From an early age, children's stories inspired us with a simple truth: light always conquers darkness. However, life is much more cruel, and therefore evil triumphs in it much more often. Gary Ridgway was called the bloodiest maniac in the history of the United States. Over the course of a decade, the killer tortured more than 70 girls between the ages of 12 and 25. However, the court saved his life.
In the early 80s of the XX century, the authorities of the American state of Washington sounded the alarm: in the cities of Seattle and Tacoma, one after another, girls and girls began to disappear. The victims were united by one thing: they were all either fugitives or prostitutes.
The first body was discovered in mid-1982 on the riverbank. A few months later, the bodies of three more victims were found there. According to local media reports, after the first four murders, girls and women began to disappear in Seattle with frightening consistency, this continued until 1984. Moreover, the remains of women were found not only on the banks of the river, but also in the bushes on remote highways leading from Seattle to neighboring cities. The wave of attacks and killings was repeated in 1986, 1987 and 1990. The last murder was committed by a maniac in early 1998.
Ridgeway Victims.
Only a few years after the last victim was discovered, the state police arrested the prime suspect. It turned out to be an outwardly good-natured truck driver named Gary Leon Ridgway. The man was suspected of a crime for 17 years, but enough evidence was not found. Ridgway was even tested on a lie detector, but the device showed that he was innocent!
The killer's handwriting was rather monotonous. He rubbed into the confidence of girls of easy virtue, lured them to a deserted place, and after sex he strangled them. At first he did it with his bare hands, but soon realized that the scratches on the skin from the victims' nails would raise a lot of questions from his wife. Therefore, he switched to a noose.
The man's personality was "scanned" far and wide, trying to find at least one psychological clue. It turned out that as a child, Gary did not shine with intelligence: his grades in the class were among the lowest, the boy was distinguished by extreme sluggishness and a complete lack of attention. This was due to the fact that from an early age Ridgway watched family scandals. His mother was an extremely strict and conflicted woman, and therefore could afford to hit her son for the smallest offense. Then the investigators found out that the maniac had a strange feeling for his mother - a mixture of fear and sexual attraction.
Ridgeway with his wife, Judith Mawson.
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The Green River Killer case was full of secrets. For example, in 1987, Ridgway's house was searched and the suspect's saliva was taken for analysis. However, for some reason, DNA analysis was carried out only 13 (!) Years later - and, of course, gave a positive result. DNA particles matched traces of saliva found on the bodies of the victims. It is not very clear why it was impossible to do this analysis earlier and save several dozen lives?
The investigation has received a new round. It turned out that Ridgway was an exemplary family man: the murderer's wife, Judith Mawson, told the investigation that her husband was never late for dinner, was always friendly with neighbors, and in general was completely non-conflict. Embarrassed, the woman noted that Gary's only strangeness was love joys in the fresh air. He especially loved sex in the forest. The police asked Judith to show her favorite spots in the Ridgeway. The discovery was shocking: the maniac had sex with his wife where his victims were found!
At the trial, Ridgway burst into tears.
Judith was unaware of her husband's "adventures". Until the last moment, she refused to believe that her husband was a murderer. When this was proven, Mrs. Mawson fell into the deepest depression. On the advice of the police, she packed her things, changed her name, and left the state.
The King County Supreme Court hearing was a full house. The guards lined up around the courthouse in two rows, and a metal detector was placed at the entrance. It seemed impossible to break into the hall: all the seats were occupied by the relatives of the murdered girls.
In the process, it turned out that Ridgeway was covered with bouts of uncontrolled aggression from his youth. At 17, he stabbed a seven-year-old boy. The maniac admitted that he chose only prostitutes as a victim, because he did not like them, and the police did not particularly look for girls of easy virtue.
The court was touched by the sincerity of Ridgway's remorse, and therefore the execution through the introduction of a deadly serum was replaced with a "humane" life sentence. Now the bloodiest maniac in the history of the United States is imprisoned in the King County jail.