Gary Ridgway and Jack killed prostitutes

[Ryan_Miller]

Roy,

I respectfully disagree. It is very easy to label someone as a copycat because they have similar characteristics to someone before them. If Gary Ridgway emulated and admired Jack the Ripper then why would he not have attempted to use the same method of slitting the throat, mutilating them, then leaving them, soon after sending taunting letters and all.

I stand corrected that he did send one letter... and I retract my incorrect statement, but if he wants to emulate the Ripper then why not take an organ and send it with the letter to generate more attention.

Honestly, I just see this as several coincidences...

Prostitutes are in the sex business, and make themselves easy targets... He could have his way with them, then murder and dump them without many people noticing their disappearance. Many serial killers, use prostitutes as their main source of victims.

Ridgway, the Zodiac Killer, Dennis Rader and David Berkowitz sent letters to the police, but I don't think this means they admire or strive to be like Jack. I think it is just another attempt to garner attention and to keep society in fear.

I truly do appreciate your opinions but just think that although we do have several similarities it is a bit of a stretch to say the Ridgway was copy-catting the Ripper.

[Fisherman]

Ryan Miller writes:

"Ridgway, the Zodiac Killer, Dennis Rader and David Berkowitz sent letters to the police, but I don't think this means they admire or strive to be like Jack. I think it is just another attempt to garner attention and to keep society in fear.
I truly do appreciate your opinions but just think that although we do have several similarities it is a bit of a stretch to say the Ridgway was copy-catting the Ripper."

You would most probably be correct here, Ryan. But in a sense, I believe that Ridgway WAS acting not only on his own impulses but also on knowledge of the behaviour of other serial killers.
Serial killers will have been around as long as humanity has. But even if we consider that they were often not recognized for what they were in the old days, it still seem that they are far more common today than ever before, and that is something I believe owes to the reports in newspapers and television to a very significant extent. This adds twists like killers going for a certain amount of victims in order to surpass some other SK, or inflicting more damage on the victims than their predecessors did. The media reports, if you like, set the standards for an ever ongoing race.

This, of course, will not apply on all cases, and in varying degree in others, but the pattern is there. And therefore it may perhaps be more true to say that Ridgway could have acted on a distateful soup cooked up on both his own desires and bits and pieces he had picked up about earlier serial killers. If Jack was part of the inspirational external factors supplied or not in his particular case, and to what extent, is of course very hard to say. But given the magnitude of Jack´s rumour and the reach of his deeds, as provided by books, papers and television shows, it stands to reason to believe that he has offered at least some inspiration for many a loonie!

All the best,
Fisherman

[BLUE WIZZARD]

Gary Ridgeway was not an intelligent man; he was voted as most likely to fail by his school friends, and teachers, his mother was overbearing, and when he was about 15 he stabbed an 8 year old boy, when the boy asked him why he did this, Gary said that he wondered what it was like to kill someone. The boy heard Gary laugh as he walked away, the boy did not die.

Gary was slow witted and was the butt end of jokes by the people he worked with, Ironically because of his initials GR they dubbed him the Green River Killer.

Ridgeway did send a letter or actually a guide about the GRK to the police, this letter was not taken seriously by police or FBI, and was thought to be a prank. After 20 years into the case the letter was taken seriously, and Gary did admit that he wrote it.

Gary did taunt the police by the way he disposed of the bodies to throw them off his trail.

Actually Ted Bundy was Gary's idol, and not Jack.

BW

[Roy Corduroy]

Ryan, thank you for saying you respect my opinion. I respect yours, too. And you are too kind. I am just a rookie finding my way.

Fish, your post above is very good. There has to be at least some cause and effect, which you described well.

Actually Ted Bundy was Gary's idol, and not Jack.

True, and BTK said he got the letters idea from Zodiac.

But Jack is always there, even if in the subconscious - the world's most famous serial killer who got away with murder. But if a modern serial killer would say to a detective "I patterned myself after Jack the Ripper" the detective would probably look at him like a cow looking at a new gate.

Roy

[Ryan_Miller]

Roy,

Ya know, last night I went to bed and started thinking about your comments, and started to agree with you more and more. I began to think...
in cases where very little is known about the killer all we can do is look at the facts that we do have, and other cases similar to them. While I still believe that some killers may commit similar acts without any inspiration from another, it would be foolish to not look at similarities in these cases for maybe a hint at the least.

Since we obviously have no interview from "Saucy Jack" it appears we will not learn much of his inner workings or the sinister thoughts pulsating throught his brain. Maybe, we can look at these killers who have been apprehended and use them as reference points.

Thanks again for offering your points and helping to give me a new angle on things. Its great talking to people that can disagree respectfully and reply intelligently... those people seem few and far between now-a-days.

[DarkPassenger]

I love this. The whole argument is about hilariously outdated or pop-psych definitions of sexual serial killers and rigid dogmatic ideas about serial killers, which the pro-sexual people seem to tout while the anti-sexual people rightly question - except they misunderstand even worse than the other guys!

I've seen stuff like "he drank beer," or "he had a love hate relationship with his mother" or, "your definitions are too modern." Jesus H Christ.