Other locations that are relatively close to this place. Peter Karas/The Record, via USA Today Network. 0000003202 00000 n 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. Hackensack, With Ms. Pryor and a judge watching on Zoom that day, Mr. Cottingham pleaded guilty to the two murders. 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. 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. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. 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 And at. 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. Richard Cottingham, 76, pleaded guilty to the February 1968 murder of Diane Cusick, 23, and admitted to strangling four additional women in the 1970s in Nassau County. He later detailed his brief 1979 encounter with Cottingham in Times Square Torso Ripper: Sex and Murder on The Deuce. His upcoming book on the vicious predator will be released next fall. Over time, though, one investigator was slowly developing a theory. 3. Its Godlike almost. On May 5, 1980, a motel housekeeper found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn. 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. He also claims that his true victim count is at least 85. 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. He was the Torso Killer. It contains 0 bedroom and 0 bathroom. 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.CreditBryan Anselm for The New York Times. Their heads and hands had been cut off. The girls vanished Aug. 9, 1974, while hitchhiking to a mall in . Her breasts had been severed and torso had been set on fire, Vronsky said. Goodarzi had come to the United States years prior from Iran. In recent years, he had asked Mr. Cottingham about the case, and the inmate had simultaneously denied responsibility and let on that he knew more than he would share. ADVERTISEMENT. 0000001001 00000 n Cottingham offered to give O'Dell a massage and she rolled onto her stomach. You can set your cookie preferences below. In the 1970s, he had preyed on prostitutes in Times Square 30 miles but a world away from Montvale not just killing them, but torturing and dismembering them. For more details, please read our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Absolutely, its completely plausible. They found an 18-year-old victim who'd been bitten and stabbed bound with handcuffs. Between 1970 and 1974, Cottingham and his wife, Janet, lived at an apartment block called Ledgewood Terrace in Little Ferry, New Jersey. His yearbook photo shows a cross-country runner with blond hair slicked back. But then, four years ago, Mr. Cottingham stunned the chief. 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. PB| 0000002420 00000 n He continued to live here until the police eventually arrested him on May 22nd, 1980. 0000003431 00000 n 0000007658 00000 n . Richard Cottingham, a family man who denied everything in court, was convicted of killing five women in the early 1980s. It was mainly psychological. He began torturing her, nearly biting off one of her nipples. Its taken more than 46 years, but a Bergen County police veteran who is only days from retirement got one of the countrys most notorious serial killers to confess. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Much of Cottinghams crimes were not murders, but other violent crimes like abductions and rapes. H|U0+(QvG`b08NbHlSoZ2CRSs=* \e~ Then came Tuesdays pleas. [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. xref 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. Hes hedged around and all but confessed.. In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. 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. 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. Hed order pizza and play cards with the older man and other detectives. Defense attorney John Bruno recited the details, which the white-bearded, 74-year-old killer acknowledged. And even worse, the rape laws were particularly onerous, and you had to provide a witness to bring an allegation of rape. Mr. Cottingham at his virtual hearing on April 27 in Bergen County Superior Court, where he pleaded guilty to killing Mary Ann Pryor and Lorraine Kelly 47 years later. <<69EF7C237A736942AE760EBDB9B8F80B>]>> For over 40 years, its been folklore in this county.. Select this result to view Richard P Cunningham's phone number, address, and more. %%EOF This number may increase in the future, as he has stated in the past that his victim count is much higher. I never broke my promise to him, all these years later, the chief said. However, he started killing again in 1974, when he murdered Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. What they want is an outright statement and a sign-off of Yes thats me,' Vronsky continued. 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. Once again, the victim did not appear in further proceedings and the case was dismissed.[6]. Straddling her back, he drew a knife and put it to her throat as he snapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. [7] On October 28, 1967, he strangled Nancy Schiava Vogel, a 29-year-old married mother of two, in Little Ferry, New Jersey. 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 Trenton's New Jersey State Prison. As the New Jersey press reported on Cottinghams arrest, the NYPD started to take notice. 