Other locations that are relatively close to this place. That made 11 murders Cottingham that admitted since his arrest more than 30 years ago. 0000007874 00000 n 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. These meetings went on for months, and then years, on top of Mr. Anzilottis regular caseload. He said he would talk about other murders only on the condition that the revelations would be kept out of the papers. Over time, though, one investigator was slowly developing a theory. Defense attorney John Bruno recited the details, which the white-bearded, 74-year-old killer acknowledged. By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. A killing in Somerset County a week after Cottingham got his drivers license may have been one of his first victims, Vronsky said. 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. Mr. Anzilotti insisted that this case be resolved in open court. 7{(~tm LB IBJ*ZB`0 Category:People from Lodi, New Jersey - Wikipedia Rochelle Park & 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. The house was built in 1974one year before Cottingham and his wife, Janet, moved in. Instead, she ended up shopping at one of Bergen Countys malls, according to Vronsky. The chief agreed. Inmates were wagering everything from cash to cigarettes. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. Since his incarceration, he has attempted suicide on two occasions. In May of 1980, police arrested Cottingham while he was torturing a sex worker at a motel room in New Jersey. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and grew up largely in New Jersey. 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 is not a public place. Mr. Cottingham left behind no clues. But first, he wanted to return to those two murders from 47 years ago. Again and again, for 15 years, Mr. Anzilotti met with the inmate, seeking the truth. 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. 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. [13] In 2021, he pleaded guilty to the 1974 kidnapping, raping and drowning of Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. He was locked away to serve several life sentences, aging into a portly man with a thick white beard. 0000000991 00000 n I lost so much more than just my mother that day, Altman said. He said, Im going to give you one, Mr. Anzilotti recalled. No leads were forthcoming. 0000003107 00000 n 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. A local investigator began to wonder: Could there be a link to a series of infamous Times Square murders? 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. Falasca, 15, accepted. New Jersey 'Torso Killer' pleads guilty to 1968 murder, admits to 4 I could feel it.. 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. 0000003183 00000 n On May 5, 1980, a motel housekeeper found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn. 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. 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 police photograph on the left was taken in June of 1980. The sergeant was undeterred. [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. 'The Torso Killer' Who Hunted Prostitutes in Times Square Follow him on Twitter @rodrigotorrejon. 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. 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. The motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated. Since his conviction, Cottingham has pleaded guilty to 12 murders. And last week, three more were added to his grisly toll. Then came Tuesdays pleas. 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 . We use cookies to deliver personalized advertisements, improve your online experience, and to analyze our site's performance. Cottingham had stuffed Streets body under the bed for housekeeping to find, Vronsky said. Much like John Moye, Altman, who now lives in Ocala, Fla., said she struggled to process Cottinghams savagery. We've received your submission. Hes younger when all this is going on in Bergen County, he said. 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. Hes been chief of detectives nearly five years. 0000004577 00000 n All rights reserved (About Us). In his possession, the 33-year-old had a stash of handcuffs, tape and sedatives. Richard is related to Rosemarie Marie Cunningham and Larry J Cunningham as well as 3 additional people. 0000002435 00000 n You are in complete control of somebodys destiny, he told Fezzani in footage shown in the series. This story has been shared 151,197 times. 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. Notably, none of his crimes took place on the property. I never broke my promise to him, all these years later, the chief said. The police were called and Cottingham was apprehended while trying to flee. But Cottingham had other victims, and he would later boast of killing 85 to 100 people. 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. Altman, who was just 3 years old at the time, said her parents had separated prior to Cusicks killing. The schoolgirl murder confessions increased that to to nine. 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. 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. [16], In the early hours of May 22, 1980, Cottingham picked up 18-year-old Leslie Ann O'Dell, who was soliciting on the corner of Manhattan's Lexington Avenue and 25th Street. Ive never seen rain like that, he said. After his wife filed for divorce in April of 1979, it seems as though his killings became far more frequent. 0000000016 00000 n In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. And even worse, the rape laws were particularly onerous, and you had to provide a witness to bring an allegation of rape. 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. 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. Its mind-boggling and very scary, especially to know theres more of them out there.. His search for a killer led him to a man already locked away, in New Jersey State Prison, 75 miles from his office. [6] In 2022, Cottingham officially confessed to the 1970 murder of Lorraine McGraw, under a non-prosecution agreement. In 2004, Vronsky published his first book on homicidal maniacs, Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters, an exhaustive look at executioners slayings dating back to ancient Rome. Cottingham was not charged with this murder until June 2022, when he was implicated by DNA.[10]. He had pornographic artwork, adhesive tape, books about S&M, said Geberth. 