America’s most known serial killer, Gary Ridgway, pleaded guilty to killing a 20-year-old mother in 1982. Last year, teens discovered Rebecca Marrero’s skull in a ravine outside of Seattle.
A plea deal that spared his life
In 2003, Ridgway, then 61 years old, admitted to killing Marrero as part of a deal that kept him from getting the death sentence. He already had 48 life terms for killing dozens of women in the 1980s and 1990s, most of them prostitutes or runaways.
The Green River Killer got his name from the fact that he dumped many of his victims in or near the 65-mile river. Genetic evidence connected him to some of the bodies in 2001, which is when he was caught.
He had to help cops find the bodies of other women he killed as part of the plea deal, but he said he couldn’t remember all of their names. Because of dental records, he wasn’t charged with killing Marrero until her head was found.
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A closure for the victim’s family
Marrero is thought to have been last seen leaving a motel in 1982. She was a prostitute. Before the discovery of her body, her family had long suspected that the Green River Killer had killed her.
In January, they buried her properly and went to the hearing at the King County Regional Justice Center, where Ridgway was sitting with his hands and legs chained together. He is being held in solitary confinement in a jail in Washington right now.
Mary Marrero, her sister, said, “Finally, my sister isn’t out in the snow and rain.” She’s now somewhere warm. She also said she hoped Ridgway would “rot in hell” for what he did to her and the other women.
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