He also claimed to have committed 80 perfect murders no one knows about. startxref But in. The sergeant was undeterred. This is the house where the "Times Square Killer," Richard Cottingham, lived between 1975 and 1980. With Ms. Pryor and a judge watching on Zoom that day, Mr. Cottingham pleaded guilty to the two murders. 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. The weather worsened. The motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated. [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]. HUMs@Wf~}m1`16N7NLf%=Io8. Cottingham, a depraved killer already serving more than 200 years in prison, confessed to tossing the 22-year-old mother of two from a bridge ending her familys half-century quest for answers. It was mainly psychological. As you can see, he didn't always look like Santa Claus. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and grew up largely in New Jersey. 0000006151 00000 n 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. She knew that Mr. Anzilotti had solved Denises killing, too. The clever killer slipped up, leaving a fingerprint on the cuffs. 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 May 4, 1980, the body of Street, a sex worker, was found at the same Quality Inn where Cottingham had dumped Carrs body. He pleaded innocent and for decades insisted he was being "framed", until admitting in 2009 that he had actually perpetrated those five murders. It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently said. H|U0+(QvG`b08NbHlSoZ2CRSs=* \e~ 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, 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. But he carried those cold cases with him literally, his thick files in cardboard boxes that he moved from office to office chipping away at the false leads, seeking similarities in the victims and in the crime scenes. 0000003431 00000 n Stumped, the police used mannequins from nearby department stores and dressed them in the victims clothing, hoping to spark an identification from friends or family who recognized the outfits. We've received your submission. 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. The bridge where Mallory Beach died in a boating accident. 21 23 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. Richard Cottingham, convicted of murdering prostitute and kidnapping three. Maintenance workers found her body covered in plastic bags and wrapped in a gray blanket near a Jones Beach bus stop. Once again, the victim did not appear in further proceedings and the case was dismissed.[6]. 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. She was stunned. 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. 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. 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. The police were called and Cottingham was apprehended while trying to flee. 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. Soon, Cottingham persuaded Blase to go for a drink with him. Her killer, Richard Cottingham, was a computer operator, married with three children of his own, living a seemingly normal life. 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. 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. He abducted Vogel and took her to a field in Montvale, where he strangled her. 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. 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. 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. Again, he knew details from Ms. Falascas file. [15], In 2022, Cottingham was arraigned from his prison hospital bed for the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick in Long Island, New York. xref A third the killing of 13-year-old Jackie Harp seemed to be the work of another killer. [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. He enjoys our time together., The chief also had another theory. 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. 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. In his possession, the 33-year-old had a stash of handcuffs, tape and sedatives. No leads were forthcoming. When a worker came to check on her, ODell cracked open the door and gave a hand signal asking for help. Accused serial killer nurse allegedly tried to murder premature infant twice. 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.. Hes hedged around and all but confessed.. "From the sense of other things that Im uncovering, he was a very busy boy., I think the math worked out to one every six weeks, Vronsky also said. On May 5, 1980, a motel housekeeper found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn. 0000001082 00000 n On Dec. 2, 1979, fire alarms rang out at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on West 42nd Street. He was locked away to serve several life sentences, aging into a portly man with a thick white beard. 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. 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. 0000012661 00000 n I asked them where they were going. The mall, they replied. She had been a teenager when her sister was killed. According to one of his co-workers, he was smart, well-read, and up-to-date on current events. Cottingham is currently in state prison on a life sentence . Inside they found the bodies of 22-year-old sex worker Deedeh Goodarzi[9] and an unidentified woman estimated between 16 and 22. According to his neighbors, he seemed like a regular family man. This murder was later linked to the 1977 murder of Maryann Carr, who was left in the same motel's parking lot. 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. Feech La Manna's house from The Sopranos. Anzilottihas spent all but 4 years of his law enforcement career with the prosecutors office after coming over from the Woodcliff Lake Police Department. In 2009, decades after his first five murder convictions, Cottingham told a journalist that he had committed at least 80 to 100 "perfect murders" of women in various regions of the United States. That was less than a year after Cottingham and his wife had their first child. I believe hes killed between 85 and 100, as he claims, Vronsky told The Post. But as he considered retirement, he kept returning to the two girls found dead in the woods. Cottingham offered to give O'Dell a massage and she rolled onto her stomach. A few days later, Mr. Anzilotti visited Mr. Cottingham in his new surroundings and told him, I put you here.. Falasca, 15, accepted. But Mr. Anzilotti kept pressing him: You know youre going to tell me.. 0000001250 00000 n 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. 