0000002865 00000 n He stood trial in New York and New Jersey in a coat and tie and denied everything, but he was convicted in all five killings. But as he considered retirement, he kept returning to the two girls found dead in the woods. He described in detail how, instead, he took the girls to a motel, held them captive and eventually drowned them in the bathtub. Years ticked past, 1974 into 1975, into the 1980s, the 1990s. 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.. We've received your submission. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Cottinghams luck began to unravel in early May 1980 when the maid at the Quality Inn found the naked corpse of a handcuffed woman under the bed. [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. 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. Bergen County investigators realized there were numerous open sexual assault cases with similar hallmarks: Cottingham kidnapped them from Times Square, drugged and assaulted them. What Is 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham's Life Like Today? A woman walking to her car found them: two teenage girls, naked and dead in a sliver of woods behind an apartment parking lot. As you can see, he didn't always look like Santa Claus. And considering the closure of yesterdays cases, I absolutely believe him.. They were facedown, side by side, as if placed there with care. He was a coward.. Torso Killer: Ailing Richard Cottingham Confesses to More Murders After nearly 15 years of interviews by Anzilotti and Detective Capt. 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 relationship. Richard Cottingham of Lodi (NJ) is sentenced to 173-179 years in prison. However, he started killing again in 1974, when he murdered Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. Long-Buried Secrets: The Serial Killer and the Detective I couldnt even imagine losing a child. [7] In a 2009 interview, Cottingham admitted to the murders and claimed that he severed the heads and hands of the victims to prevent their identification, as he was acquainted with Goodarzi and had been seen with her in a bar the night before.[2]. Below, you will find the address and the GPS coordinates for this location. He had not yet put in for retirement, or even told his boss he planned to do that the following week. A friend of one victim came forward and the slain woman was later positively identified through a cesarean-section scar and chest X-ray as 22-year-old prostitute Deedeh Goodarzi. The chief questioned Mr. Cottingham. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Goodarzi was later identified as the woman who had been tortured, killed, beheaded and had her hands cut off by Cottingham. Three days later, Mr. Anzilotti walked out of his office for good. Instead, he drove her to the Quality Inn, where he tortured, beat and sexually assaulted her for hours, until a maid heard her scream. He would let his guard down, Mr. Anzilotti said. 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. On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. However, please be aware that not allowing certain cookies may impact your experience of the site. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Photos of the house and other related images. And at. 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.. 0000001082 00000 n Cottingham fled the scene with the victims heads and hands. Hes embarrassed by this case, he said. 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. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. It is situated at 29 Vreeland Street in Lodi, New Jersey. I took over handling the calls, the arrangements. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. The following is a list of his victims in chronological order. Her body was found the next morning by the side of a road next to a cemetery in Saddle Brook. 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. 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 latitude and longitude coordinates for the house are: To view directions on how to get there, you can use the Google Maps shortcut below: 29 Vreeland StreetLodiNew JerseyNJ 07644United States. But there was an even bigger problem. A hotel worker arrived at Room 417 to find smoke and a horrible scene: the scorched remains of two women on a bed. 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. He was the Torso Killer. Neither complainant appeared in further proceedings, however, and the case was dismissed. 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. When you have a series of crimes today, everything goes through the computers, andwe have computer analysis and a wayof moving these through jurisdictionalboundaries. 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. 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. I think it was just an evolution in his killing.. 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. And thats what bothers me, because I probably didnt have to do anything to them., Mr. Anzilotti left the confession both exhausted and relieved. Richard Cottingham, Lorraine . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. [2], In 2010, he pleaded guilty to the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel. On one occasion, he dismembered two sex workers and set fire to their torsos at a hotel near Times Square. It is situated at 29 Vreeland Street in Lodi, New Jersey. Prosecutors will seek dual life sentences to run alongside his current lifetime term when Cottingham is sentenced on July 9 for what Musella said were the willful, deliberate, and premediated murders of Mary Ann Prior and Lorraine Kelly. 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. 0000008735 00000 n One would remind him of a TV actress. But it was a way to get him comfortable to talk to me about murders.. Their murders shook the region. Straddling her back, he drew a knife and put it to her throat as he snapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. According to one of his co-workers, he was smart, well-read, and up-to-date on current events. The body of Laverne Moye, of St. Albans, Queens, was discovered in a Rockville Centre creek on July 20, 1972. His "justification" for doing this was that he "didn't like anyone getting one over" on him. He began to speak about a particular case, he said. 0000003431 00000 n In 1981, he was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison. Everyone deserves justice under the law.. Its hard to understand how someone could be like that. A maid heard the teenagers guttural screams and called police. In 2022, Cottingham also confessed to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick after DNA evidence linked him to the crime. Theyre pushing him on multiple other cases. Hes been interviewing Cottingham in state prison for years.
Pictures Of Dave Matthews House, Fatal Accident Near Palestine, Tx Today, Articles R