This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com, written by Charlie Harger, Host of Seattle’s Morning News.
For months, a mystery surrounded Gary Ridgway, one of the worst serial killers in American history. Why was he moved from his prison cell in Walla Walla to the King County Jail from September 9-13, 2024?
With 49 confirmed murders, Ridgway became the most prolific serial killer in American history. But many believe the actual number is much higher. In a 2014 interview with me, Ridgway claimed he killed as many as 85 women.
Authorities remained silent on why Ridgway was moved, fueling speculation and unease. Some wondered if he had finally led detectives to more victims, while others suspected he was simply playing another manipulative game.
Now, newly uncovered court documents reveal the truth.
Click to read: Motion and Certification for Sealing Documents
Gary Ridgway agreed to lead detectives to remains
According to a motion filed by King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mary H. Barbosa, Ridgway had agreed to take detectives to locations where he claimed he had left remains that had not yet been recovered.
The motion stated, “Previous efforts to find these locations based on the verbal descriptions given by the defendant have not been successful. The defendant has indicated that he believes he can find those locations in person.”
Detectives took Ridgway back to sites where he claimed to have left victims’ remains. They hoped this would be their last chance to get real answers from him. But once again, he misled them.
Click to read: Court order to transport Gary Ridgway to King County
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Investigators were skeptical.
Ridgway, now 76 years old and in failing health, has long insisted that detectives never brought him to every location where he dumped bodies.
Investigators were skeptical, but with time running out, they took the risk. If there was even the slightest possibility of bringing closure to families, it was worth pursuing.
Out of concern for his safety, officials kept Ridgway’s transfer a secret.
Barbosa’s motion highlighted the risks of making the plan public, stating, “If the media were to obtain this order, the public would learn of the specific dates that the defendant will be housed with DAJD and that he will be leaving DAJD with KCSO detectives during his time in King County.”
She further warned that public awareness could endanger detectives, interfere with investigations, and create security risks. The last thing they wanted was public outrage or someone attempting vigilante justice.
Click to read: Motion and Certification for Sealing Documents
Ridgway took detectives on a search
Over several days, detectives brought Ridgway to locations he claimed held victims’ remains, following the process outlined in Barbosa’s motion.
“Given the defendant’s age and health, it is anticipated that this process may take several days,” she wrote.
The King County Sheriff’s Office had arranged for the trip, ensuring coordination with the Department of Corrections and local law enforcement. They searched thoroughly, using cadaver dogs, ground-penetrating radar, and forensic experts. They held onto hope that this time would be different.
But nothing was found.
“Many of the things he was telling detectives just didn’t jibe,” said one person with direct knowledge of the searches. “Some investigators believe he was making up new locations entirely as a sick boast.”
Investigators found the experience deeply frustrating, but they knew they had to take the chance. Even if they did not trust Ridgway, they owed it to the victims’ families to exhaust every last possibility.
Click to read: Motion to Unseal
The families’ endless grief
For the families of Ridgway’s victims, this latest disappointment was another painful reminder of the cruelty he inflicted, not just on the women he murdered, but on those left behind.
“You hear the word closure all the time, but there’s something about having a place to go to,” said Dawn English, a foster mother who cared for one of Ridgway’s suspected victims, told me in 2014 during our interview. “We can’t put flowers on her grave because there isn’t a grave to put flowers on.”
English, who fostered 15-year-old Patricia LeBlanc, still wonders what happened to the girl she once called her daughter.
“It just didn’t make sense that she didn’t call. And of course, the longer the time went by and she hadn’t called, the more and more concerning it became,” she said.
Though LeBlanc’s case was never officially tied to Ridgway, English has little doubt.
“She fit the profile so much. The timing, what she was doing, it was right in the middle of it. My thought is—it probably was,” she said.
The latest victim identifications and the continuing search
Authorities recently confirmed that the last known remains linked to Ridgway belonged to 16-year-old Tammie Liles, a victim already identified decades ago.
