The Sheriff and the Serial Killer

Editor's Introduction

A look at the Green River murders case is always a peek into hell. For two decades, a monster stalked the Seattle area unchecked. He brutally murdered women. He had sex with them before—and after—they died. Their bodies were scattered to rot in the rivers, woods, and vacant lots of suburban and exurban King County. The list of victims and the catalog of crimes, which include kidnapping, theft, and rape, is incomplete, authorities say. Green River was the nation's largest and longest unsolved modern serial killing spree. But it ended in 2001 when an Auburn truck painter, Gary Leon Ridgway, was caught. He confessed to 48 of the killings, though he claimed in court that the number was nearer 60. The police suspect the real toll was even higher. "I killed so many women I have a hard time keeping them straight," he said.

The prosecutors made a deal with the devil: Tell us everything and avoid the death penalty. The confessed killer now sits in a cell in the state penitentiary in Walla Walla, where he'll spend the rest of his life. According to the King County Journal, he reads the Bible and watches a black-and-white TV, a luxury he was allowed to purchase for good behavior.

But the men and women who interrogated Ridgway aren't so sure he behaved well when it mattered. For six months, they secretly interrogated Ridgway, who had promised full cooperation. He continuously lied and deceived. In trying to get the truth, the cops bullied him and cajoled him and tried religion, verbal abuse, and psychological games. They got a lot, but they didn't get it all.

A new book offers a look inside the process of trying to break down Gary Ridgway. Published this month, Serial Killer: Issues Explored Through the Green River Murders by Tomas Guillen (Prentice Hall, $25) offers a critical analysis of the investigation and questions whether the information gathered during his interrogations was worth the deal prosecutors made. Guillen is well positioned to undertake such a project. A former investigative reporter for The Seattle Times who covered the Green River case while it was unsolved, he is also co-author (with fellow former Timesman Carlton Smith) of The Search for the Green River Killer, a major book on the case first published in 1991. Guillen is now an associate professor of communications and journalism at Seattle University.

While his book explores many aspects of the case—from the initial (and botched) investigation to the impact of media coverage—at its center is the author's analysis of videotapes and transcripts of the Ridgway interviews. The tapes offer a sometimes strange and sickening picture of both the criminal's mind and the minds of those who tried to crack him open. Guillen analyzes some of the dubious tactics used by interrogators, including those of then–King County Sheriff Dave Reichert, who had devoted years to investigating the murders. Guillen's chapter on the Reichert/Ridgway tapes is excerpted on the next page, with additional video clips of relevant passages available below. The image of Reichert cracking sex jokes with Ridgway about the victims is disconcerting, to say the least, especially given that the religious Republican sheriff later rode the killer's conviction to a seat in Congress.

On the other hand, just how does one get the devil to cooperate? In an era when the methods of interrogation and the use of torture are hotly debated, Guillen's book and the Ridgway tapes raise questions that take us deeper into the Green River terror and go way beyond it.

—Knute Berger

Like yesterday, we had pretty interesting talk about some . . . pretty interesting subjects, don't you think? Yeah, like two guys just sittin' in a bar.

—David G. Reichert, King County Sheriff

Reichert (left) and Ridgway face to face on video: talking about hell, sex, and secrets.

Video by King County Sheriff's Office