Ricky Lee Green
28 min read
TRIGGER WARNING! This case covers child abuse and graphic mutilation of human bodies. I gathered most of my research from the book Blood Rush by Patricia Springer. Springer was a former newspaper reporter who decided to write a novel on Ricky Lee Green's life after meeting him on death row in the early 1990s. She spent several years visiting with Ricky, and he even invited her to attend his execution. She described him as a highly manipulative man who enjoyed playing games. Read at your own risk.
Introduction
On December 29, 1986, Frank O'Neal, who managed channel 5 Fort Worth television station, was growing concerned. Steven Fefferman had not shown up for his shift that morning. He was well-liked, friendly, dependable, and punctual; it was out of character for him not to call in if he was sick. Two of Steven's coworkers at the station decided to drive to his apartment at 5320 Colony Hill Road. They knocked on the door, but there was no answer, and his car was not in the garage. Finally, around 6 pm, a close friend of Steven's called his landlord and asked him to perform a wellness check.
Dennis McCarty had rented the apartment to Steven Fefferman five months earlier. McCarty used his passkey to enter the front door and noticed no signs of forced entry. However, the moment he stepped inside, he knew a struggle had occurred. The apartment had been turned upside down. McCarty peeked into the bedroom from the hallway. He saw a foot extending off the end of the bed from beneath a pile of clothes. The foot appeared off-colored and swollen. McCarty took off running and immediately called the Fort Worth Police Department.
Fefferman crime scene
Source: KXAS-TV (Television station : Fort Worth, Tex.)
Kathy Hopson was the first crime scene officer to arrive. Entering the bedroom, Hopson instantly noticed the discoloration of the feet protruding under the bed cover. She instinctively knew the body under the pile of clothes had been dead for some time. Officer Hopson pulled back the covers to reveal the mutilated body of Steven Fefferman lying spreadeagle, tied to the bed. A black-handled knife was sticking from his throat, and a yellow tie, stained red from his blood, was knotted around Steven's neck. Another knife was found between the legs and genitals, shoved deep inside his body. Scattered across the room were credit cards, cigarette butts, an ashtray, clothing, a lightbulb, and a wallet. There was no cash in the wallet, only loose change on the floor. The officers processing the scene assumed it was a typical burglary, albeit a heinous one. Little did they know, a brutal serial killer was hot on his killing streak.
Childhood
Ricky Lee Green was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on December 27, 1960. He was one of several children to Bill Green and his wife, Jessi Lou. Ricky's childhood was incredibly dark, and he and his siblings suffered daily abuse from their father. Bill would punch them in their stomachs, hold them under water until they almost drowned, and force them to hold onto the electric gate surrounding their property until they passed out. At age six, Ricky and his eight-year-old brother Perry were forced to run from the porch while Bill shot at them with a bb gun.
Ricky Green at age 7
Source: Blood Rush
Jessie Lou tried to protect her children, but Bill would beat her senselessly each time she intervened. Once, she gathered her children up while Bill was at work and fled sixty miles to a small suburb on the west side of Fort Worth. Bill eventually found them and put a pistol to Lou's head. "If you ever leave me again, I'll kill you," he whispered in her ear. At some point during Ricky's childhood, he lost the use of his left eye when he and his brother were playing Cowboys and Indians. A piece of barbed wire caught his eye and ripped his pupil out. Lou rushed Ricky to the emergency room, where doctors gave him a glass eye.
Bill Green and Jessi Lou
Source: Blood Rush
When Ricky was eleven, he attempted to run away. He made it to Casino Beach on the shores of Lake Worth when a man approached him and asked if Ricky wanted a ride into Cowtown. As soon as he got into the vehicle, the man pushed Ricky's chest flat against the seat and began unbuttoning his pants. Ricky shouted at him to stop and tried to resist, but the man was much older and more powerful. He raped Ricky, and when he finished, the only thing he said was, "My name's John, kid." Ricky lay motionless on the seat.
For several days, Ricky was forced to follow John around and look for food scraps in trash cans. When John wasn't sodomizing young Ricky, he would ramble on about his life as a homeless man. Finally, a little over a week later, Bill Green found his son. Ricky was thrilled to see him; no beating from his father was as bad as the torture inflicted by John. Bill commanded Ricky to get in the car while he shouted at the man who raped his son. When he got back in the vehicle, he told Ricky, "You're going to your grandfather's cabin in Possum Kingdom Lake for a while. I don't want you around."
