Man keeps wife hidden and captive inside of house for 30 YEARS,before finally smothering her to death,in GA
Joe1orbit
Hello,
Only 60 minutes left until I head off on my monthly trip, folks. Interesting
case unfolding over in Georgia. Police say that a 56 year old man named Alvin
Eugene Ridley kept his wife locked up and captive in his house for THIRTY
YEARS, before FINALLY smothering her to death last year! 30 years is a heck of
a long time. Ya gotta give Alvin credit for being a very wise and dedicated
True Crime tactition, if indeed the details of this case are accurate in that
wife Virginia was kept, against her will, successfully imprisoned in the house
for 30 years.
Virginia Ridley was last seen OUTDOORS way back in 1967. That is when her
relatives obtained a court order to SEE her. Alvin did indeed take her to
court, and Virginia assured the judge that she was fine and wanted to continue
living with her husband. Since she was an adult, and mentally competent, the
jusge of course granted her request. Relatives continued to fear for her
safety, and tried to visit her at the home, but Alvin would always chase them
away and refused to let them have contact with Virginia.
He began telling friends and relatives that Virginia had left him, and was no
longer living in the house with him. That was a lie, of course, Instead, he
just kept her imprisoned inside the house, which does have bars on all the
windows.
In October of last year, according to prosecutors, he smothered her to death.
He called police and told them that Virginia had died at his house, but claimed
that they had not been living together recently. Police found Virginia lying on
a bed in the house, dead. An autopsy shows that she had "oxygen deliberately
withheld" from her, indicating manual suffocation or smothering.
Virginia was skinny, and showed minor signs of malnutrition, but the body
bore no marks to indicate any serious past abuse or violence. She had suffered
a head injury as a little girl, and required medication for seizures. It's not
clear whether she was taking this medication, but obviously hubby Alvin DID
take rather good care of her, otherwise she would not have lived for the 50+
years that she did, 30 of them as a captive of our possessive Alvin.
Alvin worked as a TV repairman, and had his own shop. About 10 years ago, at
the rather young age of 46, he closed up the shop, and neighbors say he became
a major recluse himself at that point in time, engaging in behavior like hiding
behind bushes and peeking through windows. As you can expect, he never let
anyone inside of his house. That's only natural, since he had himself a secret
wife.
I wonder whether Virginia really WAS being held against her will? Maybe she
just wanted to stay inside, and be with Alvin. At the 1967 court appearance she
absolutely made it clear that she DID want to stay with Alvin. Anyway, Alvin
was arrested, charged with murder, but then freed on $30,000 bond. Police are
ALSO investigating the death of Alvin's Mommy, who LIVED WITH him as well, and
died of heart failure after suffering a broken hip, in 1995. She must have
known that Alvin had a wife living with him, since she lived in the same house.
I think Alvin's accomplishment, in keeping an adult human being both hidden
and successfully imprisoned in his house for 30 years, is VERY impressive.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's Asociated Press news wire:
Man Accused of Keeping Wife Captive
RINGGOLD, Ga. (AP) - For more than 30 years, Alvin Eugene Ridley said he lived
with a broken heart, telling friends and relatives his wife had left him. She
had returned home to her parents or gone North, he said.
Authorities now claim the former television repairman kept Virginia Ridley
captive in their home for three decades until smothering her to death last
year.
Ridley, 56, was charged with murder Monday after a lengthy investigation that
began when an autopsy revealed that his wife died from a lack of oxygen.
``It appeared that foul play was involved in her suffocation,'' Catoosa County
Coroner Vanita Hullander said. ``Someone could have held the nose and the mouth
shut. We don't know. It was by a means other than natural.''
Ridley called police Oct. 4 and said his wife - whom he claimed had not lived
with him in years - had just died.
Authorities found the woman lying in a bed inside Ridley's fenced-in house with
barred windows.
``I'd heard stories that he had a wife, but I'd never seen her. And there she
was!'' Ms. Hullander said. ``We weren't sure if it was her at first. We just
had his word that it was her.''
Ms. Ridley's body appeared slightly malnourished but showed no signs of
physical abuse, the coroner said.
She had suffered from seizures caused by a blow to the head when she was about
9. She required medication and treatment.
Ms. Ridley was last seen outside her home in 1967, when concerned family
members obtained a court order to see her, authorities said. Ridley brought his
wife to court, where she said she was fine and wished to continue living with
her husband, District Attorney Buzz Franklin said.
But the family continued to suspect she was being held captive in the rundown
house in this city near the Tennessee line.
``We tried to see her many times and he said we'd be chased out of Ringgold, or
if we came back we'd be dead,'' said a sister, Linda Barber. ``He was really a
violent person. He kept her locked up in the house, or locked up somewhere.''
