Richard Cunningham in NJ - Address & Phone Number | Whitepages Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. Cottingham was apprehended in the hallway by arriving police officers. Between 1970 and 1974, Cottingham and his wife, Janet, lived at an apartment block called Ledgewood Terrace in Little Ferry, New Jersey. xref They sat at the kitchen table, very professional, very polite, very considerate, Ms. Mulder recalled. 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. Rochelle Park & In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. Much of Cottinghams crimes were not murders, but other violent crimes like abductions and rapes. More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23, Rodrigo Torrejon | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, discovery of a Ridgefield Park woman dead, nude and bound. 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. Her glasses, a ring, a necklace, Ms. Mulder said. He enjoys our time together., The chief also had another theory. Feech La Manna's house from The Sopranos. She later testified that he said, "You have to take it. Soon, the chief closed that case two down. Richard Cottingham, Lorraine . Note that there seems to have been a "lull" between 1970 and 1973. 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. He also claimed to have committed 80 perfect murders no one knows about. The photographs are ordered from left to right and top to bottom. I was shocked that it was a serial killer, Moye said of his mothers confessed murderer. I just ruled him out. He said he wouldn't have done it if I wasn't retiring.. %PDF-1.4 % It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently said. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Richard Cottingham's house in Lodi - The Times Square Killer. - Odd Stops It also left enormous holes in the souls of family and friends of Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16. 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. Find NJ.com on Facebook. The chief agreed. [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. 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. In 1981, he was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison. His proclivity toward violence and the lack of solid profiling tactics for serial killers made Vronsky believe that Cottinghams claim of 100 victims was possible. The bridge where Mallory Beach died in a boating accident. 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. 0000009543 00000 n This guy was particularly ruthless. I never broke my promise to him, all these years later, the chief said. 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. But eventually, their old give-and-take resumed. The 45th year passed in the same way. Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. At the time, Cottingham, who had not been arrested or identified, was dubbed the "Times Square Ripper.. 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. The back and forth went on for weeks. Its hard to understand how someone could be like that. 'The Torso Killer' Who Hunted Prostitutes in Times Square 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=1142468060. 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. Then he followed with an unusual request. Hearing prosecutors detail grisly crime scenes like where Laverne was found was especially difficult to endure, her son said. He had been dubbed the Times Square Torso Ripper setting off Vronskys lifelong fascination of serial killers. He married in 1970 and had three children. It took some effort to convince him to go to court and let me make it public, Anzilotti said Tuesday. Richard Cottingham who is already serving time in state prison for several . [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. Blase was 18 when she was found strangled in Saddle River in 1969. 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.. 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.". 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. During a search of the house, investigators discovered personal items belonging to some of his victims. 0000001082 00000 n Following his 1980 arrest, police found, in the locked room and in the trunk of his car, personal effects which they traced to several of his victims. My parents couldnt handle it., She had called Bergen County every few months to ask about the case for 47 years, she said. Ms. Falasca was a 15-year-old who left her familys house in July 1969 and never returned. 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. With an uncomplicated enthusiasm for his work, Detective Anzilotti rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the chief of detectives with a busy office to lead. Richard Cottingham, convicted of murdering prostitute and kidnapping three. 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. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and was raised mostly in New Jersey, according to the The New York Times. As you can see, he didn't always look like Santa Claus. 