But as he considered retirement, he kept returning to the two girls found dead in the woods. Ms. 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 . Cottingham lived here with his wife, Janet, and their three children, Blair, Scott, and Jenny. This guy was particularly ruthless.
And for Cottingham, every night was a full moon.. 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. But first, he wanted to return to those two murders from 47 years ago. Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters, List of serial killers in the United States, List of serial killers by number of victims, "New Jersey's 'Torso Killer' admits murdering 3 teenage girls over 50 years ago", "Justice Story: 'Times Square Ripper' revealed to be mild-mannered husband from suburban Jersey", "Long-Buried Secrets: The Serial Killer and the Detective", "First of Three Trials of Jerseyan in Prostitute Slayings Nears End", "Killer of 2 Is Guilty of 3 More Slayings", "Legislator Gaynor Honors Detectives Who Solved 50 Year Old Cold Case", "Mineola Woman's Murder 48 Years Ago Still Unsolved", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Cottingham&oldid=1142468060. 0000004535 00000 n
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. The man has no heart, no soul, no emotion whatsoever, she said. He continued to live here until the police eventually arrested him on May 22nd, 1980. HKo0l06CYf,Y(v (I?0c9 It was mainly psychological. This is possibly due to the fact that he got married in 1970. 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. Serial killer Richard Cottingham made his admission in the cold case murders of the high school girls, acknowledging that he kidnapped, raped and finally drowned the pair inside a motel room. They captured Cottingham soon after. [4], The BCPO "exceptionally closed" the three cold case murders with agreement from the victims' families and evidence corroborating the confessions, but for several years kept this secret from the public to keep Cottingham talking about other cases. Cottingham didnt like the idea, apparently wanting to continue their dialogue. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. He drove his car ahead of Harp, pulled over and walked back toward her, Vronsky said. [5] On May 15, 1980, Jean Reyner was strangled and her throat cut in New York's historic Seville Hotel. He tortured women before he killed them and did terrible things to them, and yet we still dont know who he is because he preyed on sex workers, Berlinger said, adding that he hopes this series helps destigmatize sex work and potentially solve more cold cases. Hed been a married father of three, but the Lodi resident - who would brutalize his victims bodies, cutting off limbs, heads and breasts - would later become known as the Torso Killer" for what he left behind. Once again, the victim did not appear in further proceedings and the case was dismissed.[6]. With an uncomplicated enthusiasm for his work, Detective Anzilotti rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the chief of detectives with a busy office to lead. It was just shock all the way around.. [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. Two focused entirely on him: Rod Leith's The Prostitute Murders: The People vs. Richard Cottingham (Lyle Stuart Inc., 1983) and Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer (Netflix, 2021). She was Nancy Pryor, and she was 19 when her sister, Mary Ann, was found dead. On December 15, 1977, the body of X-ray technician Maryann Carr, 26, was found brutally beaten and strangled in the parking lot of the Quality Inn motel in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, but police did not link the murder to Cottingham until his 1980 arrest at the same motel. When you have a series of crimes today, everything goes through the computers, andwe have computer analysis and a wayof moving these through jurisdictionalboundaries. 43 0 obj
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I think sometimes he grapples with his own gruesomeness back then., On March 12, a Friday, Mr. Anzilotti summoned the inmate. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. Anything that might close more cases, bring answers to more families. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Just shy of his 21st birthday, Richard Cottingham began a vicious killing spree that tore through north New Jersey and New York City. In this image taken from a New Jersey Courts virtual hearing, Richard Cottingham, center, known as the "Torso Killer," pleads guilty April 27, 2021, to two 1974 murders, finally closing the cold case deaths of teenage friends who had left home for a trip to the mall and never returned. But in 2009, he surfaced to again make waves, when he gave a chilling interview to journalist Nadia Fezzani about his motivation and his body count. Cottingham had just raped, tortured and beheaded two sex workers in a room at the motel before setting it on fire. On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. He pleaded guilty to the killing in 2010, but when the news got out, Mr. Cottingham, who evidently thought the hearing would be ignored, was furious. And later that same month, a fifth woman was found mutilated in the former Hotel Seville near Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. He rented an apartment in Midtown and told his wife he worked nights. On August 21, 1972, he is charged and convicted of shoplifting at a Stern's department store in Paramus, New Jersey, and was sentenced to pay a $50 fine or ten days in jail. 0000002831 00000 n
