/ Green River Killer

Green River Killer gets life in prison

10:02 PM PST on Thursday, December 18, 2003

From KING5.com Staff and Wire Reports

SEATTLE — Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer who terrorized Seattle in the early 1980s, tearfully apologized for “killing all those young ladies” as a judge sentenced him Thursday to life in prison without the chance of release.

Ridgway, 54, bowed his head during 48 seconds of silence the judge ordered for his 48 victims - the most of any killer in U.S. history.

“I have tried to remember as much as I could to help the detectives find and recover the ladies. I’m sorry for the scare I put into the community,” said Ridgway.

AP/Elaine Thompson Green River Killer Gary Leon Ridgway cries as he reads a statement in a King County, Wash., Superior Courtroom Thursday Dec. 18, 2003 in Seattle after listening to testimonies from the relatives and friends of his victims.

“The time has come for the final chapter of your reign of terror in our community,” Jones said. “It is now time for our community to have peace from the Green River murders.”

Prosecutors agreed to spare Ridgway the death penalty in exchange for his helping investigators find four previously undiscovered sets of remains and confessing to the murders, the most recent in 1998. Many were prostitutes or runaways, and the first victims turned up in the Green River, giving the killer his name.

Multimedia

Ridgway publicly apologizes Sherry Garrett, sister of victim Cynthia Hinds, speaks first Family of victim Opal Mills speaks Ridgway cries as Robert Rule speaks Reaction from the families Lawyers provide insight

Slideshow of Ridgway sentencing

Open Slideshow

Relatives of 21 of Ridgway’s victims spent four hours addressing the court and King County Superior Court Judge Richard Jones.

One after another, relatives of victims poured out decades of pain, anger and loss as they confronted Ridgway.

“Jesus knows you have broken my heart,” a sobbing Joan Mackie, mother of victim Cindy Smith, told Ridgway as he faced her and listened silently.

Most of the relatives sobbed, some shook with anger as they tried to describe the inexpressible grief of having a mother, daughter or sister disappear at his hands.

“It was not your right to decide who lived and who died,” said Tim Meehan, the brother of Mary Meehan, whose body was found Nov. 13, 1983. “Mary was no less a human being than your mother or your son, or as trash as you have classified all the victims.”

“It’s garbage like you, not these victims that you took their lives, that doesn’t deserve to live on,” he said. “I can only hope that someday someone gets the opportunity to choke you unconscious 48 times so you can live through the horror that you put our mothers and our daughters through.”

As each family member spoke of their sadness and rage, Ridgway maintained a blank stare, though he sometimes nodded at their comments and a few times, dabbed away a tear that slipped out beneath his dark-rimmed glasses. CLICK HERE to read more comments by family members.

Ridgway, however, started crying as he listened to the father of one of the women he killed.

Related Stories

Family members of victims speak Ridgway expects sympathy List of victims in Green River case Investigations begin into unsolved murders Full Green River killings coverage

Courtroom documents   Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader

Prosecutor's summary of evidence The plea agreement Ridgway's statement Second amended information

A few forgive

While he listened impassively to those who condemned him to hell, he cried when Robert Rule said, "I forgive you." His daughter, Linda Rule, was 16 when she was killed in 1982.

Kathy Mills, the mother of victim Opal Mills, 16, whose body was found Aug. 15, 1982, was also among the few to offer Ridgway forgiveness.

“We wanted to see you die, but it’s all going to be over now,” said Kathy Mills, “Gary Leon Ridgway, I forgive you. I forgive you. You can’t hold me anymore. I’m through with you. I have a peace that is beyond human understanding.”

KING Kathy Mills

The father of Linda Rule, Ridgway's 19th victim, has found the same peace.

"Mr. Ridgway, there are people here in this room that hate you,” he said. “I am not one of them. I forgive you for what you've done."

Rule said he's forgiven Ridgway because of his Christian faith.

Both he and Mills believe Ridgway's tears were sincere when he broke down during both of their speeches.

"I thought maybe there's some hope, maybe there is some feeling in him," said Mills.

In his confession, Ridgway said he killed because he hated prostitutes and didn’t want to pay them for sex and that he killed so many women he had a hard time keeping them straight.

J. Norman, the mother of Shawnda Leea Summers, whose body was found Aug. 11, 1983, said prosecutors should not have bargained with the death penalty to get Ridgway’s guilty plea.

“The politicians, if they cared about this heinous crime, it would have been solved 20 years ago,” Norman said. “There shouldn’t have been no plea bargain. ... Shame on Seattle.”

Reichert: Ridgway is ‘pure evil’

As he entered the courthouse for Ridgway’s sentencing, King County Sheriff Dave Reichert, one of the first detectives to investigate the killings in the early 1980s, said he wouldn’t put much credence in any remorse Ridgway might show.

KING/NWCN Confessed Green River serial killer Gary Ridgway listens to a judge during his formal sentencing in a courtroom in Seattle Thursday, December 18, 2003.

Reichert said that's all an act, an attempt to be seen as a normal person.

"He's a rapist, he's a murderer, he's a coward, and he's pure evil," said Reichert. "He's a monster, he's a killing machine. Period. The scary part is that he's not an alien. He didn't come from Mars. He came from right here in this community."

Ridgway confesses to 48 murders

Ridgway pleaded guilty Nov. 5 to 48 counts of aggravated first-degree murder. In his confession, Ridgway said he killed because he hated prostitutes and didn’t want to pay them for sex; that he dumped their bodies in the Green River and other inconspicuous parts of King County; and that he killed so many women he had a hard time keeping them straight.

Ridgway was arrested Nov. 30, 2001, after detectives linked his DNA to sperm found in three of the earliest victims. By spring 2002, prosecutors had charged him with seven murders, but they had all but given up hope of linking him to the dozens of other women, most of whom disappeared during a terrifying stretch from 1982-84.

Last spring, defense attorneys offered King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng a deal: If Maleng would not seek the death penalty, Ridgway would help solve those other cases. Though Maleng had previously said he would not bargain with the death penalty, he changed his mind, saying that a strong principle of justice is to know the truth.

Ridgway cooperated, eventually confessing to 48 murders — the most recent in 1998 — and leading investigators to four previously undiscovered sets of remains.

KING5.com's Liza Javier, KING5.com's Ellen Liang, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.