US serial killer admits to 48 murders
An American man has confessed in court to murdering 48 women – more than any other serial killer in US history.
Gary L Ridgway pleaded guilty to strangling the young women in the Seattle area during what has become known as the Green River killing spree in the 1980’s.
Ridgway, a truck painter, told the court in a statement: “I wanted to kill as many women as I thought were prostitutes as I possibly could. I killed so many women, I have a hard time keeping them straight.”
His confession is part of a deal with prosecutors that spared him the death penalty; instead he will get a life sentence with no chance of parole.
Ridgway had been a suspect in the murders since 1984, however he was not arrested until 2001 when advanced DNA techniques linked him to seven of the crimes. Prosecutors made the deal in order to gain information about the other killings.
The statement was read out in a courtroom overflowing with relatives of the murdered women, many of whom are angry that he will be spared the death penalty. For weeks before the trial he had been leading police to sites where he buried the bodies.
