and to never speak of this to anyone and keep that between the two of them.  (50, 51)

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One day as Judith was running late to pick up Marie from school, she saw that Marie had been hit by a car and was unconscious and bleeding. "Judith could not tell if her daughter was alive or dead. She could see that her five-year olds head was dented on one side...Marie underwent emergency surgery  to remove chunks of skull bones that were pressing into her brain" Marie survived, with extensive medical care but suffered disabilities as a result of her brain injury. Lee quickly began to favor her other daughter Rachel, barely paying attention to Marie at all. (55)

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After 10 years of marriage, Judith had enough. "She decided she needed to leave him...he actually preferred men for company."  Lee told her she was out of her mind and that she didn't have enough money to keep up with herself. He threatened for her to never see their daughters again if she left. She knew he was right, so she stayed. (56)

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In 1984 Judith had been saving up money and had learned to drive after having no seizures for 10 years. Lee peacefully let her go in the end, he even helped her move out and gave her 5,000 for her share. It was all going well until she had to call Lee for help a few months in. "Her roommate came home drunk one night and grabbed judith, began kissing her on the lips, murmuring that she wanted to love Judith." Lee went to help Judith move out of their and into a house where she rented only one room. (57)

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Judith Ridgway had no idea about her husbands past with young women. Detectives showed up to Judith Ridgways house and "said they had some important questions to ask her...The detectives asked Judith if she knew that her husband had been arrested back in May of 1982 for offering to pay for a[expletive]act with an undercover police officer." Gary Ridgway had told his wife he had been arrested before but never told her the full story. He did though tell her that the day Gary Ridgway was arrested, he was also released, so Judith assumed it was some sort of mix up. (13, 14, 15)

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Wendy Cofield went missing after leaving her foster home, on July 8, 1982. Her body was found a week later on July 15, 1982 in the Green River.  Ridgway admitted to killing Cofield in his plea agreement with King County, Norm Maleng. Cofields body was the first of Ridways victims found.
https://cases.laws.com/gary-ridgway

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Judith was out with her friend when,"two men at a nearby table initiated eye contact. Soon they walked over and began talking to them" They danced and agreed to go to breakfast. Gary then asked her for her number and let her know he would call her sometime.(59, 60, 61, 62)

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Judith didn't know about the green river killer that people had been talking about until after meeting Gary. She got informed that the first 5 women the serial killer killed were dumped into the Green River. Bodies of young women had been appearing in the river for 4 years now.

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Judith had not been informed that Gary was questioned by the Green River Killer Task Force detectives, only 2 days after meeting him. Gary had admitted to choking a young women that was on a date with him after she allegedly bit him. (63)

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Judith asked Gary how he had acquired a scar on his arm, he told her he was working on a car and it caught on fire. He had actually gotten the scar from one of his victims fighting back before he killed her and dumped her body in the Mt. View cemetery in Auburn.  He would normally wear long sleeves to not reveal the scars.

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In May 1985, Gary had asked Judith to move in with him. Judith agreed, since her roommate was going to be moving out and she wouldn't be able to cover rent all by herself.

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Judith had told Gary he wasn't going to get rid of her. They agreed to get married and Judith later described her wedding day as the most wonderful day if her life..

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A month before Gary and Judiths marriage, they had offered a 100,000 dollar reward for any information about the green river killer. One man from Gonzaga University was wrongly arrested but quickly released and not charged.
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3100159&page=1

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April 30, 2007 &#151; -- It seemed like any other day for Judith Mawson Ridgway.

After her husband, Gary, a truck painter, left for work, Judith got up, had a cup of coffee and was cleaning out the garage when she was interrupted by two police detectives. They had staggering news -- her husband of 14 years had been arrested.

News cameras caught Judith's stunned face just moments after she learned that Gary was accused of being the notorious Green River killer, responsible for a killing spree that terrorized Seattle for more than 20 years.

