Suspect in Green River killings pleads innocent to latest charges
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Gary Ridgway puts on his glasses to read documents in a Seattle courtroom Thursday.
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SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- A man already facing trial for four of the 49 Green River serial killings pleaded innocent Thursday to three additional murder charges.
Gary Ridgway faces aggravated first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Wendy Lee Coffield, 16; Debra Bonner, 23; and Debra Estes, 15.
Ridgway, 54, was arrested in 2001 when investigators said DNA and other evidence linked him to the deaths of four other Green River victims. The killings are named for the river south of Seattle where some of the first victims were found beginning in 1982.
Ridgway is set to go on trial in March 2004, but defense attorneys have said they may need more time because of the three new charges.
Ridgway faces the death penalty on the original charges, and prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty on the three new counts.
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