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Coming soon: Seattle serial killer tour

June 4, 2012 @ 6:04 pm (Updated: 3:45 am - 6/8/12 )

UPDATE 6/8/12: Green River Killer tours canceled

Listen to Would you take a Green River Killer tour?

Cruise the SeaTac strip where dozens of women disappeared. See the locations where their bodies were later found. Drive by the house where a notorious serial killer lived. Hear the gruesome details of the murders of dozens of women.

A Seattle man will begin offering bus tours of locations where the Green River killer disposed of victims' bodies.

"I don't mean for this to sound callous, but I think there's a certain morbid entertainment value in it. That's why people watch true crime shows, Dateline NBC five nights a week, 48 Hours Mystery and CSI," says Matt Lewis, creator of a sight-seeing tour of Gary Ridgway's murder scenes and locations where he dumped victims' bodies. "It's like reading a book or watching it on TV. This is just another genre to see it."

Northwest residents are familiar with the two decade search for the Green River killer. In 2003, Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty to the murders of 48 women from 1982 to 1998. He confessed to nearly double that number of killings, and was later convicted of another murder.

Most of his young victims were prostitutes, drug users, or runaways. After strangling them, he scattered their bodies throughout King County. The bodies of his first five victims were found in the Green River, which is why he has that nickname.

He's in prison for life. As part of a plea bargain, Ridgway agreed to disclose the locations of some of the bodies that were still missing, in order to spare himself from the death penalty.

Ridgway

Green River Task Force Detectives took Gary Ridgway (wearing a tan jacket in this photo) on 24 separate trips throughout King County so Ridgway could point out locations where he might have placed his victims. King Co Sheriff Dept. photo

"Ridgway is a monster, but in some way we're all fascinated with monsters," Lewis says. "There's a huge market for true crime stories. I call this the mother of all true crime stories. There's no case ever that's been bigger than this case."

Lewis, with a background in advertising, describes himself as a voracious reader and true crime fan. He read Ann Rule's book "Green River, Running Red" and began reading other books and public documents about the case. Just short of "obsessed," he decided to set up a tours beginning in July.

The three-hour tour on a 22 passenger bus will depart downtown Seattle at 9pm, returning at midnight after giving riders a chance to get out of the bus at five locations to view a few of the "really creepy" locations in South King County where Ridgway left victims' bodies.

"I can tell you exactly where I picked up Denise Bush's remains. I'm sure he can't. I have been to all of the sites," says King County Sheriff's Sergeant Kathleen Larson. "My concern is that he doesn't know what he's talking about and this shows no concern for victims' families who have all suffered."

Others deputies who investigated the serial killings are more blunt with their opinions about Lewis's tour, calling it "sick," "twisted" and "demented."

"I took the tour a long time ago - on my hands and knees looking for remains - and I am not amused," says another former Green River task force investigator.

"I'm expecting that on first glance the tour is not going to be a really popular thing. I think that people are going to think 'wow there's somebody cashing in on something that tore my family apart and destroyed our lives.' I'm sensitive to that," Lewis says. "In no way is this glorifying what happened at all. Hopefully it does the opposite."

On his tour information website, he lists Ridgway's victims and includes brief descriptions of the young women's lives.

Lewis plans to give a small portion of the sales from $45 tickets to charity. He declined to identify the charity. He says "maybe about five percent" will go toward charity. If the project takes off, he suggests profits could be used to create a memorial for the Green River killer's victims.

"In London there's a Jack the Ripper tour, in Boston there's a Boston Strangler tour, in LA there's a Helter Skelter tour. This is bigger than all of those, so why shouldn't we have something like that here? I'd love it to grow into something that grows two, three, four times a week," says Lewis. "Hey you're going to Seattle and you like getting freaked out or creeped out, this is the tour for you."

So far he hasn't sold any tickets.

By LINDA THOMAS

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (19)


  • Add A Comment

  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    entertaining?
    June 5, 2012 5:58 am
    How is brutal murder entertaining?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Glover W wrote...
    The "How to dispose of your bodies tour?"
    June 5, 2012 6:52 am
    Is this a how to for potential serial killers? I think I will skip this one. We need to learn from history. But reliving the gory detail is a bit much.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • noahc17 wrote...
    Shameful and Disgraceful yes. But.....
    June 5, 2012 6:53 am
    Should it become so popular and profitable, it would certainly be nice to see a memorial dedicated to all of the identified victims with room left for those to be identified in the coming years. Having something like that at the end of the tour I think would not only cap the tour correctly, but to be financed and paid for by the tour would be a good thing. In a perfect world, victims’ families getting a slice of the proceeds would be good too. But is a perfect world one where another profits from a murder tour? I would think not.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • vanderleun wrote...
    No bottom to human depravity
    June 5, 2012 7:14 am
    Humm..... I can see that if this one makes money people will soon be able to take the Gay Canadian Cannibal Gay Killer Tour.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Vlastimil wrote...
    No
    June 5, 2012 8:21 am
    What's wrong with people?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Annie (1) wrote...
    What's Wrong?
    June 5, 2012 9:08 am
    Greed & no human empathy. And KIRO employees like Tom Tangney who say this is "good news" likening it to the current celebration of the 1962 Worlds Fair! Huh?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • gomariners wrote...
    Ah no.
    June 5, 2012 9:07 am
    I grew up around where some of his victims were taken and had been left and I don't want to be there again - with or without this tour. This is sick.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Camanoresident wrote...
    STUPID
    June 5, 2012 9:58 am
    This is a stupid idea for sick crazy people.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Whidbeyboy wrote...
    Too Soon. But undertsand why.
    June 5, 2012 10:08 am
    They have tours like this all over, just a bit more ancient regarding when the murders happened. As thier are survivers, I think it a bit insensitive, BUT I think I would like to go on it. I, like most people have a curiousity about the whole GR story. I'm not as hard on him as most of you, and think some are just over reacting.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Annie (1) wrote...
    Ok
    June 5, 2012 11:07 am
    I guess-you like him are a"bit" insensitive..good to know.I'm sure there will be enough like you(unfortunately) that will help this creep make some $$. You know if you'really curious about the whole GR story-you'll find LOTS of websites, books, interviews--there are dvd's of the 6 months of Gary Ridgway being interviewed-you can see & hear the whole story in his own words-maybe your $$ would be better spent there instead of going to the places where these women were found.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SMarti018 wrote...
    Whats the big deal?
    June 5, 2012 11:12 am
    Some of the biggest tourist attractions are at famous war sites where tens of thousands of people were brutally killed in a day. We even go on tours of old prisons are tour where men were executed and or tortured... So why is this any different? People dont go to these kind of things to celebrate whats has happened but to look at it in a historical and learning stand point just like we do with other similar tourist attractions around the world.. Come on people, Just think about it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rockytime wrote...
    Agree with SMarti018
    June 5, 2012 12:03 pm
    Whats the big deal? Do people not know that there are Seattle tours which include Ted Bundy? That was in my lifetime as well. Why should we wait 100+ years to research historical issues?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    Someone going to show . . . .
    June 5, 2012 11:28 am
    how to hump a dead body?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }