Gary Ridgway: A Murder Offender

In today’s world, murderers aren’t a surprising thing, as long as they are fictional. Plenty of TV shows and movies have plot lines around murder, but what about real life? As Scott Bonn states in his writing, of the approximate 15,000 murders in the United States, only 1 percent are serial killings, amounting to about 150 victims per year, with between 25 and 50 serial killers active at any given time. There are plenty of statistics on serial killers. 1 in 20 had the same three characteristics as a child: bedwetting, fire setting, and torturing animals. Animal torture is a common indicator that the child will be violent in the future. Also, over 30 percent of murderers use killing as a way for their sexual arousal (Stone). A murderer

His dead body was found in the woods near Daytona Beach, Florida, shot with a twenty two caliber rifle. “She ended up shooting six .22 caliber bullets into him” (McDuff 202). This is just one of the many catastrophes performed by a woman serial killer. Serial killers are a problem in the United States, murdering on average 2000 people each year (Indiana University np). “In fact, serial murder in the United States alone makes up more than three-quarters of the estimated world total” (Innes 5). Although women serial killers are not very common, they still have a huge impact on the death toll of innocent victims. In order to understand how woman serial killers operate, it is important to understand their motives, the different classifications

Crime occurs every day, all over the world. Most crime is unreported or is unknown to the vast majority of the populations. Over time, crime has grown to become a normal part of society and typically people are not surprised to hear that a crime has been committed. Most crimes are dealt with and forgotten, however a few crimes grab the media’s attention and are highly publicized, ultimately giving the criminal their 15 minutes of infamy. Ted Bundy was one of these criminals. Bundy was a law student in Utah and during the 1970’s, he assaulted, raped and murdered at least 30 known women with some criminologists suspecting as high as nearly 100 victims. The tactics he used along with the extent of his killings is how Bundy acquired his long lasting infamy and notoriety as one of America’s top 10 most wanted during his time. Our true focus here is explaining why these murders occurred; truly understanding the motivation behind Bundy’s actions and finding the roots of causation which could lead a person to commit such serious crimes.

From Ted Bundy to BTK to the “Zodiac Killer”, serial killers have been around the United States for a long time, but none is better than Richard Chase, or better known as the “Vampire of Sacramento”, to investigate the reasons behind serial killers. Born on May 23, 1950, Chase was raised in a very strict house and was constantly abused by his parents. As a

Gary Ridgway was a truck painter and he had a special place where he would go and dump his victims; in and around the green river. The first body was discovered in the green river by passing pedestrians in spring of 1982 it was the body of young 16 year old Wendy Lee Coffield and she was strangled to death. (Seattle times 2003) It seems that the green river killer didn’t care what age a girl was he was cynical enough to have sex with her and kill her. Age was defiantly not a factor; he viewed women as objects

This essay aims to examine weather serial killers are born a certain way and their genetics define their psychotic tendencies or whether they're a product of a bad environment that they grew up. This essay looks at recent killings in the late 20th century as there is more information on the killers from this period and it's easier to gain details about their childhoods. Whilst I will look at various different killers to reach more rounded conclusions (see appendix for comparison table), this essay will focus on four in detail to examine the debate; Ted Bundy (1946-89), Jeffery Dahmer (1960-1994), John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994) and Gary Ridgway (1949-present).

Ted Bundy was one of the most vicious and notorious serial killers in United States history. His success in finding and slaughtering his prey was often due to his meticulous planning and preparation. In other moments he simply seized upon the opportunity to charm a woman he met without any prior planning and lured her to a place where he could kill her. He killed as many as 36 women, although authorities suggest that there may have been more victims than that. Was Bundy a classic case of a criminal whose activities can be linked to the "Rational Choice" theory? Do the principles of "Trait" theories explain his behaviors? This paper looks into those theories as they may or may not apply to the murderous life of Ted Bundy. This paper finds that Rational Choice theory fits the facts of Ted Bundy's serial killing more appropriately than Trait theories.