Unfortunately, on the second night of Ricky's stay, his grandpa entered his bedroom butt naked with a four-foot length of rubber hose and slapped it against his palm. He told Ricky he knew what had happened between him and John and threatened to tell his father. Before he could say anything, his grandfather grabbed Ricky's penis and began molesting him. After he finished, Ricky lay awake wondering why everyone hated him and wanted to hurt him. The sexual abuse from his grandfather continued until Bill picked Ricky up two weeks later. He didn't speak a word about what had happened, trying to avoid any punishment he may receive.
When Ricky returned home, he and his siblings continued to suffer horrible, unspeakable abuse from his father. His older sister, Teresa, escaped twice. The second time she went to the police. She told them Bill Green had been sexually and physically abusing her. The deputies at the Wise County Sheriff's Office took pictures of Teresa's battered body, and she was sent to foster care immediately. However, no investigation was made on Bill.
At fifteen, Ricky planned his next escape. He had his friend pick him up from a gas station his father owned and drop him off in downtown Shreveport in East Texas. Ricky walked near a bridge spanning railroad tracks, and a tall, thin man emerged from the shadows. He grabbed the knapsack Ricky was carrying and started attacking him until he had Ricky on the ground. The stranger raped Ricky, and when he was finished and started to walk away, he started laughing.
Ricky became enraged and sprang to his feet, grabbing a large stick. He ran after the man and began bludgeoning him until he lay motionless at Ricky's feet. He wasn't sure if the man was dead or alive, and he didn't care. Bloody and bruised, Ricky stumbled into a bar/cafe where he was offered a room if he would wash dishes and bus the tables. A few months later, Ricky was arrested for joyriding, and his parents picked him up from jail. Once Ricky turned sixteen, he dropped out of school and went to work for Bill Green as a radiator repairman.
First Wife
Ricky was twenty-one when he first noticed Mary Francis Irene Collett Clifton Smith. His father owned a compound of buildings two and a half miles west of Boyd on Highway 114. Bill's business had expanded to Green's Radiator Shop, Green's Gulf station, and Green's Steak House. Mary was a waitress at the restaurant adjacent to the radiator shop where Ricky worked. The pair eventually began dating and quickly moved in together, bringing her son with her.
After four years together, Ricky Green and Mary Smith married on February 18, 1984, but he was unhappy. Ricky started heavily drinking alcohol to drown his sorrows and would spend hours each night driving on the backroads of Wise and Tarrant counties. Just two months into his marriage, Ricky felt bored. One day he was making prank calls at work when a seventeen-year-old girl named Connie McKeever picked up.
Ricky began harassing her on the phone, sometimes up to five times a day. He would say dirty things to Connie and tell her he had been watching her. Connie was terrified. She asked her friends to drive her to school and declined any plans that led her off-campus. The McKeevers contacted the police department and asked them to place a wiretap on their phone to trace the caller. When Ricky called, the police showed up at his door within 10 minutes of him hanging up. He stayed in jail overnight until Mary could borrow $500 from Bill Green to post Ricky's bail.
Six months after the telephone harassment, something inside Ricky snapped. When his wife arrived home from work, he asked her to come and sit on his lap. Ricky's speech was slurred, and he smelled of alcohol. With one arm wrapped around Mary, he reached under the couch cushion and pulled out a knife. Ricky commanded Mary to get undressed and lay on the floor. He slowly ran the blade up and down her body, telling her she was too good for him. He eventually passed out on top of Mary, and she wiggled her body from beneath him. She packed all her belongings and fled.
Green family
Source: KXAS-TV (Television station : Fort Worth, Tex.)
Sharon Dollar
Six months after Mary left, Ricky went to his favorite bar, Cowboy City, in search of companionship. A woman named Barbara asked him to dance and introduced him to her friends. There were six young women seated around the table. Ricky was immediately attracted to a girl named Sharon Dollar. Her hair was sandy blonde, and her sensual hazel eyes lured Ricky closer.
Sharon was a preacher's daughter with emotional trauma. Her first husband was a paranoid schizophrenic. He would beat her and kick her in the stomach while she was pregnant with their daughter, Sarah. In addition, he would violate her with household items such as broomsticks and shampoo bottles. Her second relationship was worse. The man would beat her, kick her, and lock her in their apartment, refusing to let her leave for work. If she tried to escape, he would chain her to the bed. Ricky vowed never to mistreat Sharon.