0000003707 00000 n In his possession, the 33-year-old had a stash of handcuffs, tape and sedatives. %%EOF 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 $50 fine or ten days in jail. 0000002882 00000 n 0000012661 00000 n 0 Long-Buried Secrets: The Serial Killer and the Detective In 1948, Cottingham's family moved to Dumont, New Jersey, and in 1956 to River Vale, New Jersey, where he began his fascination with bondage pornography. trailer This is a somber day as we revisit the horrific acts and terror this man brought upon Bergen County nearly 50 years ago, the prosecutor said Tuesday. The series features interviews with former sex workers, including Barbara Amaya, who was raped and robbed at gunpoint by a man she believes was Cottingham, although she was inexplicably spared. Defense attorney John Bruno recited the details, which the white-bearded, 74-year-old killer acknowledged. Like a werewolf, Vronsky told The Post. The murders committed by the Torso Killer bore little resemblance to the ones Mr. Anzilotti was investigating, but their timing matched up with Mr. Cottinghams settling in New Jersey. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. He married in 1970 and became a father of three. All these factors created this crucible in the center of Manhattan for Richard Cottingham to flourish.. They were never able to fully recover from the monumental loss, she said. On May 22, Cottingham then picked up Leslie Ann ODell, a 19-year-old runaway desperate to escape her pimp something he promised to help her do over drinks in Midtown. No one could find any clues in the girls backgrounds: no drugs, no trouble with the law. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. He had no relationship to his victims. He soon realized the woman had no head, the Daily News reported. xb```"VV~g`0pt 9mzQ[2fXar9XcK',6=3Yb%^)= RZlr$:kX;e =_i& ` ?# The items included necklaces, broaches, earrings, and other pieces of jewelry. On Dec. 2, 1979, fire alarms rang out at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on West 42nd Street. 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. On one occasion, he dismembered two sex workers and set fire to their torsos at a hotel near Times Square. In the case of Diane Cusick, it was a drive-in that no longer exists there He remembers the victims characteristics, but he doesnt remember their names.. It was a game to me. 29 Vreeland St, Lodi, NJ is a single family home that contains 2,716 sq ft and was built in 1974. Then hed clear the room until only he and Mr. Cottingham faced each another, and begin with his questions. The bodies of the women had no heads and no hands. Questioning Mr. Cottingham was complicated. In March, looking back on 25 years with the office, Mr. Anzilotti decided it was time to move on from the job. 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. He had three children, two boys and a girl, with his wife. Since his conviction, Cottingham has pleaded guilty to 12 murders. 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. 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. The sergeant was undeterred. Cottingham was serving time for five murders, following convictions in New Jersey and New York, when Bergen prosecutors detectives in 2010 tied him to the killing of 29-year-old Ridgefield Park mom Nancy Schiava Vogel, bringing the total then to six. And thats what bothers me, because I probably didnt have to do anything to them., Mr. Anzilotti left the confession both exhausted and relieved. A hotel worker arrived at Room 417 to find smoke and a horrible scene: the scorched remains of two women on a bed. Cottingham, a former computer programmer whose wrath of terror spanned from 1967 to 1980, also copped on Monday to strangling Mary Beth Heinz, 21, in May 1972, three months before he killed Moye and dumped her body in the same creek. 0000009992 00000 n He admitted that those two killings weighed on him more than the others. K3nVxb;X)oxeHME~> Why NJ serial killer Richard Cottingham confessed to 1974 murders Cottingham's reign of terror on both sides of the Hudson River is the subject of Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer, whose tale begins on Dec. 2, 1979, with New York City police and fire. (1981, June 16). In recent years, he had asked Mr. Cottingham about the case, and the inmate had simultaneously denied responsibility and let on that he knew more than he would share. NJ serial killer 'haunted' by teens he tortured for 3 days in 1974 One would remind him of a TV actress. (1981, June 25). It was Aug. 14, 1974, in Montvale, N.J., a suburb just over the New York state line. The 'Torso Killer' dismembered her mother. So why did this - nj She was stunned. Theyre pushing him on multiple other cases. Hes been interviewing Cottingham in state prison for years. He then left the scene with their severed heads and hands. Detective Anzilotti was startled to discover the same man killed all three. Her youth and difference in appearance, with a boyish haircut, set her apart from the other victims. It is my fervent hope that this arrest and conviction bring some semblance of closure to the friends and family of Mary Ann and Lorraine and a measure of justice to members of our communities, who have long feared this unknown actor.. F! Mr. Cottingham at his virtual hearing on April 27 in Bergen County Superior Court, where he pleaded guilty to killing Mary Ann Pryor and Lorraine Kelly 47 years later. The chief pressed ahead with his list. Vronsky, who frequently visits Cottingham in prison, said he had a freak, random elevator encounter with the serial killer on the early morning of Dec. 2, 1979, as he tried to check into the Travel Inn Motel near a seedy and sex-crazed Times Square. 