Ted Bundy was an American born rapist, a necrophile; a serial killer and a kidnapper who assaulted and murdered several young women during the 1970’s. The criminal kept on denying the charges for more than ten years and later confessed of having committed the thirty homicide crimes in seven different states before his execution (Rule, 2009). Bundy’s handsome and charismatic appearance made it possible for him to easily win the confidence of young women who were always his targets. He broke into the dwellings of his victims at night and bludgeoned them as they slept. He also approached young women in public places where he impersonated as an authority figure or feigned injury on his victim before empowering and assaulting at a

Theodore Bundy was an infamous American serial killer who preyed upon numerous young women during the 1970s and possibly earlier. He was associated with at least 30 counts of homicide and suspected of an estimated one hundred or more. Beyond homicide, he also made it apparent that he was capable of other sinister crimes such as rape, kidnapping, and necrophilia. His most frequent method of killing was an attack with a blunt weapon to the head. However, he did not merely kill his victims; evidence concludes that each were also sexually assaulted and sodomized. It is reported that he even revisited his crime scenes to further engage in sexual acts with the decomposing corpses. Moreover, at least 12 of his victims had been decapitated .

Los Angeles, California went through a time period where serial killings happened and the suspect was on the run for over two decades. Most of the victims were prostitutes in South Los Angeles. The serial killer began his killings in 1987, apparently stopped for 13 years then resumed with his killings. The killer left little to no evidence, besides his DNA from sexually assaulting his female victims. For decades LAPD failed to find the killer or anyone who was related to him (Dolan & Landsberg, 2010).

Convicted rapist Phillip Craig Garrido was born in California on April 5, 1951. Phillip Kidnap 11 year old Jaycee Dugard on June 10, 1991, outside of her home in South Lake Tahoe in California. He kept her captive for 18 years, would constantly rape her. During these years, Garrido raped dugard repeatedly, fed her countless lies and impregnated her twice, Jaycee had two daughters with Garrido, giving birth to them at the ages of 14 and 17.

Serial murder crime though rare, is not a a new phenomenon. This crime has been committed for centuries and will continue to be a crime that is committed throughout the world. It is unfortunate and scary that this is probably one of the most serious of crimes that cannot be prevented. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, serial murderers commit their crimes because they want to. Rehabilitation is not obtainable for serial killers due to their inability for remorse and empathy, or to see people as people and not objects(Knight 2006). This research paper will focus primarily on serial murder within the U.S. First and foremost, a legal definition provided by the U.S. Department of Justice will be presented to set forth the discussion of this research paper. As follows will be a detailed discussion explaining serial killer typologies with the use of examples of known serial killers in the U.S. Types of serial killers are: power oriented, mission oriented, visionary, and hedonistic, each typology will be clearly defined and explained. Some serial killers can have a mixture of each typology’s characteristic. Serial killers that will be discussed and used as examples to represent the content of this research paper will be, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Robert Berdella, Jeffery Dahmer, and lastly the most prolific serial killer in American history, Gary Ridgeway. Problems with studying serial killing, are that because of rarity and access. Most of what we think

Serial killers traumatize entire communities and cause tremendous disturbance to everyone. The Gilgo Beach serial killer is also known as the Long Island serial killer and Craigslist Ripper is said to have been responsible for 10 to 17 murders. The killer is said to target those who work in the sex industry and is believed to have been active for more than 20 years. Although the killer has been active more than 20 years the police are nit anywhere near to catching him. This essay will take a look at the investigation of the serial killer, take a look at who some of the victims were and finally give my opinion on how the case is being handled. It is important to note that the identity of the killer has not been identified therefore there has not been a trial and a sentencing. Also for the purpose of this essay I will be referring to the Unsub as The Gilgo Beach serial killer or simply as the killer.

Many people wonder it takes to make a serial killer. Is there something inherently defective in that person that means that they have the ability to commit murder without remorse or somehow enjoy the suffering or others, or doses childhood abuse and other mistreatment mean that someone will grow up to commit these atrocities? Unfortunately, the conflicting information about Bundy's childhood does little to help answer these questions. On the surface, Bundy's childhood does not appear to feature the level of child abuse or neglect that one normally associates with a serial killer. He was born to a single mother in 1946, a time in which there was a tremendous social stigma attached to being born out of wedlock. However, Bundy did not experience that stigma, as his grandparents raised him as their son. Bundy's own accounts of his childhood vary tremendously. At times, he seems to indicate that he was raised in a stable and loving home, but at other times he

go back as far as the fifteenth century, only a few were written about prior to