JUSTICE STORY: 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham left a bloody trail of As Cottingham was fleeing the scene of the torso murders, he briefly encountered the 23-year-old Peter Vronsky, who was attempting to check into the Travel Inn while in New York on a film production assignment. It represented closure, Moye said of this weeks hearing. 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. He was originally from the Bronx in New York City. In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. Since his conviction, Cottingham has pleaded guilty to 12 murders. They have also lived in Manasquan, NJ and Ada, MI. 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. HUMs@Wf~}m1`16N7NLf%=Io8. In fact, Mr. Cottingham lurked around the fringes of a seedy Times Square and the prostitutes who worked its streets. But Cottingham had other victims, and he would later boast of killing 85 to 100 people. Taking a bus to another location, Cottingham and Blase spent some time together. They were facedown, side by side, as if placed there with care. N.J serial killer now linked to 9 victims, but will his murder toll The chief agreed. Find NJ.com on Facebook. 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. A few days later, Mr. Anzilotti visited Mr. Cottingham in his new surroundings and told him, I put you here.. But the killer was a clever bastard, too. 0000002847 00000 n 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. NJ serial killer 'haunted' by teens he tortured for 3 days in 1974 0 Its not something you can ever get over, Altman, 58, told The Post. There was also a lockbox filled with trophies from his murders, including Maryann Carrs apartment key and a necklace belonging to Jean Reyner. NJ's infamous 'Torso Killer' confesses to 1974 murders of two Garden 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. 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. Filming Location in Lodi, New Jersey, United States, Filming Location in Paterson, New Jersey, United States, Filming Location in Clifton, New Jersey, United States, Filming Location in Bloomfield, New Jersey, United States, Crime Location Wylie, Texas, United States, Crime Location Memphis, Tennessee, United States, Place of Interest Brooklyn, New York, United States, Crash Site Location Beaufort, South Carolina, United States. 0000006081 00000 n But eventually, their old give-and-take resumed. 43 0 obj <>stream Cottingham, who is also nicknamed "The Torso Killer," moved into this rented three-bedroom house in February of 1975. The following is a list of his victims in chronological order. When the 40th year since the killings arrived in 2014, the local police asked the public for any new information. [5] On May 15, 1980, Jean Reyner was strangled and her throat cut in New York's historic Seville Hotel. Then he shared his intentions to retire. 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. Richard Cottingham, convicted of murdering prostitute and kidnapping three. Cottingham has claimed in the past he. 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. [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). 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham admits drowning North Bergen girls Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. Cottingham had just raped, tortured and beheaded two sex workers in a room at the motel before setting it on fire. A judge sentenced him to 25 years to life after Cusicks brother and only child read emotional impact statements in court. 0000004535 00000 n It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently 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. 0000003125 00000 n Twenty years later, he was reinvestigating several cold cases involving girls and young women who had been abducted, sexually abused and killed. One day, Cottingham told his co-worker that he had stolen a sex worker's money and clothes while she was sleeping. The inmate, with no real incentive to say anything about that crime, had given the chief what amounted to a parting gift. 0000003451 00000 n 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 On more than one occasion, he would openly talk about his experiences with sex workers. On Dec. 2, 1979, fire alarms rang out at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on West 42nd Street. Between 1970 and 1974, Cottingham and his wife, Janet, lived at an apartment block called Ledgewood Terrace in Little Ferry, New Jersey. But he eventually realized the years-long association, which involved countless state prison visits, was coming to an end. On one occasion, he dismembered two sex workers and set fire to their torsos at a hotel near Times Square. 'Crime Scene' reveals true depravity of 'Times Square Killer' He married in 1970 and became a father of. ADVERTISEMENT. The police believed they had given up on the bus and were trying to hitchhike to a mall. Authorities tied him to the killings after police were called to a Hasbrouck Heights motel, where a maid had heard a woman screaming. On Dec 15, 1977, Carr was found dead in the parking lot of a Quality Inn motel, in Hasbrouck Heights. [13][14] Anzilotti had spent 15 years interviewing Cottingham, working toward the confession. However, he started killing again in 1974, when he murdered Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. 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. Once again, the victim did not appear in further proceedings and the case was dismissed.[6]. Then in exchange for immunity from prosecution, he confessed to murdering three New Jersey schoolgirls. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. 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. And before I go, I want to close out the Kelly-Pryor case., Mr. Cottingham urged the chief to reconsider leaving the force. 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. 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. 0000002435 00000 n 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. It could only be Jackie Harp.. 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. Dont think youre going to mess with me and Im going to help you, Mr. Anzilotti recalled Mr. Cottingham saying. And I said, Hop in., He drove to the mall. 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. 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. Again, he knew details from Ms. Falascas file. 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. 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. On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. Cottingham offered to give O'Dell a massage and she rolled onto her stomach. You can set your cookie preferences below. South Hackensack, Richard Cottingham, Lorraine Kelly, Mary Ann Pryor, Bergen County Prosecutor's Chief of Detectives Robert Anzilotti, Ecuadorian National Pleads Guilty To Brutal Stabbing Death Of Popular Bergen County Chef, Franklin Lakes Driver Indicted In Teaneck T-Bone Crash That Kil, Paterson Non-Violence Activist Shot Dead In Police Standoff Was, Man Killed By Amtrak Train In Central Jersey Was Family Breadwi, WATCH: YouTube Video Shows Rapper Assaulting Bergen Shop Rite W, Motel Guest Covered In Lotion Rescued From Knife-Wielding Woman, DWI Suspected In Horrific Route 80 Crash In Bergen County. It was a game to me. He rented an apartment in Midtown and told his wife he worked nights. Thats not the natural order its supposed to go in.. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. The items included necklaces, broaches, earrings, and other pieces of jewelry. It also left enormous holes in the souls of family and friends of Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16. 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham Confessed To New Murders As - Yahoo! Just shy of his 21st birthday, Richard Cottingham began a vicious killing spree that tore through north New Jersey and New York City. On Dec. 2, 1979, the murders that earned Cottingham the nickname the "Torso Killer took place in New York City. Falasca, 15, accepted. 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. 21 23 I think sometimes he grapples with his own gruesomeness back then., On March 12, a Friday, Mr. Anzilotti summoned the inmate. Hes hedged around and all but confessed.. On March 12, 1974, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery and unlawful imprisonment on the complaint of another prostitute. She was Nancy Pryor, and she was 19 when her sister, Mary Ann, was found dead. In April 1978, after his wife had initiated divorce proceedings, he kept a locked room in a basement apartment of the house in which they lived in Lodi, New Jersey. He tried a different approach. During a search of the house, investigators discovered personal items belonging to some of his victims. 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. ,X3ieG(>]/TUW#gI" p&gGgy`Un(aE6e#./"e3 After nearly 15 years of interviews by Anzilotti and Detective Capt. Cusicks daughter, Darlene Altman, told Nassau County Judge Caryn Fink her late grandparents raised her after her mothers shocking slaying. 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. You are in complete control of somebodys destiny, he told Fezzani in footage shown in the series. Crime: Cottingham, a Lodi resident, killed six women in New Jersey and New York between 1967 and 1980. Irene Blase, Denise Falasca and Jacalyn Harp all girls whose murders were unsolved. 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. To this day, the other young female has never been identified. The Rent Zestimate for this home is $3,099/mo, which has increased by $3,099/mo in the last 30 days. He was imprisoned. But then, four years ago, Mr. Cottingham stunned the chief. I lost so much more than just my mother that day, Altman said. 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. 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). He had pornographic artwork, adhesive tape, books about S&M, said Geberth. 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. 0000009264 00000 n You're a whore and you have to be punished." Richard Cottingham of Lodi (NJ) is sentenced to 173-179 years in prison. He was the Torso Killer. Over the course of 13 years, beginning in 1967, Cottingham killed six women in New Jersey and New York. 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. What they want is an outright statement and a sign-off of Yes thats me,' Vronsky continued. 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. 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. Maywood, A horrible scene, the police commissioner said that day. Premiering on Dec. 29, the three-part season explores the case of Richard Cottingham, a New Jersey man who was dubbed "The Torso Killer" and found guilty of killing 11 women between 1967 and 1980. After his wife filed for divorce in April of 1979, it seems as though his killings became far more frequent. 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. It is not a public place. Peter Karas/The Record, via USA Today Network. Mr. Anzilotti insisted that this case be resolved in open court. 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. 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. He did not know the names of those he killed. It was pure evil. 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. 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. After their drink, Cottingham offered to bring Blase back to the bus station where they had taken the bus. Denise Falasca, 15, of Closter, New Jersey. But her light shines brightly against the backdrop of evil.. Mr. Anzilotti, doing his best not to betray any emotion, slowly pulled out his Blackberry and took notes. Vogel was found dead in her own car in Ridgefield Park, nude and bound. 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 Neither complainant appeared in further proceedings, however, and the case was dismissed. Years ticked past, 1974 into 1975, into the 1980s, the 1990s. 0000000991 00000 n How it ended was me literally shaking his hand and saying, Thank you, Mr. Anzilotti said. Although Vogel was the earliest of Cottinghams murder victims, the killer has said she was not his first, according to Vronsky. 0000001982 00000 n He had not yet put in for retirement, or even told his boss he planned to do that the following week. 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. [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. In the 1970s, he had preyed on prostitutes in Times Square 30 miles but a world away from Montvale not just killing them, but torturing and dismembering them. This is the house where the "Times Square Killer," Richard Cottingham, lived between 1975 and 1980. 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. 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. Richard is related to Rosemarie Marie Cunningham and Larry J Cunningham as well as 3 additional people. Rochelle Park & But it was a way to get him comfortable to talk to me about murders.. When you have a series of crimes today, everything goes through the computers, andwe have computer analysis and a wayof moving these through jurisdictionalboundaries. Ms. Falasca was a 15-year-old who left her familys house in July 1969 and never returned. A notorious New Jersey serial killer pleaded guilty Tuesday to the cold case murders of two teenage girls in 1974. Absolutely, its completely plausible. Where Is The Torso Killer Now? Richard Cottingham Is In Prison - Bustle The 'Torso Killer' dismembered her mother. So why did this - nj The weather worsened. 0000006151 00000 n That was less than a year after Cottingham and his wife had their first child. 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. A married father of three, he lived in the. Its mind-boggling and very scary, especially to know theres more of them out there.. The police were called and Cottingham was apprehended while trying to flee. The Blase family agreed. The New York Times, p. 2. Shed been abducted by Cottingham from the Ledgewood Terrace apartments, in Little Ferry, where Cottingham had previously lived, said Vronsky. She, too, had been strangled. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database.
Stuart Police Department Arrests,
Recent Arrests In Ithaca, Ny,
Articles V