Gary Ridgway, the No. 1 United States serial killer, nicknamed "Green River Killer," was sentenced to 48 life imprisonments Thursday in Seattle, Washington State.

Ridgway, who confessed killing 48 women in Seattle in the early 1980s, tearfully apologized for the killings as King County Superior Court Judge Richard Jones imposed 48 consecutive life sentences on him.

"I have tried to remember as much as I could to help the detectives find and recover the ladies. I'm sorry for the scare I put into the community," said Ridgway.

"I'm sorry for killing these ladies. They had their whole lives ahead of them. I'm sorry for causing so much pain to so many families," he added.

Prosecutors agreed to spare Ridgway the death penalty in exchange for his helping investigators find four previously undiscovered sets of remains, and for pleading guilty to the murders.

Many of the victims were prostitutes or runaways, and the first victims turned up in the Green River, giving the killer his nickname.

Ridgway, 54, admitted that he killed the women because he hated prostitutes and did not want to pay them for sex. He added that he killed so many women he had a hard time keeping straight.

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