But the killer was a clever bastard, too. 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. And I said, Hop in., He drove to the mall. Where Is The Torso Killer Now? Richard Cottingham Is In Prison - Bustle 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. [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. He had three children, two boys and a girl, with his wife. He remembers certain aspects of a person, Mr. Anzilotti said. 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. Between 1970 and 1974, Cottingham and his wife, Janet, lived at an apartment block called Ledgewood Terrace in Little Ferry, New Jersey. Getting to that point wasnt easy, Anzilotti said. He had been dubbed the Times Square Torso Ripper setting off Vronskys lifelong fascination of serial killers. 0 0000012661 00000 n Lodi Serial Killer Confesses To 1960s Bergen Schoolgirl Murders Those old enough to remember can recall the fear that many felt after the bodies of two girls from North Bergen whod gone missing after a shopping trip to Paramus were found raped, beaten and drowned in Bergen County. 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. His search for a killer led him to a man already locked away, in New Jersey State Prison, 75 miles from his office. But then, four years ago, Mr. Cottingham stunned the chief. The bridge where Mallory Beach died in a boating accident. NJ's infamous 'Torso Killer' confesses to 1974 murders of two Garden Hackensack, Authorities believed it to be, thus far, the oldest criminal case to be solved and prosecuted by direct DNA evidence. Mr. Cottingham left behind no clues. I could feel it.. Investigators noted the crime scene was devoid of evidence and they were unable to identify the victims. [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. This guy was particularly ruthless. [12] Both bodies had their hands and heads removed, and had been doused with lighter fluid and set on fire. 21 23 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. It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently said. I lost so much more than just my mother that day, Altman said. All rights reserved (About Us). But something a hunch, past investigative speculation, the proximity of the crimes drew Mr. Anzilotti to the prisoner. They were facedown, side by side, as if placed there with care. Twenty years later, he was reinvestigating several cold cases involving girls and young women who had been abducted, sexually abused and killed. He continued to live here until the police eventually arrested him on May 22nd, 1980. And any new prison sentence would, practically speaking, be meaningless; Mr. Cottingham had no chance of ever being released. Everything that I was taught about evil was evident in his presence, in his demeanor, in the gaze of his eyes, Moye told The Post. It was mainly psychological. Peter Karas/The Record, via USA Today Network. 0000003707 00000 n 21 0 obj <> endobj I never broke my promise to him, all these years later, the chief said. Maywood, It also left enormous holes in the souls of family and friends of Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16. 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. 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 Trentons New Jersey State Prison. 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. A few days later, Mr. Anzilotti visited Mr. Cottingham in his new surroundings and told him, I put you here.. 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. Richard Cottingham, the notorious North Jersey serial killer known for dismembering the young women who were so often his victims, publicly confessed Tuesday to drowning two North Bergen girls. The body of Laverne Moye, of St. Albans, Queens, was discovered in a Rockville Centre creek on July 20, 1972. Again and again, for 15 years, Mr. Anzilotti met with the inmate, seeking the truth. For a year, he refused to speak to Mr. Anzilotti. Five months later, the serial slayer struck again, strangling Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves, an 18-year-old Manhattan woman originally from Puerto Rico. Through the years, other people were assigned. Right up to Mr. Anzilotti. Cottingham, who is also nicknamed "The Torso Killer," moved into this rented three-bedroom house in February of 1975. <<69EF7C237A736942AE760EBDB9B8F80B>]>> 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. Instead, he drove her to the Quality Inn, where he tortured, beat and sexually assaulted her for hours, until a maid heard her scream. 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. Serial Killer House in Lodi, New Jersey, United States. They were never able to fully recover from the monumental loss, she said. The chief contacted the Blase family and told them what they had ached to know for decades: He knew who had killed Irene. 0000001262 00000 n When they arrived, one firefighter attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of a woman they found on the bed. They have also lived in Whiting, IN. This story has been shared 150,597 times. 'Torso Killer' Admits to '68 Strangling and 4 More Cold-Case Murders Mr. Anzilotti would arrange to have the inmate transported to his office more than hours drive from the prison. His yearbook photo shows a cross-country runner with blond hair slicked back. Her breasts had been severed and torso had been set on fire, Vronsky said. In 1981, he was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison. [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. H|U0+(QvG`b08NbHlSoZ2CRSs=* \e~ 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. She, like members of the other families, agreed to forgo a guilty plea in open court. That was roughly one month after his arrest. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters, Times Square Torso Ripper: Sex and Murder on The Deuce, cataloging 17,000 years of pathological homicide. 0000002420 00000 n [13] In 2021, he pleaded guilty to the 1974 kidnapping, raping and drowning of Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. 0000001071 00000 n Straddling her back, he drew a knife and put it to her throat as he snapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. And even worse, the rape laws were particularly onerous, and you had to provide a witness to bring an allegation of rape. K3nVxb;X)oxeHME~> In other words, he may have been content and/or preoccupied. The girls, Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16, had last been seen days earlier at a nearby bus stop. Then, in January of this year, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office made an announcement: The notorious serial killer Richard Cottingham, known as "The Torso Killer," had confessed to the murders. 0000001982 00000 n Mr. Cottingham mentioned details of the killing that matched what Mr. Anzilotti knew from the case file. The items included necklaces, broaches, earrings, and other pieces of jewelry. He would occasionally remove and dispose of his victims heads and hands, presumably to make identification more difficult. You can set your cookie preferences below. Richard Cottingham, serial killer from New Jersey operating in New York between 1967 and 1980. 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. Ms. Falasca was a 15-year-old who left her familys house in July 1969 and never returned. 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. It was an era when the sex worker was criminalized. 0000003125 00000 n Little more than a week after Street was found, Reyner was found butchered in the Seville Motel in New York City. Accused serial killer nurse allegedly tried to murder premature infant twice. However, please be aware that not allowing certain cookies may impact your experience of the site. Richard was arrested at a motel in Hasbrouck . View Richard Cottingham's record in Manchester, NJ including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. 0000003107 00000 n 0000008735 00000 n 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. 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. 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 0000000756 00000 n I asked them where they were going. The mall, they replied. Torso Killer: Ailing Richard Cottingham Confesses to More Murders Goodarzi was later identified as the woman who had been tortured, killed, beheaded and had her hands cut off by Cottingham. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. [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. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and grew up largely in New Jersey. 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. 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. 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. HUMs@Wf~}m1`16N7NLf%=Io8. Times Square Torso Killer: Grisly crimes of Richard Cottingham laid Its not something you can ever get over, Altman, 58, told The Post. Did the old man kill those girls? If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. 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. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and grew up largely in New Jersey. For over 40 years, its been folklore in this county.. New Jersey 'Torso Killer' pleads guilty to 1968 murder, admits to 4 [1] He was nicknamed the New York Ripper, the Torso Killer and the Times Square Killer, since his crimes often targeted prostitutes and included mutilation. Cottingham had stuffed Streets body under the bed for housekeeping to find, Vronsky said. Detective Anzilotti was startled to discover the same man killed all three. Although Cottingham has formally admitted to eighteen killings and has claimed to have killed as many as 100, he is known to have only murdered seventeen girls between 1967 and 1980 and attempted to kill a further four.
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