Here's the article from CNN....
Ridgway confesses to 48 killings in Green River case
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 said sentencing would happen six months from Wednesday's hearing to allow investigators to question Ridgway in more detail. Baird told Judge 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.
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.
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.
The plea agreement was reached in June, but submitted to the court only Wednesday. Prosecutor Baird said the 41 of the 48 cases might not have been resolved without the agreement, and he said most of the victims' families agreed with the deal.
"These individuals are all in a state of grief. They are angry and upset," he said. "But I believe I can say with assurance that most of them -- a majority of them -- agree in principle with the plea agreement, and there are a few, I'm told, that do not."
Ridgway's pleas to 48 counts 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.
CNN correspondent Gary Tuchman contributed to this report.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/11/05/gr...ngs/index.html
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