But Cottingham had other victims, and he would later boast of killing 85 to 100 people. 0000010308 00000 n It took some effort to convince him to go to court and let me make it public, Anzilotti said Tuesday. We use cookies to deliver personalized advertisements, improve your online experience, and to analyze our site's performance. His "justification" for doing this was that he "didn't like anyone getting one over" on him. Ive never seen rain like that, he said. 0000003686 00000 n Monday marked the first time Moye ever laid eyes on Cottingham, who dismembered some of victims, including two women whose bodies were found without their heads and hands in a Times Square motel in December 1979. Cottingham was convicted of five murders and numerous counts of kidnapping and sexual assault and sentenced to 173 to 197 years, which he is serving in Trentons New Jersey State Prison. Netflix details Times Square torso killer Richard Cottingham who The inmate made it clear that pressure would not work. I was an immediate adult when it happened, she said later in an interview. He kept these "trophies" in a locked room in the basement. %%EOF Then came Tuesdays pleas. A married father of three, he lived in the. Cottingham didnt like the idea, apparently wanting to continue their dialogue. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. 'Torso Killer' pleads guilty in 1974 cold-case murders - AP NEWS Hes hedged around and all but confessed.. It was an era when the sex worker was criminalized. Richard Cottingham, 74, pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, both of North Bergen. The following is a chronological summary of Cottingham's seventeen identified murder victims and four identified survivors: Cottingham's case has been discussed in several books and documentaries on serial killers. That was roughly one month after his arrest. HUMs@Wf~}m1`16N7NLf%=Io8. Its mind-boggling and very scary, especially to know theres more of them out there.. In March, looking back on 25 years with the office, Mr. Anzilotti decided it was time to move on from the job. Cottingham lived here with his wife, Janet, and their three children, Blair, Scott, and Jenny. He also claimed to have committed 80 perfect murders no one knows about. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Victims' kids confront serial 'Torso' killer Richard Cottingham But he told Mr. Cottingham. To this day, I dont even think they would have ever said anything. This is the house where the "Times Square Killer," Richard Cottingham, lived between 1975 and 1980. The little perks for the older man the pizza, the poker, the distraction from prison life were always in the service of the younger mans long game. Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. After 'Torso Killer' confession, NJ loved ones explain how 1960s This story has been shared 151,197 times. Justice was served and thats the end of it case closed. And even worse, the rape laws were particularly onerous, and you had to provide a witness to bring an allegation of rape. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a photograph of Jean Reyner. A few days later, Mr. Anzilotti visited Mr. Cottingham in his new surroundings and told him, I put you here.. Vronsky, who aided investigators in obtaining Junes indictment, is trying to coax as many confessions out of the aging, 300-pound serial killer as possible, but the clock is ticking since he suffers from diabetes and kidney disease, he said. He was imprisoned. I didnt know what to expect. Richard Cottingham seemed like a character from a pulp novel: the crazed killer and the family man. She, too, had been strangled. But then, four years ago, Mr. Cottingham stunned the chief. He was locked away to serve several life sentences, aging into a portly man with a thick white beard. Richard Francis Cottingham (born November 25, 1946) is an American serial killer and rapist who murdered at least eighteen young women and girls in New York and New Jersey between 1967 and 1980. A third the killing of 13-year-old Jackie Harp seemed to be the work of another killer. He soon realized the woman had no head, the Daily News reported. PDF Richard Francis Cottingham A maid heard the teenagers guttural screams and called police. He married in 1970 and had three children. 