"A Game of Cat and Mouse": Gary Ridgway's Confession Tapes on KOMO 4, Part 2

Name: "A Game of Cat and Mouse": Gary Ridgway's Confession Tapes on KOMO 4, Part 2
Uploaded: 2011-09-29
Duration: 3 min 3 s
Description: Ridgway admitted he lied to detectives for his first ten days of questioning. KOMO 4's second report on the released tapes shows how the Green River Task Force pushed him toward the truth.

Ridgway admitted he lied to detectives for his first ten days of questioning. KOMO 4's second report on the released tapes shows how the Green River Task Force pushed him toward the truth.

Subject: Gary Ridgway
Recorded: about June 13, 2003
Runtime: 3:03

Content warning: Concerns the murders of dozens of women; Ridgway refers to choking his first victim and to where victims' bodies were left.

The Interview

In 2003 Gary Ridgway was questioned for months by the Green River Task Force under a plea agreement that required him to tell the truth in exchange for his life. After King County prosecutors released the videotapes, KOMO 4 reporter Liz Rocca spent a second day going through them. The report's introduction describes the questioning as "a game of cat and mouse." In the excerpts Ridgway says that for the first ten days he was "still lying," detectives confront him over his account, and he orders lunch.

Historical Context

The Green River killings began in 1982, when the bodies of young women were found in and near the Green River in King County, Washington. Many of the victims were sex workers or runaways from the Pacific Highway South "Strip." Ridgway was arrested on November 30, 2001, after DNA linked him to three of the victims; he was charged with four murders. To avoid the death penalty, he agreed in 2003 to plead guilty and to account for every killing.

Circumstances of the Interview

The task force interviewed Ridgway for about six to seven months, beginning on June 13, 2003, and took him on field trips to the places where he said he had left bodies. On November 5, 2003, he pleaded guilty to 48 murders, and on December 18, 2003, he was sentenced to 48 consecutive life terms without parole. In this report, a Green River Task Force sergeant interviewed by KOMO explains some of the methods detectives used to push him.

What the Interview Covers

Ridgway tells investigators he lied for the first ten days and has been telling the truth for the last few. He says he does not remember how he killed his first victim. In another exchange an investigator tells him "That victim was shot" and to start thinking about what he is saying. When he cannot find the remains of a woman who had not been found, a detective berates him, and in another session a field trip is cancelled ("You're not going anywhere"). The sergeant says that cancellation was "a complete setup" to push him to remember. The report says truthful answers were rewarded with his favorite meals; asked what he wants for lunch, Ridgway asks for a Big Mac and fries. He says he came to think "the families would like to know where, where their daughters are buried, and, and how they died."

What Makes the Recording Significant

The report shows how the plea-agreement interviews worked: Ridgway's admitted lies, the detectives' pressure, and the rewards. It records his own statement that he lied to investigators at the start, and his claim that he later told the truth for the sake of the victims' families.

Archival Importance

Ridgway was convicted of 48 murders in 2003 and a 49th in 2011, among the most of any serial killer in United States history. The report ends with investigators' doubt that he ever told them everything, a doubt that continued as remains were still being sought in later years. This report preserves part of the record of how his account was obtained.

Important Caveats

Ridgway's claims that he eventually told the truth, and his reasons for doing so, are his own; the report says most investigators did not believe he told them everything. The sergeant's name is given as heard in the narration ("D.B. Gates") and has not been confirmed from another source. The excerpts are short and chosen by KOMO; the broadcast date is inferred.

Anchor: ...how police got those confessions from Ridgway. The hundreds of hours of video show it was a game of cat and mouse. KOMO 4's Liz Rocca has been going through the material for a second day and has the latest.

Gary Ridgway: I'd say the first ten days I was still, uh, lying, and in the last [unclear: "three, four to five days" / "four to five days"] I've been telling the truth.

Narrator: This revelation from Ridgway infuriated investigators. For the first two weeks he'd led them astray with lies and games.

Sergeant D.B. Gates: To a certain degree, I think he got some kind of pleasure out of it.

Narrator: Task Force Sergeant D.B. Gates says detectives resorted to their own games to get the truth.

Gary Ridgway: I don't know how it happened with the first one. Maybe the first one I [unclear: "choked" / "took"] like this, but I, I don't, I don't remember how I did the very first one. I just don't.

Narrator: Ridgway was having trouble remembering his first kill, remembering important details.

Investigator: [unclear: "We had these two, two white" (captions only)]...

Narrator: So detectives interrupted interrogations with angry outbursts.

Investigator: That victim was shot.

Gary Ridgway: Was shot?

Investigator: Was shot. So start thinking about what you're saying.

Gary Ridgway: Okay.

Gary Ridgway: Okay. I thought it was up there. I dropped her. I didn't, I didn't remember being back here. It's more logical. It's a...

Narrator: And when Ridgway had trouble pinpointing the remains of an undiscovered victim...

Investigator: What, we got a stupid [unclear: "Gary" / "Jerry"] for this one, and, or some... [unclear: "What's the deal here?" / "What's the other?"]

Narrator: ...detectives berated him and took him back to his cell. And since the killer relished trips to his crime scenes, investigators used that to their advantage. Here Ridgway's all ready to go, but a detective, angry that he's been misled, abruptly cancels the trip.

Investigator: You're not going anywhere. Take your ass back [unclear: "C" / "so"], and when you want to start telling the truth, you let us know.

Sergeant D.B. Gates: So that was a complete setup. He was never going on a road trip that day. Uh, we just wanted to see if we could possibly push him to be able to either remember better or be a little bit more truthful with us.

Investigator: What would you like for lunch?

Gary Ridgway: Uh, [unclear: "it's" / "good to choose"], just a Big Mac and fries.

Narrator: When he did tell the truth, they rewarded him with his favorite meals. And Ridgway insists in the end he eventually told the truth to spare his own life, and the victims' families.

Gary Ridgway: And then I [unclear: "was thinking" / "to thinking"] the families would like to know where, where their daughters are buried, and, and how they died.

Narrator: Now, to this day, most of the investigators tell me they do not believe Ridgway told them everything he knows. They can't, for instance, believe he doesn't remember his first kill. The truth is, they say, we may never know if we know everything there is to know about the Green River Killer and his crimes. Dan, Kathy?

Anchor: Thank you, Liz. ---