0 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 had pornographic artwork, adhesive tape, books about S&M, said Geberth. Then he shared his intentions to retire. A notorious New Jersey serial killer pleaded guilty Tuesday to the cold case murders of two teenage girls in 1974. The chief pressed ahead with his list. 0000002435 00000 n I could feel it.. The body of Laverne Moye, of St. Albans, Queens, was discovered in a Rockville Centre creek on July 20, 1972. The back and forth went on for weeks. That was roughly one month after his arrest. [3], Cottingham was arrested on several lesser charges throughout his killing spree. 0000012661 00000 n 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. 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. Later on, Richard took a job with Blue Cross Blue Shield in New York as a computer operator. That night, city firefighters responded to a blaze at a motel in Times Square, the New York Daily News reported. 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. After years in prison, Mr. Cottingham began to open up to the detective about past unsolved crimes. The police pursued a welter of tips, rumors and false alarms, The New York Times reported at the time. 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. I just ruled him out. Anzilottihas spent all but 4 years of his law enforcement career with the prosecutors office after coming over from the Woodcliff Lake Police Department. Among the other faces in separate windows on the Zoom screen was a 66-year-old woman, identified simply as Nancy. 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. But her light shines brightly against the backdrop of evil.. The details stopped him cold. He pleaded innocent and for decades insisted he was being "framed", until admitting in 2009 that he had actually perpetrated those five murders. 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. Her glasses, a ring, a necklace, Ms. Mulder said. As you can see, he didn't always look like Santa Claus. Since his incarceration, he has attempted suicide on two occasions. I was shocked that one human being was capable of all this carnage, Moye said of Cottingham. Richard Cottingham, 74, pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, both of North Bergen. They were never able to fully recover from the monumental loss, she said. He would occasionally remove and dispose of his victims heads and hands, presumably to make identification more difficult. [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]. 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 Harp was found strangled to death the next day. Blase was found strangled to death in 4 feet of water in Saddle River the next day. And before I go, I want to close out the Kelly-Pryor case., Mr. Cottingham urged the chief to reconsider leaving the force. It represented the opportunity to let the entire world know that Laverne Moye was a human being. 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. Mr. Cottingham was summoned before a judge on April 27, remotely, via Zoom, sitting in a wheelchair in a conference room at the prosecutors office. Their murders shook the region. Now I just have to go on with my life.. The schoolgirl murder confessions increased that to to nine. Authorities believed it to be, thus far, the oldest criminal case to be solved and prosecuted by direct DNA evidence. Before his arrest, he was a successful computer operator who worked at the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance company in Midtown Manhattan. 0000004577 00000 n Then in exchange for immunity from prosecution, he confessed to murdering three New Jersey schoolgirls. Vronsky, whose works also include an authoritative tome cataloging 17,000 years of pathological homicide, said Cottingham scouted his victims before transforming from a family man into a ferocious monster. She was Nancy Pryor, and she was 19 when her sister, Mary Ann, was found dead. Much like John Moye, Altman, who now lives in Ocala, Fla., said she struggled to process Cottinghams savagery. His additional confession to a 1974 murder was discounted by Rockland County police. iP^ -KvWZvxhc'm$93tSz =oBTmD]+)bTJ T|u>/. He did a U-turn in a bank parking lot and approached, he said. New documentary The 12th Victim: Is Fugate a Natural Born Killer or Starkweather victim? 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. You can change your choice at any time by using the Privacy Center link in our footer. 0 0000001250 00000 n He soon realized the woman had no head, the Daily News reported. Richard Cottingham, convicted of murdering prostitute and kidnapping three. Over the course of 13 years, beginning in 1967, Cottingham killed six women in New Jersey and New York. I think it was just an evolution in his killing.. The plea leaves the question: Will they be Cottinghams final admissions? Responding officers found an 18-year-old victim whod been bitten, stabbed and bound with handcuffs. Maintenance workers found her body covered in plastic bags and wrapped in a gray blanket near a Jones Beach bus stop. [6] At Blue Cross, Cottingham worked in an office with Rodney Alcala, the fugitive child molester and future serial killer who lived in New York under the alias "John Berger". Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. )' Canadian author Peter Vronsky is now writing his second book on the horrifying killing spree that culminated in May 1980 at a New Jersey motel, where cops arrested Cottingham after he handcuffed, stabbed and bit an 18-year-old woman. This guy was particularly ruthless. 