Judith refused to believe the terrible accusations against Gary -- that he picked up prostitutes and teenage runaways on Highway 99, strangled them during sex and dumped their bodies in remote areas near the Green River.

"I was in such denial," she told ABC News' Seattle station KOMO-TV.

Until his confession, Judith stood by her husband, convinced that a mistake had been made. The Gary she knew was loving, gentle and considerate, and their life together was a full and happy one.

Gary gave no clues to his secret life -- there were no bursts of anger toward her or unexplained absences, Judith said.

"He was always happy, he had a smile that would never change. He made me feel like a newlywed everyday," Judith said.

Author Pennie Morehead has written a book called "Green River Serial Killer: Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife" that tells Judith's story.

Morehead said that while writing about Gary, she came to believe that a person can have two completely different lives.

In his everyday life, Gary was very orderly, disciplined and controlled, Morehead said.

He told Morehead that he wanted to stop the killing but couldn't -- killing was like beer to an alcoholic, and he tried to resist but simply couldn't.

"It turns out he was also a terrific husband and friend and lover to his wife for 14 years," Morehead said today on "Good Morning America." "And it just completely amazed me that he was able to move fluidly in and out of his killer life and his husband life without ever being detected."

Gary Ridgway had been a suspect in the murders long before he and Judith ever met, but police never had the evidence to prove the case.

He left behind little physical evidence, passed polygraph tests and scattered the bodies of his victims over several states. Then modern forensics caught up with the killer.

"It took so long to get to the bottom of this because the technology wasn't there to put us over the hump," Seattle Det. Tom Jensen said.

In 2001, the police were finally able to match Ridgway's DNA to evidence found on the victims' bodies. Gary continued to deny he killed the women until two years later, when he finally confessed and admitted to killing at least 48 women.

"I'm sorry for killing all those young ladies. I have tried to remember as much as I could to help the detectives," he said in court.

And Judith finally had to face the truth, including the fact that Gary killed at least four women during their marriage.

"It was like a brick wall dropped in front of me. It all stopped," Judith said.

Ridgway pleaded guilty to the murders of 48 women and was spared the death penalty in exchange for his cooperation with the police in locating the remains of some of his victims.

Shattered, Judith changed her name, her appearance and her life. Today, she still struggles to understand how the husband she adored could also be a vicious killer.

"I love the man I knew and hate the man who took him away," she said.

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'He Made Me Feel Like a Newlywed,' Says Wife of Green River Killer

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April 30, 2007 — -- It seemed like any other day for Judith Mawson Ridgway. After her husband, Gary, a truck painter, left for work, Judith got up, had a cup of coffee and was cleaning out the garage when she was interrupted by two police detectives.

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2nd year of their marriage, The couple had bought a house in Des Moines. The first news paper tossed into their yard was reporting another body of a young women that had been found in the Sea-Tac airport area(89) https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/green-river-killer-ridgway-heading-back-to-washington/

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Announcing plans to return the Green River killer from a Colorado prison, Washington's corrections director cited investigators' wish to keep him more easily available for questioning in unsolved cases.

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The Green River killer is being returned to the Washington State Penitentiary.

The state Department of Corrections (DOC) on Friday told the federal Bureau of Prisons that it will bring Gary L. Ridgway back to the Walla Walla prison, four months after his surprise transfer to a Colorado prison.

The decision was made after Washington law-enforcement officials expressed concern about keeping Ridgway easily accessible if investigators want to interview him about open homicide cases, according to the DOC. Ridgway has pleaded guilty to 49 murders, but has estimated that his victim count is closer to 70.

After consulting with Gov. Jay Inslee, Corrections Secretary Bernie Warner said he informed the Bureau of Prisons that DOC would be flying Ridgway back from the federal penitentiary in Florence, Colo.

"What we weighed was law enforcement said it would hamper their ability in discovering any additional crimes by Gary Ridgway (if he was out of state)," Warner said in an interview. "We don't want to be a barrier to that."

