Ridgway: Uh-huh.
Reichert: (Laughs)
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Ridgway: Or girlfriend, uh, come over, hey, I need to get some ice out of the refrigerator.
Reichert: Yeah.
Ridgway: What's this?
Reichert: (Laughs) Exactly. Well, and then what would you say?
Ridgway: Uh, I don't know what I would say. Uh, maybe, uh, those are, uh, oysters.
Reichert: Think she'd buy that?
Ridgway: Uh, (unintelligible) she cook it up. [QuickTime video, 1 MB]
In attempting to convince Ridgway the two were simply having "a good 'old time'" "sittin' in a bar," the sheriff desecrated the victims. To the sheriff the end justified the means. In return Reichert obtained nothing new. And he unleashed his displeasure, again: "They're pissed. They're tired of your crap. They're tired of your bullshit. They're tired of your lies. They're tired of your attitude now since the plea because you've not been cooperative."
Reichert made it a point to be the last King County Police officer to speak with Ridgway on December 16, 2003. On that day he took a moment to call Ridgway a coward for choosing to kill women and choking them from behind. And he emphasized that nobody was going to feel sorry for him.
The plethora of interrogation techniques and persuasive strategies employed by investigators for six months were successful in some ways. The remains of several missing women were found, and society learned the fate of most of the women who disappeared during the long running murder mystery known as the Green River Murders case. In the end, though, King County Police felt cheated. They believed Ridgway failed to divulge many secrets. Ridgway's efforts to hide specific facts was obvious throughout the confession. Not so obvious was his subtle attempt to reinvent himself amid the acrimony. In his own simple, unsophisticated way, he had an agenda. Ridgway regularly served up vignettes that were intended to humanize him. He told of occasionally buying the "ladies" on the street food, a jacket or a pair of boots.
Ridgway: That's what everybody calls me is monster.
Det. Jensen: Well . . . I don't recall having [hearing] anybody around here say that.
Ridgway: Yeah, the news and stuff like that says it.
Jensen: But you don't wanna be portrayed as a monster do you?
Ridgway: No. I wanted to be portrayed . . . did all the killings . . . but also the one that helped find the bodies.
Ridgway's efforts to hide specific facts was obvious throughout the confession. Not so obvious was his subtle attempt to reinvent himself amid the acrimony.
As early as the fifth day of the interrogation, Ridgway started spinning details of the murders to fit his personal psychological needs and influence what the world thought of him. His most elaborate concoction involved Carol Christensen, the young mother who took a job along the prostitution strip while separated from her husband. She was the victim found in Maple Valley with a paper bag over her head and fish about her body. Ridgway's initial story to his attorney and police included a lengthy description of how Ridgway cared for Christensen's body after he killed her in his house. According to Ridgway, Christensen was special so he kissed her, caressed her hair, cuddled her, spoke kind words to her, and redressed her. Ridgway did redress Christensen, but it was to throw the investigation off. Everything else was a lie.
Ridgway always sought to minimize his sexual behavior. The investigators and the psychologists asked Ridgway if he considered himself a child molester since he once convinced a cousin to show her pubic area. Ridgway characterized the incident as mere child's play, even though he was much older than the girl. It seemed to interrogators, too, that Ridgway was a rapist. Ridgway protested strongly, arguing that he paid for the women and they should produce. His interrogators pointed out that Ridgway always took his money back after killing them. In fact, they stated, he robbed his victims after the murder. He would rummage through their undergarments and the inside tips of their shoes. He then would use his victims' money to pay for gas to prey or to convince another victim to hop in his truck. Detective Sue Peters asked, Do you think you're a rapist?"
Ridgway: No.
Peters: Why?
Ridgway: I'm a . . . I'm a killer. I killed 'em.
Peters: You don't like that word, do you?
Ridgway: I don't like that word because I . . . uh, I don't fit in that category. I'm a killer.
Perhaps Ridgway fought the labels child molester and rapist—and desired to label himself a killer with a heart— because he understood the stigma society and prison places on such criminals. In prison, child molesters and rapists occupy the lowest social status and, often, are the targets of threats, sexual abuse, and death. All in all, Gary Leon Ridgway's repeated use of euphemisms to characterize himself and his behavior amounted to denial. Even after he had been apprehended and was about to be sent off to prison, he refused to acknowledge his hideous and repulsive deeds.
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Excerpted from Serial Killers: Issues Explored Through the Green River Murders by Tomas Guillen. Copyright © 2007, published this month by Prentice Hall. Reprinted with permission. The book is $25 paperback, with a CD including excerpts of videotaped interrogation sessions with Gary Leon Ridgway and documents related to the Green River murders.
