Gary Ridgway - An Opinion

Following the last couple of posts regarding the Green River Murders, I thought that an opinion of the killer himself, is due.  Was Ridgway a sociopath?  I think not.  Why?  Lately I have been taking more notice of behaviour of the perpetrator within his crimes, under arrest and in court.  The first clue was the interrogation by Dave Reichert of Ridgway.  As he kept the pressure on Ridgway, Reichert leaned closer and closer to him, and Ridgway was leaning further and further back.  He was obviously intimidated by Reichert, whereas a sociopath would not be intimidated, because in their twisted and warped mind, they have done no wrong whatsoever.  A sociopath is NEVER wrong, he is NEVER at fault, and has the confidence to guide them through any tough interrogation.  The general view is "So What!"

    Another pointer, to me, was his insistence that many of his victims allow him to have sex "doggy style" because once he started to strangle them from behind with his arm across their throats, he did not have to face them, he would not witness the life going from them.  A sociopath would not be scared of that, he would relish it.  He is in total control and the dying victim would see it in his eyes.

    At the trial, during the sentencing phase, where families of the victims spoke out about what he had done to their families, one man whose daughter he had murdered, gave forgiveness to Ridgway because of his religious faith that he believed in, and one important part was forgiveness.  He was the only one who showed compassion, not that Ridgway deserved any.  He started wiping tears away.  Cynics would say that they were crocodile tears, ala Jeremy Bamber and the very public display of emotion and tears at the funeral of the family he slaughtered.  A sociopath would not shed tears for real.

    Lastly, Ridgway considerably slowed down his killing spree when he was with Judith, his third wife.  Although he admitted "falling of the wagon about a dozen times" whilst he was married to her, it is still far less than the two year plus mass slaughter he carried out in the early to mid-eighties.  Judith was obviously so different in character and morality from his first two wives and his mother, that possibly Judith was the first woman he had ever made love to.  He possibly viewed her as a lady who behaved as a lady should.  A sociopath would never have feelings like that.  What do you think?