Just wow. How close you came. My meeting was just a nod of the head as I entered the room that he was leaving. It was only after the fact that I was told who he was (by some very surprised and sheepish co-workers!).
My encounter with Ridgway was stronger and more deliberate. Gary worked in the paint shop at Kenworth where I worked as a line mechanic. I had several “bump into” encounters with him on the line as he moved painted cabs out of the dryer to the line to be installed.
We chatted at times and I thought nothing of it. He was quiet and unassuming and mostly kept to himself. Later someone pulled me aside and asked if I knew who he was. As far as I knew he was just another drone on the assembly line.
“That’s Gary Ridgway” my friend whispered.
“So what?” I replied.
“Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer” he hissed.
I found out that he had been pulled from the line about five or six months earlier and questioned about being in the vicinity of several murders on the SeaTac xtrip. I also noted that they let him go so I shrugged it off.
After about a month of chit-chats we were on a first name basis and he invited my wife and I to dinner at his house. Intrigued and not a bit frightened I accepted. My wife wasn’t concerned either.
We met at his house and he showed me his place and his backyard garden, which faced Interstate 5. All very pleasant, all rather innocent. In retrospect I don’t think that my wife and I were his type.
He was picked up soon up and that was the end of him. I received one visit from the Task Force asking why I was at his house. I told them the truth and that was that.
Yikes. You and your wife could have ended up in the garden.