One week after their first date, Ricky arrived at Sharon's home, told her he didn't want to work for his father anymore and asked if he could stay. However, Ricky was too afraid to tell his dad he was moving out and asked Sharon to do it for him. Although Ricky was the happiest he had ever been, his already excessive drinking increased.
Sharon Dollar Green
Source: Blood Rush
Ricky and Sharon frequented the porn shops in downtown Fort Worth to keep things exciting in their romance. They purchased toys but often looked for strangers interested in having a threesome with the couple. Once, Sharon had Ricky tied to the bed. Without warning, she pulled a needle out and pricked Ricky's penis. He screamed and looked down to see blood coming from the injury. Sharon started laughing, and before Ricky could protest, she began to suck the blood from him. The blood seemed to give Sharon more pleasure than Ricky had seen before; it turned him on.
In April 1985, Sharon and her daughter Sarah left to visit the child's father in Connecticut. Ricky longed for their return. He feared Sharon would hook up with one of her past lovers while she was away. She had often reminisced about her high school days in Connecticut and the trouble she used to get in. He was in the parking lot at Casino Beach, watching partners stroll by. Ricky's intrusive thoughts of Sharon pushed him to start drinking early that day. When he got out of his car to throw away his empty beer cans, he saw a young man standing near his front fender.
Victims
Ricky Green and Jeffrey Davis had met once before. Jeffrey was a sixteen-year-old runaway looking for a place to stay when Ricky happened across him several months prior. Ricky and Sharon provided him with a bed for the night without incident. When Ricky recognized the boy standing by his car, he offered Jeffrey a beer, and the pair perched themselves on the hood of Ricky's car and drank. After a while, Ricky asked Jeffrey if he wanted to join him on a trip to Benbrook Lake.
The men found a youthful group partying along the beach's shores and approached them. The college students welcomed them warmly, offering them beer, weed, and shots of liquor. Ricky was striking out with all the ladies and told Jeffrey he was ready to leave. They drove around the lake for nearly an hour before Ricky pulled over to pee. When he stumbled back to the car, Jeffrey had slipped his pants to his knees and was fondling himself. Jeffrey reached over and touched Ricky's inner thigh. He backhanded Jeffrey and flung open his door, dragging the young man onto the grass. Ricky beat Jeffrey until his face was swollen and bloody, finally stopping when he thought he might kill the boy.
Ricky helped Jeffrey back into the car and continued on his drive, telling Jeffrey to keep his head down. Jeffrey refused to listen, and Ricky would punch him in the face whenever he tried to look up at his surroundings. Finally, Ricky grew angry and pulled the car over. He pulled Jeffrey out and began beating and kicking the boy's head until he was unconscious. Ricky then opened his glove box and took out a large pocket knife. He took the 6-inch blade and sliced Jeffrey's throat from the bottom of his left ear to his right shoulder.
Then, Ricky attempted to decapitate him, sawing through the boy's esophagus, carotid artery, and jugular vein. Finally, exhausted and frustrated, Ricky gave up his attempt to remove Jeffrey's head. "You fucking homo," Ricky said to his victim; he grabbed the young man's penis, sliced it off at the base, and tossed it in the lake. Then, Ricky stabbed the lifeless body over fifteen times. When he was done mutilating Jeffrey's body, Ricky picked him up and placed him on the car's floorboard.
Ricky stopped at a Benbrook gas station for beer as Jeffrey's corpse lay uncovered behind him. Then, he headed toward Lake Worth. When he turned into the Fort Worth Nature Center, Ricky was deciding on a place to hide the body, heading towards the marsh areas encompassing Greer Island. Several hundred yards from the trail entrance, there was a crooked bend in the road. With difficulty, Ricky dragged Jeffrey Davis from the car to a natural rock trench at the water's edge and crammed him in.
When Sharon arrived home from her trip to Connecticut, Ricky told her what he had done. She tenderly patted him and said she doubted anyone saw him. The following day, the news reported that a couple hiking through the Fort Worth Nature Center came across the decomposing body of sixteen-year-old Jeffrey Lynn Davis. Ricky was terrified, but the police never investigated or suspected him.