Neighbors said Ridley became a recluse after his TV repair shop closed 10 years
ago. He would hide behind bushes and peek through windows but would let no one
inside the home.
Ridley's case is scheduled to go before a grand jury in September.
Authorities also are investigating the death of Ridley's mother, Minnie Sue
Ridley, who lived with him until she died of heart failure after breaking a hip
in 1995.
AP-NY-07-03-98
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The following appears courtesy of yesterday's Associated Press news wire:
Report: Man Detained, Killed Wife
RINGGOLD, Ga. (AP) - A former television repairman is accused of killing his
wife after he allegedly held her captive at home for more than 30 years.
Alvin Eugene Ridley, 56, was charged with murder Monday.
The investigation into Ridley began after an autopsy revealed that his wife,
Virginia Ridley, died last year from a lack of oxygen.
``It appeared that foul play was involved in her suffocation,'' coroner Vanita
Hullander said.
Ridley called police Oct. 4 and said his wife - whom he claimed had not lived
with him in years - had just died.
Authorities found the woman lying in a bed inside Ridley's fenced-in house with
barred windows.
Ms. Ridley was last seen outside her home in 1967, when concerned family
members obtained a court order to see her, authorities said. Ridley brought his
wife to court, where she said she was fine and wished to continue living with
her husband, District Attorney Buzz Franklin said.
After that, she was rumored to have either gone North or returned to college.
``He always said she was in school,'' Ms. Hullander said.
Ridley was released on $30,000 bond. His case goes before a grand jury in
September.
AP-NY-07-02-98
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The following appears courtesy of the 7/2/98 online edition of The
Chattanooga Free Press newspaper:
Ringgold Man Charged In Death Of Wife
By GARY PETTY
Free Press Correspondent
RINGGOLD, Ga. ----A Ringgold man is free on bond after being charged with
murder Monday in the death of his wife on October 7.
Alvin Ridley, 56, of 134 Inman St., was arrested by deputies with the Catoosa
County Sheriff's Department and charged with one count of murder in connection
with the death of his wife, Virginia.
Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers said that investigators became suspicious
of the death after Ridley called a local funeral home and told them that his
wife had died and that he needed to make some burial arrangements.
Sheriff Summers said that as investigators became more involved in the case,
additional questions surfaced and a further investigation was warranted.
"She had dropped out of sight for several years,' said the sheriff in noting
that it appears she died at the couple's rundown house.
The victim's sister said that it had been some 30 years since she had seen her
sister.
Reportedly, the sister was never seen again by family members after her
marriage to Ridley.
Sheriff Summers said that rumors had been around that Ridley's wife had been
held captive in the house for several years.
"In investigating the death, we found some things that seemed to be
inconsistent with what he was saying,' noted the sheriff.
According to the sheriff, tests results from the state's crime lab indicated
that Ridley's wife died after being suffocated.
Sheriff Summers also noted that the tests indicated that the woman had been
dead up to 24 hours before Ridley made the phone call to the funeral home,
another reason Sheriff Summers said that Ridley became a suspect.
"There was foul play involved in her death,' stated the sheriff.
"He said she went into some convulsions,' said Ringgold resident Bob Silvers in
recalling what Ridley told him when Ridley called him to borrow $250 to buy a
casket for his wife. Mr. Silvers said that Ridley told him that the couple only
had one egg to share between them and that the wife told him to have the egg as
they were running out of food.
"You wouldn't have ever thought this would have happen,' said Mr. Silvers, a
long-time acquaintance of Ridley.
In explaining the delay in filling the charges, Sheriff Summers said, "It just
took a long time for the crime lab to complete the tests.'
In discussing Ridley, a former TV and radio salesman/repairman, Sheriff Summers
called him a "recluse.'
Sheriff Summers said that when his office was notified that Ridley's mother was
being held inside his house, a court order was obtained forcing Ridley to allow
officers onto the property.
Ridley's mother, who died about two months before his wife, had not been seen
in several years also, said the sheriff.
Sheriff Summers said that authorities found her in what appeared to be a
"neglected' state.
She was taken to a local hospital where she was treated and then taken to a
health care center, where she later died.
Bond for Ridley was originally set at $50,000 on Monday, but later reduced by
Superior Court Judge William Ralph Hill Jr., of the Lookout Mountain Judicial
Circuit, to $30,000, said the sheriff.
Ridley was released on the lower bond Tuesday.
Sheriff Summers said that now a further investigation will be started into the
death of Ridley's mother and that her body may have to be exhumed for
additional tests to be performed.
