Green River Killer: 20 More Bodies Still Out There

Serial killer gives first interviews in decades
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 18, 2013 10:15 AM CDT
Green River Killer: 20 More Bodies Still Out There
In this Nov. 12, 2003 file photo, members of the Green River task force comb a hillside in an unincorporated area near Kent, Wash.   (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

Seattle's KOMO has quite the scoop: The first interviews with one of America's most prolific serial killers since he was imprisoned a decade ago. It's pretty grim stuff. Green River Killer Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty to killing 48 women (a 49th victim was IDed in 2011), but he tells KOMO's Charlie Harger the true number could be closer to 80. The story of how the five months of interviews came to be is pretty fascinating: Harger met an Air Force criminal investigator named Rob Fitzgerald, who has dedicated his weekends for much of the past five years to searching for remains of Ridgway's female victims—largely prostitutes, runaways, and drug addicts. And it turns out he has an unlikely assistant in his quest: Ridgway.

The two speak as many as four times a week, with Ridgway calling from the Walla Walla prison in which he's spending the rest of his life, providing details on possible "dump sites." Harger, shocked to hear Ridgway was talking, managed to get to him as well. Ridgway reiterated to Harger that his goal is to help: He says at least 20 bodies are still out there, and he wants to help police find them. Harger's not so sure about that, though; he notes that for all of Ridgway's assistance, Fitzgerald has yet to find any remains (Ridgway apparently attributes that to decomposition or animals). Harger theorizes that Ridgway may just be attempting to "up his count," and notes that he complained that Ted Bundy is a household name, and he isn't. Click for more from the interviews, in which Ridgway, without emotion, discusses a victim’s head falling off her decomposing body. (More Green River Killer stories.)

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