Ricky and Sharon married on September 20, 1985, but after a few weeks, he felt restless. Then, on October 12, 1985, Ricky picked his stepdaughter up from Sharon's mother and was driving along Highway 287 when he spotted a woman hitchhiking. The woman said she was riding with a motorcycle gang and had gotten into an argument with her boyfriend. He left her on the side of the road after he beat her. Ricky asked if she would like something to eat and a place to clean up, and she gratefully said yes. Ricky introduced himself and his stepdaughter, Sarah, sitting in the back seat. The woman said her name was Betty Jo, but the biker gang called her Montana, as she was from there originally, and she was a big fan of Joe Montana, who played on the 49ers.
When they arrived at Ricky Green's trailer house, Montana went to the bathroom to take a shower. Without warning, Ricky yanked the shower curtains back and stepped in beside her. She gasped, but her surprise quickly changed to curiosity. They had sex, and afterward, Ricky proposed that she stay for a while and babysit Sarah. Montana said, "Oh, all you want to do is fuck me." Ricky slapped her. "You better watch what you say. You are going to stay here and babysit," he replied. The young woman agreed to think about it, terrified of what might happen if she said no. Around 8 pm, Ricky said they needed to pick up Sharon from her job at the telephone company. When Sharon opened the door, she was shocked to see a stranger sitting in the back seat next to her daughter.
Ricky explained the young woman was a hitchhiker, and he had asked her to stay and babysit for them. Sharon was angry and irritated, but when Ricky proposed that they both have sex with Montana, Sharon agreed. Montana protested and said she did not want to join them in a threesome. Ricky went to the closet and grabbed a piece of rope; he and Sharon bound the woman by her wrists to the headboard. When they tried to rape her, Montana bit Sharon, which sent her into a rage. Together, the couple untied the bindings and dragged her into the bathroom while she kicked and screamed.
Ricky restrained Montana's arms behind her back, pushed her face first over the bathtub's edge, and attempted to penetrate her rectally. Montana squirmed frantically to avoid Ricky, and he yelled for Sharon to grab a knife. She ran to the kitchen and returned, clutching a large butcher knife. Montana continued to fight off Ricky with everything she had. Sharon passed the knife to her husband, and Ricky thrust the blade into Montana's chest so viciously it broke through one of her ribs. He shoved her backward into the tub, her features frozen in shock. Ricky told Sharon to watch her as he went to the bedroom to retrieve the pocketknife he had used to mutilate Jeffrey Davis.
Montana attempted to rise as Ricky returned to the bathroom, and without speaking, he sank the knife into the young woman's flesh. Sharon lunged forward with the butcher knife, and the pair repeatedly stabbed Montana as she screamed and asked why they were doing this. "Because you're a whore," Ricky replied as he left the room again to retrieve a ball-peen hammer. When he returned, he lifted the hammer and brought it down on her head with enough force to make her skull crack. Montana instantly slumped unconscious, blood gushing from the wound. Ricky continued to bludgeon her with the hammer, only stopping when Sharon asked for a turn.
Ricky grabbed the knife and resumed slicing Montana, mutilating her left breast. When the attack was finally over, she had seventeen stab wounds and six slices on her body. Ricky and Sharon silently observed the disfigured corpse in the tub, the blood covering the room, and their bodies. Finally, he reached out and began rubbing blood around his wife's nipple. Sharon moaned, and Ricky continued smearing their victim's blood on her chest. They knelt on the bathroom tile and reached into the tub, dipping their hands in more blood and spreading it on each other's bodies. They eventually had sex and afterward lay exhausted on the cold floor.
They wrapped Montana in a blanket and covered her with newspaper. Then, Ricky and Sharon scrubbed the blood spatter from the walls, linoleum, fixtures, and their bodies. Sharon backed her car up to the trailer's front steps and dragged the corpse down the hall into the truck. They woke Sarah up from her bed and put the toddler in the backseat as Sharon drove the car east toward the center of Boyd. Ricky told her to turn down highway 730 toward Decatur, where their friend Marvin Idell lived. Sharon stopped the vehicle on a bridge in an area known as Flatwood. Ricky hoisted the body of Montana over the railing; she fell twenty feet below onto a dried creek bed. They threw the murder weapons out the window in separate locations, wiping off their fingerprints before discarding them. The following day, Ricky and Sharon took Sarah and Sharon's thirteen-year-old sister, Jill, to the Texas state fair.
