the sexual predator with the perfect hunting ground. He seemed nice enough. Investigation of the suspect's background revealed two arrests for consorting with hookers in the early 1970's, with both cases dismissed. The baffled police had few clues to follow. Richard was then brought to justice for his crimes, and over the years, has admitted to committing even more murders. He would be charged with robbery, sodomy, and sexual assault but all charges would ultimately be dismissed. Three of those murders Cottingham later confessed to included Jacalyn Harp. [21] Cottingham was apparently "forensically aware" in the era before DNA analysis. A few months later he would be charged with robbery and sodomy. When she left, they believed that Cottingham posed as a security guard and accused her of shoplifting to get her to stop, then abducted her. New York City was gripped with fear after the Travel Inn Motor Hotel murders went unsolved. Graduating, landing a solid job, marriage and having multiple children. She had gone missing from Times Square in January 1979. So the detective started spending time with the Times Square Killer. One slain woman was positively identified througha cesarean-section scar as 22-year-old, Iranian prostitute, Deedeh Goodarzi. [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). I was able to get almost any woman to do whatever I wanted them to do, psychologically,' said the sinister 75-year-old in a recent jailhouse interview with journalistNadia Fezzani. Their monster would end up being 33-year-old Richard Cottingham, a married milquetoast father of three from Lodi, New Jersey, who worked as a computer operator for BlueCross BlueShield in Manhattan. Police had no suspects and the case quickly grew cold, collecting dust in a file for years. Their skulls and hands were never found. On March 12, 1974, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery and unlawful imprisonment on the complaint of another prostitute. New Jersey Department of CorrectionsRichard Cottingham has confessed to a number of other murders in recent years. A famous pamphlet made by NYPD during the 1970s advised tourists to 'stay off the streets after 6pm,' 'do not walk,' and 'never ride the subway for any reason whatsoever', Cops apprehended Richard Cottingham on May 22, 1980 in a New Jersey Quality Inn after staff alerted police of screams coming from a room. Thankfully, Cottingham's reign of terror would not last forever. He was also a married, respectable man with three children. Do not sell or share my personal information. He would graduate in 1964 and shortly afterwards, take a job with his father at the Met Life Insurance Company, working on the companys computers. [6] In 2022, Cottingham officially confessed to the 1970 murder of Lorraine McGraw, under a non-prosecution agreement. I think we need to remember them because they deserve justice'. He would continue this line of work until his arrest. 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. Walter Leporati/Getty ImagesPornographic films are advertised in Manhattans Times Square in January 1971. One of the unsolved cases was solved when he admitted guilt in the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel, in 2010. Richard Cottingham brutally murdered prostitutes he found on the seedy streets of 1970s New York, earning his horrifying legacy as the Times Square Torso Killer. [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. 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. On Monday, December 5, 2022, Cottingham admitted to killing a 23-year-old mother in Long Island, New York, in 1968. Post author: Post published: February 17, 2022; Post category: miami university facilities management; Post comments: . [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. Cottingham confessed to Vogel's murder in 2010, nearly 30 years after his arrest. Her body would be left in the room and subsequently set ablaze by Cottingham before fleeing the scene. Authorities believed it to be, thus far, the oldest criminal case to be solved and prosecuted by direct DNA evidence. Jean Reyner was stabbed to death in a motel near Time Square. Anzilotti and BCPO subsequently confirmed the "exceptional closures" of these three murders.[13][8]. Richard Francis Cottingham (born November 25, 1946) is an American serial killer and rapist who murdered at least seventeen young women and girls in New York and New Jersey between 1967 and 1980. Richard Cottingham, serial killer from New Jersey operating in New York between 1967 and 1980. The teenagers were last seen on Aug. 9, 1974, in North Bergen. Cottingham offered to give O'Dell a massage and she rolled onto her stomach. Directed by serial killer-aficionado Joe Berlinger, the Netflix series features interviews with former detectives, police officers, sex workers. Cottingham was eventually arrested in May 1980 after committing a string of grisly murders across Manhattan and New Jersey, with the same hallmark traits, Cottingham evaded law enforcement by deliberately preying on marginalized sex workers during a time when crime-ridden New York City was dubbed 'Fear City.' In his possession were handcuffs, a leather gag, two slave collars, a switchblade, replica pistols and a stockpile of sedatives. He was with Leslie ODell, a teenage sex worker. They bodies also had their hands removed. He took the girls to a motel, where he tortured and sexually assaulted them for days before drowning them in a bathtub. In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. Haunted by a handful of unsolved New Jersey homicides, Detective Robert Anzilotti began to wonder if Cottingham had killed more people than police knew. He was also found guilty of kidnapping and assault, with his sentence going up to more than 200 years. 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. Play it now! Police responded to a fire in Room 417, where two women had been discovered on a pair of twin beds. The other, a 16-year-old, remains a Jane Doe to this day. Her breasts had been hacked off and her body was set on fire. You're in complete control of somebody's destiny. Richard Cottingham was convicted of five murders and sent to prison for a sentence of 300 years. You're a whore and you have to be punished.". A married mother of 2, Nancy Vogel was found dumped in her car. Cottingham primarily sought prostitutes who were petite blondes in their late teens to mid-twenties. Richard Cottingham has confessed to a number of other murders in recent years. The police apprehended Richard Cottingham while trying to flee. [2] Four surviving abduction-rape victims testified against Cottingham; he was convicted in three of the cases and acquitted in one. One week later police were called to the same motel, but this time it was for a disturbance. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. Over the years, he confessed to killing several more women, with his earliest known murder in 1967. Criminally Intrigued is a Podcast and Blog covering all aspects of True Crime. Trophies like jewellery and other personal items belonging to his victims were taken by him. After this look at Richard Cottingham, The Torso Killer, read up on Ed Kemper, the Co-Ed Killer, and Rodney Alcala, the Dating Game Killer. Then, read the stories of Jack the Rippers victims. It's God-like, almost. Lives that never came to fruition. Street, a sex worker whod arrived from Florida just a few days earlier, had been beaten, bitten, bound, and strangled to death. Richard Cottingham was found guilty of five murders and numerous counts of kidnapping and s*xual assault using evidence found in his 'trophy room' combined with a matching fingerprint left on the handcuffs used in the Valerie Street murder. The man climbed on her back and instead of rubbing her, he brandished a knife which he quickly pressed firmly against her throat. A father of three, Richard Cottingham seemed an unlikely killer. At the time of his arrest, he was living in New Jersey with his family and spending his days working in New York as a computer operator at Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. 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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. Its also unclear whether or not he continued to do so. The story of the Torso Killer began on Dec. 2, 1979, when firefighters were called to the Travel Inn near Times Square. The following week on May 15th, 1980, another sex worker was lured into a Manhattan motel room under the guise of more work but was most likely ambushed when Cottingham locked the door. He would stalk the various bars in Manhattan preying on unsuspecting women, trying to unwind from a busy day. Despite obvious similarities, 'no one in New Jersey connected them to the Times Square killer,' explained former NYPD detective Malcolm Reiman in the doc. [15], In 2022, Cottingham was arraigned from his prison hospital bed for the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick in Long Island, New York. [3], Cottingham was arrested on several lesser charges throughout his killing spree. She agreed to have sex with him for money. The women left in the room had been strangled, their heads and hands cut off, before the killer doused them both with lighter fluid and fled. Was this man, the same man who committed the similar brutal crime? 4.8 (27 reviews) Towing. Richard would dump her along a chain link fence near the apartment complex he once called home, the ligature still tied around her neck. I think it was just an evolution in his killing.. The other girls did, you have to take it, too. 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. They were three teenagers who became Cottingham's victims between 1968 and 1969. Cottingham slipped the noose of law enforcement by deliberately preying on marginalized sex workers during a time when crime-ridden New York City descended into lawlessness. This murder was linked to an earlier murder in the same motel. Investigation of the suspects background revealed two arrests for consorting with hookers in the early 1970s, with both cases dismissed. Growing up, he had trouble making friends, and after graduating high school, he worked for his fathers insurance company. On December 2, 1979, fireman in New York responded to an alarm at a shitty little hotel near Times Square. Last edited on 16 February 2023, at 09:15, 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=1139676388. Now 74, Cottingham, who claims responsibility for dozens of murders, has confessed to a handful. Once again, the victim did not appear in further proceedings and the case was dismissed.[6]. It was mainly psychological. He also cut off her breasts and placed them on the headboard in the room. [12] Both bodies had their hands and heads removed, and had been doused with lighter fluid and set on fire. May 22, 1980. FacebookDeedah Goodarzi, a sex worker who Cottingham killed and dismembered. we respect your privacy and take protecting it seriously, Richard Francis Cottingham | Serial Killer, Incarcerated at the New Jersey State Prison. Cops eventually tied him to the crime when they found Reyner's necklace among his 'trophies.' Leaving some without hands or heads, he soon earned the moniker of The Times Square Torso Killer or The New York Ripper.. except for their clothing, a pair of Bonjour jeans, a white leotard, patent leather boots and a black fur coat, which the killer had curiously folded neatly in the bathtub. 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. On May 5, 1980, police found another prostitute, Valerie Streets, dead in a motel room. Beneath the happy exterior lurked an incredibly dangerous and vicious animal. Over the years, he confessed to killing several more women, with his earliest known murder in 1967. I am proud of the growth and achievements of JRMA and the community of talented architects, engineers, and project . For about six months between 1979 and 1980, Cottingham murdered sex workers in brutal fashion. Her killer had cut her throat, left bite marks on her body, and severed her breasts. The victim's hands were tightly handcuffed behind her back and police would later lift a fingerprint matching Cottingham, the only fingerprint successfully found from any of his known murders. [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. It contained many items that linked him to the murders. By all accounts, he was 'an average guy who drove an average car and lived in an average house' explained reporter Rod Leith in the series. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. He would grow up in a typical catholic household. But it had a much seedier reputation in the latter half of the 20th century. He is currently being held at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, NJ, and is not eligible for parole. 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. Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. Lives that never came to fruition. Richard Cottingham, now 78, is a former computer programmer linked to at least 12 murders from the 60s and 70s. Richard cut the womans breasts off and ended her life via strangulation. On May 15th another prostitute was found murdered in a motel room. Not only was Times Square filled with porn shops, peep shows, and prostitutes, but it also became the hunting ground for serial killer Richard Cottingham, the Torso Killer. Leslie Ann ODell recalled what had happened and how things escalated so quickly. He had also stabbed her and bit almost right through her nipples. Later on, Richard took a job with Blue Cross Blue Shield in New York as a computer operator. They had been doused with lighter fluid and set alight. Her body would be charged with robbery and sodomy 1967 and 1980, officers. 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