You're a whore and you have to be punished." Category:People from Lodi, New Jersey - Wikipedia After those confessions, the two men barely spoke. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. In early December 1979, firefighters were called to the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on 42nd Street as a fire burned in room 417. Questioning Mr. Cottingham was complicated. He said, Im going to give you one, Mr. Anzilotti recalled. Later on, Richard took a job with Blue Cross Blue Shield in New York as a computer operator. The family lived in Lodi, and Mr. Cottingham commuted to a job as a computer operator at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Manhattan. The New York Times, p. 26. But he told Mr. Cottingham. The confessed killer then fatally bludgeoned Sheila Heiman, a 33-year-old mother of three, in July 1973, at her North Woodmere, NY, home, where her husband found her upon returning from shopping, authorities said. The New York Times, p. 2. 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. The third result is Richard Eric Cunningham age 50s in Skillman, NJ. His upcoming sentencing will add more time to a prison term that already extends beyond his remaining years. 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. Cottingham was convicted of five murders and numerous counts of kidnapping and sexual assault and sentenced to 173 to 197 years, which he is serving in Trenton's New Jersey State Prison. Theyre pushing him on multiple other cases. Hes been interviewing Cottingham in state prison for years. [13][14] Anzilotti had spent 15 years interviewing Cottingham, working toward the confession. JUSTICE STORY: 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham left a bloody trail of At the time, Cottingham, who had not been arrested or identified, was dubbed the "Times Square Ripper.. He was a coward.. 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. To this day, the other young female has never been identified. Anyone can read what you share. Cottingham has been given various nicknames over the years. Fifty years after his mother was strangled and thrown from a Long Island bridge, John Moye finally got a glimpse of the wickedness that altered his life forever. Iran hangs protester in first execution over nationwide pr Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, Buster Murdaugh got 'very drunk' with dad 2 months after mom, brother murdered: source, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, Prince Harry was scared to lose Meghan Markle after fight that led to therapy, Prince Harry says psychedelics are fundamental part of his life, Inside Scheana Shay, Raquel Leviss heated confrontation about Tom Sandoval affair, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant allegedly flashes gun at a strip club, Tom Sizemore And The Dangerous Burden of Desperation, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce. According to his neighbors, he seemed like a regular family man. Netflix details Times Square torso killer Richard Cottingham who 0000012661 00000 n 29 Vreeland St, Lodi, NJ is a single family home that contains 2,716 sq ft and was built in 1974. And I said, Hop in., He drove to the mall. The police pursued a welter of tips, rumors and false alarms, The New York Times reported at the time. 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. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and grew up largely in New Jersey. 0000001968 00000 n He didnt have the decency or the dignity to ask for forgiveness or to even address the victims families. On one occasion, he dismembered two sex workers and set fire to their torsos at a hotel near Times Square. Cottingham, who is also nicknamed "The Torso Killer," moved into this rented three-bedroom house in February of 1975. As you can see, he didn't always look like Santa Claus. 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. 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. ,X3ieG(>]/TUW#gI" p&gGgy`Un(aE6e#./"e3 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. N.J.'s most infamous killers behind bars: Then and now - nj.com Zestimate Home Value: $598,600. Hed order pizza and play cards with the older man and other detectives. The plea leaves the question: Will they be Cottinghams final admissions? [21] Cottingham was apparently "forensically aware" in the era before DNA analysis. 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. They were never able to fully recover from the monumental loss, she said. And considering the closure of yesterdays cases, I absolutely believe him.. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a photograph of Jean Reyner. Richard Cottingham in NJ - Address & Phone Number | Whitepages He was the Torso Killer. (1981, June 25). Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. I was shocked that one human being was capable of all this carnage, Moye said of Cottingham. He began to speak about a particular case, he 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. It was pure evil. He married in 1970 and became a father of three. 