The 22-year-old's death appeared brutal: she had been beheaded and set on fire and her skull has yet to be found. The predator, dubbed The Torso Killer, would strike again in May 1980. He was imprisoned. 0000003125 00000 n
Richard Cottingham who is already serving time in state prison for several . Investigators noted the crime scene was devoid of evidence and they were unable to identify the victims. The inmate, with no real incentive to say anything about that crime, had given the chief what amounted to a parting gift. He recalled the exact place in the woods where he left the bodies. She had been tied up and strangled, authorities said. They were marginalized sex workers in a Times Square that was nearly lawless and when the police, at best, looked the other way.. Falasca was walking by the side of the road in Emerson on July 14, 1969, when Cottingham pulled up beside her and offered her a ride. I believe hes killed between 85 and 100, as he claims, Vronsky told The Post. You can change your choice at any time by using the Privacy Center link in our footer. Taking a bus to another location, Cottingham and Blase spent some time together. It was Aug. 14, 1974, in Montvale, N.J., a suburb just over the New York state line. In 2010, Bergen County authorities announced hed pleaded guilty to a sixth murder, a 1967 strangling in Bergen County. Blase was found strangled to death in 4 feet of water in Saddle River the next day. In other words, he may have been content and/or preoccupied. His wife withdrew the petition upon his arrest in May 1980, then completed the divorce after his 1981 conviction. She was a mother, she was a wife, a daughter and a grandmother taken far too early. In April of 1979, he started living in the basement of the property after his wife initiated divorce proceedings against him for "abandonment" and "mental cruelty.". Unfortunately, we were unable to find a photograph of Jean Reyner. He married in 1970 and became a father of. How it ended was me literally shaking his hand and saying, Thank you, Mr. Anzilotti said. South Hackensack, Richard Cottingham, Lorraine Kelly, Mary Ann Pryor, Bergen County Prosecutor's Chief of Detectives Robert Anzilotti, Ecuadorian National Pleads Guilty To Brutal Stabbing Death Of Popular Bergen County Chef, Franklin Lakes Driver Indicted In Teaneck T-Bone Crash That Kil, Paterson Non-Violence Activist Shot Dead In Police Standoff Was, Man Killed By Amtrak Train In Central Jersey Was Family Breadwi, WATCH: YouTube Video Shows Rapper Assaulting Bergen Shop Rite W, Motel Guest Covered In Lotion Rescued From Knife-Wielding Woman, DWI Suspected In Horrific Route 80 Crash In Bergen County. Theyre pushing him on multiple other cases. Hes been interviewing Cottingham in state prison for years. His "justification" for doing this was that he "didn't like anyone getting one over" on him. 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. The murders committed by the Torso Killer bore little resemblance to the ones Mr. Anzilotti was investigating, but their timing matched up with Mr. Cottinghams settling in New Jersey. Find NJ.com on Facebook. That night, city firefighters responded to a blaze at a motel in Times Square, the New York Daily News reported. His yearbook photo shows a cross-country runner with blond hair slicked back. %PDF-1.4
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One would remind him of a TV actress. He was the Torso Killer. The inmate made it clear that pressure would not work. Rodrigo Torrejon may be reached at rtorrejon@njadvancemedia.com. And thats what bothers me, because I probably didnt have to do anything to them., Mr. Anzilotti left the confession both exhausted and relieved. Cottingham, who grew up in River Vale, has been in prison since the 1980s, when he was convicted of the first five murders to which he was linked. Cottingham has confessed to murdering 12 women. They were never able to fully recover from the monumental loss, she said. The items included necklaces, broaches, earrings, and other pieces of jewelry. Therefore, you should be respectful and not step foot on the property without permission. 0000008735 00000 n