While the Greens were enjoying their family day, trooper Alan Troup was on a routine patrol when he stopped his car on the first bridge he came to and looked over the railing. His eyes narrowed in on the figure of a nude female lying facedown in the brush, her legs crossed at the knees. Troup notified Sheriff Ray Allan of Wise County, and within an hour, investigator Mark Autry arrived at the scene to recover evidence. But, unfortunately, there was little to be found. Autry determined the body had been killed elsewhere and dumped at the Flatwood location. Police took Montana's fingerprints and searched every missing person report in the surrounding areas to no avail. The investigation went cold.
On November 23, 1985, Ricky was yearning for the sexual excitement he and Sharon had experienced after the death of Betty Jo Montana. So he dressed in his best Western apparel, kissed Sharon, and told her he would be back with another victim for them. Then, Ricky drove around north Texas for more than two hours, searching for vulnerable women to entice. Finally, about a half-mile from the Inez 50/50 Club on the outskirts of Fort Worth, Ricky noticed a woman hitchhiking.
He pulled up next to the woman. "Where ya goin'," he asked. "To the 50/50 Club," she replied. Ricky introduced himself, and the woman said her name was Sandra Bailey. He invited her to come home with him and smoke some marijuana; Sandra said she was meeting someone. "Get in; I'll take you where you want to go." Together they sat in the car and shared a joint and a kiss; Ricky tried once again to get Sandra to come home with him. She denied his invitation again, saying she wanted to party. As Ricky was deciding on a different way to entice his victim, a cop car drove by, and he decided to join Sandra inside the club.
Ricky and Sandra drank Budweisers, and he asked her to dance. Then, he slipped his hand between her legs and whispered in her ear, "Why don't you come to my house? I promise I'll bring you back later." Sandra said she wanted to stay. "I'll get some more weed for us to smoke," he pressed. "Later. I want to stay here now." Frustrated, Ricky said he needed to make a phone call and walked to the Texaco gas station near the club to call Sharon. Ricky told Sharon he had found someone, but it wasn't going well, and he would call her back if he got her to leave with him. Ricky and Sandra danced and drank for another hour before she was ready to go.
On their way to Boyd, Ricky told Sandra he needed to stop and call his dealer for the weed. But, instead, he phoned Sharon and told her he was on his way home with someone. When they reached Ricky's trailer house, he led Sandra to the couch and began kissing her. Then, as he slipped his hands under her breasts, he shouted, "Sharon!" She emerged from the bedroom, fully naked. Sandra pushed Ricky off of her and demanded that he take her home. Ricky removed his clothes and grabbed Sandra's arm, forcing her into the bedroom. "We're just gonna have some fun, Sandra," Ricky said. Sharon added, "Just take off your clothes, and everything will be all right." Sandra bolted for the door, and Ricky stepped in front of the entrance, blocking her escape. Ricky removed Sandra's clothes and held her down while Sharon wrapped duct tape around their victim's wrists and secured her to the bedpost.
Sandra shrieked, "Stop! Why are you doing this?" Ricky slapped her across the face and told her to shut up. Sharon stuffed Sandra's mouth with rags and placed a strip of duct tape over her face. With her arms restrained and her screams muffled, Sandra continued to fight by kicking her legs and twisting her body. Angry, Ricky and Sharon drug the battling woman to the bathroom and shoved her over the bathtub's edge. Ricky attempted to anally rape Sandra, but she arched and bucked her body, preventing his intrusion. Sharon handed Ricky the long-handled knife placed on the bathroom sink before Sandra arrived. Ricky plunged the knife into her neck, slicing through a large vein. Blood gushed from the wound, and Sandra's fight intensified. Finally, Ricky yelled for Sharon to get the hammer from the toolbox. He swung the weapon so hard it reverberated off her skull like an ax hitting a tree trunk, and she fell backward into the bathtub. Sharon grabbed the knife and jabbed it into Sandra multiple times while Ricky continued to bludgeon her with the hammer.
Eventually, he took the knife from Sharon and continued to mutilate the defenseless body. Sandra had puncture wounds everywhere. Ricky had sunk the knife four times into her right breast and twice into the left. The most lethal stab wound had penetrated the skin and connective tissue at the base of her neck, severing her spinal cord. Ricky stabbed Sandra 30 times, stopping only out of exhaustion. As they did with Montana, Ricky and Sharon repeated the sexual fantasy of using blood as their lubricant.
