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An American serial killer, Gary Leon Ridgway (The Green River Killer) has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering over 90 women
According to Investigation Discovery, after preying on women in Washington’s King County from the 1980s through the ’90s, Gary Leon Ridgway was caught and convicted for the deaths of 49 victims. Nicknamed “The Green River Killer,” Ridgway confessed to 71 murders.
But investigators believe he may have slayed over 90 women. He is now considered one of America’s most prolific serial killers.
Ridgway often preyed upon sex workers, runaways, addicts and other women he considered vulnerable targets since they likely wouldn’t be reported missing right away, if ever.
“I do not have a good memory of their faces. I killed so many women, I have a hard time keeping them straight,” Ridgway said in a statement that prosecutors read at the killer’s 2003 plea deal hearing.
On Nov. 30, 2001, Ridgway was leaving his job at Kenworth Truck Co. in Renton, Washington, when police arrested him. Ridgway was finally linked to several murders thanks to advances in DNA testing technology. Investigators were able to use a saliva swab the serial killer submitted in the 1980s to match his DNA with semen found in four of his victims’ bodies.
Ridgway avoided the death penalty by striking a plea deal with prosecutors that required him to reveal the locations of the women he killed. On Dec. 18, 2003, he was sentenced to 48 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. A 49th body was found in 2011, and Ridgway received an additional life sentence.
Source: Investigation Discovery
