Doomed From the Start?
No child comes into the world as an evil, sadistic murderer. But like so many other serial killers, Ridgway started to display troubling behavior and disturbing characteristics before he even reached puberty.
Born February 18, 1949, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ridgway was the middle son of Mary Rita Steinman and Thomas Newton Ridgway. At age 11, Ridgway and his family moved from Utah to Washington State.
Ridgway’s struggles began at an early age. He did poorly in school and had a below-average IQ of 82. He was also diagnosed with dyslexia. The majority of Americans have an IQ of between 80 and 120, with 100 being considered average. An IQ of 70 to 75 is considered significantly below average, so Ridgway’s intellectual capacities were quite limited.
From an early age, Ridgway was attracted to his mother, who was domineering and overbearing. Rita often embarrassed and belittled Ridgway for wetting the bed — a problem he struggled with throughout his childhood, in front of the family — and would bathe him immediately.
To aggravate matters even more, Rita was so overbearing that she would wash Ridgway’s genitals herself, which created unwanted excitement and confusion in him during his pubescent years.
Ridgway’s life would be spent vacillating between the sexual attraction for his mother and a desire to kill her.
The would-be killer also suffered the humiliation of having to repeat the same grade twice. Unsurprisingly, this led to bullying, which only served to fuel Ridgway’s growing anger and sense of isolation.
By the age of 16, it had become evident that the confusion and rage that Ridgway kept bottled up inside of him was beginning to rise to the surface. That year, he led a six-year-old boy into the woods and stabbed him through the ribs and into the liver. [3]
The victim, who miraculously survived, recalled that Ridgway walked away from the scene laughing and said:
“I always wondered what it would be like to kill someone.”
Comments
0 comment