49. "No Humans Involved"- Green River Killer

Description

Apologies this episode is late! We had a major tech issue that showed our podcast no longer existed on our dashboard but all is well and recovered! Thanks for your patienceThank you to our supporters on patreon.com/highwaytohellBetween 1982 and 1998, Gary Leon Ridgway murdered at least 49 women in and around Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. Most of his victims were young women, many of them sex workers or runaways, whom he picked up along the Pacific Highway South corridor. He strangled them, dumped their bodies in wooded areas, and for nearly two decades, walked free.The investigation was hampered from the start by institutional indifference. Law enforcement operated under an unofficial but widely understood attitude known as NHI — "No Humans Involved" — a designation applied to cases involving sex workers, homeless individuals, or drug users. Victims in these categories were deprioritized, their cases worked less aggressively, their families given fewer resources. Detectives who did push for more attention were often met with bureaucratic resistance. The assumption that these women had placed themselves in danger, that their deaths were somehow less urgent , allowed Ridgway to keep killing for sixteen years.He was finally arrested in 2001 after DNA technology linked him to several victims. In 2003, Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 murders in a deal that spared him the death penalty in exchange for helping locate the remains of still-missing victims. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.Sources:Sources: Green River Killer ResearchRule, Ann. Green River, Running Red. Free Press, 2004.Smith, Carlton & Guillen, Tomas. The Search for the Green River Killer. Penguin, 1991.Prothero, Mark & Smith, Carlton. Defending Gary. Union Square Press, 2006.King County Superior Court, Case No. 03-1-00175-9. Guilty Plea & Sentencing Documents, 2003.King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Statement of Defendant on Plea of Guilty, 2