That man, Richard Cottingham, had been convicted of crimes that seemed to bear little resemblance to the murders of the girls. 0000001982 00000 n 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. But he carried those cold cases with him literally, his thick files in cardboard boxes that he moved from office to office chipping away at the false leads, seeking similarities in the victims and in the crime scenes. Soon, Cottingham persuaded Blase to go for a drink with him. But Cottingham had other victims, and he would later boast of killing 85 to 100 people. HKo0l06CYf,Y(v (I?0c9 She was Nancy Pryor, and she was 19 when her sister, Mary Ann, was found dead. Then he followed with an unusual request. On March 12, 1974, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery and unlawful imprisonment on the complaint of another prostitute. By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. 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. On September 4, 1973, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery, oral sodomy and sexual abuse on the complaint of a prostitute and her pimp. 0000006081 00000 n 0000001425 00000 n Hours later, her parents drove to the mall and found Dianes Plymouth Valiant in the parking lot, where her body was discovered in the backseat. 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 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. For over 40 years, its been folklore in this county.. 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. She was found strangled to death the next day in Saddle Brook. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and grew up largely in New Jersey. Cottingham primarily sought prostitutes who were petite blondes in their late teens to mid-twenties. I can go all the way back to the first detective on the case. Then he shared his intentions to retire. Mr. Anzilotti insisted that this case be resolved in open court. And at the time, it was beyond our capacity to look beyond New York City, he told The Post. After six years of visits, there was a break. Inmates were wagering everything from cash to cigarettes. Where Is The Torso Killer Now? Richard Cottingham Is In Prison - Bustle It could only be Jackie Harp.. NJ's infamous 'Torso Killer' confesses to 1974 murders of two Garden Before his arrest, he was a successful computer operator who worked at the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance company in Midtown Manhattan. [8] Vogel's nude and bound body was found on October 31, under a blanket behind the passenger seat of her car parked in nearby Ridgefield Park. Richard Cottingham in NJ - Address & Phone Number | Whitepages 0000000016 00000 n In May of 1980, police arrested Cottingham while he was torturing a sex worker at a motel room in New Jersey. (1981, June 25). 0000002882 00000 n I think sometimes he grapples with his own gruesomeness back then., On March 12, a Friday, Mr. Anzilotti summoned the inmate. The clever killer slipped up, leaving a fingerprint on the cuffs. To Mr. Anzilotti, what had once seemed like a great disparity between the two series of murders one a group of suburban teenagers and the other mostly sex workers in the city now made sense. 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. And thats what bothers me, because I probably didnt have to do anything to them., Mr. Anzilotti left the confession both exhausted and relieved. The third result is Richard Eric Cunningham age 50s in Skillman, NJ. The 22-year-old's death appeared brutal: she had been beheaded and set on fire and her skull has yet to be found. Since his incarceration, he has attempted suicide on two occasions. Thats why [authorities are] not going to make another statement. 0000003431 00000 n To this day, their remains have never been recovered. [7] In a 2009 interview, Cottingham admitted to the murders and claimed that he severed the heads and hands of the victims to prevent their identification, as he was acquainted with Goodarzi and had been seen with her in a bar the night before.[2]. Cottingham's reign of terror on both sides of the Hudson River is the subject of Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer, whose tale begins on Dec. 2, 1979, with New York City police and fire. If they came forward and said theyd been assaulted, they would be arrested for prostitution, so there was no reason to come forward, Berlinger said. But he told Mr. Cottingham. View Richard Cottingham's record in Manchester, NJ including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. During his trial, he testified that he had been fascinated by bondage since he was a young child. ,X3ieG(>]/TUW#gI" p&gGgy`Un(aE6e#./"e3 [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. This guy was particularly ruthless. I never broke my promise to him, all these years later, the chief said. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. But as he considered retirement, he kept returning to the two girls found dead in the woods. 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. He kept these "trophies" in a locked room in the basement. We use cookies to deliver personalized advertisements, improve your online experience, and to analyze our site's performance. 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. He enjoys our time together., The chief also had another theory. Her youth and difference in appearance, with a boyish haircut, set her apart from the other victims. Cottingham, a divorced father of three who previously lived in Lodi, NJ, also pleaded guilty to the February 1968 rape and murder of Diane Cusick, 23, a dance instructor from New Hyde Park, NY. However, he started killing again in 1974, when he murdered Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. 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. The potential payoff in return felt almost too important to describe. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. In April 1978, after his wife had initiated divorce proceedings, he kept a locked room in a basement apartment of the house in which they lived in Lodi, New Jersey. 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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. I lost so much more than just my mother that day, Altman said. [13] In 2021, he pleaded guilty to the 1974 kidnapping, raping and drowning of Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. And I said, Hop in., He drove to the mall. Other locations that are relatively close to this place. 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. This murder was later linked to the 1977 murder of Maryann Carr, who was left in the same motel's parking lot. She, too, had been strangled. In August 2022, with a non-prosecution agreement, officials in Rockland County, New York, corroborated and accepted Cottingham's confession to the murder of 26-year-old Lorraine McGraw, who was beaten and killed March 1, 1970. 0000009992 00000 n Infamous New Jersey 'Torso Killer' admits to abducting, torturing and Mr. Anzilotti and another investigator drove to the town of Reading, Vt., to deliver the news to Jackies older sister, Suzan Mulder, then 69. There was also a lockbox filled with trophies from his murders, including Maryann Carrs apartment key and a necklace belonging to Jean Reyner. He said, Youre welcome.. The girls vanished Aug. 9, 1974, while hitchhiking to a mall in . But eventually, their old give-and-take resumed. Authorities executed a warrant on his Lodi home, which had a private room containing evidence linking him to the Torso Killer. As the New Jersey press reported on Cottinghams arrest, the NYPD started to take notice. New Jersey . Over decades, through his rise from sergeant to detective to chief of detectives, Robert Anzilotti plugged away at cold cases in New Jersey involving young womens murders. Cottingham, a Lodi man who moonlighted as one of New Jersey's most savage serial killers, had been convicted of murdering five women in New York and New Jersey. 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 said, Im going to give you one, Mr. Anzilotti recalled. The items included necklaces, broaches, earrings, and other pieces of jewelry. [21] Cottingham was apparently "forensically aware" in the era before DNA analysis. Correctional officers found contraband and evidence of bookmaking and transferred Mr. Cottingham to solitary confinement. 21 0 obj <> endobj 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. 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. Theyre pushing him on multiple other cases. Hes been interviewing Cottingham in state prison for years. I was shocked that one human being was capable of all this carnage, Moye said of Cottingham. 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. %PDF-1.4 % Rochelle Park & Here are the nine victims Cottingham has confessed to or been convicted of killing: On Oct. 28, 1967, Vogel, 29, told friends she was going to play bingo at a local church. I was able to get almostany woman to do whatever I wanted them to do . 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 case also had parallels to a previously unsolved murder of nurse Maryann Carr, who was found dead in the same motel three years earlier. On April 7, 1969, Cottingham saw Blase, 18, shopping in Hackensack, Vronsky said. [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. You can change your choice at any time by using the Privacy Center link in our footer. He rented an apartment in Midtown and told his wife he worked nights. Cottingham was not charged with this murder until June 2022, when he was implicated by DNA.[10]. The New York Times, p. 26. . After nearly 15 years of interviews by Anzilotti and Detective Capt. [7] On October 28, 1967, he strangled Nancy Schiava Vogel, a 29-year-old married mother of two, in Little Ferry, New Jersey. [15] In December 2022, Cottingham was convicted of Diane Cusick's 1968 murder and, under a non-prosecution agreement, officially admitted to killing another four women during 19721973 in Long Island, New York: Mary Beth Heinz, Laverne Moye, Sheila Heiman, and Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves. It was mainly psychological. On Thursday, authorities told NJ Advance Media that Cottingham confessed to the murders of three Bergen County teenagers in the late 1960s - each a cold case for over 50 years. )' For decades, a string of killings of teenage girls haunted suburban New Jersey. How it ended was me literally shaking his hand and saying, Thank you, Mr. Anzilotti said. What Is 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham's Life Like Today? 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 It is situated at 29 Vreeland Street in Lodi, New Jersey. She had been a teenager when her sister was killed. In a candid interview, the Bergen County chief who spent 20 years trying to wrangle new confessions out of serial killer Richard Cottingham revealed the 74-year-old prisoner has "regrets". It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently said. Defense attorney John Bruno recited the details, which the white-bearded, 74-year-old killer acknowledged. 0000001001 00000 n In 1981, he was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison. Richard Cottingham, convicted of murdering prostitute and kidnapping three. Irene Blase, aged 18, vanished on April 7, 1969, in Hackensack and was found face down in four feet of water in the Saddle River, strangled with a wire, a cord, or perhaps the chain of a crucifix she was wearing. 0000013001 00000 n Richard Cottingham, 74, appeared virtually in court Tuesday to admit to the slayings of 17-year-old Mary Ann Pryor and 16-year-old Lorraine Marie Kelly. And any new prison sentence would, practically speaking, be meaningless; Mr. Cottingham had no chance of ever being released. 