Famous Crimes: 'It was a Jekyll and Hyde thing'

Ricky Lee Green committed some of the most heinous murders in the north Texas history. Today in Famous Crimes, Staff Writer Bill Miller tells us about Green, whose own tortured childhood led him to kill, but who in the end tried to help others through his faith, according to an author who wrote a book about the killer.

-- Lance Murray

History shows that Ricky Lee Green stabbed and sexually mutilated Steven Fefferman on this date in 1986, but Green, a Wise County mechanic, also confessed to three earlier fatal mutilations -- a teen-age boy and two women.

All were separate, but equally grisly and nearly unspeakable to North Texas police who investigated the murders.

In succeeding years, residents of Green's native Boyd could only speculate on the origins of such evil.

But author Patricia Springer tried to break it down in Blood Rush, her 1994 paperback about Green, who was 36 in 1997 when he was executed by lethal injection for killing Fefferman.

In a 1997 interview with Star-Telegram Staff Writer John Moritz, Springer recounted how Green "had the worst childhood anyone could have imagined."

Springer said she learned that Green had been abused physically and sexually by relatives and threatened with castration for wetting the bed.

At 15, he began prostituting himself to men to pay for a growing drug habit, Springer said.

Sober, he was meek and eager to please, she said, but while on drugs and alcohol, he turned evil.

"It was," she added, "a Jekyll and Hyde thing."

Investigators believe his first known victim was 16-year-old Jeffery Davis, whom he met one night in April 1985 at a hangout on the shores of Lake Worth.

Springer said Green told her that he killed Davis because the youth had made a sexual advance.

His body was discovered a day later in a swampy section of the Fort Worth Nature Center. He was stabbed repeatedly, castrated and almost beheaded.

Investigators learned that the next victim was Betty Jo Monroe, 28, of Amarillo. She was hitchhiking in October 1985 on U.S. 287 on Fort Worth's north side when Green offered a her ride. She was stabbed and hammered to death in Green's home, according to reports.

About a month later, Sandra Lorraine Bailey, 27, of Fort Worth was at a bar in Lake Worth when Green invited her back to his home. She agreed and died the same death as Monroe.

A year and a month later, Fefferman, a 28-year-old advertising executive for KXAS-TV/Channel 5, was found at his home at Casino Beach on Lake Worth, slashed and emasculated.

Police didn't have a break in any of the killings until Green's ex-wife, Sharon Dollar, linked him with the deaths of Davis and Fefferman. She also told police that she had helped Green kill Monroe and Bailey. She received 10 years' probation for her part in the killings, according to reports.

In the end, Springer said, Green turned his life over to Jesus and chose not to blame anyone but himself for his murderous behavior.

"Ricky took his own tortured life and used it to turn others around," Springer wrote. "His testimony has been presented to spellbound students in the Austin area as an example of how abuse and addiction can take not only one's own life but the lives of others."

Springer also wrote that Green told her, "If I can save one kid, my death was worth it."

-- Bill Miller

Comments

[Road Dawg]

You roll the dice. Some worse than others, but no one gets off scott free. Child abuse and resultant drug abuse affects everyone.

[teresa cornwall]

this man was evil. i know because i was around him. he was awful. i hated him. he embodied the devil himself. im just glad my family did not fall victim to him...

[SOS]

I can't believe how many things that were never brought to light about Ricky Lee Green and Sharon Dollar Green. I was introduced to them under unfortunate circumstances and count myself lucky not to have been a victim, not so much because of Ricky, but because of Sharon.

[Leana Jo H.]

I read the book and it's very good read. He was horribly abused by a very mean father. I mean, this guy could have won the "Mean Father Of The Year" award. He was that cruel.

I know what Ricky Lee Green did was terrible and horrible, but I hope he's resting in peace and has found God. You have to forgive sometime. If not, then you'll never meet your maker.

