Green River Killer Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty Friday in a packed courtroom at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center to the 1982 aggravated, first-degree murder of his 49th victim, 20-year-old Rebecca Marrero.

Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts imposed a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of early release or parole, a sentence that will run consecutive to the 48 other life sentences the serial killer is already serving for each of the other women he murdered.

Before she pronounced sentence, Roberts addressed Ridgway.

“Usually when I sentence an individual,” said Roberts, “even for the most serious of crimes, I try to reach out in some way. In this case, I cannot, I can find no compassion for you. Instead, my heart is completely filled with sympathy for the family of Rebecca Marrero, and despair to know that a person is capable of this sort of crime.”

Led into the courtroom in an orange jumpsuit, his hair noticeably thinner on top, Ridgway said little during the court proceedings, beyond responding “yes” or “no” to questions posed by King County Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Baird.

Marrero was last seen in December 1982 leaving a SeaTac motel, where her 3-year-old daughter, her boyfriend and her sister waited for her return. Like many of the other victims of the Green River Killer, she worked as a prostitute. On Dec. 21, 2010, three teenagers found Marrero’s moss-covered skull under a log at the foot of a ravine. Her remains were found about 100 feet from where the remains of Ridgway victim Marie Malvar were found during the search that followed his 2003 confession.

Ridgway was obligated to plead guilty to all of his killings in King County under the terms of a controversial 2003 plea agreement authored by former Prosecutor Norm Maleng. Maleng also agreed that he would not seek the death penalty against Ridgway in exchange for his help finding the remains of dozens of other victims.

The agreement does not preclude the filing of additional charges elsewhere. There have been no such charges, although Ridgway remains a suspect in dozens of other disappearances.

Rebecca Marrero’s sister, Mary Marrero, criticized the 2003 plea agreement in a statement she read for the family.

“What does it take to get the death penalty in the state of Washington?” Marrero asked. “My sister is victim number 49. I don’t agree with this plea deal to spare his pathetic life. It makes me sick to my stomach that he beat the system. He’s worthless, and he’s not going to give any more victims up. He knows where they all are, and what he did to them. He will never give those innocent victims up for nothing. He’s a waste to society and a waste of space.

“…If I had one thing to ask you today, it would be to kill him,” Marrero continued. “I know he will burn in hell, because he can’t beat God. God will take care of him if the system fails to do so. Forty-nine women —  aunts, mothers, sisters, cousins — we’re talking about a whole generation! I hate your guts, Gary Ridgway, and your day is coming soon.”

Asked if he had anything to say, Ridgway stood and began, “I’m sorry —  before a man sitting with the Marrero family decided that he had already heard enough and cut him off.

“Just shut your mouth, just shut your … mouth, just sit the … down!” the man shouted. “Shut up, nobody wants to hear … from you!”

Ridgway did not continue with his statement.

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg previously noted that the plea deal was aimed at the families of many other women Ridgway is suspected of killing, but for which there is no linking evidence.

“It wasn’t about what Gary Ridgway deserved,” Satterberg said. “He deserved no mercy. He deserved the death penalty. In the end, it was for the families.”

Ridgway has been returned to the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.