0000004577 00000 n 0000001250 00000 n He did, however, leave behind their clothing, including a pair of Bonjour jeans, white leotards and a black fur coat, neatly folded in the bath tub. startxref When a worker came to check on her, ODell cracked open the door and gave a hand signal asking for help. 0000003707 00000 n He did not want his family hassled by reporters or the police, and he vowed to Mr. Anzilotti that he would never again allow himself to be thrust into the spotlight. One day in 2014, the chief and a partner were driving the inmate back to prison when, from the back seat, Mr. Cottingham, who by then had spent almost half of his 68 years in prison, began describing a girl he once spotted near a store in Hackensack. A notorious New Jersey serial killer pleaded guilty Tuesday to the cold case murders of two teenage girls in 1974. His wife withdrew the petition upon his arrest in May 1980, then completed the divorce after his 1981 conviction. Theyre pushing him on multiple other cases. Hes been interviewing Cottingham in state prison for years. As you can see, he didn't always look like Santa Claus. Filming Location in Lodi, New Jersey, United States, Filming Location in Paterson, New Jersey, United States, Filming Location in Clifton, New Jersey, United States, Filming Location in Bloomfield, New Jersey, United States, Crime Location Wylie, Texas, United States, Crime Location Memphis, Tennessee, United States, Place of Interest Brooklyn, New York, United States, Crash Site Location Beaufort, South Carolina, United States. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. On April 14, in a recorded interview, Mr. Cottingham said he remembered Mary Ann Pryor and Lorraine Kelly, and Mr. Anzilotti asked why he knew their names, when he hadnt in past cases. Richard Cottingham of Lodi (NJ) is sentenced to 173-179 years in prison. He would let his guard down, Mr. Anzilotti said. I can go all the way back to the first detective on the case. How it ended was me literally shaking his hand and saying, Thank you, Mr. Anzilotti said. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Like two little dolls at Christmastime.. %%EOF . You can set your cookie preferences below. This girl did everything right, Vronsky said. endstream endobj 22 0 obj <> endobj 23 0 obj <> endobj 24 0 obj <>/ColorSpace<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/ExtGState<>>> endobj 25 0 obj <> endobj 26 0 obj <> endobj 27 0 obj <> endobj 28 0 obj [/ICCBased 41 0 R] endobj 29 0 obj <> endobj 30 0 obj <> endobj 31 0 obj <> endobj 32 0 obj <> endobj 33 0 obj <>stream He began to speak about a particular case, he said. But beneath the veneer of normalcy was a heinous double-existence as a serial killer. (1981, June 25). Following his arrest, police linked him to the murder of Valerie Streets. The man has no heart, no soul, no emotion whatsoever, she said. [3], Richard Francis Cottingham was born on November 25, 1946, in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, the first of four children. Richard Francis Cottingham was born on November 25, 1946, in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, the first of four children. You're a whore and you have to be punished." The highly-respected law enforcement veteran knew the notorious killer was responsible for the deaths of the North Bergen teens, but Cottingham made him work for it. The schoolgirl murder confessions increased that to to nine. Cusicks daughter, Darlene Altman, told Nassau County Judge Caryn Fink her late grandparents raised her after her mothers shocking slaying. Richard Cottingham's house in Lodi - The Times Square Killer. - Odd Stops The weather worsened. 43 0 obj <>stream Months later, in May 1980, another prostitute from Times Square was found dead, this time in a New Jersey motel; that murder was linked to yet another at the same location. [13][14] Anzilotti had spent 15 years interviewing Cottingham, working toward the confession. The New York Times, p. 26. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Hes embarrassed by this case, he said. On Monday, July 13, 1969, at approximately 8:00 p.m., On March 1, 1970, a group of hikers came across a young woman's naked body in the woods to the west of Tweed Boulevard in, At approximately 7:00 a.m. on the morning of December 16, 1977, the body of X-ray technician, At 9:30 a.m. on May 22, 1980, police entered Room 117 at the same Quality Inn where Carr and Street were murdered and found 18-year-old, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 15:20. I thought he could be responsible for some, Mr. Anzilotti said. "From the sense of other things that Im uncovering, he was a very busy boy., I think the math worked out to one every six weeks, Vronsky also said. The items included necklaces, broaches, earrings, and other pieces of jewelry. He drove his car ahead of Harp, pulled over and walked back toward her, Vronsky said. 0000003107 00000 n She had been abducted while walking home from practice with her schools fife-and-drum team in 1968. 