[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). 29 Vreeland St, Lodi, NJ 07644 | Zillow On the way out, he bumped the author on the shins with a bag that felt like it contained bowling balls, Vronsky 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. For decades, a string of killings of teenage girls haunted suburban New Jersey. Richard Cottingham - Wikipedia Little more than a week after Street was found, Reyner was found butchered in the Seville Motel in New York City. The sergeant was undeterred. Anything that might close more cases, bring answers to more families. After those confessions, the two men barely spoke. He did a U-turn in a bank parking lot and approached, he said. Anzilotti and BCPO subsequently confirmed the "exceptional closures" of these three murders.[13][8]. But on May 22, 1980 Cottingham's life as a predator came to light. Over decades, through his rise from sergeant to detective to chief of detectives, Robert Anzilotti plugged away at cold cases in New Jersey involving young womens murders.CreditBryan Anselm for The New York Times. He was imprisoned. 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. Because I was with them for a couple of days, he replied, according to a transcript, and got to know them., It was raining that day in August 1974, and Mr. Cottingham, then 28, was driving to work in Manhattan when he passed the two girls walking in the opposite direction. %%EOF 21 0 obj <> endobj 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. 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. Mr. Anzilotti insisted that this case be resolved in open court. 'The Torso Killer' Who Hunted Prostitutes in Times Square He tortured women before he killed them and did terrible things to them, and yet we still dont know who he is because he preyed on sex workers, Berlinger said, adding that he hopes this series helps destigmatize sex work and potentially solve more cold cases. The chief agreed. We've received your submission. This is a "Then and Now" photograph of Cottingham's former house at 29 Vreeland Street. 0000009264 00000 n But as he considered retirement, he kept returning to the two girls found dead in the woods. %%EOF He said, Youre welcome.. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. Now I just have to go on with my life.. His crimes were discovered in May 1980, when a maid at a Hasbrouck Heights motel heard. 0000001262 00000 n Its his fault this is out.. H|U0+(QvG`b08NbHlSoZ2CRSs=* \e~ Richard Cottingham of Lodi (NJ) is sentenced to 173-179 years in prison. I didnt know what to expect. Find NJ.com on Facebook. However, please be aware that not allowing certain cookies may impact your experience of the site. PB| You're a whore and you have to be punished." Ms. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 0000013001 00000 n The 22-year-old's death appeared brutal: she had been beheaded and set on fire and her skull has yet to be found. You can change your choice at any time by using the Privacy Center link in our footer. 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. He tried a different approach. startxref 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. And at the time, it was beyond our capacity to look beyond New York City, he told The Post. Again and again, for 15 years, Mr. Anzilotti met with the inmate, seeking the truth. K3nVxb;X)oxeHME~> The potential payoff in return felt almost too important to describe. The man has no heart, no soul, no emotion whatsoever, she said. JUSTICE STORY: 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham left a bloody trail of She had been tied up and strangled, authorities said. Detective Anzilotti was startled to discover the same man killed all three. Once again, the victim did not appear in further proceedings and the case was dismissed.[6]. This is a private property. James McMorrow, Cottingham confessed last year to three other cold-case slayings of teenage school girls in Bergen County: Jacalyn (Jackie) Harp, 13, of Midland Park, who was walking home from school band practice on July 17, 1968 when she was strangled with the leather strap of her flag sling; Irene Blase, 18, of Bogota, who went missing from Hackensack on April 7, 1969 and was found strangled in Saddle River; Denise Falasca, 15, of Closter, who went missing from Westwood on July 14, 1969. That was roughly one month after his arrest. Cottingham was not charged with this murder until June 2022, when he was implicated by DNA.[10]. Around dawn, they checked into the same Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn where he had left Valerie Street's handcuffed body under a bed to be discovered by a housekeeper. [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. Anyone can read what you share. Goodarzi, of Trenton, was a sex worker who had been traveling to the then-seedy streets of midtown Manhattan, Vronsky said. On April 7, 1969, Cottingham saw Blase, 18, shopping in Hackensack, Vronsky said. 3. Richard Cottingham who is already serving time in state prison for several . Berlinger said well never truly know how many women died at Cottinghams hands, but his story had long fascinated the director, who sees a social justice component aspect to telling his story. 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. 43 0 obj <>stream Cottingham, who grew up in River Vale, has been in prison since the 1980s, when he was convicted of the first five murders to which he was linked. Moye, who traveled from Georgia to see Cottingham confess to killing his mother and four other women as part of a plea deal, said he leaned heavily on his Catholic faith as the unrepentant killer watched via video feed from South Woods State Prison in New Jersey, where hes serving multiple life sentences. 0000004577 00000 n It contains 0 bedroom and 0 bathroom. Goodarzi had come to the United States years prior from Iran. Accused serial killer nurse allegedly tried to murder premature infant twice. I was shocked that one human being was capable of all this carnage, Moye said of Cottingham. He recalled the exact place in the woods where he left the bodies. 