U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA) is probably best known as the sheriff who oversaw the arrest of serial killer Gary Ridgway in 2001. The Lifetime Movie Network is now airing a video based on his book, “Chasing the Devil: My Twenty-Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer,” reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The first part was aired last night; the second is scheduled for tonight. Reichert, 58, didn’t jump at the chance to sell the rights to his 2004 book. “I really struggled with even agreeing to do it,” he said. He worried how a movie, with its artistic license, would tell such a personal, complex and horrific story, which culminated with Ridgway pleading guilty to killing 48 women and girls.
“When they started to do this thing, I said, ‘Look, there’s two things I want you to focus on: The victims, and the fact that we need to take care and love our kids, and prevent them from getting on the street.’ “And secondly, that it was a team effort.’ ” The Post-Intelligencer says the production “achieves those goals with mixed success. It shows Reichert doing nearly all the heavy lifting of the investigation. John Urquhart of the King County Sheriff’s Office, Reichert’s spokesman for many years, said it was a “shame” the film neglects the work of so many detectives, for whom Ridgway’s arrest was a life-defining moment. “You need to keep in mind that this was the worst serial killer in the U.S.,” he said.
Link: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/356906_greenriver29.html