0000009992 00000 n On December 15, 1977, the body of X-ray technician Maryann Carr, 26, was found brutally beaten and strangled in the parking lot of the Quality Inn motel in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, but police did not link the murder to Cottingham until his 1980 arrest at the same motel. The people listed below were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Lodi, New Jersey. Mr. Anzilotti insisted that this case be resolved in open court. But beneath the veneer of normalcy was a heinous double-existence as a serial killer. Richard Cottingham, convicted of murdering prostitute and kidnapping three. 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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. Location of first contact Maryann Carr = her apartment; Prostitutes = street or bar . I never thought I would get caught, he added. You can set your cookie preferences below. 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. Richard Cottingham who is already serving time in state prison for several . 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. Canadian author Peter Vronsky is now writing his second book on the horrifying killing spree that culminated in May 1980 at a New Jersey motel, where cops arrested Cottingham after he handcuffed, stabbed and bit an 18-year-old woman. On September 4, 1973, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery, oral sodomy and sexual abuse on the complaint of a prostitute and her pimp. 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. After years in prison, Mr. Cottingham began to open up to the detective about past unsolved crimes. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, How a retired detective snared his seventh Torso Killer confession, Expert reveals biological reason why were obsessed with true crime shows. 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 0000001982 00000 n 0000013001 00000 n 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. The details stopped him cold. 7{(~tm LB IBJ*ZB`0 And he sat there with literally no remorse. On more than one occasion, he would openly talk about his experiences with sex workers. Anything that might close more cases, bring answers to more families. The following is a list of his victims in chronological order. But Cottingham had other victims, and he would later boast of killing 85 to 100 people. Cottinghamss name came up several times, but it didnt fit for me, she said. On Dec 15, 1977, Carr was found dead in the parking lot of a Quality Inn motel, in Hasbrouck Heights. Cottingham didnt like the idea, apparently wanting to continue their dialogue. Then, with just days remaining before the chief retired, the inmate relented. And any new prison sentence would, practically speaking, be meaningless; Mr. Cottingham had no chance of ever being released. Richard Cottingham, convicted of murdering prostitute and kidnapping three. )' Its been half my career, he said. In the thirteen-year period during which he is known to have committed at least seventeen murders, only one fingerprint belonging to him was ever recovered, from the ratchet mechanism of handcuffs left behind on Valerie Street. On May 4, 1980, the body of Street, a sex worker, was found at the same Quality Inn where Cottingham had dumped Carrs body. Crime: Cottingham, a Lodi resident, killed six women in New Jersey and New York between 1967 and 1980. Its mind-boggling and very scary, especially to know theres more of them out there.. Those cases were already closed. And before I go, I want to close out the Kelly-Pryor case., Mr. Cottingham urged the chief to reconsider leaving the force. 0000004577 00000 n He was imprisoned. After their drink, Cottingham offered to bring Blase back to the bus station where they had taken the bus. 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. 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. It was just shock all the way around.. 21 23 And thats what bothers me, because I probably didnt have to do anything to them., Mr. Anzilotti left the confession both exhausted and relieved. 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. Here are the nine victims Cottingham has confessed to or been convicted of killing: On Oct. 28, 1967, Vogel, 29, told friends she was going to play bingo at a local church. But Cottingham flew under the radar precisely because of how he chose his victims and who his victims were. They captured Cottingham soon after. She had been a teenager when her sister was killed. FPh_3Gj Nt%Q[r L`%/9QTh/| Q4_g8KI}u'?xbif`H>;wNQ|sd2(? On Dec. 2, 1979, the murders that earned Cottingham the nickname the "Torso Killer took place in New York City. 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. Trophies like jewellery and other personal items belonging to his victims were taken by him. Richard Cottingham was convicted of five murders and numerous counts of kidnapping and sexual assault using evidence found in his 'trophy room' combined with a matching fingerprint left on. He enjoys our time together., The chief also had another theory. 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. 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. 0000007874 00000 n Mr. Anzilotti and another investigator drove to the town of Reading, Vt., to deliver the news to Jackies older sister, Suzan Mulder, then 69. 3. After the hearing, the cameras off, Mr. Anzilotti approached Mr. Cottingham. 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. 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. 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. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. 