Gary Ridgway's Serial Killer

Gary Ridgway is one of America’s most prominent serial killers. He killed for 18 years, until physical evidence was able to link him to murder. Over those years here was picked up for other crimes and released. It is because of him and other killers that America must become better at finding physical evidence.
Gary was born in 1949, he is the middle child of three boys. His home life wasn’t completely upsetting, just the occasional heated argument between his parents. His IQ was tested at 82, and did poorly in school. At age 16, Ridgeway attempted to kill a six year old boy. Later he served in the military and fought in Vietnam, he often visited the hookers there and developed a sexual appetite. Around his 30s, the effect of all his issues started to take place. Ridgway started his killings in 1982, after his second marriage failed. He would solicit a prostitute, have sex with her and then strangle her from the back with his bare hands. After a while he realized it wasn’t the best practice as the prostitutes would often fight back creating wounds and bruises so then Ridgway started to use ligatures. Ridgway would then dump the bodies in the wooded area …show more content…
The FBI suspected him in 1983, 1984 Gary took a polygraph test and passed it. The test was later turned over as a failure because of failed protocols. 1985, Gary married Judith Mawson and she noticed that there was no carpet in the house. The FBI claims that Ridgway had it removed because a body was wrapped in it. In 1987 the police took hair and saliva samples from Ridgway. The samples were then tested with fresh semen samples taken by swabs of the victim’s mouths. In 2001 he was arrested at a truck factory that he was working at as a painter. During his trial, forensic scientists linked a specific brand and composition of paint on the bodies and the factory where Ridgway was