Last Podcast On The Left

Podbit · Last Podcast On The Left

Episode 671: Gary Ridgway : Redux Part I - Wrong Way Gary

Explore episode Jul 3, 2026
True Crime
Mary Rita's Midnight Ritual: Fusing Sex and Rage

Episode 671: Gary Ridgway : Redux Part I - Wrong Way Gary · Jul 3, 2026 True Crime

From age 12 to 15 or 16, Gary Ridgway's mother dragged him from bed at least three times a week — sometimes nightly — to scrub his genitals in icy water while barely dressed herself. Gary experienced erections throughout the process, fusing humiliation, anger, and sexual arousal at the most formative developmental stage of his life.

Where this was said

The Bathtub Ritual: How Gary's Sexuality and Rage Were Fused

At 39:00 · chapter starts 38:20

When the Ridgway family moved to the Seattle-Tacoma area around Gary's 12th birthday, his bedwetting returned. Mary Rita responded by yanking him from bed multiple times a week — sometimes nightly — and dragging him through the house to humiliate him before throwing him into cold bathwater. She would scrub his genitals until they were raw while barely dressed herself. Gary recalled experiencing erections throughout the process, and he said his 'sexual awakening' came during his mother's furious scrubbing. Marcus details how this repeated ritual — happening three times a week for years, from ages 12 to 15 or 16 — directly and repeatedly fused humiliation, anger, and sexual arousal in Gary's developing brain. Thomas Ridgway never intervened; he was terrified of Mary Rita and would simply stay in bed.

Similar podbits

True Crime
Cocaine Inside a Boa Constrictor: The Wildlife-Drug Trade Overlap

#2536 - Eric Goode & Jeremy McBride · Aug 6, 2026 True Crime

The illegal wildlife trade and the drug trade aren't just parallel industries — they actively overlap. Smugglers force-fed cocaine to boa constrictors to evade customs, packed drugs beneath layers of live animals in crates with spitting cobras on top, and exploited the chronic under-resourcing of US Fish and Wildlife inspection teams.

True Crime
Anson Wong: The Global Kingpin of Reptile Smuggling

#2536 - Eric Goode & Jeremy McBride · Aug 6, 2026 True Crime

Anson Wong from Malaysia was the Pablo Escobar of the global reptile trade, supplying rare animals — including Komodo dragons — to buyers across the world. He was caught in a sting, extradited to the US, and served the longest wildlife crime sentence at the time. The animals seized from him went on to stock some of America's biggest zoos.