Ridgway was a truck painter for 32 years at the Kenworth Trucking Company,where he made $21.00 an hour

 

During the first few hours of Ridgway's confession,he stated that he had been blackmailed into the murders,but retracted this statement a little later on,stating that he worked alone

 

Ridgway has been married 3 times,and has a son(Matthew),whom is enlisted in the Marine Corp.

 

The entire Homicide Unit(the Green River Task Force)recieved the Terrence J. Green Distinguished Homicide Professional Award by the International Homicide Investigators Association in 2004 for they're work on the River case

 

The Green River case is the largest victim-involved serial case in America's history,as well as the longest time taking to capture a single serial killer(nearly 21 years)

 

Ridgway graduated from Tyee High School in SeaTac,Washington

 

Ridgway did confess that he returned to the bodies to try and hide them better(either by putting branches on them or digging shallow graves),as well as returning to perform necrophilia

 

Before Ridgway recieved his job at the Trucking Company as a painter,he tried to get a job at his local police department,but he was turned down for it

 

Victim Hayes,was a mother of five

 

Ridgway and his third wife(Judith Lynch)owned a white poodle named Peaches

 

Victim Reeves,was stated to be Hungarian,and had migrated to the United States

 

During the beginning of the Green River Task Force,it was completely believed that the murderer was a taxi cab driver(Melvin Wayne Foster),but a year later,he was cleared

 

Ridgway has confessed that he fantasized about killing his mother,and that he was also sexually attracted to her

 

Victim Christensen's body was found by a family hunting for mushrooms

 

Victim Estes was murdered on her birthday-she had just turned 15

 

Not all the Green River victims were found there,just a majority of them were

 

It is believed that King County spent at least $11 million since 1984 to investigate the River murders

 

Victims Mills and Coffield attended the same school at the same time (Kent Continuing Education High School)

 

After Ridgway's final arrest,authorities searched his home and among the many things they confiscated was a published book about the Green River murders

 

Victim Christensen was a waitress at the Barn Door Tavern on Pacific Avenue,and also was a mother to a daughter,whom is still alive

Most still believe that Ridgway did not act alone,one of the many suspects that was believed to have helped Ridgway in the murders was a man named William J. Stevens,II-whom at the time of the murders,was an escaped convict for credit-card fraud.Since the idea is so likely that Ridgway didn't work alone,it's also believed that there had been at least several copy cats working.

 

Since Ridgway was not given the death penalty for the 44+ murders due-to the plea bargain of helping officials find other bodies,convicted serial killer Robert Yates has since filed an appeal stating that he helped officials find the bodies of his victims,but still recieved the death sentence

 

Ridgway was once enlisted in the Navy,where he stated that he use to "visit" prostitutes where he was stationed(Philippines) back in the 1970's;after returning to the States,he was stationed in San Diego,California for 1 year,thereafter being discharged

 

Ridgway has stated that he has a fear of blood,thus the reason he strangled his victims

 

It wasn't only Ridgway's DNA that caused him to be captured,but also microscopic paint particles(Imron)that were found on some of the victims,matched the paint that Ridgway used at his job

 

Ridgway has claimed to have made a map of where he placed all the bodies of his victims,and has as well taken Polaroids of some of the bodies-but he declared he destroyed both the map and pictures

 

Not only was Ridgway cleared as a suspect back in 1984 for not having anything in his home to link him to the murders,but also because an investigator in Des Moines-whom was Ridgway's friend at this time-stated that there was no way Ridgway could be the murderer

 

Ridgway admitted that the reason he took some of the victims' bodies parts across the State border,clipped they're fingernails,and even leave behind phony evidence was to just throw the authorities off

 

Ridgway's father died in 1998,and his mother in 2001(due to cancer)

 

Ridgway played football in High School

 

Victim Chapman,was a mother of two

 

Victim Yellow-Robe was a nurses' aid

 

Victim Estes had filed a report about a man whom violently raped her only days before she disappeared

 

Victim Avent has a twin sister,whom is still alive

 

During the murders,the Task Force had help from the Teenaged Explorer Boy Scouts-whom actually found victim Ware's body

 

Stevens(the man whom was believed to have helped Ridgway) is being accused by his adopted brother,whom is in the midst of writing a book that points out everything that makes him believe Stevens helped(he even states that Steven had a fascination with serial killer Ted Bundy)

 

Ridgway actually had a large public-appointed Defense team,consisting of four lawyers,two investigators,and several legal staff members

 

In the mid-1980's,when the murders suddenly stopped and no new leads were coming in,a women's group held a protest outside the Sheriff's Office,demanding closure to the case

 

Ridgway is dyslexic

 

The major reason that most of the prostitutes refused to help the authorities to capture the River killer,was because they believed the murderer was a police officer

 

The DNA sample that led to the capture of Ridgway,was from a mouth swab

 

After four of the River murders,authorities staked out the Green River,but they're cover was blown by a news helicopter that flew overhead filming for the next day's news report-it's believed that not soon after authorities left,victim Bonner's body was dumped into the river

 

After the plea bargain was made,Ridgway was held at the Task Force headquarters(which is near Boeing Field)for nearly 5 months for interrogation

 

Ridgway is 5'10"

 

During Ridgway's confession,he stated that with at least two of his victims,he took they're driver's license and actually sent them back to they're families-reasons he couldn't explain why

 

Ridgway was stated to have been an avid reader of the Bible

 

In all,the Green River Task Force had 50 Detectives working on the case

 

Ridgway is the middle child of three boys-older brother,Greg & younger brother,Ed

 

Ridgway's father was a bus driver for the Metro Transit

 

During the murders,Ridgway was the self-appointed neighborhood crime informer in Kent,where he would report break in's and when prostitutes were in the area

 

Although tragic,these women did not die in vain-due to the Green River murders,two police units were created-"Analysis Of Violent Crimes" & " Violent Criminal Apprehension Program" ; these two units allow any evidence of a suspected serial killer to be entered into a database and show if they match any crimes/murders in another jurisdiction-for the past 15 years,these units have been successful

 

Victim Meehan was eight months pregnant at the time of her death

 

Convicted serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole,confessed to the River murders during the time they were confessing to over 100's of murders throughout the United States in the 1980's 

 

It's been rumored that when Ridgway was 17,he stabbed a first grader,but it's been confirmed that during Ridgway's teen years,he dwelled in car theft,burglary,shop lifting,and petty vandalism

 

Before Ridgway took the plea bargain and was planning on pleading not guilty-the Prosecution was studying infamous trials,such as Theodore Kaczynski(the Unabomber)-since it was tried on the same budget as the River case would have,and O.J.Simpson's trial,for help on dealing with media and public affairs

 

It's been stated that if Ridgway went to trial,it would have cost King County nearly $15 million to do so

 

When victim Gabbert's remains were found,the remains of a dog were found nearby-this somehow leaked to the airwaves and the public began a rumor that the murders were being commited by a Satanic Cult

 

It is said that Ridgway's mother verbally abused him as child,and that it continued into his adult years

 

Victims Bush & Sherrill's remains were found in Oregon

 

Ridgway is still a suspect for four murders of women in Vancouver-since he was known to travel up there many times in his RV,he is as well being investigated for the murders of 38 prostitutes in San Diego,California-that happened during the time Ridgway was stationed there in the Navy

 

During the murders,there was at least 20,000 suspects

 

After Ridgway's final arrest,it took about 90 minutes for him to ask for a lawyer