Green River Killer Gary Ridgway Is Not Receiving End-of-Life Care Despite Reports: Prison Official
Gary Ridgway (Photo by Josh Trujillo-Pool/Getty Images)Josh Trujillo-Pool/Getty Images
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Contrary to recent reports, prolific serial killer Gary Ridgway is not receiving end-of-life care.
Ridgway — the infamous “Green River Killer” responsible for the murders of at least 49 women and girls in Washington state during the 1980s and 1990s — has shown no changes in his medical condition, a Washington Department of Corrections official told Us Weekly exclusively.
“We’ve been receiving a lot of inquiries regarding the inaccurate rumors that have been circulating,” the official said via email. “We are not able to provide much detail about incarcerated individuals’ medical information. If you have also heard that he was released to a hospice facility, this is also inaccurate.”
Ridgway, 76, remains behind bars serving multiple life sentences that prohibit his release under any circumstances.
He was arrested in 2001 after advancements in DNA technology connected him to his crimes — a breakthrough partially influenced by insights shared by imprisoned serial killer Ted Bundy, who confessed to 30 murders before his execution in 1989.
Ridgway ultimately pleaded guilty to 48 homicides and was sentenced to 48 life terms, which he is serving at the Washington State Penitentiary. He strangled his victims, many of whom were sex workers, and often hid their bodies in forested areas, sometimes returning later.
A Vietnam Navy veteran, Ridgway spent 30 years painting trucks prior to his arrest. The bodies of many of his earliest victims were discovered along the banks of Seattle’s Green River.
The first known victim, 16-year-old Wendy Lee Coffield, was found on July 15, 1982, nude with a pair of jeans tightly wrapped around her neck. Over the following month, five more bodies were discovered near the Green River.
Early in the investigation, Bundy, who died at 42, corresponded with detectives from death row, offering his perspective on the case and the killer’s potential mindset. While his input didn’t directly lead to Ridgway’s arrest, Bundy correctly suggested that the Green River Killer was returning to the bodies for sexual gratification.
Police had identified Ridgway as a potential suspect and legally obtained hair and saliva samples in April 1987. However, it wasn’t until two decades later, after preserved evidence was retested using improved DNA methods, that authorities definitively linked him to the crimes.
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