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. 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. [6] At Blue Cross, Cottingham worked in an office with Rodney Alcala, the fugitive child molester and future serial killer who lived in New York under the alias "John Berger". No leads were forthcoming. The girls, Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16, had last been seen days earlier at a nearby bus stop. New Jersey 'Torso Killer' admits he tied up, raped, drowned - PIX11 New Jersey 'Torso Killer' Pleads Guilty to 1974 Cold Case Murders Accused serial killer nurse allegedly tried to murder premature infant twice. She was found strangled to death the next day in Saddle Brook. But then, four years ago, Mr. Cottingham stunned the chief. 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. 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 To this day, their remains have never been recovered. Everyone deserves justice under the law.. Netflix details Times Square torso killer Richard Cottingham who He did a U-turn in a bank parking lot and approached, he said. They'd left home for a trip 13 miles (21 kilometers) north to . Her body was found the next morning by the side of a road next to a cemetery in Saddle Brook. Despite the gruesome nature of his murders, the butcher, named Richard Cottingham, never warranted the breathless news coverage of David Son of Sam Berkowitz, who only three years prior paralyzed the Big Apple with fear. I couldnt even imagine losing a child. My whole life has been this, she said. The New York Times, p. 26. Cottingham had kept these items as souvenirs so that he could remember his victims and relive his attacks. 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 February 15, 1968, Cottingham killed his second known victim. And last week, three more were added to his grisly toll. Seth Wenig/Associated Press By Ed Shanahan Dec. 5, 2022 On a. Maywood, Anyone can read what you share. His name had floated around in the lore of Bergen County cold cases.. Follow him on Twitter @rodrigotorrejon. 0000002831 00000 n However, he started killing again in 1974, when he murdered Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. [4], On May 3, 1970, Cottingham was married at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, Queens. But first, he wanted to return to those two murders from 47 years ago. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Richard Cottingham, serial killer from New Jersey operating in New York between 1967 and 1980. Neither man has claimed to have been aware of the other, nor is there any evidence they were familiar with each other prior to their respective arrests. But the arrest in 1980 changed everything, exposing Richard's double life and deadly exploits. 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. 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". 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. His additional confession to a 1974 murder was discounted by Rockland County police. 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. 0000013001 00000 n Infamous New Jersey 'Torso Killer' admits to abducting, torturing and He asked to quietly close their daughters murder case without formally charging the killer. The police hunted for leads, questioning prostitutes about suspicious men, examining the handwriting of the guest who had checked into Room 417: Carl Wilson of Merlin, N.J., a fake name from a fake place. 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. God rest their souls," Bergen County Prosecutor's Chief of Detective Robert Anzilotti said Tuesday after Richard Cottingham of Lodi admitted killing both in 1974. . He forced his victims to address him as "master". 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. There were at least five unsolved killings of girls, each an open wound for families seeking resolution. Neither complainant appeared in further proceedings, however, and the case was dismissed. After his wife filed for divorce in April of 1979, it seems as though his killings became far more frequent. These meetings went on for months, and then years, on top of Mr. Anzilottis regular caseload. Hed been a married father of three, but the Lodi resident - who would brutalize his victims bodies, cutting off limbs, heads and breasts - would later become known as the Torso Killer" for what he left behind. 0000002865 00000 n 0 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. Mr. Anzilotti, doing his best not to betray any emotion, slowly pulled out his Blackberry and took notes. Hes hedged around and all but confessed.. 