Who Was The Green River Killer

?

The Green River Killer is one of the most notorious serial killers in U.S. history, responsible for at least 49 murders in Washington State during the 1980s and early 90s before his arrest in 2001. His identity is Gary Ridgway, a former truck painter and navy veteran who initially earned the Green River Killer moniker when the first five of his victims were found alongside the titular river in 1982.

After a massive three-year-long manhunt, Ridgway was arrested in 2001 as a result of advances in DNA evidence and later confessed to 48 murders, though he is believed to have been responsible for up to 90 killings over the course of his killing spree. Most of his victims were poor, runaway girls and women whom Ridgway had picked up along Pacific Highway South, an area he was familiar with from his work as a truck painter where prostitution and drugs were rampant. He would typically strangle his victims, then dump their naked bodies in various sites around the Pacific Northwest, including many locations near the Green River.

Ridgway was caught after prosecutors offered him a plea bargain: life in prison in exchange for admitting to 48 murders and offering prosecutors information on unsolved cases. Ultimately, the plea bargain was accepted, and Ridgway was sentenced to 48 life sentences without parole at the Washington State Penitentiary.

The case of the Green River Killer remains one of the longest running and most chilling unsolved murder cases in the U.S. Despite his admission of guilt, and the decades of evidence found against him, Ridgway still shows no remorse for his actions. He continues to draw an annual state salary of approximately $25,000 for his cooperation with the case.