The man has no heart, no soul, no emotion whatsoever, she said. He began to speak about a particular case, he said. Its his fault this is out.. So he would remember something on the way: a racetrack or a shopping mall. [22][23] He pleaded guilty in a December court appearance, and also officially admitted killing four other women in Long Island: Mary Beth Heinz,[24] Laverne Moye,[16] Sheila Heiman,[25] and Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves.[26]. In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. [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. One would remind him of a TV actress. At the time, Cottingham, who had not been arrested or identified, was dubbed the "Times Square Ripper.. He was also extremely fidgety and unable to sit still. And at. This guy was particularly ruthless. The house is close to Lodi High School, the Riverside Cemetery and Interstate 80. Cottingham was apprehended in the hallway by arriving police officers. 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. Richard Cottingham, a family man who denied everything in court, was convicted of killing five women in the early 1980s. Anything that might close more cases, bring answers to more families. To this day, I dont even think they would have ever said anything. Notably, none of his crimes took place on the property. 21 0 obj <> endobj Richard Francis Cottingham (born November 25, 1946) is an American serial killer and rapist who murdered at least eighteen young women and girls in New York and New Jersey between 1967 and 1980. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. (1981, June 16). 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 My parents couldnt handle it., She had called Bergen County every few months to ask about the case for 47 years, she said. Richard Cottingham, New Jersey prison photo. I can go all the way back to the first detective on the case. Instead, he drove her to the Quality Inn, where he tortured, beat and sexually assaulted her for hours, until a maid heard her scream. She had been abducted while walking home from practice with her schools fife-and-drum team in 1968. He continued to live here until the police eventually arrested him on May 22nd, 1980. Photos of the house and other related images. My whole life has been this, she said. He would let his guard down, Mr. Anzilotti said. The teenagers were last seen on Aug. 9, 1974, in North Bergen. She later testified that he said, "You have to take it. (1981, June 25). [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. Cottingham had kept these items as souvenirs so that he could remember his victims and relive his attacks. 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. Defense attorney John Bruno recited the details, which the white-bearded, 74-year-old killer acknowledged. [4], On October 3, 1969, Cottingham was charged and convicted of drunk driving in New York City and was fined $50 (equivalent to $400 in 2021). He had no relationship to his victims. Cottinghamss name came up several times, but it didnt fit for me, she said. They captured Cottingham soon after. %%EOF He soon realized the woman had no head, the Daily News reported. There was also a lockbox filled with trophies from his murders, including Maryann Carrs apartment key and a necklace belonging to Jean Reyner. I was able to get almostany woman to do whatever I wanted them to do . During a search of the house, investigators discovered personal items belonging to some of his victims. In this case, instead, he removed her breasts and placed them on the headboard for shock value, former Commanding Officer of Bronx Homicide and criminal profiler Vernon Geberth says in the series, noting it convinced him of one thing: Still, at the time, no one suspected the scope of this sexual sadists homicidal footprint, which stretched into the Garden State and had started more than a decade prior. Cottingham, 75, admitted before state Superior Court Judge Keith Bachmann in April 2021 that he had killed Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and her friend Lorraine Kelly, 16, when the pair went shopping for. By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. 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. 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. 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. Cottingham, who is also nicknamed "The Torso Killer," moved into this rented three-bedroom house in February of 1975. Since his conviction, Cottingham has pleaded guilty to 12 murders. On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. When a worker came to check on her, ODell cracked open the door and gave a hand signal asking for help. Over the months that followed, Mr. Anzilotti cultivated an unusual relationship with Mr. Cottingham, sometimes testy, sometimes closer to a sort of warmth. FPh_3Gj Nt%Q[r L`%/9QTh/| Q4_g8KI}u'?xbif`H>;wNQ|sd2(? 0000001001 00000 n She, like members of the other families, agreed to forgo a guilty plea in open court. In April 2021, Cottingham confessed to the unsolved 1974 double-abduction, rape, and forcible drowning murders of Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, and Mary Ann Pryor, 17, in Montvale, one of New Jersey's most notorious cold cases. Crime: Cottingham, a Lodi resident, killed six women in New Jersey and New York between 1967 and 1980. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. In May of 1980, police arrested Cottingham while he was torturing a sex worker at a motel room in New Jersey. He had pornographic artwork, adhesive tape, books about S&M, said Geberth. Her youth and difference in appearance, with a boyish haircut, set her apart from the other victims. In 2000, as a young detective in the Bergen County prosecutors office, Robert Anzilotti was tasked with looking into the murders, along with a few other similar cold cases from the 1960s and 1970s. 0000004535 00000 n 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. It represented the opportunity to let the entire world know that Laverne Moye was a human being. Mr. Cottingham mentioned details of the killing that matched what Mr. Anzilotti knew from the case file. But he eventually realized the years-long association, which involved countless state prison visits, was coming to an end. 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. He abducted Vogel and took her to a field in Montvale, where he strangled her. Monday marked the first time Moye ever laid eyes on Cottingham, who dismembered some of victims, including two women whose bodies were found without their heads and hands in a Times Square motel in December 1979. endstream endobj 34 0 obj<>stream Soon, Cottingham persuaded Blase to go for a drink with him. He described things only the killer would know, like where hed thrown her car keys afterward. With Cottinghams next victim, a killers hunting ground of sorts began to form. 