Why Is Gary Ridgway Called The Green River Killer?

Without the help of DNA, connecting offenders to their victims and the scene of the crime, so many cases would be left unsolved. Shockingly enough, it wasn’t until 1984 where DNA was used for biological identification. Once DNA started to play such a big role in criminal justice, many cases where they didn’t have enough evidence to prosecute, were brought to court and finally solved. Even though there was such a large gap in when the offenses were first committed and when they were solved, there was still justice for the victims and their families. An important case where DNA changes everything would be that of Gary Ridgway, otherwise known as the green river killer. Gary Ridgway was a serial killer whose killings began in 1971 and didn't stop until 1983. Although from afar he seemed like a normal everyday guy, he was married with

The first few victims turned up near the banks of the Green River south of Seattle, giving Gary Ridgway his new title: The Green River Killer. Later the remains of dozens of women turned up near many Pacific Northwest rivers, airports and freeways in the 1980s. Investigators officially listed 49 of these bodies to be possible victims of the Green River Killer. Gary Ridgway lured young women, mostly prostitutes, and runaways into his truck, forcing sex upon them and then strangling them to death. He dumped the bodies in what he called "clusters” alongside freeways, railroad tracks, rivers, and airports. He later told the authorities the chilling reason why he did this, because, he wanted to keep track of the women he had killed. Gary would frequently drive by the “clusters” and think about the women he had placed there. In a statement, he admitted to returning to these sites not only to view the corpses but to engage in necrophilia with the remains. In some cases, Ridgway’s victims laid there for years, even decades waiting to be