Gary Ridgway has committed a series of murders.
In police work , a dump job is a type of murder in which the victim 's body is transported to another location and abandoned , usually in a deserted area . Gary Leon Ridgway ( born February 18 , 1949 ) is an American serial killer known as the Green River Killer . He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders and later confessed to nearly twice that number . As part of his plea bargain , an additional conviction was added , bringing the total number of convictions to 49 , making him the most prolific American serial killer in history according to confirmed murders .