/ Green River Killer

Police, prosecutor: Ridgway wants sympathy 

07:13 AM PST on Thursday, December 18, 2003

By LINDA BYRON / KING 5 News

SEATTLE – Gary Ridgway is expected to stand up in court and apologize for murdering 48 women. But the sheriff and the lead Green River detective doubt his sincerity. They told KING 5 that in their interviews with Ridgway, he not only showed no remorse, he wants people to feel sorry for him.

It sounds incredulous. But the Sheriff Dave Reichert said Ridgway wants sympathy and they had to pretend to give it to him to get him to talk.

KING King County Sheriff Dave Reichert and Detective Tom Jensen

The whole emotional process began the day they realized Ridgway was the killer they had been tracking for 20 years.

Next came an arrest and then the unprecedented cooperation. Rigdway even took investigators on field trips to find bodies of women he murdered and dumped nearly 20 years ago.

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Linda Byron reports

“It’s difficult to describe it, but if you're gonna sit there and talk to a guy about killing 48 women. you gotta be prepared to hear what he's gonna say. It isn't pretty,” said Det. Tom Jensen.

Sheriff Reichert and Det. Jensen said the only way to get Ridgway to open up was to adopt the serial killer's mindset, which was often uncomfortable. But it worked and in November, Ridgway pleaded guilty to murdering 48 women.

KING Gary Ridgway says he had a tough childhood.

They said Ridgway always shifted blame and never wanted to be portrayed as a monster. They also said every interview with Ridgway was a power struggle.

Apparently, Ridgway rationalized the killings because many of his victims were prostitutes and drug addicts and he wanted sympathy because he had an unhappy childhood.