Yup, the perp is pleading guilty to 48 murders....
it is hard to believe that there are TWO of these monsters in the Pacific Northwest; Gary Ridgeway and
Willy Pickton (see:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/features/bc_missingwomen.html)
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/11/05/ridgway031105
Green River killer pleads guilty
Last Updated Wed, 05 Nov 2003 13:53:13
SEATTLE - A Washington truck painter has admitted that he is the Green River serial killer.
Lawyers for Gary Ridgway confirmed Wednesday in a Seattle court that he is pleading guilty to 48 murders.
In exchange for the plea, prosecutors will not ask for the death penalty.
FROM DEC. 5, 2001: Murder charges laid in Green River serial killer case
"I killed so many women, I have a hard time keeping them straight," he said in a confession that was read aloud in court.
"I wanted to kill as many women as I thought were prostitutes as I possibly could," the statement said.
Deal doesn't cover any crimes outside King County
The plea agreement disclosed in King County Superior Court was reached in June.
It does not cover any crimes Ridgway might be responsible for outside King County.
And it does not bar the death penalty in other cases.
The murders began in 1982, involving women in the Seattle area, most of them runaways and prostitutes.
The first victims turned up in the Green River, a small river just south of Seattle. Other bodies were discovered near ravines, airports and freeways.
Prosecutors believed the murders stopped in 1984, but one of the killings Ridgway admitted to was in 1990 and another in 1998.
Ridgway, from the Seattle suburb of Auburn, was arrested in 2001.
Prosecutors said they were able to match a saliva sample taken from Ridgway in 1987 with DNA samples taken from the bodies of three of the earliest victims.
Written by CBC News Online staff
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