Video: 'NBC News archive footage of the Green River Killer' (coverage after Ridgway's arrest begins at 23:43)

(Friday, November 30, 2001, about 3 p.m. PST) — Gary Ridgway — better known as the “Green River Killer,” an American serial killer responsible for the murders of at least 71 teenage girls and women mostly near Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, during the 1980s and 1990s — was apprehended today as he was leaving the Kenworth truck factory where he worked in Renton, Washington.

Video: 'Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer | Real Crime'

Ridgway, 52, was initially arrested for the murders of four women whose cases were linked to him through DNA profiling evidence. He was eventually convicted of 48 separate murders. As part of his plea bargain, another conviction was added, bringing the total number of convictions to 49, making him the second most prolific serial killer in United States history according to confirmed murders.

Most of Ridgway’s victims were alleged to be sex workers and other women in vulnerable circumstances, including underage runaways. The press gave him his nickname after the first five victims were found in the Green River before his identity was known.

Video: 'Mugshots: Gary Ridgway - The Green River Killer'

He strangled his victims, usually by hand but sometimes using ligatures. After strangling them, he would dump their bodies in forested and overgrown areas in King County, often returning to the bodies to have sexual intercourse with them.

As part of a plea bargain wherein he agreed to disclose the locations of still-missing women, he was spared the death penalty and received a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.