Factors of Gary Ridgway Becoming A Serial Killer

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Recommended: Assess the role (briefly) that all three (biological, developmental, and situational) perspectives play in influencing criminal behavior

Gary Ridgway What are the root causes of a person becoming a serial killer? There have been many different serial killers over the past years, but only one is the infamous “Green River Killer.” Gary Ridgway was dubbed the “Green River Killer” because many of his first victims were found near the Green River in Washington. There are many factors which contribute as to why a person turns and takes their anger out on other people. Some people have a normal childhood with a loving family, while some are not so lucky. A loving family is built around the parents, but if the parents choose violence over love, then that is what the child will grow up only knowing. Gary Ridgway is an American serial killer who killed over sixty women within a twenty year period. Gary Ridgway was born in Salt Lake City on February 18, 1949. He was the second of three brothers. Ridgway’s parents were Thomas Newton Ridgway and Mary Rita Steinman. At the time, they rented a room near a local high school. Ridgway’s older brother, Gregory, was born in 1948. Ridgway’s younger brother, Thomas, was born in 1951. In 1960, Ridgway’s parents moved the family into a small three bedroom house in a neighborhood called McMicken Heights which is now the City of SeaTac. He was “Raised near Seattle’s Pacific Highway, a deprived neighborhood near SeaTac airport …” (Biography, 2013). They lived in a working class neighborhood where many other kids lived also. All the kids played together and walked to school together. Ridgway’s father was a metro bus driver whose route was the Pacific Highway South into Seattle. The route went through the infamous strip where Gary would later find so many of his victims. His father also enjoyed running garage sales. Ridgway’s mother was a ... ... middle of paper ... ... when the rampage began. He argued that if he had only killed his second wife Marcia, then he would never have killed those prostitutes. He was really trying to hurt his wife. It’s easy not to believe Ridgway’s claim. People who worked or were involved in the case think he would have killed sooner or later anyway. Whatever his true motive, a bit more than a year after Ridgway’s divorce, the body’s of young women started turning up alongside the Green River. References Gary Ridgway. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved September 24, 2013 from http://www.biography.com/people/gary-ridgway-10073409 Lewis, Hal. (Director). October 26, 2013. Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer. Robert Forman (Producer). New York City, New York: CBS News Archive. Robinson, Sean. “The Gary Ridgway they knew.” The News Tribune [Tacoma, WA] 16 Dec. 2001: All. Print.

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