Seattle ? With an eloquence honed by years of grief, relatives of the Green River Killer’s victims finally spoke Thursday to the man who snuffed out the lives of their sisters, daughters and wives, then watched as a judge sentenced him to 48 consecutive life terms.

Gary Ridgway, who once bragged to police about his skill at strangulation, wrinkled his brow as he heard their horror, nodded occasionally, then tearfully apologized for killing “all those young ladies.”

Nonetheless, King County Superior Court Judge Richard Jones blistered Ridgway for his “Teflon-coated emotions and complete absence of compassion,” and ordered a 48-second moment of silence for the victims before passing sentence.

“The time has come for the final chapter of your reign of terror in our community,” Jones told the 54-year-old truck painter from suburban Auburn. “It is now time for our community to have peace from the Green River murders.”

Prosecutors agreed to spare Ridgway the death penalty in exchange for his confession and helping investigators, who during the summer found four additional sets of remains. He pleaded guilty Nov. 5 to 48 counts of aggravated first-degree murder.

“I have tried to remember as much as I could to help the detectives find and recover the ladies,” Ridgway said, bowing his head and sniffling as he read a statement before the judge. “I’m sorry for the scare I put into the community.”

The case takes it name from the Green River in south King County where the first bodies were found in 1982. By the end of 1984, the death toll had risen to 42, with more bodies yet to be found — the most recent in 1998.

Green River Killer Gary Ridgway cries as he reads a statement in a King County (Wash.) Superior Courtroom. Ridgway spoke Thursday in Seattle after listening to testimonies from the relatives and friends of his victims. Ridgway was sentenced to 48 consecutive life terms for the Green River Killer serial murder case.

In his confession, Ridgway said he killed because he hated prostitutes and didn’t want to pay them for sex, and that he killed so many women he had a hard time keeping them straight.

Given their chance to confront Ridgway, relatives of the victims poured forth years of pain, anger and loss.

“Jesus knows you have broken my heart,” a sobbing Joan Mackie, mother of victim Cindy Smith, told Ridgway as he listened silently.

Most wept, some shook as they tried to put into words their grief of having a mother, daughter or sister disappear.

“It was not your right to decide who lived and who died,” said Tim Meehan, the brother of Mary Meehan, whose body was found in 1983. “Mary was no less a human being than your mother or your son, or as trash as you have classified all the victims.”

Ridgway was arrested in November 2001 after detectives linked his DNA to sperm found in three of the earliest victims. By the next spring, prosecutors had charged him with seven murders, but they had all but given up hope of linking him to the dozens of other women.

Jose Malvar Jr., brother of Marie Malvar, a victim of Green River Killer Gary Ridgway, was one of many victims' relatives who spoke at Ridgway's sentencing.