Biography The Green River Killer (1987– ) watch online HD

This is a run-of-the-mill but interesting documentary about one of the monsters among us. In 2003, Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty to the murders of 48 women dating back to 1982; he was brought to book by advances in DNA technology, having passed a polygraph in 1987. A lot is known about Ridgway, including his necrophilia, but a few facts are unearthed here that most crime buffs will not know.

Ridgway is said to have had a sexual fascination with his own mother, something that appears to have arisen out of her washing his private parts when he wet the bed at an age when most kids have learned to control their bladders. It was not though his mother he was killing by proxy when he murdered his mostly prostitute victims but his second wife, or perhaps even his first wife. Ridgway's first victim - who survived - was actually a boy whom he attacked in his teens, apparently for devilment. Also, he is said to have a low IQ, which doesn't speak well for the police giving how many victims he claimed and for how long he was at large.

The programme makers speak to people who knew Ridgway, the people who hunted him, and the usual psychobabblers. We also see archive footage of his final or penultimate court hearing, and hear from some of the relatives of his victims. He did not have a trial as such, having confessed his sins in a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty.