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. He married in 1970 and became a father of three. Thats not the natural order its supposed to go in.. The inmate made it clear that pressure would not work. F!
A local investigator began to wonder: Could there be a link to a series of infamous Times Square murders? There was also a lockbox filled with trophies from his murders, including Maryann Carrs apartment key and a necklace belonging to Jean Reyner. She had been a teenager when her sister was killed. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Cottingham was not charged with this murder until June 2022, when he was implicated by DNA.[10]. Cottingham fled the scene with the victims heads and hands. It was Aug. 14, 1974, in Montvale, N.J., a suburb just over the New York state line. 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. His murders were not the outcome of stalking or planning but of fleeting encounters. 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. 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. [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]. It was quite a shock to learn it was him.. The Blase family agreed. 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. It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently said. 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. It would take about five months after the grisly Travel Inn slayings for investigators to arrest their man, a married father of three from Lodi, New Jersey, who preyed on sex workers in Times Square, then a seedy nucleus of pornography, prostitution and crime. Over the course of 13 years, beginning in 1967, Cottingham killed six women in New Jersey and New York. Long-Buried Secrets: The Serial Killer and the Detective, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/nyregion/new-jersey-serial-killer-cottingham-anzilotti.html. Pages in category "People from Lodi, New Jersey" The following 21 pages are in this category, out of 21 total. That man, Richard Cottingham, had been convicted of crimes that seemed to bear little resemblance to the murders of the girls. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a photograph of Jean Reyner. He didnt have the decency or the dignity to ask for forgiveness or to even address the victims families. His additional confession to a 1974 murder was discounted by Rockland County police. 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 Ms. Falasca was a 15-year-old who left her familys house in July 1969 and never returned. The sergeant was undeterred. And last week, three more were added to his grisly toll. She was believed to have accepted a ride from a stranger, and her body was found on the side of a road near a cemetery. This story has been shared 151,197 times. [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". Soon, the chief closed that case two down. Cottingham severed the victim's breasts and posed them on the headboard of the bed, and set fire to the mattress under her body before fleeing, similar to the Travel Inn torso killings. K3nVxb;X)oxeHME~> [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. 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. Then, with just days remaining before the chief retired, the inmate relented. Investigators noted the crime scene was devoid of evidence and they were unable to identify the victims. However, he started killing again in 1974, when he murdered Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. Mr. Anzilotti would arrange to have the inmate transported to his office more than hours drive from the prison. This guy was particularly ruthless. Over time, though, one investigator was slowly developing a theory. Photos of the house and other related images. Its an ongoing process, Vronsky said. 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. But then, four years ago, Mr. Cottingham stunned the chief. The Google Street View image on the right was taken 38 years later, in June of 2018. Zestimate Home Value: $598,600. All these factors created this crucible in the center of Manhattan for Richard Cottingham to flourish.. xb```"VV~g`0pt 9mzQ[2fXar9XcK',6=3Yb%^)=
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He was also extremely fidgety and unable to sit still. 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. 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. Fifty years after his mother was strangled and thrown from a Long Island bridge, John Moye finally got a glimpse of the wickedness that altered his life forever. But the arrest in 1980 changed everything, exposing Richard's double life and deadly exploits. In the new docuseries, the second in Netflixs Crime Scene anthology, director Joe Berlinger dissects the Torso Killers murder spree against the backdrop of the sexually charged, crime-ridden culture of 1970s Times Square and how it provided the predator with a fertile hunting ground. That made 11 murders Cottingham that admitted since his arrest more than 30 years ago. A third the killing of 13-year-old Jackie Harp seemed to be the work of another killer. It represented closure, Moye said of this weeks hearing. When the 40th year since the killings arrived in 2014, the local police asked the public for any new information. On Dec. 2, 1979, fire alarms rang out at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on West 42nd Street. 0000001982 00000 n
The following is a list of his victims in chronological order. Knowing better, Harp, just 13 years old, refused. He did not know the names of those he killed. Cottingham has been given various nicknames over the years. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. 0000001250 00000 n
