Ap Psychology Case Study 5: Green River Killer

AP PSYCHOLOGY CASE STUDY 5: GREEN RIVER KILLER

I. DISCOVERY OF THE CRIMINAL

On August 15, 1982, Robert Ainsworth stepped into his rubber raft and began his descent south down the Green River toward the outer edge of Seattle's city limits. It was a trip he had made on many occasions. As he drifted slowly downstream, he noticed a middle-aged balding man standing by the riverbank and a second, younger man sitting in a nearby pickup truck. Ainsworth assumed that the men were out for a day's fishing. He asked the older man if he had caught anything. The man replied that he had not. Soon after, the two men left in the old pick-up truck and Ainsworth continued to float down the river.

As he peered into the clear waters his gaze was met by staring eyes. A young black woman's face was floating just beneath the surface of the water, her body swaying beneath her with the current. Accidentally, the raft overturned as he tried to dislodge the figure from a rock and Ainsworth fell into the river. To his horror, he realized that the figure was not a mannequin, but a dead woman. Seconds later he saw another floating corpse of a half nude black woman, partially submerged in the water.

The police arrived at the scene; detectives began a search for evidence. During the search, they found a third body, that of a young girl who was partially clothed. Unlike the other two girls, this one was found in a grassy area less than 30 feet from where the other victims lay in the water. It was obvious that she had died from asphyxiation. The girl had a pair of blue pants knotted around her neck. She also showed signs of a struggle, because she had bruises on her arms and legs. She was later identified as Opal Mills, 16. It was believed that she had been murdered within 24 hours of her discovery. Chief Medical Examiner Donald Reay determined that all three girls died of strangulation. The two girls found in the water, later identified as Marcia Chapman, 31, and Cynthia Hinds, 17, were both found to have pyramid-shaped rocks lodged in their bodily cavitieswhich held them down in the water. The three bodies were not the only ones to be found in and around WashingtonState’sGreen River. Several days earlier, the body of a woman named Deborah Bonner was discovered. Her nude body had been found slumped over a log in the Green River. She too had been strangled to death. Within the space of six months, six bodies had been discovered in or near the river. The police detectives at the scene quickly realized that there was a serial killer on the loose.

II: INVESTIGATION AND PROFILING

A special task force was assembled of KingCounty detectives to investigate the Green River murders. Major Richard Kraske, the head of the Criminal Investigation Division; and Detective Dave Reichert of the King County Major Crime Squad led the team. They enlisted the help of FBI serial killer profiler John Douglas and criminal investigator Bob Keppel, who had assisted in the Ted Bundy case eight years earlier. During their investigation, detectives learned that the many of the murdered girls knew each other and shared a similar history of prostitution. They conducted hundreds of interviews with many prostitutes who worked the main strip in Seattle.

A number of suspects would emerge as the task forced investigated, but, ultimately, they failed to find the Green River Killer.

On September 26, 1982, the decomposing remains of a 17-year-old prostitute named Gisele A. Lovvorn were discovered. She had gone missing for more than two months before a biker found her nude body near abandoned houses south of the Sea-TacInternationalAirport. She had been strangled to death by a pair of men's black socks. Intriguingly, at the time of her disappearance, she was blonde. Yet, when her body was discovered her hair was dyed black. Although her body was not found in the direct vicinity of the now infamous river, police believed that she was a victim of the Green River Killer.

Between September 1982 and April 1983, approximately 14 girls disappeared. Those missing included Mary Meehan, Debra Estes, Denise Bush, Shawnda Summers, Shirley Sherrill, Rebecca Marrero, Colleen Brockman, Alma Smith, Delores Williams, Gail Matthews, Andrea Childers, Sandra Gabbert, Kimi-Kai Pitsor and Marie Malvar. Most of the girls, ages ranging from between 15 and 23 years old, were known prostitutes who frequented the strip.

On May 8, 1983, another body was discovered that was later identified as Carol Ann Christensen, 21. Her remains were found in a wooded area near MapleValley. When Christensen's body was found, the killer displayed her corpse in an unusually gruesome way. Christensen was found with her head covered by a brown paper bag. When it was removed, it was found that she had a fish carefully placed on top of her neck. The killer also placed another fish on her left breast and a bottle between her legs. Her hands were placed crossed over her stomach and freshly ground beef was placed on top of her left hand. Further examination revealed that she was strangled with a cord. Intriguingly, she also showed signs of having been in water at some point, even though the river was miles away. The task force speculated that she was yet another victim of the Green River Killer.

