For over 40 years, its been folklore in this county.. Since his conviction, Cottingham has pleaded guilty to 12 murders. They found an 18-year-old victim who'd been bitten and stabbed bound with handcuffs. In May of 1980, police arrested Cottingham while he was torturing a sex worker at a motel room in New Jersey. [5] On May 15, 1980, Jean Reyner was strangled and her throat cut in New York's historic Seville Hotel. Dont think youre going to mess with me and Im going to help you, Mr. Anzilotti recalled Mr. Cottingham saying. The details stopped him cold. [2] Four surviving abduction-rape victims testified against Cottingham; he was convicted in three of the cases and acquitted in one. And even worse, the rape laws were particularly onerous, and you had to provide a witness to bring an allegation of rape. Her glasses, a ring, a necklace, Ms. Mulder said. Like a werewolf, Vronsky told The Post. Among the other faces in separate windows on the Zoom screen was a 66-year-old woman, identified simply as Nancy. xref Just shy of his 21st birthday, Richard Cottingham began a vicious killing spree that tore through north New Jersey and New York City. Now I just have to go on with my life.. That made 11 murders Cottingham that admitted since his arrest more than 30 years ago. He did not know the names of those he killed. On more than one occasion, he would openly talk about his experiences with sex workers. Feech La Manna's house from The Sopranos. The year 2020 arrived, and running his office through the coronavirus outbreak kept Mr. Anzilotti too busy for cold cases. All rights reserved (About Us). They were facedown, side by side, as if placed there with care. He had come further in closing cases than his younger self could have imagined. I just kind of looked at it and touched it and put it in a box where I had some dried flowers for my mother when she passed.. 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. Cottingham, who is also nicknamed "The Torso Killer," moved into this rented three-bedroom house in February of 1975. Between 1970 and 1974, Cottingham and his wife, Janet, lived at an apartment block called Ledgewood Terrace in Little Ferry, New Jersey. 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. 21 23 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. Rochelle Park & While some serial killers claim murders they have not committed, Mr. Anzilotti didnt believe Mr. Cottingham was that type, but still he meticulously lined up details of the admissions with facts that only the killer would know. When a worker came to check on her, ODell cracked open the door and gave a hand signal asking for help. But Mr. Anzilotti kept pressing him: You know youre going to tell me.. Cottingham was convicted of five murders in a series of three trials between 1981 and 1984 (two in New Jersey and one in New York). But the killer was a clever bastard, too. 'Crime Scene' reveals true depravity of 'Times Square Killer' The victim, Valerie Street, had just been busted in Miami for prostitution, and was last seen getting picked up by a man in New York City. He had been dubbed the Times Square Torso Ripper setting off Vronskys lifelong fascination of serial killers. 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. [13] In 2021, he pleaded guilty to the 1974 kidnapping, raping and drowning of Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. Infamous New Jersey 'Torso Killer' admits to abducting, torturing and 0000009543 00000 n A local investigator began to wonder: Could there be a link to a series of infamous Times Square murders? She had been tied up and strangled, authorities said. He had three children, two boys and a girl, with his wife. The police believed they had given up on the bus and were trying to hitchhike to a mall. Over time, though, one investigator was slowly developing a theory. The 'Torso Killer' dismembered her mother. So why did this - nj Goodarzi had come to the United States years prior from Iran. On April 7, 1969, Cottingham saw Blase, 18, shopping in Hackensack, Vronsky said. After their drink, Cottingham offered to bring Blase back to the bus station where they had taken the bus. 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. 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. She had been a teenager when her sister was killed. She was Nancy Pryor, and she was 19 when her sister, Mary Ann, was found dead. 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. Thats why [authorities are] not going to make another statement. 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. A judge sentenced him to 25 years to life after Cusicks brother and only child read emotional impact statements in court. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. Goodarzi was later identified as the woman who had been tortured, killed, beheaded and had her hands cut off by Cottingham. Those cases were already closed. 0000007658 00000 n Hackensack, 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. The girls, Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16, had last been seen days earlier at a nearby bus stop. 0 Its not something you can ever get over, Altman, 58, told The Post. 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. After years in prison, Mr. Cottingham began to open up to the detective about past unsolved crimes. Hes been chief of detectives nearly five years. 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. 