Green River Killer transferred to King County Jail in Seattle

SEATTLE – Gary Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer, was transferred Monday from the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla to the King County Jail in Seattle.

Ridgway is currently serving 49 life sentences for murders he committed beginning in 1982.

According to the King County District Attorney's Office, he was taken into custody at 10:42 a.m. Monday. His case is still being processed by the Department of Corrections.

The reason for the ban was not disclosed.

Ridgway terrorized the Pacific Northwest for decades until he was finally arrested in 2001. He was first questioned by police about his involvement in 1983. He targeted young, vulnerable women and girls. Many of the victims were prostitutes or young girls who had run away from home.

It was not until 2001 that investigators were able to prove his role. Thanks to advances in DNA technology, they were able to link a saliva sample they had obtained from him in 1987 to the semen of several victims. In 2001, he was charged with the deaths of four women: Marcia Chapman, Opal Mills, Cynthia Hinds and Carol Ann Christensen.

For a complete list of women and girls who lost their lives at Ridgway’s hands, see Click here.

In exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty, Ridgway pleaded guilty in King County in June 2003 to the 48 murders he was charged with. As part of the agreement, he also had to lead investigators to where he left the bodies of the women and girls he had murdered. Then in February 2011, he pleaded guilty to the 49th count, the 1982 murder of 20-year-old Rebecca Marrero. He received his 49th life sentence.

“Gary Ridgway does not deserve our clemency, and Gary Ridgway does not deserve to live,” said Republican King County Attorney Norm Maleng in November 2003. “The clemency granted by today's resolution is not for Gary Ridgway, but for the families who have suffered so much and for the entire community.”

Ridgway claimed responsibility for dozens of other crimes, but none of them could be clearly linked to him.

Can he still be sentenced to death?

According to KCPAO, Ridgway could still face the death penalty if convicted of murder outside of King County.