0000001968 00000 n Goodarzi had come to the United States years prior from Iran. I had long suspected that whoever killed Irene Blase also killed Denise Falasca, Mr. Anzilotti said. I have done many shows about serial killers, and I have always marveled at the fact that [Ted] Bundy, [John Wayne] Gacy, [Jeffrey] Dahmer and Berkowitz were all household names, perversely, Berlinger told The Post. Cottingham, who is also nicknamed "The Torso Killer," moved into this rented three-bedroom house in February of 1975. The inmate, with no real incentive to say anything about that crime, had given the chief what amounted to a parting gift. He was eventually convicted of five murders in New Jersey and New York and sent to a New Jersey state prison in the early 1980s. Cottingham, whose attorney did not return messages seeking comment, has claimed to have killed as many as 100 women. I knew, he recalled, that was Irene Blase.. [7] On October 28, 1967, he strangled Nancy Schiava Vogel, a 29-year-old married mother of two, in Little Ferry, New Jersey. They'd left home for a trip 13 miles (21 kilometers) north to . Hes younger when all this is going on in Bergen County, he said. We've received your submission. Straddling her back, he drew a knife and put it to her throat as he snapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. Neither complainant appeared in further proceedings, however, and the case was dismissed. Trophies like jewellery and other personal items belonging to his victims were taken by him. %PDF-1.4 % F! The five victims addressed . It represented the opportunity to let the entire world know that Laverne Moye was a human being. Hes been chief of detectives nearly five years. Bergen County investigators realized there were numerous open sexual assault cases with similar hallmarks: Cottingham kidnapped them from Times Square, drugged and assaulted them. The people listed below were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Lodi, New Jersey. Which is entirely possible, especially in those days.. 0 It is situated at 29 Vreeland Street in Lodi, New Jersey. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters, Times Square Torso Ripper: Sex and Murder on The Deuce, cataloging 17,000 years of pathological homicide. As he moved through Midtown undetected, Cottingham, a successful computer operator at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Manhattan, was also committing sadistic sexual assault and sometimes murder at the Quality Inn, a motel in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. What they want is an outright statement and a sign-off of Yes thats me,' Vronsky continued. Her glasses, a ring, a necklace, Ms. Mulder said. A local investigator began to wonder: Could there be a link to a series of infamous Times Square murders? 21 0 obj <> endobj The motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated. His search for a killer led him to a man already locked away, in New Jersey State Prison, 75 miles from his office. Over time, though, one investigator was slowly developing a theory. The Google Street View image on the right was taken 38 years later, in June of 2018. Torso Killer: Ailing Richard Cottingham Confesses to More Murders Cottingham, 75, admitted before state Superior Court Judge Keith Bachmann in April 2021 that he had killed Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and her friend Lorraine Kelly, 16, when the pair went shopping for. With Ms. Pryor and a judge watching on Zoom that day, Mr. Cottingham pleaded guilty to the two murders. His additional confession to a 1974 murder was discounted by Rockland County police. It was pure evil. Then, in January of this year, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office made an announcement: The notorious serial killer Richard Cottingham, known as "The Torso Killer," had confessed to the murders. FPh_3Gj Nt%Q[r L`%/9QTh/| Q4_g8KI}u'?xbif`H>;wNQ|sd2(? The confessed killer then fatally bludgeoned Sheila Heiman, a 33-year-old mother of three, in July 1973, at her North Woodmere, NY, home, where her husband found her upon returning from shopping, authorities said. Soon, the chief closed that case two down. 0000002831 00000 n A number of killings of young women and girls in New Jersey and New York had gone unsolved for years before a night in May 1980 when a maid at . [18], During the early 1980s, Cottingham was convicted of five murders in two separate New Jersey trials in 1981[19] and 1982,[20] and in a single New York trial in 1984 for three murders. Richard Cottingham, New Jersey prison photo. 