0000001071 00000 n 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. Anzilotti and BCPO subsequently confirmed the "exceptional closures" of these three murders.[13][8]. He enjoys our relationship. To this day, the other young female has never been identified. Over time, though, one investigator was slowly developing a theory. Math-wise its possible," said Vronsky. And later that same month, a fifth woman was found mutilated in the former Hotel Seville near Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. In his possession, the 33-year-old had a stash of handcuffs, tape and sedatives. You are in complete control of somebodys destiny, he told Fezzani in footage shown in the series. This story has been shared 150,597 times. When the 40th year since the killings arrived in 2014, the local police asked the public for any new information. Cottingham admitted during the plea hearing that he brought Mary Ann and Lorraine to a hotel, where he raped both and bound the girls to keep them from getting away. He would occasionally remove and dispose of his victims heads and hands, presumably to make identification more difficult. In other words, he may have been content and/or preoccupied. (1981, June 16). Knowing better, Harp, just 13 years old, refused. It was quite a shock to learn it was him.. The inmate made it clear that pressure would not work. Cusick, an instructor at a dance school in the Oceanside community of Long Island, went to Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream to buy a pair of shoes. 0000003686 00000 n It also left enormous holes in the souls of family and friends of Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16. This is a "Then and Now" photograph of Cottingham's former house at 29 Vreeland Street. On May 22, Cottingham then picked up Leslie Ann ODell, a 19-year-old runaway desperate to escape her pimp something he promised to help her do over drinks in Midtown. Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. The details stopped him cold. Richard Cottingham, serial killer from New Jersey operating in New York between 1967 and 1980. Netflix details Times Square torso killer Richard Cottingham who She had been tied up and strangled, authorities said. These include the Times Square Killer, the Torso Killer, and the Times Square Torso Ripper. 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). The police photograph on the left was taken in June of 1980. [6] The confession was extracted by Detective Anzilotti weeks before his retirement and was facilitated by historian Vronsky and by Jennifer Weiss, the daughter of Deedeh Goodarzi, one of Cottingham's later victims. The body of Laverne Moye, of St. Albans, Queens, was discovered in a Rockville Centre creek on July 20, 1972. But it was a way to get him comfortable to talk to me about murders.. There were at least five unsolved killings of girls, each an open wound for families seeking resolution. [4], On May 3, 1970, Cottingham was married at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, Queens. His yearbook photo shows a cross-country runner with blond hair slicked back. He pleaded innocent and for decades insisted he was being "framed", until admitting in 2009 that he had actually perpetrated those five murders. Cottingham had just raped, tortured and beheaded two sex workers in a room at the motel before setting it on fire. 0000008735 00000 n She later testified that he said, "You have to take it. Long-Buried Secrets: The Serial Killer and the Detective, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/nyregion/new-jersey-serial-killer-cottingham-anzilotti.html. 21 0 obj <> endobj He did not know the names of those he killed. It will take her a while to forget the habit of calling the detectives for updates a lifetime constant, through the deaths of her parents, her marriage and divorce, her second marriage and widowhood. Torso Killer: Ailing Richard Cottingham Confesses to More Murders I took over handling the calls, the arrangements. After those confessions, the two men barely spoke. Lodi Serial Killer Confesses To 1960s Bergen Schoolgirl Murders 0 [15], In 2022, Cottingham was arraigned from his prison hospital bed for the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick in Long Island, New York. Richard Cottingham, New Jersey prison photo. Anything that might close more cases, bring answers to more families. His additional confession to a 1974 murder was discounted by Rockland County police. They sat at the kitchen table, very professional, very polite, very considerate, Ms. Mulder recalled. The motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated. He continued to live here until the police eventually arrested him on May 22nd, 1980. Times Square Torso Killer: Grisly crimes of Richard Cottingham laid He had three children, two boys and a girl, with his wife. 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). This story has been shared 151,197 times. His wife withdrew the petition upon his arrest in May 1980, then completed the divorce after his 1981 conviction. Mr. Anzilotti, doing his best not to betray any emotion, slowly pulled out his Blackberry and took notes. Soon, the chief closed that case two down. (1981, June 25). Its hard to understand how someone could be like that. His yearbook photo shows a cross-country runner with blond hair slicked back. Photos of the house and other related images. It was Aug. 14, 1974, in Montvale, N.J., a suburb just over the New York state line. 3. The police hunted for leads, questioning prostitutes about suspicious men, examining the handwriting of the guest who had checked into Room 417: Carl Wilson of Merlin, N.J., a fake name from a fake place.
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