The following is a list of his victims in chronological order. View Richard Cottingham's record in Manchester, NJ including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. During a search of the house, investigators discovered personal items belonging to some of his victims. (1981, June 16). But something a hunch, past investigative speculation, the proximity of the crimes drew Mr. Anzilotti to the prisoner. O'Dell's muffled cries of pain became so loud that the motel staff, already uneased by the previous two murders of Carr and Street, called police and then rushed to the room demanding that Cottingham open the door. [21] Cottingham was apparently "forensically aware" in the era before DNA analysis. The details stopped him cold. Mr. Anzilotti insisted that this case be resolved in open court. He called his detectives and gave the word: Bring in Cottingham. 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. The police photograph on the left was taken in June of 1980. 0000006151 00000 n
(1981, June 25). 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, How a retired detective snared his seventh Torso Killer confession, Expert reveals biological reason why were obsessed with true crime shows. Then, with just days remaining before the chief retired, the inmate relented. 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. Cottingham had stuffed Streets body under the bed for housekeeping to find, Vronsky said. WjgF\A9Ro9r/;l5Gh3h}NG2L -S$B{s"=z{ 0EaSe,&@yJQ>`n; ;dj7n (~>*}fEx*\W]xvpt]/k"0JTj4%`G?t$8I@FmYkr(_5_+ jfbXP{]~&I6"%}\STHD Ld2=ENhk$)HESdX,g o+IkRC~eC1 dm"GZBDM7~K&'/9"[{$AXH'my Those cases were already closed. A third the killing of 13-year-old Jackie Harp seemed to be the work of another killer. To this day, the other young female has never been identified. I was shocked that one human being was capable of all this carnage, Moye said of Cottingham. The house was built in 1974one year before Cottingham and his wife, Janet, moved in. 0000002847 00000 n
Accused serial killer nurse allegedly tried to murder premature infant twice. Years after her sisters death, she had found some comfort speaking to another from her tribe, Karen Miller, a sister of Denise Falasca. These meetings went on for months, and then years, on top of Mr. Anzilottis regular caseload. I asked them where they were going. The mall, they replied. Author Peter Vronsky, who has a forthcoming book on Cottingham, and was first to publicly announce that the imprisoned Cottingham was responsible for the three 50-year-old crimes, says authorities want to add more to the list. Maywood, 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. After years in prison, Mr. Cottingham began to open up to the detective about past unsolved crimes. Although first responders encountered thick smoke in the room, one noticed the shape of bodies on the pair of twin beds and attempted to administer CPR. A real sick bastard did this, retired NYPD detective Jim Riegel, who was working as a beat cop that day, recalls his sergeant telling him in the new Netflix series Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer, out Wednesday. Three days later, Mr. Anzilotti walked out of his office for good. A hotel worker arrived at Room 417 to find smoke and a horrible scene: the scorched remains of two women on a bed. Everything that I was taught about evil was evident in his presence, in his demeanor, in the gaze of his eyes, Moye told The Post. The teenagers were last seen on Aug. 9, 1974, in North Bergen. If hes going to confess to some others, if they can get him to talk, just for those families if he can confess to those, that right there would be I dont know the right word to say, Ms. Mulder said. My parents couldnt handle it., She had called Bergen County every few months to ask about the case for 47 years, she said. As the New Jersey press reported on Cottinghams arrest, the NYPD started to take notice. Its an ongoing process, Vronsky said. Thats not the natural order its supposed to go in.. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. It was a game to me. In this case, instead, he removed her breasts and placed them on the headboard for shock value, former Commanding Officer of Bronx Homicide and criminal profiler Vernon Geberth says in the series, noting it convinced him of one thing: Still, at the time, no one suspected the scope of this sexual sadists homicidal footprint, which stretched into the Garden State and had started more than a decade prior. A notorious New Jersey serial killer pleaded guilty Tuesday to the cold case murders of two teenage girls in 1974. Little more than a week after Street was found, Reyner was found butchered in the Seville Motel in New York City. Peter Karas/The Record, via USA Today Network. %%EOF
He worked hard on this., There were never any meaningful updates, until a Monday this April, when detectives knocked on her door in Ocean County, N.J., and said they had obtained a confession. I never broke my promise to him, all these years later, the chief said. When a worker came to check on her, ODell cracked open the door and gave a hand signal asking for help. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. 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. All rights reserved (About Us). (1981, June 16). Like a werewolf, Vronsky told The Post. In his possession, the 33-year-old had a stash of handcuffs, tape and sedatives. The chief agreed. It is my fervent hope that this arrest and conviction bring some semblance of closure to the friends and family of Mary Ann and Lorraine and a measure of justice to members of our communities, who have long feared this unknown actor.. There were at least five unsolved killings of girls, each an open wound for families seeking resolution. trailer