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). Ms. Falasca was a 15-year-old who left her familys house in July 1969 and never returned. During a search of the house, investigators discovered personal items belonging to some of his victims. He was also extremely fidgety and unable to sit still. Its mind-boggling and very scary, especially to know theres more of them out there.. PB| I can go all the way back to the first detective on the case. 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. A horrible scene, the police commissioner said that day. trailer Dont think youre going to mess with me and Im going to help you, Mr. Anzilotti recalled Mr. Cottingham saying. 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. He described things only the killer would know, like where hed thrown her car keys afterward. It was quite a shock to learn it was him.. Vronsky, who aided investigators in obtaining Junes indictment, is trying to coax as many confessions out of the aging, 300-pound serial killer as possible, but the clock is ticking since he suffers from diabetes and kidney disease, he said. Justice was served and thats the end of it case closed. Vronsky, whose works also include an authoritative tome cataloging 17,000 years of pathological homicide, said Cottingham scouted his victims before transforming from a family man into a ferocious monster. The Rent Zestimate for this home is $3,099/mo, which has increased by $3,099/mo in the last 30 days. xb```"VV~g`0pt 9mzQ[2fXar9XcK',6=3Yb%^)= RZlr$:kX;e =_i& ` ?# Harp was found strangled to death the next day. It took some effort to convince him to go to court and let me make it public, Anzilotti said Tuesday. . 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. She, too, had been strangled. The girls vanished Aug. 9, 1974, while hitchhiking to a mall in . Hes younger when all this is going on in Bergen County, he said. 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. Their murders shook the region. All these factors created this crucible in the center of Manhattan for Richard Cottingham to flourish.. )' 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.. 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 . He then drowned them in a bathtub, he said, and dumped their bodies in the woods in a wooded area behind Rolling Ridge Road in Montvale. Which, of course, I wasnt overly interested in, the former chief said. 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. 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. The schoolgirl murder confessions increased that to to nine. 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. That girl was found drowned, similar to Blases killing, he said. I knew, he recalled, that was Irene Blase.. Hearing prosecutors detail grisly crime scenes like where Laverne was found was especially difficult to endure, her son said. New Jersey . 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. But there was an even bigger problem. Boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, family members all were questioned and cleared of suspicion. The New York Times, p. 26. Cottingham, a Lodi man who moonlighted as one of New Jersey's most savage serial killers, had been convicted of murdering five women in New York and New Jersey. Knowing better, Harp, just 13 years old, refused. [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 called his detectives and gave the word: Bring in Cottingham. He continued to live here until the police eventually arrested him on May 22nd, 1980. When Mr. Cottingham entered prison in 1981, Robert Anzilotti was not yet a teenager. But on May 22, 1980 Cottingham's life as a predator came to light. On more than one occasion, he would openly talk about his experiences with sex workers. If hes going to confess to some others, if they can get him to talk, just for those families if he can confess to those, that right there would be I dont know the right word to say, Ms. Mulder said. 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. The following is a list of his victims in chronological order. And he sat there with literally no remorse. When the 40th year since the killings arrived in 2014, the local police asked the public for any new information. 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. 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. The police pursued a welter of tips, rumors and false alarms, The New York Times reported at the time. 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. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. . Cottingham has been given various nicknames over the years. [6] The confession was extracted by Detective Anzilotti weeks before his retirement and was facilitated by historian Vronsky and by Jennifer Weiss, the daughter of Deedeh Goodarzi, one of Cottingham's later victims. Mr. Anzilotti insisted that this case be resolved in open court. 0000003183 00000 n He had no relationship to his victims. In April 2021, Cottingham confessed to the unsolved 1974 double-abduction, rape, and forcible drowning murders of Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, and Mary Ann Pryor, 17, in Montvale, one of New Jersey's most notorious cold cases. Now I just have to go on with my life.. Cottingham fled the scene with the victims heads and hands. The investigators handed Ms. Mulder possessions of Jackies from half a century past. By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. The back and forth went on for weeks. 0000006846 00000 n 0000000016 00000 n She then grew up without a father because her grandparents did not like him, she said. During his trial, he testified that he had been fascinated by bondage since he was a young child. He needed a way to approach Mr. Cottingham and found an opening in 2003, when he got a tip: Mr. Cottingham was taking bets on sporting events from his cell. 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. 0000002420 00000 n These meetings went on for months, and then years, on top of Mr. Anzilottis regular caseload. 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. 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 Described as average and normal, New Jersey man Richard Cottingham was a father-of-three with a marriage that was slowly unravelling. He soon realized the woman had no head, the Daily News reported. 0000008501 00000 n His crimes were discovered in May 1980, when a maid at a Hasbrouck Heights motel heard. His yearbook photo shows a cross-country runner with blond hair slicked back. He did not know the names of those he killed. 