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He rented an apartment in Midtown and told his wife he worked nights. But on May 22, 1980 Cottingham's life as a predator came to light. She, like members of the other families, agreed to forgo a guilty plea in open court. 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. 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. He pleaded innocent and for decades insisted he was being "framed", until admitting in 2009 that he had actually perpetrated those five murders. Now I just have to go on with my life.. 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. Richard Cottingham, Lorraine . He said he wouldn't have done it if I wasn't retiring.. All rights reserved (About Us). 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. They captured Cottingham soon after. The 45th year passed in the same way. It was mainly psychological. The family lived in Lodi, and Mr. Cottingham commuted to a job as a computer operator at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Manhattan. He then left the scene with their severed heads and hands. The man has no heart, no soul, no emotion whatsoever, she said. Mr. Anzilotti, doing his best not to betray any emotion, slowly pulled out his Blackberry and took notes. She was Nancy Pryor, and she was 19 when her sister, Mary Ann, was found dead. I had long suspected that whoever killed Irene Blase also killed Denise Falasca, Mr. Anzilotti said. The girls vanished Aug. 9, 1974, while hitchhiking to a mall in . I was an immediate adult when it happened, she said later in an interview. On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. 0000007658 00000 n
Its been half my career, he said. 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. With Ms. Pryor and a judge watching on Zoom that day, Mr. Cottingham pleaded guilty to the two murders. The five victims addressed . <<69EF7C237A736942AE760EBDB9B8F80B>]>>
"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. Dont think youre going to mess with me and Im going to help you, Mr. Anzilotti recalled Mr. Cottingham saying. Cottingham then confessed to more murders including Nancy Vogel, whom he killed in 1967, and five teenaged victims from New Jersey, none of whom were in the sex trade. Inmates were wagering everything from cash to cigarettes. 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. I was able to get almostany woman to do whatever I wanted them to do . Absolutely, its completely plausible. 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. The predator, dubbed The Torso Killer, would strike again in May 1980. Accused serial killer nurse allegedly tried to murder premature infant twice. 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. He lived with his wife and kids in. 0000001412 00000 n
Through the years, other people were assigned. Right up to Mr. Anzilotti. 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. 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. Boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, family members all were questioned and cleared of suspicion. His yearbook photo shows a cross-country runner with blond hair slicked back. Harp was found strangled to death the next day. This is possibly due to the fact that he got married in 1970. This location belongs to the following categories: Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to see future locations. My whole life has been this, she said. [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. Stumped, the police used mannequins from nearby department stores and dressed them in the victims clothing, hoping to spark an identification from friends or family who recognized the outfits. He began to speak about a particular case, he said. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. On April 7, 1969, Cottingham saw Blase, 18, shopping in Hackensack, Vronsky said. After years in prison, Mr. Cottingham began to open up to the detective about past unsolved crimes. (1981, June 16). I just ruled him out. When Mr. Cottingham entered prison in 1981, Robert Anzilotti was not yet a teenager. A judge sentenced him to 25 years to life after Cusicks brother and only child read emotional impact statements in court. Vogel was found dead in her own car in Ridgefield Park, nude and bound. On the way out, he bumped the author on the shins with a bag that felt like it contained bowling balls, Vronsky said. 3. For decades, a string of killings of teenage girls haunted suburban New Jersey. Richard Cottingham, the notorious North Jersey serial killer known for dismembering the young women who were so often his victims, publicly confessed Tuesday to drowning two North Bergen girls. 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. The inmate, with no real incentive to say anything about that crime, had given the chief what amounted to a parting gift. [15], In 2022, Cottingham was arraigned from his prison hospital bed for the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick in Long Island, New York. 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. Select this result to view Richard P Cunningham's phone number, address, and more. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. 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. And considering the closure of yesterdays cases, I absolutely believe him.. Cottingham, who is also nicknamed "The Torso Killer," moved into this rented three-bedroom house in February of 1975. In May of 1980, police arrested Cottingham while he was torturing a sex worker at a motel room in New Jersey. He described things only the killer would know, like where hed thrown her car keys afterward. It was an era when the sex worker was criminalized. 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. Since his conviction, Cottingham has pleaded guilty to 12 murders. 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. So we just stayed in the car and we kept talking to each other, getting to know each other and so forth., If the rain wasnt there, they would have just went to the mall and that would have been it, he said, And I would have went to work.. Crime: Cottingham, a Lodi resident, killed six women in New Jersey and New York between 1967 and 1980. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. The chief questioned Mr. Cottingham. The Rent Zestimate for this home is $3,099/mo, which has increased by $3,099/mo in the last 30 days. The other girls did, you have to take it, too. Its hard to understand how someone could be like that. The teenagers were last seen on Aug. 9, 1974, in North Bergen. Eventually, Mr. Cottingham began to loosen up, and he spoke about killing the prostitutes.