Gary Leon Ridgway today admitted to being the Green...

Gary Leon Ridgway today admitted to being the Green River Killer, responsible for the deaths of 48 young women in the longest serial murder investigation in U.S. history. "I killed so many women I have a hard time keeping them straight," he said in a statement read by Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Baird. "My plan was I wanted to kill as many women I thought were prostitutes as I possibly could," he said. "I picked prostitutes as my victims because I hate most prostitutes and I did not want to pay them for sex. I also picked prostitutes for victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed." Ridgway's deal to plead guilty to 48 counts of aggravated 1st-degree murder means he will be spared from execution. He now faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ridgway's guilty pleas are part of a deal that will spare him from execution in the King County cases. No deal was cut that might spare him from death penalties in other jurisdictions. Remains of some victims were found outside the county and in Oregon. Ridgway, 54, had been a suspect since 1984, but was arrested Nov. 30, 2001. Prosecutors said advances in DNA technology had allowed them to match a saliva sample taken from Ridgway in 1987 with DNA samples taken from the bodies of 3 of the earliest victims.