Afterward, they wrapped the body in newspapers and a blanket, and drug Sandra into their bedroom. By the time they had cleaned the murder scene, it was time for Sharon to go to work. The body sat between the bed and the wall all day until around 11 pm, when Sharon's daughter finally went to sleep. They loaded the body into the trunk, and Sharon carried her sleeping daughter into the backseat as she drove to yet another dump site for their victim. Ricky told Sharon to turn off a side road between Bellview and Henrietta, about seventy miles from Boyd. Ricky pulled Sandra from the car and shoved her body into a culvert beneath the roadway. Realizing her legs could be seen sticking out from the ditch, he bent her at the waist and knees in a fetal position and pushed her entire body into the hiding place. Sharon drove them home and reassured Ricky that everything would be okay.
A week later, heavy rain washed Sandra from the culvert. Charlie Brock, a Lone Star Gas Company employee, was driving to work when he saw a woman's nude body snagged in brush and barbed wire fencing. He called the Clay County Sheriff's Office, and when investigators arrived at the scene, they already suspected this killing might be connected to the killing of their Jane Doe victim, found less than two months ago. Both unidentified women were stabbed repeatedly, stripped of their clothes, and hidden in isolated areas, and they were close in age and body type.
In January of 1986, Ricky was investigated for the sexual abuse of Sharon's daughter, Sarah, and her sister Jill. However, the police department did nothing with the report until May 1986. Finally, Ricky was arrested, but within a few days, a non-prosecution document was signed by Sharon, and a motion was filed to dismiss the charge. Sharon had bribed her sister Jill to say she was lying about her husband raping her, and Ricky was free once again.
On December 29, 1986, Ricky celebrated his twenty-seventh birthday alone in his usual spot at Casion Beach. He was drinking in his car when a man he recognized as Steven Fefferman approached him. Steven was a KXAS television advertising executive and had slept with Ricky once before. When Steven reached the car, he asked Ricky if he wanted to go home with him. Of course, Ricky said yes, but only if Steven bought him a twelve-pack. When he returned with the beer, Ricky told him his wife might need the car, and Steven would have to follow him home so he could drop it off. The pair drove to White Settlement, a west Fort Worth suburb where Ricky and Sharon now lived. Ricky left the car in the driveway and got into Steven's Volvo.
They arrived at Steven's townhome and sat in the living room drinking and listening to music for almost two hours. Finally, Steven asked Ricky if he could tie him up in his bedroom while they had sex. Ricky said it would be more fun to tie Steven up first, and he agreed. So, Ricky cinched ties around Steven's wrists and secured him to the headboard, both men smiling broadly. Suddenly, Ricky reached under the bed and pulled out a long-handled butcher knife. Steven's eyes bulged with panic as he flailed his legs in an attempt to kick his attacker. Ricky ran to the closet and grabbed more work ties from the rack, bounding Steven's feet tightly together. He raised the knife and slashed Steven's throat from ear to ear. Ricky stabbed the knife into Steven repeatedly, ripping through muscles and flesh. Steven would not stop yelling, so Ricky ran into the kitchen and returned with two other knives grasped in his bloodstained hands.
Ricky plunged one of the knives more than an inch deep into the right side of Steven's neck and the second knife into his chest, severing the vein that returns blood to the heart and slashing his liver.
Steven cried out in mercy, although his voice was fading and his skin was turning colorless. Ricky picked up another knife and moved the blade slowly down Steven's body, stopping at his genitals. He grabbed the penis of his trembling victim and, with several sawing motions, amputated it along with part of his scrotum. Ricky shoved Steven's penis into his mouth and thought, "That'll keep you quiet." Then, he straddled over the body lying spreadeagled on the bed and continued to slash, one erratic swing penetrating Steven's left eye, and blood spurted out like a geyser. Finally, with great determination, Ricky sank the knife into his chest plate and sawed through the abdominal cavity into the soft tissue below. Steven's corpse lay wide open from the sternum to the scrotum, exposing his internal organs.
When he finished the attack, Ricky looked at the mutilated body of Steven Fefferman and felt as if he was going to be sick. He yanked the bed covers over the body and grabbed linens and clothes from the bureau, dumping them on the disfigured body. Steven's bare feet were the only thing still seen from under the mound of clothes. Ricky rifled through the rest of Steven's apartment, scattering contents from the drawers around the room in his search for cash. A drop of blood from his fingertips fell onto the floor, and Ricky frantically began wiping his prints off everything he remembered touching. He withdrew both weapons from Steven's body, cleaned the handle and blade, and retuned the knives into the same wounds. Before leaving, Ricky grabbed the remainder of the beer from the fridge, hopped in Steven's car, and took off towards home.
