Gary Ridgway, the “Green River Killer” who was convicted in 2003 of the murder of 49 women around Washington state, said this week that his victim count may be closer to 80 and that he’d like to take a trip with police to the sites where he believes more remains can be found.
Ridgway says that law enforcement kept him in a vehicle when he originally showed them the sites, and that he wants to be able to walk the areas on foot in order to better help officials on a quest to find several more unnamed victims. Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 murders after DNA linked him to the crimes, and admitted to a 49th in 2011. When he was arrested, he claimed dozens more but couldn’t be linked to those through hard evidence; he also claimed that he’d killed so many he couldn’t keep track of them all.
“I killed so many women, I have a hard time keeping them straight,” Ridgway said.
Ridgway said he targeted prostitutes–or women he thought were prostitutes–and had a goal to kill as many of them as he could in the ’80s. The violent spree rocked Seattle and surrounding areas for years, until he was caught in 2001 through advances in DNA testing.
“The plan was I wanted to kill as many women as I thought were prostitutes as I possibly could.” Ridgway said. “I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.”
Neko Case’s “Deep Red Bells”, about her time living in the Seattle area during Ridgway’s reign of terror.
Image: Wikimedia Commons