According to CBS News, King County Sheriff’s spokesperson Eric White said, “It’s an immense feeling of satisfaction that in this case, that started in the early 80s, we are able to identify all of Gary Ridgway’s victims. All 49 of them.”
Despite this confirmation, many unsolved cases could still be connected to Ridgway.
Former King County Sheriff Dave Reichert told KIRO-TV, “Ridgway said that he killed 65 to 70 young women and little girls, and so far he’s pled guilty to 49 and we’ve closed 51 cases. But it is also possible that 49 is the real number, and that every additional claim is just another way for him to inflate his own infamy.. So as I said, there are other unsolved cases out there that may or may not be connected to Ridgway, but there are parents still out there looking for answers about the death and murder of their daughter.”
Stringing along investigators
One of the people Ridgway manipulated over the years was Rob Fitzgerald, a volunteer searcher who dedicated years of his life to finding missing victims, spoke with me in 2014 about his efforts and frustrations.
Fitzgerald communicated with Ridgway for years, believing that his cooperation might lead to more remains. Instead, Ridgway led him in circles, providing just enough information to keep the effort going, but never enough to truly help.
During my 2014 interviews with Ridgway, he often spoke as though he wanted to help, though his words always carried an air of manipulation.
“This is all about the victims,” he told me. But in reality, he enjoyed the control.
“I think he wants to show the world that, ‘Here I am, Gary Ridgway, the truck painter from Kenworth, the guy who everybody thought was slow since elementary school. But, here I am, and I’m the best at something,’” he recalled.
The Green River Killer’s reign of terror
Ridgway’s history is one of prolonged terror.
He targeted women along Pacific Highway South in King County during the early 1980s. Most were runaways or sex workers, vulnerable and often overlooked by society.
“I choked every one of them,” Ridgway told me in 2014, a chilling admission that underscored the methodical brutality of his crimes.
For years, police struggled to identify the killer.
“For whatever reason, you were able to slip under their radar a long time,” I told him. He agreed, offering little remorse. “The thing is, some of those cases, you just gotta pass it. I was just not nervous.”
The Arrest and Trial
Ridgway was finally arrested in 2001 after DNA evidence linked him to multiple victims. Advances in forensic science had finally caught up with him, and his past crimes could no longer stay buried. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to 48 murders in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
“I should have had enough balls to say, let me get out and show you where I put her,” he later told me, referring to crime scenes he had previously refused to disclose.
Yet, even in the courtroom, he showed no remorse. The families of his victims sat just feet away, hoping for answers, closure, or even an apology. They got none of it. Instead, they listened as he recounted his murders with the same emotionless tone I had encountered in my interviews.
“You know, the amount that I told them and showed them doesn’t match up to what they charged me with,” he told me. He regularly dangled the possibility of more victims while giving vague or misleading details, perhaps knowing full well there are no more to be found.
“I think they’re not finding them because the remains don’t last long. A lot of animals eat them, you know.”
With 49 confirmed murders, Ridgway became the most prolific serial killer in American history. But many believe the actual number is much higher.
The final years of the Green River Killer
Ridgway’s health is failing. He is 76 years old, frail, and no longer the imposing figure he once was. His voice, once steady and controlled, now carries the slight tremor of old age.
“I’m not the same man I was,” he told me in 2014. “I can’t change what I did.”
Despite his deteriorating condition, he continues to manipulate law enforcement, desperate to hold on to any semblance of control.
For the families of his victims, justice will never truly be served. The pain does not end with a guilty verdict, nor does it fade with time.
“You find peace, not closure, because it’s never gone,” English told me. “But there isn’t a place to go and say, you know, it’s Patty’s birthday. Let’s take flowers. There’s no place for that.”
Dozens of families still wait for answers. But as long as those answers depend on Gary Ridgway, they will never come. He is a liar. He is evil. And even in his final days, he refuses to give the victims’ families the closure they so desperately deserve.
Listen to “Seattle’s Morning News” with Charlie Harger weekday mornings from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM.