Ricky dozed off several times on the thirty-minute drive to White Settlement. Finally, passing the Las Vegas Trail exit, he was jolted awake by the swerve of the car and a loud thumping noise from the rear. Ricky pulled onto the shoulder, saw he had a flat tire, and began walking home. Ricky and Sharon did not discuss his whereabouts of the night until news broke of Steven Fefferman's murder. As Ricky started to panic that they might look at him as a suspect, Sharon reassured him that he was worrying too much and held him in her arms.
Capture
Over the next few years, Ricky and Sharon continued to drink heavily, entice men and women to have sex with them, and then steal from them for more beer and weed. As a result, Ricky and Sharon are suspected of up to twelve murders. Although Ricky only confessed to the four killings, he admitted there were many "almost" victims, and most of the time, he was black-out drunk and high. Eventually, the alcohol and marijuana weren't enough to satisfy them, and Ricky and Sharon started shooting meth. Consequently, the more they shot up, the more combative they became—many of their arguments ending in physical altercations.
In February of 1989, Sharon confessed to Ricky that she and Ricky's younger brother, Timmy, had stolen $40,000 from Bill Green and spent the money on drugs. Ricky spent the next month trying to hide Sharon in motels across the county from his father. He knew if Bill had the chance, he would kill her. Despite his efforts, on March 8, 1989, Ricky pulled up to their home to find that Sharon and her daughter, Sarah, had moved out. Even though she had deserted him, Sharon used Ricky frequently for drugs and often repaid him in sex. When Bill discovered his son was still communicating with her, he demanded that Ricky kill her. Bill suggested they lace her drugs with chloroform on Sharon's next visit. Instead, Ricky told her about his father's plans, and it was the last time he saw his wife.
On April 26, 1989, Ricky received a strange phone call from Sharon. He had not heard from her in months, and when she said "Hello," her voice seemed to shake. Rick immediately knew something was wrong and suspected she was in jail. Sharon told him she was in rehab, and Ricky responded, "You ain't gonna get me to say nothin'." Sure enough, Sharon Green had called in a tip to the Amarillo Police Department Crime Stoppers a few days prior in hopes of reaping a $10,000 reward she could use to buy meth.
She told the police she lived with Ricky Lee Green in Boyd and observed him commit three murders using a knife. Sharon described where the bodies were dumped and concluded the call by saying he cut the penis off of his victim found in Fort Worth. Ricky was arrested at around midnight on April 27. Two and a half years after the murder of Steven Fefferman and four years after the discovery of the bodies of Jeffrey Davis, Betty Jo Montana, and Sandra Bailey.
Ricky Green
Source: Blood Rush
Investigation/Trial
Fort Worth police Detective SoRelle and Detective LaRue were assigned to Ricky Green's case. When questioned, Ricky didn't ask for a lawyer and was ready to talk about Steven Fefferman. He retold the killing in graphic detail and concluded his confession at 2:57 am. Detective LaRue continued his interrogation and asked Ricky to tell them about his other murders. He began with Jeffrey Davis, the sixteen-year-old boy he had stabbed to death. Then he told them about the two women he had killed, leaving out the parts that implicated Sharon. When asked if his wife had helped him, Ricky said that Sharon had known of the murders but didn't commit them or help him hide the bodies. Nearly nine hours had passed since Ricky's arrest by the time his confession ended.
The following day, Detectives LaRue and SoRelle asked a jailer to bring Ricky back into the interrogation room. They tossed a copy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on the table and asked if he had read the latest issue. Ricky picked up the newspaper, and his eyes drifted to the front-page picture of himself. The caption below his photo read, "Ricky Lee Green: His wife's statement led to his arrest." Ricky was furious; until that point, he thought his father, Bill, had turned him in. He looked up at the investigators and immediately began retelling his story, telling them every component of Sharon's involvement in the murders of Montana and Sandra.