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. 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. The house was built in 1974one year before Cottingham and his wife, Janet, moved in. The New York Times, p. 26. Mr. Cottingham had a vulnerability, the chief realized: After divulging nothing during hours of questioning, hed sometimes loosen up on the drive back to prison, sitting in the back seat and believing the day was done. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. [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]. Richard Cottingham, serial killer from New Jersey operating in New York between 1967 and 1980. The back and forth went on for weeks. 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. This girl did everything right, Vronsky said. We've received your submission. New Jersey 'Torso Killer' Pleads Guilty to 1974 Cold Case Murders 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. [13][14] Anzilotti had spent 15 years interviewing Cottingham, working toward the confession. 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.". Described as average and normal, New Jersey man Richard Cottingham was a father-of-three with a marriage that was slowly unravelling. Cottingham is currently in state prison on a life sentence . Where Is The Torso Killer Now? Richard Cottingham Is In Prison - Bustle 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. Over decades, through his rise from sergeant to detective to chief of detectives, Robert Anzilotti plugged away at cold cases in New Jersey involving young womens murders. It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently said. During his trial, he testified that he had been fascinated by bondage since he was a young child. When arrested, he had handcuffs, a leather gag, two slave collars, a switchblade knife, replica pistols, and a stockpile of prescription pills. ,X3ieG(>]/TUW#gI" p&gGgy`Un(aE6e#./"e3 Altman, who was just 3 years old at the time, said her parents had separated prior to Cusicks killing. So he would remember something on the way: a racetrack or a shopping mall. 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. The photographs are ordered from left to right and top to bottom. 0000001425 00000 n 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. 21 23 On May 4, 1980, the body of Street, a sex worker, was found at the same Quality Inn where Cottingham had dumped Carrs body. There was also a lockbox filled with trophies from his murders, including Maryann Carrs apartment key and a necklace belonging to Jean Reyner. 0000003431 00000 n These include the Times Square Killer, the Torso Killer, and the Times Square Torso Ripper. As the New Jersey press reported on Cottinghams arrest, the NYPD started to take notice. 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, Lorraine . 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. He pleaded innocent and for decades insisted he was being "framed", until admitting in 2009 that he had actually perpetrated those five murders. Like two little dolls at Christmastime.. During a search of the house, investigators discovered personal items belonging to some of his victims. 0000000756 00000 n With Cottinghams next victim, a killers hunting ground of sorts began to form. It was just shock all the way around.. Hed order pizza and play cards with the older man and other detectives. With Ms. Pryor and a judge watching on Zoom that day, Mr. Cottingham pleaded guilty to the two murders. 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. Since his incarceration, he has attempted suicide on two occasions. After 'Torso Killer' confession, NJ loved ones explain how 1960s Three days later, Mr. Anzilotti walked out of his office for good. Defense attorney John Bruno recited the details, which the white-bearded, 74-year-old killer acknowledged. Richard Cottingham's house in Lodi - The Times Square Killer. - Odd Stops He soon realized the woman had no head, the Daily News reported. Once, he outright explained his hesitation: He said, I know once I give you that case, Ill never see you again, Mr. Anzilotti recalled last month. 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. 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. 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. He described in detail how, instead, he took the girls to a motel, held them captive and eventually drowned them in the bathtub. Consequently, he was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping. 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 decades earlier, bringing his known tally to 17 although experts believe that figure could be as high as 100 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. In a candid interview, the Bergen County chief who spent 20 years trying to wrangle new confessions out of serial killer Richard Cottingham revealed the 74-year-old prisoner has "regrets". NJ's infamous 'Torso Killer' confesses to 1974 murders of two Garden 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. Richard Cottingham, a family man who denied everything in court, was convicted of killing five women in the early 1980s. Mr. Anzilotti, by then a sergeant, arranged a surprise search of the inmates cell the day after the Super Bowl. 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. And before I go, I want to close out the Kelly-Pryor case., Mr. Cottingham urged the chief to reconsider leaving the force. The 45th year passed in the same way. [2], In 2010, he pleaded guilty to the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel. 0000000016 00000 n 0000002420 00000 n A hotel worker arrived at Room 417 to find smoke and a horrible scene: the scorched remains of two women on a bed. 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In fact, Mr. Cottingham lurked around the fringes of a seedy Times Square and the prostitutes who worked its streets. The Blase family agreed. The Google Street View image above was taken in May of 2022. Much of Cottinghams crimes were not murders, but other violent crimes like abductions and rapes. 