0000007078 00000 n That was less than a year after Cottingham and his wife had their first child. Cottingham had kept these items as souvenirs so that he could remember his victims and relive his attacks. He enjoys our relationship. Now 74, Cottingham, who claims responsibility for dozens of murders, has confessed to a. Cottingham has confessed to murdering 12 women. On July 17, 1968, Harp, of Midland Park, was walking home from band practice when a strange man, Cottingham, tried to coax her into his car, Vronsky said. So he would remember something on the way: a racetrack or a shopping mall. The body of Laverne Moye, of St. Albans, Queens, was discovered in a Rockville Centre creek on July 20, 1972. Correctional officers found contraband and evidence of bookmaking and transferred Mr. Cottingham to solitary confinement. Over the course of 13 years, beginning in 1967, Cottingham killed six women in New Jersey and New York. Cottingham had just raped, tortured and beheaded two sex workers in a room at the motel before setting it on fire. The girls, Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16, had last been seen days earlier at a nearby bus stop. Cottingham primarily sought prostitutes who were petite blondes in their late teens to mid-twenties. Richard Cottingham who is already serving time in state prison for several . On Dec. 2, 1979, fire alarms rang out at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on West 42nd Street. He stood trial in New York and New Jersey in a coat and tie and denied everything, but he was convicted in all five killings. Ms. Falasca was a 15-year-old who left her familys house in July 1969 and never returned. Cottingham, who is already serving a lifetime state prison sentence for killing several other women and girls, was brought to the office of Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella in Paramus to enter his pleas before Superior Court Judge Keith Bachmann in Hackensack. Sitting in a conference room, Mr. Cottingham calmly reached back more than 40 years and described how hed murdered a woman whose name he couldnt remember, a 29-year-old mother found strangled in her car in Ridgefield Park, N.J., in 1967. He didnt have the decency or the dignity to ask for forgiveness or to even address the victims families. Richard Cottingham pleaded guilty to murder in the death of one Long Island woman and admitted under oath to killing four others. . Mr. Anzilotti had begun to believe, he said in a recent interview, that Mr. Cottingham, between his history and the suspicions of detectives that came before me, could be responsible for one or more of those deaths. Richard Cottingham, convicted of murdering prostitute and kidnapping three. Its been half my career, he said. It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently said. After the hearing, the cameras off, Mr. Anzilotti approached Mr. Cottingham. N.J serial killer now linked to 9 victims, but will his murder toll Mr. Anzilotti insisted that this case be resolved in open court. Cottingham was apprehended in the hallway by arriving police officers. He needed a way to approach Mr. Cottingham and found an opening in 2003, when he got a tip: Mr. Cottingham was taking bets on sporting events from his cell. It doesnt bring my mother back, but at least I have answers now. The series features interviews with former sex workers, including Barbara Amaya, who was raped and robbed at gunpoint by a man she believes was Cottingham, although she was inexplicably spared. In 2009, decades after his first five murder convictions, Cottingham told a journalist that he had committed at least 80 to 100 "perfect murders" of women in various regions of the United States. The photographs are ordered from left to right and top to bottom. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. No one could find any clues in the girls backgrounds: no drugs, no trouble with the law. In 1981, he was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison. I was able to get almostany woman to do whatever I wanted them to do . By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. 0 Goodarzi, of Trenton, was a sex worker who had been traveling to the then-seedy streets of midtown Manhattan, Vronsky said. At the mall, Cottingham, then a tall, brown-haired young man, met Vogel, a married mother of two. Over the months that followed, Mr. Anzilotti cultivated an unusual relationship with Mr. Cottingham, sometimes testy, sometimes closer to a sort of warmth. On more than one occasion, he would openly talk about his experiences with sex workers. The chief pressed ahead with his list. 21 23 Cottingham, who is also nicknamed "The Torso Killer," moved into this rented three-bedroom house in February of 1975. Cottingham, a former computer programmer whose wrath of terror spanned from 1967 to 1980, also copped on Monday to strangling Mary Beth Heinz, 21, in May 1972, three months before he killed Moye and dumped her body in the same creek. 0000003431 00000 n A judge sentenced him to 25 years to life after Cusicks brother and only child read emotional impact statements in court. Cottinghams luck began to unravel in early May 1980 when the maid at the Quality Inn found the naked corpse of a handcuffed woman under the bed. Crime: Cottingham, a Lodi resident, killed six women in New Jersey and New York between 1967 and 1980. He would occasionally remove and dispose of his victims heads and hands, presumably to make identification more difficult. According to one of his co-workers, he was smart, well-read, and up-to-date on current events. xb```"WVf~g`0pt 9"~S?