IMPORTANT DATES & CRIME DETAILS
Birthday: 2/18/1949Date Crime Was Committed: 11/30/2001
Sentencing Date: 12/18/2003
About the Crime: Gary Leon Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer, was convicted of murdering 48 women, though he confessed to over 70 in the span of roughly 20 years. He was found after DNA evidence conclusively linked semen left in four victims to Gary. He acknowledged that he targeted prostitutes because they were "easy to pick up" and assumed police wouldn't be as concerned, due to their profession. In his confession, he stated that killing young women was his "career" and admitted burying the bodies of the later killings to resist the urge of necrophilia, which he committed numerous times to previous victims.