droogsteve
11-05-2003, 09:23 PM
SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- Hatred and arrogance fueled Gary Leon Ridgway's killing spree.
In confessing to more murders than any other serial killer in U.S. history Wednesday, the 54-year-old former truck painter provided heart-wrenching details of the 48 women he murdered to their families gathered in a Seattle courtroom to hear his confession.
Ridgway's confessions came in exchange for a plea agreement that spares him the death penalty and provides information that will help parents recover the remains of daughters lost for nearly two decades.
King County prosecutor Norm Maleng said Ridgway agreed to help investigators locate and identify the remains of some of those victims whose bodies remain undiscovered if prosecutors dropped efforts to obtain a death sentence.
Ridgway affirmed a 16-page statement admitting to the killings as King County Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Baird read the document aloud in court Wednesday.
In his statement, Ridgway said he targeted prostitutes "because I thought I could kill as many as I wanted without getting caught."
"Gary Ridgway does not deserve our mercy, and Gary Ridgway does not deserve to live," Maleng said. "The mercy provided by today's resolution is not directed toward Gary Ridgway, but toward the families who suffered so much and to the larger community."
"I hate most prostitutes. I did not want to pay them for sex," Ridgway acknowledged. "I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up, without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away, and might never be reported missing."
Some relatives of the victims wept in the courtroom as Ridgway confessed.
Ridgway also acknowledged that killing was his intent before meeting the women.
"In most cases, when I murdered these women, I did not know their names," Ridgway's statement to the court said. "Most of the time, I killed them the first time I met them. I do not have a good memory for their faces. I killed so many women, I have a hard time keeping them straight."
Ridgway admitted placing the bodies in "clusters," usually near a landmark that helped him remember their locations.
"I did this because I wanted to keep track of all of the women I killed," he said in his statement, which he affirmed as Baird read it aloud. "I liked to drive by the clusters around the county and think about the women I placed there."
ENTIRE STORY (http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/11/05/green.river.killings/index.html) What the fuck do you have to do to get the death penalty these days?
In confessing to more murders than any other serial killer in U.S. history Wednesday, the 54-year-old former truck painter provided heart-wrenching details of the 48 women he murdered to their families gathered in a Seattle courtroom to hear his confession.
Ridgway's confessions came in exchange for a plea agreement that spares him the death penalty and provides information that will help parents recover the remains of daughters lost for nearly two decades.
King County prosecutor Norm Maleng said Ridgway agreed to help investigators locate and identify the remains of some of those victims whose bodies remain undiscovered if prosecutors dropped efforts to obtain a death sentence.
Ridgway affirmed a 16-page statement admitting to the killings as King County Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Baird read the document aloud in court Wednesday.
In his statement, Ridgway said he targeted prostitutes "because I thought I could kill as many as I wanted without getting caught."
"Gary Ridgway does not deserve our mercy, and Gary Ridgway does not deserve to live," Maleng said. "The mercy provided by today's resolution is not directed toward Gary Ridgway, but toward the families who suffered so much and to the larger community."
"I hate most prostitutes. I did not want to pay them for sex," Ridgway acknowledged. "I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up, without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away, and might never be reported missing."
Some relatives of the victims wept in the courtroom as Ridgway confessed.
Ridgway also acknowledged that killing was his intent before meeting the women.
"In most cases, when I murdered these women, I did not know their names," Ridgway's statement to the court said. "Most of the time, I killed them the first time I met them. I do not have a good memory for their faces. I killed so many women, I have a hard time keeping them straight."
Ridgway admitted placing the bodies in "clusters," usually near a landmark that helped him remember their locations.
"I did this because I wanted to keep track of all of the women I killed," he said in his statement, which he affirmed as Baird read it aloud. "I liked to drive by the clusters around the county and think about the women I placed there."
ENTIRE STORY (http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/11/05/green.river.killings/index.html) What the fuck do you have to do to get the death penalty these days?