Rod, since you are out of town, now, you haven't heard very much about the Green River Killer...He doesn't fit the "profile" of a serial killer:He had a good loving family. No broken home...Finished High School. Had the same job (Painting trucks) for 30 years...Had wives (3) or "significent others" (women) most of his adult life...No prior criminal history...No problems in school..Or in his neighborgood...Had friends...So why did he murder over 48 girls, some only 15 or 16 years old? & why only prostitutes? He confessed he enjoyed murdering...He always planned it in advance...He can't remember their names or faces..Just kept track of the dates of the murders & the places...He would enjoy going back to the "places" to look at the dead bodies...Once he even had sex with one of the corpses, while his son slept in his truck...He chose to murder prostitutes so he wouldn't have to pay them...So he is not blamimg society or anybody else. Said he just wanted to have fun...
Re: the death penalty for him: Most people here say a nice easy respectful death by injection is TOO GOOD for him...We all have to die anyway...He would just get it easier than most of us..Most say, & I agree, let him live out his life in a small cinder-block cell with no windows. Slide his meals thru a slot in the bottom of the door...24 hour confinment. No time outdoors for exercise. Never to see or communicate with another human being again....That would be a far worse punishment than a nice lethel injection. Besides, he gave over 40 additional families the knowledge of what happened to their girls. They don't have to worry any more...It's finally over & they have some bones to bury....This sentence of "Life without parole" isn't final. It only applies to the King County murders...If he goes on trial for murders committed in other counties, THEY could give him death..
So far, only a few people are calling for his death here...And I think it's good to keep the death penalty as a bargaining chip to hold over other accused murderers, to get more info out of them..
If we do away with the death penalty, then they have nothing to gain by not confessing. And Ridgeway saved us millions of $$$ in court costs & lawyer fees by pleading guilty. It was so chilling listening to him pleading guilty 48 times...Stone faced while the families wept...(It was all on TV)