Green River Killer

November 2003, Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949), known as the Green River Killer, is one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. The Green River case has already set cost records in King County, with a $12 million price tag over the last two years alone. A death penalty trial for Ridgway would likely be one of the longest and most complex in U.S. history. On November 5, 2003, Ridgway entered a guilty plea to 48 charges of aggravated first degree murder as part of a plea bargain, agreed to in June, that would spare him execution in exchange for his cooperation in locating the remains of his victims and providing other details. In his statement accompanying his guilty plea, Ridgway explained all of his victims had been killed inside King County, Washington, and that he had transported and dumped the remains of the two women near Portland to confuse the police.

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On November 30, 2001, as Gary was leaving a Renton, Washington factory where he worked, he was arrested for the murders of four women whose cases were linked to him through DNA evidence.[1] Two years later he pleaded guilty to 48 counts of aggravated murder, although he says he actually killed 71 women, almost all prostitutes. The murders occurred in the early 1980s. As part of a plea bargain, he was spared the death penalty and received a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Ridgway has been married three times and has one son. He carried his son's photo in his wallet to lure most of his victims into his pickup truck.
DOCUMENTS
• Prosecutor's summary of evidence (King County, Wash.)PDF link
• Plea agreement (PDF, King County)PDF link
• Ridgway's statement (PDF, King County)PDF link
VIA
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External Links - 1) Gary Ridgway
2) Court TV.com: Why not the death penalty?

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