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. Goodarzi was later identified as the woman who had been tortured, killed, beheaded and had her hands cut off by Cottingham. The year 2020 arrived, and running his office through the coronavirus outbreak kept Mr. Anzilotti too busy for cold cases. To this day, I dont even think they would have ever said anything. He enjoys our relationship. Her breasts had been severed and torso had been set on fire, Vronsky said. In his possession, the 33-year-old had a stash of handcuffs, tape and sedatives. 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. He was also extremely fidgety and unable to sit still. 0000005253 00000 n Hes been chief of detectives nearly five years. And for Cottingham, every night was a full moon.. He did not know the names of those he killed. He then left the scene with their severed heads and hands. Denise Falasca, 15, of Closter, New Jersey. Harp was found strangled to death the next day. 43 0 obj<>stream 0000005280 00000 n A killing in Somerset County a week after Cottingham got his drivers license may have been one of his first victims, Vronsky said. 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. Its his fault this is out.. 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.. I never broke my promise to him, all these years later, the chief said. Its taken more than 46 years, but a Bergen County police veteran who is only days from retirement got one of the countrys most notorious serial killers to confess. Thats why [authorities are] not going to make another statement. Cottingham had just raped, tortured and beheaded two sex workers in a room at the motel before setting it on fire. He had come further in closing cases than his younger self could have imagined. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and was raised mostly in New Jersey, according to the The New York Times. Victims' kids confront serial 'Torso' killer Richard Cottingham And at. Mr. Cottingham was summoned before a judge on April 27, remotely, via Zoom, sitting in a wheelchair in a conference room at the prosecutors office. Vogel was found dead in her own car in Ridgefield Park, nude and bound. She was found strangled to death the next day in Saddle Brook. Rodrigo Torrejon may be reached at [email protected]. The chief contacted the Blase family and told them what they had ached to know for decades: He knew who had killed Irene. He admitted that those two killings weighed on him more than the others. Blase was found strangled to death in 4 feet of water in Saddle River the next day. Cottingham, who is also nicknamed "The Torso Killer," moved into this rented three-bedroom house in February of 1975. (1981, June 25). My whole life has been this, she said. He soon realized the woman had no head, the Daily News reported. 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. How it ended was me literally shaking his hand and saying, Thank you, Mr. Anzilotti said. The house was built in 1974one year before Cottingham and his wife, Janet, moved in. 0000009543 00000 n They were facedown, side by side, as if placed there with care. (1981, June 16). Inside they found the bodies of 22-year-old sex worker Deedeh Goodarzi[9] and an unidentified woman estimated between 16 and 22. His name had floated around in the lore of Bergen County cold cases.. For a year, he refused to speak to Mr. Anzilotti. Hes younger when all this is going on in Bergen County, he said. She was believed to have accepted a ride from a stranger, and her body was found on the side of a road near a cemetery. . The following is a chronological summary of Cottingham's seventeen identified murder victims and four identified survivors: Cottingham's case has been discussed in several books and documentaries on serial killers. Authorities executed a warrant on his Lodi home, which had a private room containing evidence linking him to the Torso Killer. endstream endobj 34 0 obj<>stream As the New Jersey press reported on Cottinghams arrest, the NYPD started to take notice. However, his family moved to River Vale, New Jersey, when he was 12 years old. The 'Torso Killer' dismembered her mother. So why did this - nj The girls, Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16, had last been seen days earlier at a nearby bus stop. In this image taken from a New Jersey Courts virtual hearing, Richard Cottingham, center, known as the "Torso Killer," pleads guilty April 27, 2021, to two 1974 murders, finally closing the cold case deaths of teenage friends who had left home for a trip to the mall and never returned. Mr. Cottingham left behind no clues. iP^ -KvWZvxhc'm$93tSz =oBTmD]+)bTJ T|u>/. 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. NJ's infamous 'Torso Killer' confesses to 1974 murders of two Garden He did a U-turn in a bank parking lot and approached, he said. I think sometimes he grapples with his own gruesomeness back then., On March 12, a Friday, Mr. Anzilotti summoned the inmate. One would remind him of a TV actress. He had pornographic artwork, adhesive tape, books about S&M, said Geberth. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. 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. Cottingham is currently in state prison on a life sentence . Hes embarrassed by this case, he said. His yearbook photo shows a cross-country runner with blond hair slicked back.