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. He asked to quietly close their daughters murder case without formally charging the killer. The Zestimate for this house is $598,600, which has decreased by $7,680 in the last 30 days. Much like John Moye, Altman, who now lives in Ocala, Fla., said she struggled to process Cottinghams savagery. He would occasionally remove and dispose of his victims heads and hands, presumably to make identification more difficult. He was the Torso Killer. A notorious New Jersey serial killer pleaded guilty Tuesday to the cold case murders of two teenage girls in 1974. That was roughly one month after his arrest. He said, Im going to give you one, Mr. Anzilotti recalled. But he eventually realized the years-long association, which involved countless state prison visits, was coming to an end. [13] In 2021, he pleaded guilty to the 1974 kidnapping, raping and drowning of Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. Her name was Nancy Schiava Vogel. The New York Times, p. 26. Serial Killer House in Lodi, New Jersey, United States. I think it was just an evolution in his killing.. Cottingham, whose attorney did not return messages seeking comment, has claimed to have killed as many as 100 women. For more details, please read our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Instead, she ended up shopping at one of Bergen Countys malls, according to Vronsky. 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 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. Zestimate Home Value: $598,600. 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. It was pure evil. He was originally from the Bronx in New York City. He began to speak about a particular case, he said. She agreed to have sex with him for money. On Dec 15, 1977, Carr was found dead in the parking lot of a Quality Inn motel, in Hasbrouck Heights. 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. 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. Much of Cottinghams crimes were not murders, but other violent crimes like abductions and rapes. He described in detail how, instead, he took the girls to a motel, held them captive and eventually drowned them in the bathtub. But then, four years ago, Mr. Cottingham stunned the chief. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. Blase was found strangled to death in 4 feet of water in Saddle River the next day. It was Aug. 14, 1974, in Montvale, N.J., a suburb just over the New York state line. When reporters ran with the story, Mr. Anzilotti considered himself absolved from keeping his silence about the cases. 0000009992 00000 n How it ended was me literally shaking his hand and saying, Thank you, Mr. Anzilotti said. 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. No one could find any clues in the girls backgrounds: no drugs, no trouble with the law. He tried a different approach. 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. . Denise Falasca, 15, of Closter, New Jersey. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. The Google Street View image above was taken in May of 2022. And for Cottingham, every night was a full moon.. Although Vogel was the earliest of Cottinghams murder victims, the killer has said she was not his first, according to Vronsky. F! But it was a way to get him comfortable to talk to me about murders.. 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. In May of 1980, police arrested Cottingham while he was torturing a sex worker at a motel room in New Jersey. 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.. The case also had parallels to a previously unsolved murder of nurse Maryann Carr, who was found dead in the same motel three years earlier. It also left enormous holes in the souls of family and friends of Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16. 0000001982 00000 n However, please be aware that not allowing certain cookies may impact your experience of the site. It will take her a while to forget the habit of calling the detectives for updates a lifetime constant, through the deaths of her parents, her marriage and divorce, her second marriage and widowhood. This is a private property. You can change your choice at any time by using the Privacy Center link in our footer. I lost so much more than just my mother that day, Altman said. 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. This story has been shared 150,597 times. Those cases were already closed. The inmate, with no real incentive to say anything about that crime, had given the chief what amounted to a parting gift. Following his arrest, police linked him to the murder of Valerie Streets. Its not something you can ever get over, Altman, 58, told The Post. 0000008735 00000 n His murders were not the outcome of stalking or planning but of fleeting encounters. Which is entirely possible, especially in those days.. Cottingham, who grew up in River Vale, has been in prison since the 1980s, when he was convicted of the first five murders to which he was linked. At the time, Cottingham, who had not been arrested or identified, was dubbed the "Times Square Ripper.. But beneath the veneer of normalcy was a heinous double-existence as a serial killer. [4], On October 3, 1969, Cottingham was charged and convicted of drunk driving in New York City and was fined $50 (equivalent to $400 in 2021). 0000002882 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. Follow him on Twitter @rodrigotorrejon. The police believed they had given up on the bus and were trying to hitchhike to a mall. 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. The police photograph on the left was taken in June of 1980. 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. The photographs are ordered from left to right and top to bottom. The chief agreed. 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 would let his guard down, Mr. Anzilotti 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. xb```"WVf~g`0pt 9"~S?``Z V|bG!+N}TzYl@2 `QD2 @DACEDJaOs6x?+[Ihlrt ? Straddling her back, he drew a knife and put it to her throat as he snapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. 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. That night, city firefighters responded to a blaze at a motel in Times Square, the New York Daily News reported. I had long suspected that whoever killed Irene Blase also killed Denise Falasca, Mr. Anzilotti said. The teenagers were last seen on Aug. 9, 1974, in North Bergen. To this day, the other young female has never been identified. On Dec. 2, 1979, the murders that earned Cottingham the nickname the "Torso Killer took place in New York City.
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