Chris Summers reports for BBC News Online in an article titled, “Confessions of a serial killer.” Excerpt:
When Gary Leon Ridgway stands up in a Seattle court on Wednesday and admits 48 counts of aggravated first degree murder he will officially become America’s most prolific serial killer.
It is not a very good advertisement for the polygraph, or lie detector test.
In 1987 the man suspected of being the Green River Killer took such a test and passed with flying colours.
Just hours before he appears in court his attorney, Eric Lindell, gave an exclusive interview to BBC News Online, in which he explained why his client had admitted to murdering 48 women and what it might mean for others on Death Row.
…
The Green River Killer is remarkable in the annals of serial killers in many ways, but none more so than Ridgway’s ability to pass a polygraph in which he denied responsibility.
Mr Lindell said: “I have asked him about it. The Green River Killer Taskforce asked several suspects to take a polygraph test and he passed it.
“He said he didn’t do anything special to pass it. He just relaxed. But then he is a unique individual.”
For discussion of this case, see the AntiPolygraph.org message board thread, Deadliest Killer in U.S. History Beat Polygraph.