Ricky Lee Green

Serial Killer

Ricky Lee Green: Texas Serial Killer

Ricky Lee Green was an American serial killer whose known murders took place in North Texas during 1985 and 1986. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, on December 27, 1960, Green became associated with four confirmed killings marked by extreme violence, repeated stabbing, blunt-force injuries, sexual assault, and mutilation. His victims included both men and women and ranged in age from 16 to 28. The murders remained disconnected for several years before information supplied by Green's wife, Sharon Green, helped investigators recognize the pattern and obtain confessions. Green was eventually convicted of capital murder for killing television advertising executive Steven Fefferman and was executed by lethal injection in Texas on October 8, 1997.

Background and Pattern of Violence

Green grew up in the Fort Worth area and left school after the eighth grade. Evidence presented during his later trial described a severely abusive childhood. Family members testified that his father subjected Green and his siblings to frightening and violent punishments. As an adult, Green developed serious problems with alcohol and drugs and worked at jobs that included radiator repair. His defense attorneys later argued that childhood abuse, substance abuse, and psychological problems had contributed to his violent behavior. Prosecutors, however, emphasized the deliberate and repetitive characteristics of the killings. The four known murders displayed striking similarities. Victims were repeatedly stabbed or cut, and several were also beaten with a hammer or another blunt object. Sexual violence or sexual mutilation was present in the cases. Investigators described the level of violence as far greater than what would have been necessary simply to cause death. The similarities eventually became important evidence that the killings were the work of the same offender. During Green's capital-murder proceedings, an expert familiar with serial murder investigations described him as an organized serial killer.

Known Victims

• Jeffrey Lynn Davis March 27, 1985 Fort Worth, Texas. Davis was 16 years old when he disappeared on March 27, a date commonly used in homicide case records as his death date. His body was discovered in April 1985 in a swampy area near the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge. He had suffered severe cutting injuries to the neck and had been sexually mutilated and castrated. Green later confessed to killing him.
• Betty Jo Monroe October 12, 1985 Boyd, Wise County, Texas. Monroe was 28 years old. Green took her to the Green residence near Boyd, where she was sexually assaulted, stabbed approximately 17 times, struck in the head with a hammer, and mutilated. Her body was dumped in a rural area near Flatwood in Wise County and discovered on October 13. She remained unidentified for years before investigators established her identity through fingerprints.
• Sandra Lorraine Bailey November 23, 1985 Wise County, Texas. Bailey was 27 years old and had been celebrating her cousin's birthday at a Fort Worth club before encountering Green. She was taken to the Green residence, sexually assaulted, stabbed approximately 30 times, and beaten with a hammer. Her body was later abandoned in a drainage culvert near Henrietta in Clay County and was discovered on December 2, 1985.
• Steven Michael Fefferman December 27, 1986 Fort Worth, Texas. Fefferman was a 28-year-old advertising and sales executive for KXAS-TV. Contemporary execution reporting records his death as December 27, while his body was discovered at his East Fort Worth condominium on December 29. He had been bound with neckties, beaten, repeatedly stabbed and cut, sexually mutilated, and killed by a deep cut to the throat. Green took property and left in Fefferman's automobile.

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Confirmed Victims: (4)

Jeffrey Davis Age: (16), Date of Death: 1985-03-27

Ricky Lee Green - Wikipedia