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The killer would suddenly recall picking a girl up from a store somewhere, and the chief, in the front passenger seat as a detective drove, surreptitiously took notes. The New York Times, p. 2. 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham Confessed To New Murders As - Yahoo! Premiering on Dec. 29, the three-part season explores the case of Richard Cottingham, a New Jersey man who was dubbed "The Torso Killer" and found guilty of killing 11 women between 1967 and 1980. 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 . 43 0 obj <>stream The newspapers called the murderer The Torso Killer. Then on May 22, 1980, a worker at a Quality Inn in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., heard a woman screaming. [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. Which is entirely possible, especially in those days.. Hes hedged around and all but confessed.. And before I go, I want to close out the Kelly-Pryor case., Mr. Cottingham urged the chief to reconsider leaving the force. New Jersey 'Torso Killer' pleads guilty to 1968 murder, admits to 4 Before his arrest, he was a successful computer operator who worked at the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance company in Midtown Manhattan. Ms. Falasca was a 15-year-old who left her familys house in July 1969 and never returned. The Zestimate for this house is $598,600, which has decreased by $7,680 in the last 30 days. To bring Mr. Cottingham back to court, where the case would certainly draw attention, would stop him from talking about other open cases, the chief explained. On Dec. 2, 1979, fire alarms rang out at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on West 42nd Street. As Cottingham was fleeing the scene of the torso murders, he briefly encountered the 23-year-old Peter Vronsky, who was attempting to check into the Travel Inn while in New York on a film production assignment. With Cottinghams next victim, a killers hunting ground of sorts began to form. But eventually, their old give-and-take resumed. Its hard to understand how someone could be like that. I took over handling the calls, the arrangements. He lived with his wife and kids in. Richard Cottingham who is already serving time in state prison for several . 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. Maywood, 0000001262 00000 n On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. The chief questioned Mr. Cottingham. Lodi Serial Killer Confesses To 1960s Bergen Schoolgirl Murders Cottingham is currently in state prison on a life sentence . Long-Buried Secrets: The Serial Killer and the Detective, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/nyregion/new-jersey-serial-killer-cottingham-anzilotti.html. This story has been shared 151,197 times. 0000012661 00000 n My parents couldnt handle it., She had called Bergen County every few months to ask about the case for 47 years, she said. 0000009264 00000 n 0 And he sat there with literally no remorse. Although Cottingham has formally admitted to eighteen killings and has claimed to have killed as many as 100, he is known to have only murdered seventeen girls between 1967 and 1980 and attempted to kill a further four. But there was an even bigger problem. He would occasionally remove and dispose of his victims heads and hands, presumably to make identification more difficult. 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. 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. He would let his guard down, Mr. Anzilotti said. But he eventually realized the years-long association, which involved countless state prison visits, was coming to an end. 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.". After 'Torso Killer' confession, NJ loved ones explain how 1960s The back and forth went on for weeks. 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. xb```"VV~g`0pt 9mzQ[2fXar9XcK',6=3Yb%^)= RZlr$:kX;e =_i& ` ?# Then he followed with an unusual request. N.J serial killer now linked to 9 victims, but will his murder toll Math-wise its possible," said Vronsky. 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. 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. Then in exchange for immunity from prosecution, he confessed to murdering three New Jersey schoolgirls. On Tuesday, Richard Cottingham, 74, sat in a wheelchair in beige prison scrubs as he pleaded guilty to kidnapping the teenage girls and raping them for days before he drowned them in a motel room bathtub. The house was built in 1974one year before Cottingham and his wife, Janet, moved in. "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. 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. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. They were marginalized sex workers in a Times Square that was nearly lawless and when the police, at best, looked the other way.. They captured Cottingham soon after. [4], On May 3, 1970, Cottingham was married at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, Queens. They sat at the kitchen table, very professional, very polite, very considerate, Ms. Mulder recalled. Cottingham has confessed to murdering 12 women. A woman walking to her car found them: two teenage girls, naked and dead in a sliver of woods behind an apartment parking lot. He called his detectives and gave the word: Bring in Cottingham. She, like members of the other families, agreed to forgo a guilty plea in open court. His wife withdrew the petition upon his arrest in May 1980, then completed the divorce after his 1981 conviction. (1981, June 25). Richard Cottingham of Lodi (NJ) is sentenced to 173-179 years in prison. Therefore, you should be respectful and not step foot on the property without permission. [2], In 2010, he pleaded guilty to the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel. I couldnt even imagine losing a child. 