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On May 5, 1980, a motel housekeeper found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn. endstream
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HUMs@Wf~}m1`16N7NLf%=Io8. She then grew up without a father because her grandparents did not like him, she said. He enjoys our time together., The chief also had another theory. He abducted Vogel and took her to a field in Montvale, where he strangled her. Hed order pizza and play cards with the older man and other detectives. Cottingham primarily sought prostitutes who were petite blondes in their late teens to mid-twenties. In April 1978, Cottingham's wife filed for divorce on the grounds of "abandonment" and "mental cruelty" (refusing to have sex with her after the birth of their third child, staying out until early morning, and leaving her with insufficient household funds). 0000007874 00000 n
The New York Times, p. 26. Richard Cottingham of Lodi (NJ) is sentenced to 173-179 years in prison. In the case of Diane Cusick, it was a drive-in that no longer exists there He remembers the victims characteristics, but he doesnt remember their names.. . 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. Anyone can read what you share. Which, of course, I wasnt overly interested in, the former chief said. But there was an even bigger problem. She agreed to have sex with him for money. His proclivity toward violence and the lack of solid profiling tactics for serial killers made Vronsky believe that Cottinghams claim of 100 victims was possible. He had no relationship to his victims. [16], In the early hours of May 22, 1980, Cottingham picked up 18-year-old Leslie Ann O'Dell, who was soliciting on the corner of Manhattan's Lexington Avenue and 25th Street. The other girls did, you have to take it, too. 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. [5][17], The charges listed in Cottingham's New Jersey indictment included kidnapping, attempted murder, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with deadly weapon, aggravated sexual assault while armed (rape), aggravated sexual assault while armed (sodomy), aggravated sexual assault while armed (fellatio), possession of a weapon (switchblade knife), and possession of controlled substances (secobarbital, amobarbital and diazepam). In 1948, Cottingham's family moved to Dumont, New Jersey, and in 1956 to River Vale, New Jersey, where he began his fascination with bondage pornography. Her youth and difference in appearance, with a boyish haircut, set her apart from the other victims. He also claims that his true victim count is at least 85. Moye, 55, stared down serial murderer and rapist Richard Cottingham in a Nassau County courtroom Monday as the 76-year-old notorious Torso Killer admitted to five more sadistic slayings decades earlier, bringing his known tally to 17 although experts believe that figure could be as high as 100 victims. The police believed they had given up on the bus and were trying to hitchhike to a mall. Ms. Falasca was a 15-year-old who left her familys house in July 1969 and never returned. Knowing better, Harp, just 13 years old, refused. Which is entirely possible, especially in those days.. 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. They have also lived in Whiting, IN. Cottingham had kept these items as souvenirs so that he could remember his victims and relive his attacks. Authorities executed a warrant on his Lodi home, which had a private room containing evidence linking him to the Torso Killer. Did the old man kill those girls? 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. Richard Cottingham, serial killer from New Jersey operating in New York between 1967 and 1980. He asked to quietly close their daughters murder case without formally charging the killer. The public in Bergen County deserved to know the outcome of those girls, he said. For years, the three confessions remained a secret, until January 2020, when a true-crime writer who had been visiting Mr. Cottingham in prison, Peter Vronsky, announced that the inmate had revealed his crimes in interviews for a forthcoming book. In December 2019, forensic historian and author Peter Vronsky, on the eve of publishing the revelation in his second edition of Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters, publicized the confessions with the BCPO's cooperation, in a community meeting in Midland Park. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. 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.