Between 1982 and 1998, dozens of young women vanished from the streets of King County, Washington. Their disappearances weren’t random — they were the work of a quiet, unremarkable man named Gary Leon Ridgway, a truck-painter who blended into the suburbs so well that even those closest to him never suspected the truth.
In this episode, we break down the real Green River investigation:
the victims who fought to survive, the families who demanded answers, the detectives who spent decades chasing a ghost, and the shocking 2001 breakthrough that finally revealed the identity of the most prolific serial killer in American history.
Using court records, FBI behavioral files, and verified timelines, we walk through Ridgway’s methods, his motives, his confessions, and the massive task of identifying his victims — one that continues to this day.
This is the story of the Green River Killer.
Sources
https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/sheriff/courts-jails-legal-system/sheriff-services/investigations/green-river 
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gary-Ridgway 
https://serialkillersinfo.com/serial-killer-documents/gary-ridgway-green-river-killer-summary-of-the-evidence-document/ 
https://www.historylink.org/File/4262 
https://www.biography.com/crime/gary-ridgway-green-river-killer-timeline 
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_facarticles/224/