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. The picture in the top left corner shows Cottingham during one of his trials. Vronsky, who frequently visits Cottingham in prison, said he had a freak, random elevator encounter with the serial killer on the early morning of Dec. 2, 1979, as he tried to check into the Travel Inn Motel near a seedy and sex-crazed Times Square. The public in Bergen County deserved to know the outcome of those girls, he said. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and grew up largely in New Jersey. <<8BD7E4F5B15F3F4A8993EB3A0150F7AC>]>> He would approach them in bars, drug them with the date rape drug Tuinal, take them to a remote locationtypically a motelwhere he would bind, gag, torture, and stab them before killing them by strangling them with a ligature. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and was raised mostly in New Jersey, according to the The New York Times. He also claimed to have committed 80 perfect murders no one knows about. But Cottingham had other victims, and he would later boast of killing 85 to 100 people. At the time, Cottingham, who had not been arrested or identified, was dubbed the "Times Square Ripper.. And any new prison sentence would, practically speaking, be meaningless; Mr. Cottingham had no chance of ever being released. Blase was 18 when she was found strangled in Saddle River in 1969. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. This is a private property. On Dec. 2, 1979, the murders that earned Cottingham the nickname the "Torso Killer took place in New York City. Denise Falasca, aged 15, was abducted on July 14, 1969, in Emerson, while walking to a friend's home and found the next morning in Saddle Brook, by the side of a road next to a cemetery, strangled with the cord or the chain of her crucifix. 0000000991 00000 n [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. His yearbook photo shows a cross-country runner with blond hair slicked back. He married in 1970 and became a father of. 0000009543 00000 n 0000009264 00000 n Now 74, Cottingham, who claims responsibility for dozens of murders, has confessed to a. They sat at the kitchen table, very professional, very polite, very considerate, Ms. Mulder recalled. When Mr. Cottingham entered prison in 1981, Robert Anzilotti was not yet a teenager. 0000003107 00000 n And thats what bothers me, because I probably didnt have to do anything to them., Mr. Anzilotti left the confession both exhausted and relieved. Bergen County investigators realized there were numerous open sexual assault cases with similar hallmarks: Cottingham kidnapped them from Times Square, drugged and assaulted them. In 1981, he was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison. They captured Cottingham soon after. 0000000756 00000 n Getting to that point wasnt easy, Anzilotti said. It was quite a shock to learn it was him.. On February 15, 1968, Cottingham killed his second known victim. His upcoming sentencing will add more time to a prison term that already extends beyond his remaining years. Mr. Cottingham mentioned details of the killing that matched what Mr. Anzilotti knew from the case file. That man, Richard Cottingham, had been convicted of crimes that seemed to bear little resemblance to the murders of the girls. She, like members of the other families, agreed to forgo a guilty plea in open court. In his possession, the 33-year-old had a stash of handcuffs, tape and sedatives. Following his arrest, police linked him to the murder of Valerie Streets. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. God rest their souls," Bergen County Prosecutor's Chief of Detective Robert Anzilotti said Tuesday after Richard Cottingham of Lodi admitted killing both in 1974. . It doesnt bring my mother back, but at least I have answers now. Because I was with them for a couple of days, he replied, according to a transcript, and got to know them., It was raining that day in August 1974, and Mr. Cottingham, then 28, was driving to work in Manhattan when he passed the two girls walking in the opposite direction. By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. Cottingham had just raped, tortured and beheaded two sex workers in a room at the motel before setting it on fire. I was able to get almostany woman to do whatever I wanted them to do . Goodarzi, of Trenton, was a sex worker who had been traveling to the then-seedy streets of midtown Manhattan, Vronsky said. But there was an even bigger problem. Instead, he drove her to the Quality Inn, where he tortured, beat and sexually assaulted her for hours, until a maid heard her scream. And later that same month, a fifth woman was found mutilated in the former Hotel Seville near Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Its his fault this is out.. I think sometimes he grapples with his own gruesomeness back then., On March 12, a Friday, Mr. Anzilotti summoned the inmate. [12] Both bodies had their hands and heads removed, and had been doused with lighter fluid and set on fire. Serial Killer House in Lodi, New Jersey, United States. Soon, Cottingham persuaded Blase to go for a drink with him. [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. [5] On May 15, 1980, Jean Reyner was strangled and her throat cut in New York's historic Seville Hotel. On the way out, he bumped the author on the shins with a bag that felt like it contained bowling balls, Vronsky said. He enjoys our time together., The chief also had another theory. 0000000016 00000 n To this day, their remains have never been recovered. 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.
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