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. In 2022, Cottingham also confessed to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick after DNA evidence linked him to the crime. 21 23
She was Nancy Pryor, and she was 19 when her sister, Mary Ann, was found dead. 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. If hes going to confess to some others, if they can get him to talk, just for those families if he can confess to those, that right there would be I dont know the right word to say, Ms. Mulder said. 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. The schoolgirl murder confessions increased that to to nine. Cottingham murdered at least twelve women between 1967 and 1980. 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. 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. It is not a public place. 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. In March, looking back on 25 years with the office, Mr. Anzilotti decided it was time to move on from the job. The Rent Zestimate for this home is $3,099/mo, which has increased by $3,099/mo in the last 30 days. [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). The chief pressed ahead with his list. Richard Cottingham, 74, pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, both of North Bergen. This story has been shared 150,597 times. [7] On October 28, 1967, he strangled Nancy Schiava Vogel, a 29-year-old married mother of two, in Little Ferry, New Jersey. This guy was particularly ruthless. [4][5], After his graduation, Cottingham worked for Metropolitan Life, where his father was a vice-president, starting in the mail room at the firm's Manhattan headquarters and eventually became a mainframe computer operator upon taking computer courses. 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. In fact, Mr. Cottingham lurked around the fringes of a seedy Times Square and the prostitutes who worked its streets. 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. It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently said. This is a "Then and Now" photograph of Cottingham's former house at 29 Vreeland Street. The photographs are ordered from left to right and top to bottom. 0000000756 00000 n
Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. But the arrest in 1980 changed everything, exposing Richard's double life and deadly exploits. This is a private property. 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. 0000010308 00000 n
He had three children, two boys and a girl, with his wife. One day in 2014, the chief and a partner were driving the inmate back to prison when, from the back seat, Mr. Cottingham, who by then had spent almost half of his 68 years in prison, began describing a girl he once spotted near a store in Hackensack. It was pure evil. (1981, June 16). It is situated at 29 Vreeland Street in Lodi, New Jersey. 43 0 obj
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3. Mr. Anzilotti, doing his best not to betray any emotion, slowly pulled out his Blackberry and took notes. He has been charged with 11 murders in all. The man has no heart, no soul, no emotion whatsoever, she said. 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. This location belongs to the following categories: Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to see future locations. The bodies of the women had no heads and no hands. The teenagers were last seen on Aug. 9, 1974, in North Bergen. Blase was 18 when she was found strangled in Saddle River in 1969. She was found strangled to death the next day in Saddle Brook. Much like John Moye, Altman, who now lives in Ocala, Fla., said she struggled to process Cottinghams savagery. She agreed to have sex with him for money. PB|
Cottingham primarily sought prostitutes who were petite blondes in their late teens to mid-twenties. They sat at the kitchen table, very professional, very polite, very considerate, Ms. Mulder recalled. Harp was found strangled to death the next day. I was able to get almostany woman to do whatever I wanted them to do . Note that there seems to have been a "lull" between 1970 and 1973. Again, he knew details from Ms. Falascas file. 0000003686 00000 n
They have also lived in Whiting, IN. I could feel it.. This is possibly due to the fact that he got married in 1970. Anyone can read what you share. 0000001001 00000 n
Mr. Anzilotti, by then a sergeant, arranged a surprise search of the inmates cell the day after the Super Bowl. Her killer, Richard Cottingham, was a computer operator, married with three children of his own, living a seemingly normal life. 0000001250 00000 n
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. He also claims that his true victim count is at least 85. 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. [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. Mr. Anzilotti insisted that this case be resolved in open court. Zestimate Home Value: $598,600. Authorities believed it to be, thus far, the oldest criminal case to be solved and prosecuted by direct DNA evidence. The predator, dubbed The Torso Killer, would strike again in May 1980. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. How it ended was me literally shaking his hand and saying, Thank you, Mr. Anzilotti said. 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 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. Cottingham offered to give O'Dell a massage and she rolled onto her stomach. What they want is an outright statement and a sign-off of Yes thats me,' Vronsky continued. 0000000756 00000 n
FPh_3Gj Nt%Q[r L`%/9QTh/| Q4_g8KI}u'?xbif`H>;wNQ|sd2(? YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. He did, however, leave behind their clothing, including a pair of Bonjour jeans, white leotards and a black fur coat, neatly folded in the bath tub. The 45th year passed in the same way. The chief agreed. 0000001071 00000 n
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. [4], On October 3, 1969, Cottingham was charged and convicted of drunk driving in New York City and was fined $50 (equivalent to $400 in 2021). As you can see, he didn't always look like Santa Claus. %PDF-1.4
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His wife withdrew the petition upon his arrest in May 1980, then completed the divorce after his 1981 conviction. On Dec. 2, 1979, the murders that earned Cottingham the nickname the "Torso Killer took place in New York City. [7] In a 2009 interview, Cottingham admitted to the murders and claimed that he severed the heads and hands of the victims to prevent their identification, as he was acquainted with Goodarzi and had been seen with her in a bar the night before.[2]. Five months later, the serial slayer struck again, strangling Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves, an 18-year-old Manhattan woman originally from Puerto Rico. He'd been a married father of three, but the Lodi resident - who would brutalize his victim's bodies, cutting off limbs, heads and breasts - would later become known as the "Torso Killer" for. WjgF\A9Ro9r/;l5Gh3h}NG2L -S$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 But beneath the veneer of normalcy was a heinous double-existence as a serial killer. Investigators noted the crime scene was devoid of evidence and they were unable to identify the victims. He was also extremely fidgety and unable to sit still. 0000000991 00000 n
