Serial killers’ lives tend to be ordinary

By Gene Johnson

Associated Press

SEATTLE — Ted Bundy attended law school and appeared to have a bright future in politics. Hillside Strangler Kenneth Bianchi had a young son and a job at a security company. Robert Yates had a wife, five children, a mortgage and a long career as an Army helicopter pilot.

Washington state’s most notorious serial killers seemed so ordinary — just like the man now under arrest in the Green River Killer case.

Gary Ridgway — a 52-year-old charged with four of the 49 slayings attributed to the Green River Killer between 1982 and 1984 — held the same truck-painting job for 32 years. He has been married three times. He has a son.

Those who study serial killers say it is not unusual for them to appear ordinary.

"They look, in that sense, normal, like they were connected to us," says Candice Skrapec, a criminology professor at California State University at Fresno. "But if you scratch the surface, the nature of those relationships is very superficial — nothing beyond meeting their immediate needs."

In fact, the really serious loners — cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer and Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz, for example — are a much rarer breed.

"We’ve been fed an image by Hollywood and network television that is pure fantasy," says Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University in Boston. "The truth is, it’s just the opposite. Serial killers are extraordinarily ordinary. They tend to blend in. They’re beyond suspicion.

"Otherwise, they wouldn’t be on the street long enough to become a prolific killer."

Yates, who was from Spokane, has confessed to 13 murders, most in 1996-98 of women involved in prostitution or drugs. He will stand trial in Tacoma in two more killings in the spring. Family members still profess their love for him, and he recently became a grandfather.

Bundy, who lived in Tacoma, was a charming figure who worked on Gov. Dan Evans’ successful re-election campaign in 1972 and was rewarded with a job at the state Republican headquarters. Within a year, he would start killing — if he hadn’t begun already.

Bundy confessed to 28 murders before he was executed in Florida’s electric chair in 1989. Authorities believe that he actually killed closer to 40 women, and that the first might have been in Seattle in 1968.

In 1979, Bianchi had steady work as a security guard in Bellingham, a longtime girlfriend and a young son. He strangled two Western Washington University students he had asked to house-sit for him.

He eventually pleaded guilty in their deaths and in the stranglings of five of 10 young women whose bodies were left on hillsides in 1977-78 near Los Angeles, where he lived at the time.

Ridgway, who lives in Auburn, was arrested Nov. 30 after advanced DNA technology linked him to three of the victims.

It will take more investigation and a trial to determine whether Ridgway fits into a category with Yates, Bundy and Bianchi. But criminologists say he exhibits similar tendencies — namely, a double life.

Co-workers and neighbors generally found Ridgway friendly. He was regarded as a meticulous worker. He held garage sales and kept a neat yard.

Ridgway met his current wife around 1987. At least one neighbor has said they appeared happy, often gardening and walking their dog together.

But court papers also indicate he had a confessed "addiction" to prostitutes. One of his ex-wives told investigators he liked to have sex outdoors, often in areas where bodies were later discovered.

And criminologists say that if Ridgway is the Green River Killer, it is likely that even his marriage was a shallow relationship. They note he was arrested for trying to solicit a prostitute two weeks before his arrest in the Green River case.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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