``Z V|bG!+N}TzYl@2 `QD2 @DACEDJaOs6x?+[Ihlrt ? On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. Consequently, he was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping. But the killer was a clever bastard, too. I asked them where they were going. The mall, they replied. [1] He was nicknamed the New York Ripper, the Torso Killer and the Times Square Killer, since his crimes often targeted prostitutes and included mutilation. Those old enough to remember can recall the fear that many felt after the bodies of two girls from North Bergen whod gone missing after a shopping trip to Paramus were found raped, beaten and drowned in Bergen County. In 2022, Cottingham also confessed to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick after DNA evidence linked him to the crime. Cottingham's confirmed killings resulted in nine convictions and a further eight confessions under non-prosecution agreements, leading to him serving multiple life sentences in New Jersey prisons. In 2004, Vronsky published his first book on homicidal maniacs, Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters, an exhaustive look at executioners slayings dating back to ancient Rome. 'Torso Killer' Admits to '68 Strangling and 4 More Cold-Case Murders He was originally from the Bronx in New York City. For decades, a string of killings of teenage girls haunted suburban New Jersey. 0000003451 00000 n And even though Harp ran, Cottingham soon overtook her and dragged her into a grouping of bushes where teens would often go to smoke and make out, he said. To this day, the other young female has never been identified. In early December 1979, firefighters were called to the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on 42nd Street as a fire burned in room 417. I couldnt even imagine losing a child. New Jersey 'Torso Killer' admits he tied up, raped, drowned - PIX11 0000001412 00000 n This case was always haunting me.. He asked to quietly close their daughters murder case without formally charging the killer. Prosecutors will seek dual life sentences to run alongside his current lifetime term when Cottingham is sentenced on July 9 for what Musella said were the willful, deliberate, and premediated murders of Mary Ann Prior and Lorraine Kelly. 0000007874 00000 n [5] On May 15, 1980, Jean Reyner was strangled and her throat cut in New York's historic Seville Hotel. Falasca, 15, accepted. 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham Confessed To New Murders As - Yahoo! I was shocked that one human being was capable of all this carnage, Moye said of Cottingham. He also claims that his true victim count is at least 85. On one occasion, he dismembered two sex workers and set fire to their torsos at a hotel near Times Square. Thats why [authorities are] not going to make another statement. Photos of the house and other related images. He was a coward.. When Mr. Cottingham entered prison in 1981, Robert Anzilotti was not yet a teenager. After dismembering Goodarzi, Cottingham lit her torso on fire, along with a second unidentified woman, who was found next to Goodarzi on the same bed. Then, with just days remaining before the chief retired, the inmate relented. He enjoys our time together., The chief also had another theory. They found an 18-year-old victim who'd been bitten and stabbed bound with handcuffs. This murder was later linked to the 1977 murder of Maryann Carr, who was left in the same motel's parking lot. After their drink, Cottingham offered to bring Blase back to the bus station where they had taken the bus. It also left enormous holes in the souls of family and friends of Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16. To this day, their remains have never been recovered. A friend of one victim came forward and the slain woman was later positively identified through a cesarean-section scar and chest X-ray as 22-year-old prostitute Deedeh Goodarzi. Iran hangs protester in first execution over nationwide pr Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, Buster Murdaugh got 'very drunk' with dad 2 months after mom, brother murdered: source, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, Prince Harry was scared to lose Meghan Markle after fight that led to therapy, Prince Harry says psychedelics are fundamental part of his life, Inside Scheana Shay, Raquel Leviss heated confrontation about Tom Sandoval affair, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant allegedly flashes gun at a strip club, Tom Sizemore And The Dangerous Burden of Desperation, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce. 0000001262 00000 n Soon, Cottingham persuaded Blase to go for a drink with him. Where Is The Torso Killer Now? Richard Cottingham Is In Prison - Bustle