Over there, he began to torture and rape her repeatedly. 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. Cops had a lucky break in the case almost six months after the two headless torsos were first found in Times Square. 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. This site contains affiliate links. 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. One of these cases was of Diane Cusick, a 23-year-old dance teacher. Her body would be left in the room and subsequently set ablaze by Cottingham before fleeing the scene. The Story Of Richard Cottingham, The Times Square Torso Ripper. A married mother of 2, Nancy Vogel was found dumped in her car. The notorious serial killer targeted women, mostly sex workers and those working in the adult entertainment industry. They offered a possible description of a man in his 30s, about 510 and 175 pounds, with brown hair. 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. But just a week later, police were able to apprehend him back at the Quality Inn when his would-be victim Leslie Ann ODell screamed for help. The comments below have not been moderated. He admitted that he brought the two girls to a motel room where he tied them up, raped them, then drowned them in bathtub. Once in custody the man would be identified as Richard Francis Cottingham a father of 3 from Lodi, New Jersey. 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. [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). 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. 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. In his possession were handcuffs, a leather gag, two slave collars, a switchblade, replica pistols and a stockpile of sedatives. In August 2022, with a non-prosecution agreement, officials in Rockland County, New York, corroborated and accepted Cottingham's confession to the murder of 26-year-old Lorraine McGraw, who was beaten and killed March 1, 1970. At the time of his arrest, he was living in New Jersey with his family and spending his days working in New York as a computer operator at Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. He was known for his signature "trophy taking," keeping items belonging to his victims as mementos. One of the unsolved cases was solved when he admitted guilt in the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel, in 2010. Richard cut the woman's breasts off and ended her life via strangulation. Once he had his fill, Richard decided to light the bodies on fire and flee the scene. Bergen County Prosecutors OfficeRichard Cottinghams mugshot. 183 locals recently requested a quote. Among S&M books and pornographic artwork wereMaryann Carr's apartment key and jewelry that belonged to his other victims. Cottingham severed the victim's breasts and posed them on the headboard of the bed, and set fire to the mattress under her body before fleeing, similar to the Travel Inn torso killings. 'It was a game to me. Ailing serial killer Richard Cottingham a.k.a. To date, the Torso Killer claims to have killed upwards of 100 victims. I founded J.R. Miller Associates over four decades ago. Netflix's documentary Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer examines the notorious case of Richard Cottingham - also known as 'The Torso Killer' -who claimed to have raped, slaughtered and mutilated more than 100 women between 1967 and 1980. 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. Cottingham had been in the process of torturing his latest victim, 19-year-old Leslie Ann O'Dell, who survived the attack and testified against him during his trial. They executed a search warrant on Cottingham's family home where they found a secret, locked 'trophy room' that stashed souvenirs of his evil deeds. But Cottinghams depravity was much deeper than police realized at the time of his arrest. On May 15th another prostitute was found murdered in a motel room. [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. 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. Investigators were again able to quickly link this murder with many others due to the killers M.O. [2], In 2010, he pleaded guilty to the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel. Their monster would end up being 33-year-old Richard Cottingham, a married milquetoast father of three from Lodi, New Jersey, who worked as a computer operator for BlueCross BlueShield in Manhattan. After one of the trials, Richard smashed his glasses and attempted to take his own life but was unsuccessful. His name had floated around in the lore of Bergen County cold cases.. I think we need to remember them because they deserve justice.'. [22][23] He pleaded guilty in a December court appearance, and also officially admitted killing four other women in Long Island: Mary Beth Heinz,[24] Laverne Moye,[16] Sheila Heiman,[25] and Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves.[26]. It contained many items that linked him to the murders. 24/7 Availability. WickedWe is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. As they burst into room 417, they saw two badly burned bodies on the twin beds. It wasn't until the advancements in DNA and forensic processing made it possible for investigators to run samples of inmates that they realized how many cases were connected to the killer. She had been brutally strangled and left nude in plain sight. 