Ridgway pleads guilty to 48 Green River killings | Seattle P-I [View All]

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Ridgway pleads guilty to 48 Green River killings
'I killed so many women I have a hard time keeping them straight'



By VANESSA HO, TRACY JOHNSON AND HECTOR CASTRO
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS

In the end, the case to spare the life of Gary Leon Ridgway, the Green River Killer who haunted the Northwest for 21 years, came down to two forces.

King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, who once vowed never to bargain with the death penalty, wanted the truth. And Ridgway, an Auburn truck painter who pleaded guilty to committing more murders than any serial killer in the country ever has, wanted to live.

"The mercy provided by today's resolution is directed not at Ridgway, but toward the families who have suffered so much, and to the larger community," Maleng said yesterday.

"The justice we could achieve was to uncover the truth."

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