Warner conceded that his decision was also based on the anger voiced Monday by Mary Marrero, whose sister was murdered by Ridgway in December 1982. During an emotional news conference, Marrero assailed the decision to transfer the serial killer as "dumb."

DOC will not say when Ridgway will return, due to security concerns, Warner added.

Inslee's office had no comment Friday on the decision.

The about-face comes amid mounting criticism over the transfer of Ridgway from the Washington State Penitentiary to the federal prison in Florence, despite claims by the DOC that he would enjoy no additional freedoms in his new home. Since his arrival in May, he has been in a high-security facility for intake and assessment, according to DOC.

"Ridgway has been in a maximum custody cell by himself since his arrival at the federal prison," DOC said in a news release earlier this week. "He does not have a job, or access to the general population. There's no prospect of that happening in the foreseeable future."

However, Corrections officials conceded any change to Ridgway's conditions behind bars would be up to the Bureau of Prisons, which oversees the Florence facility.

Todd Chapman, the spokesman for the Federal Prison Complex in Florence, did not return email requests for comment.

According to DOC documents, it cost nearly $20,000 for a private plane to fly Ridgway and another, unidentified inmate to the Florence facility.

Among those criticizing the transfer was U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, who as a King County sheriff's detective spent years investigating the Green River killings. Both Reichert and Marrero accused DOC of granting the nation's most prolific serial killer special privileges.

On Monday, they condemned the transfer during a news conference at the gravesite of Marrero's sister, Rebecca "Becky" Marrero, one of the 49 women Ridgway was convicted of killing between 1982 and 1998.

Ridgway, then 52, was arrested Nov. 30, 2001, after his DNA linked him to evidence in three cases. He eventually pleaded guilty in 2003 to four dozen murders in a deal that allowed him to avoid the death penalty.

Earlier this week, DOC said Ridgway was transferred for "reasons of security management." Corrections says it had requested that he be placed in the so-called "supermax" prison, where high-security inmates include would-be millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

The facility where Ridgway is currently housed is on the same campus and used by the Bureau of Prisons for intake and assessment, DOC said.

The DOC also said Friday that the transfer was seen as an opportunity to "get a fresh assessment" from the Bureau of Prisons on the best way to safely house Ridgway for the rest of his life.

In an interview with The Seattle Times on Monday, Warner said Ridgway's transfer came down to economics.

"Gary Ridgway presents an ongoing risk in our system. (Ridgway) requires a lot of custody resources. He's not necessarily a threat to others, but he could be targeted," Warner said.

DOC records show Ridgway, now 66, has been a model inmate. He cooperated with staff and never broke prison rules, according to documents obtained by The Seattle Times through a public-records request.

The same documents indicate that in recent years Ridgway has complained of mental problems and has been on medication. Warner declined to comment on Ridgway's mental health and said that his medical issues had nothing to do with the transfer.

Ridgway's transfer came as a surprise to law enforcement and generated a terse email to Warner from Deputy King County Prosecutor Mark Larson, chief of the office's criminal division when Ridgway was prosecuted.

"I can appreciate that this is a sensitive matter, but I think some consideration might have been paid to the people that have either lost a loved one to (the Green River killer) or have devoted much of their professional lives to holding him accountable," Larson wrote.

Reichert said DOC should have contacted the King County Sheriff's Office, victims' relatives and Inslee to alert them that the transfer was in the works. His office has filed a public-disclosure request with DOC to find out why prison officials believe Ridgway qualified for a transfer.

"There is no sensitivity here," Reichert said earlier this week. "We're not going to give up on trying to find the answers. I find this all to be very suspicious and very disheartening."
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Green River killer Ridgway coming back to Washington

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Announcing plans to return the Green River killer from a Colorado prison, Washington's corrections director cited investigators' wish to keep him more easily available for questioning in unsolved cases. Share story The Green River killer is being returned to the Washington State Penitentiary.