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. Im leaving, he said. [4], On May 3, 1970, Cottingham was married at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, Queens. They were never able to fully recover from the monumental loss, she said. [6] In 2022, Cottingham officially confessed to the 1970 murder of Lorraine McGraw, under a non-prosecution agreement. 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. Jacalyn "Jackie" Harp, aged 13, was randomly ambushed as she walked home in the evening of July 17, 1968, from school band practice in Midland Park and strangled with the leather strap of her bag. Correctional officers found contraband and evidence of bookmaking and transferred Mr. Cottingham to solitary confinement. Mr. Anzilotti, doing his best not to betray any emotion, slowly pulled out his Blackberry and took notes. Since his incarceration, he has attempted suicide on two occasions. The people listed below were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Lodi, New Jersey. He continued to live here until the police eventually arrested him on May 22nd, 1980. The girls, Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16, had last been seen days earlier at a nearby bus stop. And later that same month, a fifth woman was found mutilated in the former Hotel Seville near Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The police photograph on the left was taken in June of 1980. 0000003107 00000 n Vogel was found dead in her own car in Ridgefield Park, nude and bound. On February 15, 1968, Cottingham killed his second known victim. <<8BD7E4F5B15F3F4A8993EB3A0150F7AC>]>> And thats what bothers me, because I probably didnt have to do anything to them., Mr. Anzilotti left the confession both exhausted and relieved. Richard was arrested at a motel in Hasbrouck . He pleaded innocent and for decades insisted he was being "framed", until admitting in 2009 that he had actually perpetrated those five murders. 0000013001 00000 n Its Godlike almost. He called his detectives and gave the word: Bring in Cottingham. 0000001082 00000 n The clever killer slipped up, leaving a fingerprint on the cuffs. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. But as he considered retirement, he kept returning to the two girls found dead in the woods. 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. xb```"WVf~g`0pt 9"~S?``Z V|bG!+N}TzYl@2 `QD2 @DACEDJaOs6x?+[Ihlrt ? The five victims addressed . I was shocked that it was a serial killer, Moye said of his mothers confessed murderer. Later on, Richard took a job with Blue Cross Blue Shield in New York as a computer operator. There were at least five unsolved killings of girls, each an open wound for families seeking resolution. Little more than a week after Street was found, Reyner was found butchered in the Seville Motel in New York City. 0000006846 00000 n He was originally from the Bronx in New York City. The brief encounter later inspired Vronsky to write his serial killer histories and paved the way for his prison meetings with Cottingham four decades later. 0000001250 00000 n The potential payoff in return felt almost too important to describe. [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. . 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. 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. The New York Times, p. 2. 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.". Soon, the chief closed that case two down. You can change your choice at any time by using the Privacy Center link in our footer. Over time, though, one investigator was slowly developing a theory. [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). 0000003451 00000 n 0000009992 00000 n Their murders shook the region. Altman, who was just 3 years old at the time, said her parents had separated prior to Cusicks killing. 0 After the hearing, the cameras off, Mr. Anzilotti approached Mr. Cottingham. In 2004, Vronsky published his first book on homicidal maniacs, Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters, an exhaustive look at executioners slayings dating back to ancient Rome. Ive never seen rain like that, he said. 0000001968 00000 n This girl did everything right, Vronsky said. We've received your submission. New Jersey . About a week later, Big Apple authorities would find Reyners body, but still, no one in New Jersey connected them to the Times Square killer, says former NYPD detective Malcolm Reiman in the series. Three days later, Mr. Anzilotti walked out of his office for good. It was pure evil. Now I just have to go on with my life.. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. Cottingham fled the scene with the victims heads and hands. HKo0l06CYf,Y(v (I?0c9 This story has been shared 150,597 times. On Dec. 2, 1979, the murders that earned Cottingham the nickname the "Torso Killer took place in New York City. It was a game to me. 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 would describe to me certain routes he would drive, Vronsky said of Cottinghamm relaying his murderous spree in letters and interviews over the span of five years. 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 March 12, 1974, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery and unlawful imprisonment on the complaint of another prostitute. And for Cottingham, every night was a full moon.. Then came Tuesdays pleas. In December 2019, forensic historian and author Peter Vronsky, on the eve of publishing the revelation in his second edition of Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters, publicized the confessions with the BCPO's cooperation, in a community meeting in Midland Park. Filming Location in Lodi, New Jersey, United States, Filming Location in Paterson, New Jersey, United States, Filming Location in Clifton, New Jersey, United States, Filming Location in Bloomfield, New Jersey, United States, Crime Location Wylie, Texas, United States, Crime Location Memphis, Tennessee, United States, Place of Interest Brooklyn, New York, United States, Crash Site Location Beaufort, South Carolina, United States. 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. A hotel worker arrived at Room 417 to find smoke and a horrible scene: the scorched remains of two women on a bed. He also claims that his true victim count is at least 85. 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 a Hasbrouck Heights hotel called police saying shed heard a woman screaming. He kept his glasses case tucked in a vest pocket of his prison scrubs, beneath his white beard, and folded his hands over his broad belly. Hes younger when all this is going on in Bergen County, he said. How it ended was me literally shaking his hand and saying, Thank you, Mr. Anzilotti said. The weather worsened. 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.