0000003431 00000 n YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Cottingham was indicted in Cusicks killing in June after DNA evidence linked him to the cold-case slaying believed to be the oldest match to ever lead to a prosecution, Nassau County prosecutors said. On one occasion, he dismembered two sex workers and set fire to their torsos at a hotel near Times Square. 0000001082 00000 n 0000010308 00000 n Zestimate Home Value: $598,600. A case based on his "signature pattern" was built against him, combined with the testimony of four surviving victims, as well as pieces of his victims' jewellery and other items found in his possession after his arrest. 0000000016 00000 n Vogel was found dead in her own car in Ridgefield Park, nude and bound. For a year, he refused to speak to Mr. Anzilotti. Over the months that followed, Mr. Anzilotti cultivated an unusual relationship with Mr. Cottingham, sometimes testy, sometimes closer to a sort of warmth. 0000001001 00000 n [3], Cottingham was arrested on several lesser charges throughout his killing spree. He had not yet put in for retirement, or even told his boss he planned to do that the following week. However, please be aware that not allowing certain cookies may impact your experience of the site. Vronsky and Weiss had been meeting with Cottingham in prison since the spring of 2017, counseling him to make the confession. But her light shines brightly against the backdrop of evil.. 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. I had long suspected that whoever killed Irene Blase also killed Denise Falasca, Mr. Anzilotti said. Why NJ serial killer Richard Cottingham confessed to 1974 murders It was just shock all the way around.. (1981, June 16). You can change your choice at any time by using the Privacy Center link in our footer. I was an immediate adult when it happened, she said later in an interview. Cottingham was apprehended in the hallway by arriving police officers. He described things only the killer would know, like where hed thrown her car keys afterward. To this day, the other young female has never been identified. 'Torso Killer' Admits to '68 Strangling and 4 More Cold-Case Murders He was also known to threaten them with a plastic gun and leave it within their reach so they could try to grab it only to find out it was false, severely bite and scrape their nipples, cut around the breasts, and use other forms of torture. He admitted that those two killings weighed on him more than the others. PDF Richard Francis Cottingham These include the Times Square Killer, the Torso Killer, and the Times Square Torso Ripper. PB| He pleaded innocent and for decades insisted he was being "framed", until admitting in 2009 that he had actually perpetrated those five murders. (1981, June 16). %PDF-1.4 % 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). 0000008735 00000 n 0000008501 00000 n He was also extremely fidgety and unable to sit still. The investigators handed Ms. Mulder possessions of Jackies from half a century past. They have also lived in Whiting, IN. He said he would talk about other murders only on the condition that the revelations would be kept out of the papers. It took some effort to convince him to go to court and let me make it public, Anzilotti said Tuesday. 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. startxref Photos of the house and other related images. 'Torso Killer' pleads guilty in 1974 cold-case murders - AP NEWS 0000003125 00000 n Starting in 2014, Cottingham confidentially admitted to Detective Robert Anzilotti of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office (BCPO) to being the perpetrator of the murders of three teenage females between 1968 and 1969. Then he shared his intentions to retire. I could feel it.. 0000003107 00000 n He'd been a married father of three, but the Lodi resident - who would brutalize his victim's bodies, cutting off limbs, heads and breasts - would later become known as the "Torso Killer" for. Bergen County investigators realized there were numerous open sexual assault cases with similar hallmarks: Cottingham kidnapped them from Times Square, drugged and assaulted them. N.J.'s most infamous killers behind bars: Then and now - nj.com Anzilottihas spent all but 4 years of his law enforcement career with the prosecutors office after coming over from the Woodcliff Lake Police Department. 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. 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. 0000001412 00000 n 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. When they arrived, one firefighter attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of a woman they found on the bed. The other girls did, you have to take it, too. 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. He married in 1970 and had three children. Questioning Mr. Cottingham was complicated. Police were not aware of his murders at the time, nor were they aware that an active serial killer was at large in the New York-New Jersey area. 0000009992 00000 n The bridge where Mallory Beach died in a boating accident. 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. He described in detail how, instead, he took the girls to a motel, held them captive and eventually drowned them in the bathtub.