Green River Killer admits to 48 Murders

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2003-11-05 02:53pm

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- Accused Green River Killer Gary Leon Ridgway pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday after admitting count by count to the killings of 48 women in northwest Washington since 1982.

Ridgway, a 54-year-old former truck painter, entered his plea under an agreement with prosecutors that spares his life. He will instead agree to life without parole.

Count by count, Ridgway affirmed a statement admitting to the killings as prosecutor Jeff Baird read the document aloud in court.

"In most cases, when I murdered these women, I did not know their names," Ridgway's statement to the court said. "Most of the time, I killed them the first time I met them. I do not have a good memory for their faces. I killed so many women, I have a hard time keeping them straight."

Some relatives of the victims wept in the courtroom as Ridgway made the confessions.

Judge Richard A. Jones did not set a sentencing date, but said sentencing would happen six months from Wednesday's hearing to allow investigators to question Ridgway in more detail.

Baird told Judge Richard Jones that prosecutors would ask the court to sentence Ridgway to 48 life terms in prison without possibility of parole.

In his statement, Ridgway said he targeted prostitutes "because I thought I could kill as many as I wanted without getting caught."

"I hate most prostitutes. I did not want to pay them for sex," he acknowledged. "I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up, without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away, and might never be reported missing."

Ridgway had been scheduled for trial in July 2004 in connection with the deaths of seven of the women. Prosecutors said DNA evidence linked him to at least some of the seven slayings and had been seeking the death penalty against him.

Before the hearing, authorities would not confirm what many speculated, that Ridgway provided information in exchange for a plea deal that would save him from the death penalty and give him life without parole.

I do not have a good memory for their faces. I killed so many women, I have a hard time keeping them straight.
-- Gary Ridgway

However, two of the bodies on the official list of Green River victims were found in Oregon, which has capital punishment, and it is still unclear whether Ridgway will plead guilty to those murders.

The Green River Killer's slaying spree began in 1982, targeting women in the Seattle area, mainly runaways and prostitutes. The first victims turned up near the banks of the Green River south of Seattle, giving the killer his name.

The remains of dozens of women turned up near Pacific Northwest ravines, rivers, airports and freeways in the 1980s. Of them, investigators officially listed 49 women as probable victims of the Green River Killer.

One of the victims of the Green River killing spree was Patricia Yellow Robe.

"I find it incredible that an individual was able to cause that many deaths, perpetrate that much suffering and misery on so many people," said Joe Yellow Robe, father of Patricia.

An onlooker from the Ridgway hearing.
Investigators had hoped for a quick arrest, but were stumped for years. Nobody was arrested until 2001, when DNA evidence led to seven murder charges against the 54-year-old Ridgway.

Until recently, lawyers for Ridgway had said he was going to plead not guilty. But this summer, four more bodies were located, the first time in years missing victims had been found, leading to speculation Ridgway was offering information for a deal.

Investigators also recently found human bones in two other locations near Seattle, which raised questions about how so many victims could be discovered at once. Investigators say six women are still missing from the Green River case.

Ridgway's pleas to 48 counts would give him more convictions -- though not necessarily more slayings -- than any other serial killer in the nation's history.

John Wayne Gacy, who preyed on men and boys in Chicago in the 1970s, was convicted of killing 33. Ted Bundy, whose killing started in Washington state, confessed to killing more than 30 women and girls, but was convicted only of killing three before he was executed.

Is it me or is the serial killer phenomenon now grwoing worse with death tolls soon to tip 100 deaths?!

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2003-11-05 03:06pm

Not really, the biggest body count ever still belongs to Elizabeth Bathory and she has been dead for centuries. Also, Henry Lee Lucas was thought to kill upwards of seventy people, but it could ever be confirmed.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2003-11-05 03:19pm

How many did John Wayne Gacey have again? I know he is the one who said "You'll never ind them all"

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-11-05 03:24pm

Elizabeth Bathory? If we count nobility, Vlad Dracul beats them all.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2003-11-05 03:26pm

Ender wrote:How many did John Wayne Gacey have again? I know he is the one who said "You'll never ind them all"

They found 31 bodies in his house, but it is widely believed that he killed several more.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2003-11-05 03:29pm

HemlockGrey wrote:Elizabeth Bathory? If we count nobility, Vlad Dracul beats them all.

Yes, but Vlad the Impaler didn't kill 100,000 people directly, so he qualifies more as a despot then a serial killer (though I'll grant you, the line is very fuzzy). Bathory was more of the serial killer mentality and although she had the assistance of others in her murders, she hand-picked each victim and decided precicely how they would die, often by her own hand.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-11-05 04:06pm

I can NOT believe they accepted a plea bargain for this piece of shit. Fry him Oregon, PLEASE.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-11-05 04:14pm

Harold Shipman was convicted with 15 murders, IIRC, yet he may have killed as many as over a couple of hundred.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-11-05 04:46pm

Bah, this doesn't even come close to that Russian serial killer who offed
shitloads of people..."Serial Killers? We cannot have that in our perfect
communistic socety, serial killers are a capitalistic evil!"

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2003-11-05 04:48pm

MKSheppard wrote:Bah, this doesn't even come close to that Russian serial killer who offed
shitloads of people..."Serial Killers? We cannot have that in our perfect
communistic socety, serial killers are a capitalistic evil!"

Citizen X, a very good movie, especially showing the Communist beaurcracy disbelief regarding the possibility of a serial killer and the invesitgators getting yelled at for even thinking of consulting with the FBI.

Macross · Post by **Macross** » 2003-11-06 03:18am

Frank Hipper wrote:I can NOT believe they accepted a plea bargain for this piece of shit. Fry him Oregon, PLEASE.

From what I hear, the plea bargain was life in prision in exchange for the locations of his victims bodies. The judge said it was a tough call, but that he believed that recovering all the victims was more imortant.

Besides, he probably wont last long in prison anyway.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2003-11-06 03:27am

Hell, I'd rather see the guy assfucked the rest of his life then given a quick death.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-11-06 05:21am

May he become the bitch of a big gorilla.

Dargos · Post by **Dargos** » 2003-11-06 09:02am

hmmm.. I wonder if Iam related to this guy. Ridgway isn't a very common last name. Creepy..

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2003-11-06 09:10am

That guy is only a small fish.

In South America they had sentenced a serial killer to death a few years ago, who has murdered 1500-2000 children in the span of 10 years (He himself had forgotten the exact number).
They have called him "El Loco" (Correct me if I spelled it wrong)

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-11-06 10:44am

there was also the guy in the british book the decivers. After arrest and torcher, the alleged head of the Thuggee cult confessed to a million murders before being hanged.

no one knows if this was just an elaborate ruse for an officer to make a name for himself. As ever since the author published said book a few centuries ago, after the corresponding trials, there have been people in India and in Europe claiming the Thuggee were all a hoax....

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2003-11-06 10:58am

Haha.

The only difference is, that El Loco was sentenced by a south american court in the 90's. That's a bit different.....