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. 0000010308 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. I never broke my promise to him, all these years later, the chief said. 0000001250 00000 n 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 The inmate, with no real incentive to say anything about that crime, had given the chief what amounted to a parting gift. Cottingham lived here with his wife, Janet, and their three children, Blair, Scott, and Jenny. The New York Times, p. 2. 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. Pages in category "People from Lodi, New Jersey" The following 21 pages are in this category, out of 21 total. On Monday, July 13, 1969, at approximately 8:00 p.m., On March 1, 1970, a group of hikers came across a young woman's naked body in the woods to the west of Tweed Boulevard in, At approximately 7:00 a.m. on the morning of December 16, 1977, the body of X-ray technician, At 9:30 a.m. on May 22, 1980, police entered Room 117 at the same Quality Inn where Carr and Street were murdered and found 18-year-old, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 15:20. The items included necklaces, broaches, earrings, and other pieces of jewelry. 0000000016 00000 n trailer Then came Tuesdays pleas. 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. Two focused entirely on him: Rod Leith's The Prostitute Murders: The People vs. Richard Cottingham (Lyle Stuart Inc., 1983) and Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer (Netflix, 2021). 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. What Is 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham's Life Like Today? HKo0l06CYf,Y(v (I?0c9 Inside they found the bodies of 22-year-old sex worker Deedeh Goodarzi[9] and an unidentified woman estimated between 16 and 22. 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. He also claims that his true victim count is at least 85. Just shy of his 21st birthday, Richard Cottingham began a vicious killing spree that tore through north New Jersey and New York City. He said he wouldn't have done it if I wasn't retiring.. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and grew up largely in New Jersey. On May 5, 1980, a motel housekeeper found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn. Category:People from Lodi, New Jersey - Wikipedia However, he started killing again in 1974, when he murdered Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. When you have a series of crimes today, everything goes through the computers, andwe have computer analysis and a wayof moving these through jurisdictionalboundaries. I just ruled him out. That made 11 murders Cottingham that admitted since his arrest more than 30 years ago. 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham Confessed To New Murders As - Yahoo! Taking a bus to another location, Cottingham and Blase spent some time together. The clever killer slipped up, leaving a fingerprint on the cuffs. A real sick bastard did this, retired NYPD detective Jim Riegel, who was working as a beat cop that day, recalls his sergeant telling him in the new Netflix series Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer, out Wednesday. He remembers certain aspects of a person, Mr. Anzilotti said. 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. 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. I never thought I would get caught, he added. But in. Months later, in May 1980, another prostitute from Times Square was found dead, this time in a New Jersey motel; that murder was linked to yet another at the same location. [3], Cottingham was arrested on several lesser charges throughout his killing spree. In other words, he may have been content and/or preoccupied. And at. 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 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. Again, he knew details from Ms. Falascas file. However, his family moved to River Vale, New Jersey, when he was 12 years old. 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). Rochelle Park & Cusicks daughter, Darlene Altman, told Nassau County Judge Caryn Fink her late grandparents raised her after her mothers shocking slaying. Her youth and difference in appearance, with a boyish haircut, set her apart from the other victims. Cottinghamss name came up several times, but it didnt fit for me, she said. Inmates were wagering everything from cash to cigarettes. Bergen County investigators realized there were numerous open sexual assault cases with similar hallmarks: Cottingham kidnapped them from Times Square, drugged and assaulted them. [12] Both bodies had their hands and heads removed, and had been doused with lighter fluid and set on fire. Soon, the chief closed that case two down. Responding officers found an 18-year-old victim whod been bitten, stabbed and bound with handcuffs. Its an ongoing process, Vronsky said. Through the years, other people were assigned. Right up to Mr. Anzilotti. After nearly 15 years of interviews by Anzilotti and Detective Capt. The little perks for the older man the pizza, the poker, the distraction from prison life were always in the service of the younger mans long game. He pleaded guilty to the killing in 2010, but when the news got out, Mr. Cottingham, who evidently thought the hearing would be ignored, was furious. He was originally from the Bronx in New York City. I think sometimes he grapples with his own gruesomeness back then., On March 12, a Friday, Mr. Anzilotti summoned the inmate. You can set your cookie preferences below. Six months later, Vronsky would learn that the man he encountered on the elevator was Cottingham as the killers face appeared in newspapers across the region. Her attacker was caught as he ran away. 0000001982 00000 n Before his arrest, he was a successful computer operator who worked at the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance company in Midtown Manhattan. He then left the scene with their severed heads and hands. Which is entirely possible, especially in those days..