Pen Pal Project - Gary Ridgeway The Green River Killer

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Pen Pal Project - Gary Ridgeway                 The next serial killer we will be writing is Gary Ridgeway, The Green River Killer. He now has 49 confirmed kills. This number makes him one of the most prolific serial killers in United States History. I am really interested in hearing what he has to say. I started off the pen pal project by asking these guys to be a part of the project, allowing me to open their letters live on camera for all of you to hear, but giving them the choice to make their letters private. We will see what come of this, but it would be great to be able to correspond to as many of them as I can.                 Gary Ridgeway was born on February 8, 1949, in Salt lake City Utah, making him a member of the Baby Boomers generation. He was born as the second son of   Mary and Thomas Ridgeway, who ended with three sons in total. It is said that his childhood was rife with troubles, as he was a bed wetter born to a domineering mother. When he wet the bed, she would wa
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John Wayne Gacy

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Gacy Mugshot photo credit biography.com

    Born in Chicago IL in 1942 to Irish Catholic parents John was the second child of three, but the only boy. All of the Gacy children attended parochial school and Catholic church community. John was well liked by his teachers, held various part time jobs, and was an active member of the Boy Scouts. Although his relationship with his father was strained because John could never gain his approval, along with the father being abusive, and some serious medical problems (a clot in the brain undiscovered from age eleven to sixteen, at seventeen unspecific heart troubles) his childhood was relatively normal. (Clark County Prosecutor n.d.)

    After an unhappy experience in Las Vegas, early in the peace and love generation of the 1960’s he enrolled in college in Chicago and gained a degree in business. During this time he excelled at the art of selling. After promotions and accolades at his new job, Gacy settled down, got married, ending up managing a Kentucky Fried Chicken for his father in law.  In 1968, Gacy was convicted of molesting a minor working for him at Kentucky Fried Chicken (Clark County Prosecutor n.d.) 

     This was the beginning of what would be one of the most notorious killers in American history. He served 18 months in prison during which time his wife divorced him. After serving his time, John remarried, became heavily involved with the Jaycees, had three children, and was viewed as a fine upstanding member of society. What no one knew was that he was homosexual, and preferred violent homosexual sexual relations to heterosexual relations  (Clark County Prosecutor n.d.) 

photo credit: Rotten.com
    Gacy went on to murder 33 boys from 1975-1978, hiding them in the crawlspace of his house. He Hired young boys to spread lime around his basement to deal with the odor of decay. Even though there were bodies under the house, this did not stop John from having barbeques with the mayor attending among other prominent people in town. If anyone questioned the smell, it was explained away as a sewage problem. (Clark County Prosecutor n.d.) 







References: Clark Prosecutor. (n.d.) John Wayne Gacy: Executed May 10, 1994 at 12:58 a.m. by Lethal Injection in Illinois. Retrieved From the World Wide Web March 05, 2010 www.clarkprosecuter.org/html/death/US/gacy237.htm


Rotten (n.d.) John Wayne Gacy. Photo Retrieved From the World Wide Web March 04, 2010 http:www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/serial-killers/john-wayne-gacy/
Elizabeth Hall here, and because I have several blogs here, will explain the basic mission of the parent one, C&J, and then go on to explain the other one. The mission of Criminology & Justice is to collaborate with others and deliver articles that are devoid of opinion and fact based. These articles are free to the public because we believe that knowledge should be available to all. Our reach is global, and Truth Glasses is our motto! Currently.we have started a second blog dedicated solely to the study of serial killers, which includes scholarlyarticles on theory, case studies, bios,and projects, such as our pen pal project. We are writing to serial killers and will enlighten our readers as we go along and as we get responses!

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