Richard is related to Rosemarie Marie Cunningham and Larry J Cunningham as well as 3 additional people. 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. Mr. Cottingham mentioned details of the killing that matched what Mr. Anzilotti knew from the case file. Geberth noted that this was a time before the proliferation of surveillance cameras and the use of computer analysis to establish patterns and share information across jurisdictions. She then grew up without a father because her grandparents did not like him, she said. 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. On July 17, 1968, Harp, of Midland Park, was walking home from band practice when a strange man, Cottingham, tried to coax her into his car, Vronsky said. 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. Between 1970 and 1974, Cottingham and his wife, Janet, lived at an apartment block called Ledgewood Terrace in Little Ferry, New Jersey. But eventually, their old give-and-take resumed. 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. Which, of course, I wasnt overly interested in, the former chief said. Knowing better, Harp, just 13 years old, refused. 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. 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). Its mind-boggling and very scary, especially to know theres more of them out there.. He was a coward.. [8] Vogel's nude and bound body was found on October 31, under a blanket behind the passenger seat of her car parked in nearby Ridgefield Park. Cottingham had kept these items as souvenirs so that he could remember his victims and relive his attacks. Maywood, He then left the scene with their severed heads and hands. 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. Ive never seen rain like that, he said. But her light shines brightly against the backdrop of evil.. 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. 0000007078 00000 n
When arrested, he had handcuffs, a leather gag, two slave collars, a switchblade knife, replica pistols, and a stockpile of prescription pills. Photos of the house and other related images. He was originally from the Bronx 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. After failing to return home from a trip to buy shoes at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, New York,[9] 23-year old Diane Cusick was found raped, beaten, and strangled to death in the back seat of her car, parked near the mall. 0000003431 00000 n
Although first responders encountered thick smoke in the room, one noticed the shape of bodies on the pair of twin beds and attempted to administer CPR. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Its not something you can ever get over, Altman, 58, told The Post. Cottingham was apprehended in the hallway by arriving police officers. A judge sentenced him to 25 years to life after Cusicks brother and only child read emotional impact statements in court. Absolutely, its completely plausible. Little more than a week after Street was found, Reyner was found butchered in the Seville Motel in New York City. He would occasionally remove and dispose of his victims heads and hands, presumably to make identification more difficult. Anzilotti and BCPO subsequently confirmed the "exceptional closures" of these three murders.[13][8]. [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]. Her attacker was caught as he ran away. He said, Im going to give you one, Mr. Anzilotti recalled. 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. Serial killer Richard Cottingham made his admission in the cold case murders of the high school girls, acknowledging that he kidnapped, raped and finally drowned the pair inside a motel room. Notably, none of his crimes took place on the property. 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. Years ticked past, 1974 into 1975, into the 1980s, the 1990s. But first, he wanted to return to those two murders from 47 years ago. I never thought I would get caught, he added. 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. The inmate made it clear that pressure would not work. (1981, June 25). But he told Mr. Cottingham. 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. At the time, Cottingham, who had not been arrested or identified, was dubbed the "Times Square Ripper.. 0000003183 00000 n
Bergen County investigators realized there were numerous open sexual assault cases with similar hallmarks: Cottingham kidnapped them from Times Square, drugged and assaulted them. Rodrigo Torrejon may be reached at rtorrejon@njadvancemedia.com. Since his conviction, Cottingham has pleaded guilty to 12 murders. 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. However, his family moved to River Vale, New Jersey, when he was 12 years old. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Cottingham had stuffed Streets body under the bed for housekeeping to find, Vronsky said. Vogel was found dead in her own car in Ridgefield Park, nude and bound. [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. Responding officers found an 18-year-old victim whod been bitten, stabbed and bound with handcuffs. When Mr. Cottingham entered prison in 1981, Robert Anzilotti was not yet a teenager. [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. Mary Anne and Lorraine deserve it, God rest their souls, Bergen County Prosecutors Chief of Detective Robert Anzilotti said Tuesday after Richard Cottingham of Lodi admitted killing both in 1974. On Dec. 2, 1979, fire alarms rang out at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on West 42nd Street. 0000006846 00000 n
One day, Cottingham told his co-worker that he had stolen a sex worker's money and clothes while she was sleeping. A local investigator began to wonder: Could there be a link to a series of infamous Times Square murders? 0000001412 00000 n
He married in 1970 and became a father of three. <<8BD7E4F5B15F3F4A8993EB3A0150F7AC>]>>
I was an immediate adult when it happened, she said later in an interview. But then, four years ago, Mr. Cottingham stunned the chief. Cusick, an instructor at a dance school in the Oceanside community of Long Island, went to Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream to buy a pair of shoes. 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. On one occasion, he dismembered two sex workers and set fire to their torsos at a hotel near Times Square. They'd left home for a trip 13 miles (21 kilometers) north to . And thats what bothers me, because I probably didnt have to do anything to them., Mr. Anzilotti left the confession both exhausted and relieved. Those cases were already closed. Like a werewolf, Vronsky told The Post. [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.