[Mindy]

I knew Sharon and Ricky as a child. My mother worked with Sharon and they were friends outside of work. Ricky was a wall-flower and Sharon always seemed very sweet but timid. If you knew these people, you would realize that evil lurks everywhere and that in the end, good prevails. Sharon was and still is a wonderful person. SHE is the real victim, and finally found the nerve to speak out against him. She lived in terror, and I think that she is a strong person whom had to endure evil more than imaginable.

[Rhonda S.]

I read the book that Ms. Springer wrote, I followed the trial by tv and newspaper. And while all the murders were horrendous, I disagreed that Sharon Dollar Green got probation. She should have spent time in prison for the murders that she helped Ricky Green commit.

[Nancy Chaney]

I lost my sister in 7-30-08 She grieved her self to death for her son Jeffery Davis she was a young Mom...Sharon Green is repossible for all the Deaths also she was there...there is a place for her one day in life and i don't think its heaven...God watches every move...God Bless her

[Minnie]

OMG!!! This was a awful story. I can't see how parents would do tht stuff to their kids. See what the devil and wrong choices can do to your life. I pray tht this will NEVER happen again. Stay safe and live on God's will and pray. God Bless Everyone and WORSHIP JESUS!!!

[Philip Gold]

Well I can tell you from first hand accounts that this was a very sick man. I had been in his house as a kid growing up in Boyd. And it is only because of Jesus that a person with the thoughts that this man possessed could be healed by Christ. If anything good ever came out of this it is that kids are being told about the transformation one man can have. But we should seek to know if they realize the change he has is from Christ.

[Ashlee]

He was my mom's mechanic out in Boyd. Scary stuff.

[Robyn]

This guy is in my boyfriends family tree. Weird.

[ashlie]

sharon's father worked for my father during the time of the murders, and Sara and I were around the same age, and were friends as children. To be honest I think she is just as guilty as he is.

[BZ]

Uh, sorry, but you don't get to rape, torture and murder people and then ask for forgiveness in the 11th hour. The idea that he was "healed" is ridiculous. He was hedging his bets because death was imminent. As for the probation, read the details of these grisly murders and then consider if you'd want that person living any where near you.

[joan stukes]

I was questioned to be a juror for his capital murder trial in Austin. He was in the courtroom during my questioning by both sides. He was in shackles & chains, and couldn't care less what was going on in that courtroom. Talk about dazed & confused. At the time, I was about 3 years younger than he, and female. I wasn't selected based on my capital punishment position, which ultimately proved positive. But his final statement sealed his conviction. My heart goes out to his victims and their families every year since that happened to them. Ricky Lee Green was brought to justice, even without me on the jury.

[Michelle Monroe]

I am glad that he was put to death, I wish Sharon would of got more then she got. My name is Michelle Monroe and Betty Jo Monroe was my mother. I did not learn of her death until May of 2004, a few months before my 28 birthday. My mother left me with her mother when I was 2 or 3 and because of that sick couple, I will never get the chance to meet my mother. I hope Sharon thinks of my mother every day and knows that she took my mom from me.

[Scott]

I lived next door to Sharon Dollar. Her and Ricky were both nuts! She will answer for her sins too one day.

[leslie]

i lived in the same aparments as a child as they did , i played with sara, i recall once he went out side in anger and broke apart my uncles skate board ramp in rage, the cops asked us questions and my mother was ordered to testify anything she knew, we all missed sara when she moved away ,

[Bobbie Monroe]

My name is Bobbie Monroe, the sister to Betty Jo Monroe who was brutally murdered by Ricky Lee Green. I believe he got what he deserved. I will never forgive him or his ex-wife for the henious crimes that they committed. My family will never get to know my sister because you have taken her away from us. Sharon deserved to receive the death penalty as well. By letting her receive probation what is that teaching our future generations??!!!

[carmen]

i live down the street from where his parents lived....wierd

[Jessica D.]

My name is Jessica Davis. I am the sister of Jeffrey Davis, Ricky and Sharon's first victim. I think that giving Ricky death and Sharon mere probation is unacceptable. If you read the writings of the book, Bloodrush, you'll see that they both were just as guilty of these crimes. I miss my brother and I sure do wish I would have gotten a chance to meet him; I was born one year after his murder.