/ Green River Killer

05:16 PM PST on Thursday, December 18, 2003

By LORI MATSUKAWA / KING 5 News

SEATTLE – Defense lawyers Mark Prothero and Tony Savage spent many hours with Gary Ridgway, to the point where Savage said, "it wears on you."

But they did gain an understanding of the man and why his killings slowed down in the later years.

Was Gary Ridgway's apology sincere? His lawyers say, in its own way, it was.

“Is he sincere, is he remorseful? I think he is but you can't very well judge his remorse by ordinary standards. He's not an ordinary person,” said Tony Savage.

KING Tony Savage

The lawyers said what transformed him was Ridgway's third wife, Judith. They said that in the course of his relationship with Judith he longer wanted to kill and lose his relationship with her, the good life he had finally established for himself...He did try to stop and by the evidence that's available and by his own words he did slow down. He also expressed relief that he was caught."

Ridgway spent weeks helping detectives find more remains and was relieved when they found some and frustrated when searchers came up empty, said Prothero.

KING Mark Prothero

The question why he killed will still never be answered satisfactorily, though.

“The why question is never going to be answered, logically,” said Prothero. “His answers to the ‘why’ questions aren’t going to satisfy anyone."

Prothero knows family members often wondered how he could defend such a despicable man. He said: "We are fathers and brothers and sons of mothers ... we just want you to know our heartfelt sympathies go out to those folks."