/ Green River Killer

07:08 AM PST on Friday, November 7, 2003

By DARIN WATKINS / KING 5 News

SEATTLE - Admitted killer Gary Ridgway confessed to 48-homicides in King County. But detectives say there could be more. The hard part could be proving it.

Ridgway has also admitted to killing a woman before 1975, which opened up an entirely new set of potential cases going back 11 years earlier then previously thought.

Canadian authorities, detectives in Oregon have been inquiring about Ridgway and now Pierce County detectives have at least five cases -- involving the murder of prostitutes -- that will be given a new review to see if Ridgway may be responsible.

KING Gary Ridgway faces a judge and pleads guilty to 48 counts of aggravated first degree murder.

In fact, Ridgway has confessed to 60 murders in King County. But detectives have yet to prove those with additional evidence.

"He admitted more crimes then the ones we charged him with, but we did not take his word alone," Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Baird said.

Detectives say Ridgway has pointed them to 18 possible gravesites in King County, but only four bodies were recovered.

Many sites will be searched again.

"Its been really painful watching the families, and it's not over, we're going to continue work to find additional victims," said Det. Sue Peters, with the Green River Task Force.

Sources tell King 5 News that additional physical evidence has been uncovered in several cases that could be tied directly to Ridgway.

Plus, investigators from San Diego to Vancouver, Canada have learned new details of Ridgway's crimes that are being compared to as many as 90 homicides of women.