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Gary had been arrested and the detectives were doing searches in all the cars Gary had ever owned. Gary called from the King County jail to reassure Judith that he was innocent, which she believed.  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gary-Ridgway

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Gary Ridgway, in full Gary Leon Ridgway, byname Green River Killer, (born February 18, 1949, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.), American criminal who was the country's deadliest convicted serial killer. He claimed to have killed as many as 80 women-many of whom were prostitutes-in Washington during the 1980s and '90s, although he pled guilty (2003) to only 48 murders.

Ridgway grew up in what became SeaTac, Washington. His father was a bus driver and his mother a salesclerk. The younger Ridgway later claimed that his mother engaged in inappropriate behaviour. Notably, he alleged that after wetting the bed-a habit that persisted into his early teens-she would wash his genitals. At some point he began fantasizing about killing her, and in the mid-1960s he stabbed a young boy. After graduating from high school in 1969-at the age of 20-Ridgway served a two-year stint in the U.S. Navy and later settled in the Seattle area, where he worked as a truck painter. Over the next 30 years, he married three times and had a son.

In 1980 Ridgway was arrested for allegedly choking a prostitute, but no charges were filed after he claimed that the woman had bit him. Two years later he was arrested for solicitation. Ridgway was believed to have begun his killing spree shortly thereafter. His first victim was thought to have been a 16-year-old girl who went missing after leaving her foster home in July 1982. Her body was found a week later, in the Green River. Over the next two years, Ridgway raped and killed more than 40 women, many of whom were prostitutes or runaways. A number of Ridgway's early victims were later found in or near the river, giving rise to the nickname Green River Killer; other bodies were discovered in remote wooded areas. After 1984 he committed several more murders, the last occurring in 1998.

By August 1982 police believed that a serial killer was at work, and they eventually formed a special task force. Ridgway soon became a suspect. In 1983 he was questioned in the disappearance of a prostitute who a witness claimed had gotten into his truck. Ridgway denied the allegations and passed a polygraph in 1984. Detectives later discovered a 1982 report about police finding Ridgway with a prostitute in a parked car; two years later a body was found nearby. In 1987 law-enforcement officials obtained a search warrant for Ridgway's home and work. However, none of the items-including carpet fibres and ropes-could be linked to the victims. They also obtained a DNA sample from Ridgway, but the technology then available was unable to match it with semen recovered from the bodies. However, following the advent of more sophisticated tests, a match was made in 2001, and Ridgway was arrested later that year.

Although he initially proclaimed his innocence, Ridgway soon confessed to the crimes, stating that he wanted to kill as many prostitutes as possible. He targeted sex workers because he thought they might not be reported missing and because he "hated" most of them. In 2003 he accepted a plea deal in which he was sentenced to 48 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. In addition, he agreed to reveal the location of undiscovered bodies. Many speculated that he was responsible for more deaths, and in 2013 Ridgway said that he had murdered upwards of 80 women.

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Gary Ridgway | Biography, Mother, Childhood, & Murders

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Gary Ridgway, in full Gary Leon Ridgway, byname Green River Killer, (born February 18, 1949, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.), American criminal who was the country's deadliest convicted serial killer. He claimed to have killed as many as 80 women-many of whom were prostitutes-in Washington during the 1980s and '90s, although he pled guilty (2003) to only 48 murders.

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Gary had pleaded guilty of murdering 48 women. He was charged with 1st degree murder for 3 of the early Green River Killer victims. Norm Maleng had announced he intended for Gary to have a death penalty if he was found guilty. Gary admitted to his attorneys that he in fact was the Green River Killer and admitted to 48 deaths of female victims from the age ranges from 14-38. He also stated that there could be more but there were "too many to count."https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/green-river-killer-ridgway-heading-back-to-washington/https://www.the-sun.com/news/6586224/green-river-killer-gary-ridgeway-victims/