Confessions of the Green River Killer: A True Story of Manipulation, Madness, and a Search for Justice

Summary

A startling profile of one of the most prolific serial killers and the disturbing experience of the journalist who earned his trust for the sake of justice.

When crime journalist Maria DiLorenzo mailed a letter to Gary Ridgway, she never expected him to reply. He refused to speak to reporters and would send only religious materials back to anyone who contacted him in prison—if he replied at all. But instead of silence or a boilerplate letter, Maria’s phone rang–and it was the Green River Killer calling.

Over the next several years, Ridgway would call Maria hundreds of times, using all of his free time in prison to speak with her. Her goal: to pry the details of his dozens of unidentified and unsolved murders from him. His motivation in speaking to her: unknowable. Through these hundreds of hours of phone calls, Ridgway revealed new details about his life, his crimes, and his motives—and manipulated Maria much like he tormented his victims.

An insightful and deeply personal profile of a dangerous mind, Confessions of the Green River Killer is the closest depiction of Gary Ridgway ever seen and a disturbing glimpse into what it’s like to truly know a killer. Readers of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and The Stranger Beside Me will be enraptured to experience Gary Ridgway through the eyes and ears of a woman he came to deeply trust—and deeply covet.