During the spring and summer of 1983, 9 more young women, many of whom were prostitutes, disappeared. That summer, several more bodies were discovered. The fall and winter of 1983 would also yield as many disappearances and even more corpses.

In January 1984, the Green River Task Force came under new leadership headed by Captain Frank Adamson. During the first few months of Adamson's assignment, drastic changes took place. He first decided that it would be in the investigation's best interest to relocate the task force headquarters to the BurienCounty precinct, which was near the airport and closer to where the crimes were occurring. Adamson divided up various tasks and assigned them to individuals within the team. It was believed that this method would facilitate a more thorough organization, integration and assemblage of the vast amounts of information and lead to more successful results in the case.

On February 14, 1984, the skeletal remains of a woman, who was later identified as Denise Louise Plager, were discovered 40 miles from the city close to interstate 90. She was the first victim to be found that year, but not the last. Over the next two months approximately nine more bodies would be found.

Although it appeared as if the Green River Task Force was making few advances in the investigation, distinct patterns began to emerge that allowed the team to create a more accurate profile of the killer and his movements. The killer seemed to have several dumping grounds where he would dispose of the bodies of his victims. With the exception of victim Meghan Meehan, the bodies that were discovered were found partially buried or covered with garbage or foliage. Most of the bodies had been found off of isolated roads in or near illegal waste dumping areas. The FBI's profiler John Douglas concluded that the bodies were dumped in the areas because the killer thought of the women as "human garbage."

During 1983 dumping grounds moved away from the river and concentrated mostly around the Sea-TacAirport and StarLake. In 1984, the victims' remains were concentrated in the areas of Mountain ViewCemetery and North Bend off of or near to Interstate 90. The victims were also disappearing from two primary areas, the strip and the downtown area of Seattle.

The task force worked under the assumption that the killer worked or lived close to the area where he was disposing the bodies. The task force determined that the areas where the bodies were found, when plotted on a map, roughly formed a triangular shape. It was believed that the killer might live somewhere within that triangle.

An important discovery was also made in April when the skeletal remains of some of the victims were found. Shoe impressions, possibly that of the killer, were revealed when investigators removed the brush that partially concealed the bodies. Upon examination of the prints, investigators learned that they were made by a size 10 or 11 man's walking shoe. It was a vital piece of evidence that could connect the killer with his victims.

In mid April, a volunteer task force worker and psychic, Barbara Kubik-Pattern, had a vision that another woman's body would be found close to Interstate 90. Kubik-Pattern immediately contacted the police and told them about her vision, but they failed to act on her information. Frustrated, she and her daughter set out to find the woman.

Kubik-Pattern and her daughter eventually came across another body. Members of the task force were confronted with the gruesome discovery. The decomposing remains were that of Amina Agisheff, 36. She was last seen on July 7, 1982 walking home from her work at a restaurant in downtown Seattle. Agisheff did not fit the description of many of the other victims. She was older than the other victims and a waitress, not a prostitute. Agisheff was also in a stable relationship at the time of her disappearance and was a mother of two.

On May 26, two children playing on Jovita Road in PierceCounty were shocked when they discovered a skeleton. The police and task force were immediately alerted to the new finding. Following a medical examination, it was discovered that the remains were that of fifteen-year-old runaway Colleen Brockman. Investigators still had no new leads to the identity of the killer, apart from the location of the bodies and the shoe print. After almost three years, the murderous killing spree continued, but the number of victims seemed to be diminishing.

Several months later, the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy offered from his prison cell on death row to assist the author of The Riverman, Keppel and the task force in finding their man. Bundy offered a rare glimpse into the mind of a serial killer.

Bundy suggested that the killer knew his victims, probably even befriending them before he lured them to their deaths. He suggested that the killer likely disposed of even more bodies where they found the more recent ones. Moreover, he believed the disposal pattern of the bodies led closer to the killer's home.

Bundy was able to give unusual insight from a killer's prospective, much of which was helpful to the case. The information received from Bundy assisted the detectives in their general understanding of serial killer behavior. In fact, Bundy became one of the primary consultants, next to Douglas and Keppel that contributed to the build-up of the killer's profile. Despite this unusual advice, the task force remained stymied as to the identity of the Green River Killer.

FBI profiler John Douglas re-evaluated the previous profile of the killer and came to a new conclusion, that there were two separate killers. Douglas suggested that one of the killers went to greater effort to conceal the bodies than the other. Whereas some of the bodies were partially covered or buried in isolated areas, other bodies lay openly exposed to detection, such as those found in the Green River.

Although the theory seemed to be plausible, there were no suspects available that could support his theory. The case had run after more than three years and eight more victims were found.

In the beginning months of 1987, investigators had a new suspect, who had been picked up for attempting to solicit an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute in May 1984. However, the man was released after he successfully passed a lie detector test. When investigators looked deeper into the man's past, they discovered that he had been accused of choking a prostitute in 1980 near the Sea-TacInternationalAirport. Yet, the man pleaded self-defense and was released from police custody.

Task force detectives, Matt Haney, discovered that the police had at one time stopped and questioned the man back in 1982 while he was in his truck with a prostitute, Keli McGinness, who was murdered by the Green River Killer. Moreover, the police approached the man again in 1983 in connection with the kidnapping of murder victim Marie Malvar.

Haney learned from the man's ex-wife that he often frequented the dumpsites, where many of the bodies had been discovered. Also, several prostitutes claimed to have seen a man matching the suspect's description regularly cruising the strip between 1982 and 1983. It turned out that the man passed the strip almost daily on his way to work. Some of the most damaging evidence discovered was that the man, who worked as a truck painter, was found to have been absent or off duty on every occasion a victim disappeared. The suspect was identified as Gary Ridgway.

In 1988, the discovery of more than 20 bodies of prostitutes in San Diego led to the belief that the Green River Killer moved and continued his murderous rampage in California.

In April 2001, almost 20 years after the first known Green River murder, Detective Reichert began renewed investigations into the murders. He formed a new task force team initially consisting of six members, including DNA and forensic experts. All the evidence from the murder examination was re-examined and some of the forensic samples were sent to the labs.

On September 10, 2001, Reichert received news from the labs that reduced the hardened detective to tears. There was a match found between the semen samples taken from the victims and Ridgway. On November 30, Ridgway was intercepted by investigators on his way home from work and arrested on four counts of aggravated murder.

Ridgway forgot his victims, “had a "hard time keeping them straight," never learned their names, and wrote them off as vicarious thrills, never personalizing them at all. They were throwaways to Ridgway: disposable women.

"I killed some of them outside. I remember leaving each woman's body in the place where she was found," he said. "I killed most of them in my house near Military Road, and I killed a lot of them in my truck not far from where I picked them up." He claims that they were all killed in KingCounty, hoping that prosecutors outside KingCounty will buy it and not prosecute him.

Ridgway's contempt for women in general and prostitutes in particular was clear in his plea bargain statement:

"I picked prostitutes as my victims because I hate most prostitutes and I did not want to pay them for sex. I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught."

His victims existed simply to satisfy his needs; “Like I said before, they don’t mean anything to me…and once I’ve killed them, I didn’t keep it in memory… I just knew where I dumped ‘em.”

Ridgeway’s memory problems were very selective. He had a detailed memory of every vehicle he ever owned. Nor did he have any difficulty describing the various residences he’d had over the years.

Ridgway expressed his interest in reliving the murder experience which gave him the sense of empowerment that he lacked in his everyday life. He buried his victims in clusters so that he could drive by and remember the cluster and the pleasure he experienced in the murder of those victims.

On November 5, 2003, Gary Ridgway, 54, avoided the death penalty in King County, Washington by confessing to the murders of 48 women, most of who were murdered in the 1982-84 timeframe. The deal Ridgway made was to cooperate with authorities on closing these cases in exchange for 48 life sentences without the possibility of parole. His formal sentencing occurred in January of 2004.

III. THE BACKGROUND

Gary Ridgeway, originally born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on February 18, 1949. His family moved to King County, Washington, when he was 11.