On May 4, 1989, Ricky was indicted on capital murder charges, and his bail was set at $1.25 million. He tried to commit suicide twice while waiting for his trial to begin. On his first attempt, he ripped the bottom of his shirt off and climbed onto the toilet to slip the fabric over a support bar in the ceiling. Ricky tied it around his neck and jumped from the toilet seat, but the material ripped from the bar. The second time, he pulled his mattress to the center of his cell. He placed crumpled newspaper, unraveled two rolls of toilet paper, and placed it in the center of the bedding. Ricky threw matches onto the material and grabbed a blanket in an attempt to trap the smoke. Ricky deeply breathed in the deadly fumes, but as he started to feel faint, his panic overcame him, and he desperately lifted the blanket off him and sobbed. The guards placed Ricky in isolation after his failed attempts to kill himself. However, this pleased Ricky. He was terrified to be among the other prisoners.
Two weeks after Sharon Green had told the police her husband had killed four people, she turned herself in. Sharon knew Ricky would implicate her in the murders as soon as he found out she had turned him in. She chose to play the battered wife card and said Ricky forced her to do everything. She was charged and indicted on two counts of capital murder, and her bond was set at $1.5 million. Finally, in February of 1990, Sharron began her trial. She summoned all her tears and told the eight women, four man jury, that she had only stayed with Ricky because that's what was expected of her as a preacher's daughter. Her testimony was full of contradictions, and she was found guilty. However, Sharon only received ten years of probation for the murders of Betty Jo Montana and Sandra Bailey. The jury believed her tales of the torture she endured from Ricky while they were married.
In September 1990, the trial for Ricky Lee Green commenced. Michael Wiener, a fingerprint specialist, testified he found three latent prints of Ricky's at Steven Fefferman's townhouse. One was taken from the bathroom, another from the living room table, and the third was found on a plastic tie hanger. The final damning witness was Detective LaRue, he read Ricky's written confession, and the state rested its case. Frustrated, Ricky's attorney began to shift their focus on attacking the capital murder charge, which claimed that the murder of Steven occurred in the course of committing robbery. They tried desperately to prove to the jury that Ricky entered the townhome that night without the intention of robbing Steven. But the evidence found at the crime scene spoke for itself.
On September 15, 1990, a six women, six man jury deliberated for three hours and thirty minutes before finding Ricky Green guilty. He now faced the possibility of the death punishment, and his attorneys began grasping at straws. Finally, they brought in his older siblings, Perry and Teresa, to testify about their abusive childhoods. The defense hoped that the jury would see Bill Green had ultimately caused Ricky's behavior by the torment he inflicted, and he deserved a life sentence rather than being put to death. While being raised in a life of torture and abuse is not okay, many adults have endured similar situations and never once turned to murder. Luckily the jury saw through his excuses, and after thirty-five minutes of deliberating, Ricky was sentenced to the death penalty.
Ricky on trial
Source: Blood Rush
Where are they now?
While on death row, Ricky worked in the prison clothing factory with another notorious Texas killer, Henry Lee Lucus. Lucas confessed to as many as three hundred fifty murders and killed many of his victims in the same way as Ricky Green. Ricky pleaded guilty to the death of Sandra Bailey and Jeffrey Davis and received two life sentences to be served in addition to his death sentence. As part of a plea bargain, the murder charge of Betty Jo Montana was dropped. Ricky was suspected of eight additional slayings that matched his method of technique but declined to confess at the advice of his council.
On October 8, 1997, Ricky was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit. In a break of procedure, prison officials had to use only a single needle instead of the customary two, as they had trouble finding a suitable vein to inject due to Green's long-time drug addiction. In his final statement, he thanked God for the opportunity to get to know him and expressed how he felt he wasn't a threat to society anymore. Killing him would solve nothing; only his friends and family would be punished.
Ricky and Sharon Green had not been in contact since the day she called before his arrest. On November 12, 1991, Sharon appeared on an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show. She maintained her battered wife façade and retold the tale of how Ricky forced her to kill two women. Sharon also claimed he had threatened to kill her and her daughter Sarah and she was terrified for their lives. Nevertheless, her tears brought forth little sympathy from Oprah Winfrey or her audience. I combed the web to find the episode featuring Sharon but couldn't find it anywhere. Something tells me they might be a little embarrassed to have brought a murderer onto their network for an interview. If you can find a link or recording of the show, please email it to me at txtruecrime@gmail.com.
Ricky on death row
Source: Blood Rush
Sources
https://archive.org/details/bloodrush00patr/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Lee_Green
https://serialdispatches.com/alphabetical-list-of-serial-killers/list-of-serial-killers-g/green-ricky-lee-sharon/
https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/denton-true-crime-author-gives-up-retirement-after-suspect-is-arrested-in-29-year-old-murder-9051714