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. On the way out, he bumped the author on the shins with a bag that felt like it contained bowling balls, Vronsky said. Straddling her back, he drew a knife and put it to her throat as he snapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. So we just stayed in the car and we kept talking to each other, getting to know each other and so forth., If the rain wasnt there, they would have just went to the mall and that would have been it, he said, And I would have went to work.. She, like members of the other families, agreed to forgo a guilty plea in open court. He kept these "trophies" in a locked room in the basement. Justice was served and thats the end of it case closed. 'Torso Killer' Admits to '68 Strangling and 4 More Cold-Case Murders A married father of three, he lived in the. He tried a different approach. [13][14] Anzilotti had spent 15 years interviewing Cottingham, working toward the confession. 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. Its not something you can ever get over, Altman, 58, told The Post. But Mr. Anzilotti kept pressing him: You know youre going to tell me.. 0000003686 00000 n Its an ongoing process, Vronsky said. And at the time, it was beyond our capacity to look beyond New York City, he told The Post. The year 2020 arrived, and running his office through the coronavirus outbreak kept Mr. Anzilotti too busy for cold cases. Cottingham, whose attorney did not return messages seeking comment, has claimed to have killed as many as 100 women. She knew that Mr. Anzilotti had solved Denises killing, too. HKo0l06CYf,Y(v (I?0c9 But the killer was a clever bastard, too. 0000005253 00000 n Richard Cottingham pleaded guilty to murder in the death of one Long Island woman and admitted under oath to killing four others. H|U0+(QvG`b08NbHlSoZ2CRSs=* \e~ 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. Through the years, other people were assigned. Right up to Mr. Anzilotti. %%EOF Category:People from Lodi, New Jersey - Wikipedia As the New Jersey press reported on Cottinghams arrest, the NYPD started to take notice. [6] In 2022, Cottingham officially confessed to the 1970 murder of Lorraine McGraw, under a non-prosecution agreement. Richard Cottingham, a family man who denied everything in court, was convicted of killing five women in the early 1980s. [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. They have also lived in Manasquan, NJ and Ada, MI. New Jersey . 0000004535 00000 n To this day, I dont even think they would have ever said anything. Instead, he drove her to the Quality Inn, where he tortured, beat and sexually assaulted her for hours, until a maid heard her scream. 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. 0000002420 00000 n There was also a lockbox filled with trophies from his murders, including Maryann Carrs apartment key and a necklace belonging to Jean Reyner. His wife withdrew the petition upon his arrest in May 1980, then completed the divorce after his 1981 conviction. Harp was found strangled to death the next day. On Dec 15, 1977, Carr was found dead in the parking lot of a Quality Inn motel, in Hasbrouck Heights. 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. Soon, Cottingham persuaded Blase to go for a drink with him. During his trial, he testified that he had been fascinated by bondage since he was a young child. N.J serial killer now linked to 9 victims, but will his murder toll PB| And he sat there with literally no remorse. Richard Cottingham, 74, appeared virtually in court Tuesday to admit to the slayings of 17-year-old Mary Ann Pryor and 16-year-old Lorraine Marie Kelly. We use cookies to deliver personalized advertisements, improve your online experience, and to analyze our site's performance. Then in exchange for immunity from prosecution, he confessed to murdering three New Jersey schoolgirls. 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. The third result is Richard Eric Cunningham age 50s in Skillman, NJ. Its been half my career, he said. Hackensack, 0000010308 00000 n Instead, she ended up shopping at one of Bergen Countys malls, according to Vronsky. 43 0 obj<>stream Victims' kids confront serial 'Torso' killer Richard Cottingham These objects, along with his fingerprint on the handcuffs, were presented as evidence by prosecutors at his trial. Among the other faces in separate windows on the Zoom screen was a 66-year-old woman, identified simply as Nancy. At the mall, Cottingham, then a tall, brown-haired young man, met Vogel, a married mother of two. Richard Cottingham in NJ - Address & Phone Number | Whitepages 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. On April 14, in a recorded interview, Mr. Cottingham said he remembered Mary Ann Pryor and Lorraine Kelly, and Mr. Anzilotti asked why he knew their names, when he hadnt in past cases. And even though Harp ran, Cottingham soon overtook her and dragged her into a grouping of bushes where teens would often go to smoke and make out, he said. Since his incarceration, he has attempted suicide on two occasions. The weather worsened. 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.

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