MrRant 0 Report post Posted November 3, 2003 SEATTLE - This week, a slight man with thick glasses, a man who has been married three times and is the father of one child, is expected to plead guilty to at least 48 separate charges of murder, sources involved with the case have told The Associated Press. When it's over Wednesday, Gary Leon Ridgway will have more murders on his record than any other serial killer in the nation's history. And a mystery that confounded detectives for two decades will come to a close. Ridgway, 54, a longtime painter at Kenworth Truck Co., is expected to admit being the Green River Killer, named for the river south of Seattle where the first victims were found. The plea would spare him the death penalty in King County, instead assuring him life in prison without parole, the sources said. 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 to those. The remains of scores of women, mainly runaways and prostitutes, turned up near ravines, rivers, airports and freeways in the 1980s. Of them, investigators officially listed 49 women as probable victims of the Green River Killer. Ridgway had been a suspect ever since 1984, when Marie Malvar's boyfriend reported that he last saw her getting into a pickup truck identified as Ridgway's. But Ridgway told police he didn't know Malvar, and a police investigator in Des Moines, midway between Seattle and Tacoma, who knew him cleared him as a suspect. Later that year, Ridgway contacted the King County Sheriff's Green River task force — ostensibly to offer information about the case — and passed a polygraph test. Detectives continued to suspect him, however, and in 1987 they searched his house and took a saliva sample. It was 13 years before DNA technology caught up to their suspicions and they could link that sample to DNA taken from the bodies of three of the earliest victims. Ridgway was arrested as he left work Nov. 30, 2001, and later pleaded innocent to seven killings. But facing DNA evidence and the prospect of the death penalty, he began cooperating and trading information for his life. He confessed to 42 of the 49 listed killings, as well as six not on the list, the sources have said. He directed authorities to four sets of previously undiscovered remains. It turned out that the killings continued long after detectives thought the Green River Killer had stopped, the sources said. The last victim on the official list disappeared in 1984, but one of the cases Ridgway is expected to plead to involves a woman killed in 1990, and another involves a woman killed in 1998. That has stunned some criminologists. "Once they're identified as a suspect, they usually stop," said Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University in Boston. "Ridgway is really a rare specimen, even among his peers, in being able to avoid apprehension for such a long time." 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, Levin said. It's difficult to know who the most prolific serial killers are because many don't confess. Prosecutors often charge suspects only with the cases they're certain they can prove. And some of those who do confess may take credit for crimes they didn't commit, in hopes of appearing more deadly than they actually were. 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. Relatives of the Green River Killer's victims have had mixed responses to the idea of a plea deal. Some accused King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng of reneging on a promise he made when Ridgway was first charged that he would not bargain with the death penalty. Maleng and other King County officials have declined to comment on the plea deal. Maria Marrero, whose sister Becky disappeared in 1982, told KOMO-TV no plea deal would please her. She wants Ridgway put to death. "That's the most devastating thing — that I will probably never have that privilege, to bury my sister," she said. But other victims' relatives have said that learning what happened to their loved ones is worth giving up the death penalty. "Life as he knows it is pretty much done and over with," said Tim Meehan, whose pregnant, 18-year-old sister was found dead in 1983. "The other families at least now have the opportunity to have answers. If you can exchange that information for life in prison, well, to me it's well worth the information." --------------------------------------------------------------------- I remember this going on while I was 5-6. Can't believe 20 years later and 49 people dead and they finally have the guy. And the guy should get death. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vern Gagne 0 Report post Posted November 3, 2003 Hopefully he meets up with a make shift razor in the shower. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted November 3, 2003 Rant, if we off this guy we are no better than him. BWAHAHAHAHAHA... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest FrigidSoul Report post Posted November 3, 2003 Hopefully he meets up with a make shift razor in the shower. He most likely won't be in gen-pop I'd like to see the final amount of years he gets in jail. I mean a life sentence in most states is 40 years, so I'm guessing he's gonna have a term over 1600 years technically Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1234-5678 0 Report post Posted November 5, 2003 SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- Gary Ridgway has admitted to killing dozens of women in the Pacific Northwest, a confession that gives him more murder convictions on his record than any other serial killer in U.S. history. "I killed so many women I have a hard time keeping them straight," he said in a confession read aloud in court. "I wanted to kill as many women as I thought were prostitutes as I possibly could," Ridgway said in the statement. Some relatives of the victims were crying in the courtroom as Ridgway made the confessions. 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 in 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. The local prosecutor said there would be no deals. "The policy of this office is not to bargain with the death penalty, period," said Norm Maleng, King County prosecutor An onlooker at Ridgway's hearing. 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted November 5, 2003 What should I say regarding this situation? I'm too lazy to type it again, so I’ll link what I said about this story when Rant posted this topic two days ago… Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1234-5678 0 Report post Posted November 5, 2003 What should I say regarding this situation? I'm too lazy to type it again, so I’ll link what I said about this story when Rant posted this topic two days ago… Ouch, point taken. My fault. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted November 5, 2003 We all do it at sometime or another. My policy is to check out the threads on the page and see if I'm being a copycat. Oh, here's a pic of the guy -- does he look like a madman?... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1234-5678 0 Report post Posted November 5, 2003 Kind of looks like my old man. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nighthawk 0 Report post Posted November 5, 2003 He looks exactly like my 5th grade teacher. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
