The Green River Killer: How Gary Ridgway Murdered 49 Women and Evaded Police for 20 Years

In the summer of 1982, bodies began appearing along Washington's Green River. Young women—many of them sex workers, many of them runaways—were being strangled and dumped in remote wooded areas around Seattle. By 1984, the death toll had reached over forty.

The Green River Task Force assembled. The FBI sent profilers. Even imprisoned serial killer Ted Bundy was consulted for insights. But year after year, the killer remained free.

Gary Ridgway, a truck painter from Auburn, was questioned in 1987. He gave police a DNA sample. The technology of the time couldn't match it to the crimes. He was released.

For fourteen more years, the case went cold.

Then, in 2001, DNA technology advanced. The 1987 sample was retested. It matched four victims.

Gary Ridgway was arrested on November 30th, 2001. In 2003, he confessed to forty-eight murders. Later, forty-nine. He claimed the real number was closer to eighty.

Tonight, the story of America's most prolific serial killer.

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