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. On May 5, 1980, a motel housekeeper found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn. To date, the Torso Killer himself claims that he could have as many as 100 victims. In a strange turn of events,Deedah Goodarzi's biological daughter, Jennifer Weiss has forged an unlikely friendship with the man who strangled and beheaded her mother in 1979. Criminal profiling was still in its infancy and it was before CCTV footage was commonplace and the use of computers helped detectives share information across states. Richard Cottingham's arrest in May 1980 closed the doors on one of the most violent crime sprees to have ever occurred. [6] In 2022, Cottingham officially confessed to the 1970 murder of Lorraine McGraw, under a non-prosecution agreement. A firefighter grabbed one in hopes of saving a life. The daughter of one of serial killer Richard Cottingham's victims is helping to close other murder cases to which he is connected by using her relationship with him. But when first responders attempted CPR, they realized the bodies had no heads and no hands. Over the years, he confessed to killing several more women, with his earliest known murder in 1967. The Full Story Of The Hamilton-Burr Duel And The Tragic Death Of Alexander Hamilton, The Full Story Behind Columbine High School Shooters Eric Harris And Dylan Klebold, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. In addition to multiple murder counts, Richard Francis Cottingham was linked with the brutal abduction and rape of three surviving victims including two prostitutes and a young housewife during 1978. Later on, the police also found a room in the basement of Richard's home that served as his trophy room. On December 2, 1979, fireman in New York responded to an alarm at a shitty little hotel near Times Square. Pornographic films are advertised in Manhattans Times Square in January 1971. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. One of Richards earliest crimes was committed in 1968. You're in complete control of somebody's destiny. [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 seemed nice enough. It was mainly psychological. Janet had even filed for divorce in 1979, though she reneged the next year. richard cottingham trophy room. Cottingham was not charged with this murder until June 2022, when he was implicated by DNA.[10]. Jean Reyner was raped, stabbed, mutilated and tortured. Straddling her back, he drew a knife and put it to her throat as he snapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. I was able to get almost any woman to do whatever I wanted them to do, psychologically,' said the sinister 75-year-old in a recent jailhouse interview with journalistNadia Fezzani. This would prove difficult for Richard, as it was reported that he was a loner with very few, if any, friends. Cottingham's DNA was collected from her body, although DNA wasn't used in solving crimes at the time. According to The Associated Press, Cottingham confessed to. He killed several women over five months and injured many more. Richard would start to come out of his shell socially when he entered high school, attending Pascack Valley High School. Emergency services. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. Richard Cottingham has confessed to a number of other murders in recent years. He decapitated the women and cut off their hands before setting them on fire. [21] Cottingham was apparently "forensically aware" in the era before DNA analysis. Lives that never came to fruition. [15] In December 2022, Cottingham was convicted of Diane Cusick's 1968 murder and, under a non-prosecution agreement, officially admitted to killing another four women during 19721973 in Long Island, New York: Mary Beth Heinz, Laverne Moye, Sheila Heiman, and Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves. Richard Cottingham brutally murdered prostitutes he found on the seedy streets of 1970s New York, earning his horrifying legacy as the Times Square Torso Killer. Richard also had a self-described obsession with bondage and had had numerous extramarital affairs. Authorities believed it to be, thus far, the oldest criminal case to be solved and prosecuted by direct DNA evidence. The killer had registered at the hotel under a fake name with a fake address Carl Wilson of Merlin, N.J. and hotel employees had hardly interacted with him. He would be charged with the murders of most of his victims in New Jersey and in New York City. From afar, Richard appeared to be doing everything that was expected of him and lived a happy life. 'It was pretty much the hotel room from hell,' said detective Malcolm Reiman in the documentary. Not only was Times Square filled with porn shops, peep shows, and prostitutes, but it also became the hunting ground for serial killer Richard Cottingham, the Torso Killer. Police had no suspects and the case quickly grew cold, collecting dust in a file for years. It was the era when the Big Apple was nicknamed 'Fear City' and Times Square was a deviant drain of illicit thrills, pornography, prostitution and crooks - providing the sexual predator with the perfect hunting ground. 4.8 (27 reviews) Towing. . Richard Francis Cottingham was linked with the brutal . 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Even before he confessed to additional killings after his conviction, Cottingham was given life in prison with a sentence of more than 300 years. Richard Cottingham wasconvicted 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 handcuffs used in the murder of Valerie Street. Leslie Ann ODell recalled what had happened and how things escalated so quickly. Walter Leporati/Getty ImagesPornographic films are advertised in Manhattans Times Square in January 1971. You're in complete control of somebody's destiny.'. 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. Richard kept things like jewelry and trinkets as souvenirs from the slayings. 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. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. 'It always weighs heavily over me. Stretched out on the beds were two headless corpses. He forced his victims to address him as "master". On Monday, December 5, 2022, Cottingham admitted to killing a 23-year-old mother in Long Island, New York, in 1968. Trophies like jewellery and other personal items belonging to his victims were taken by him. Their skulls and hands were never found. The police apprehended Richard Cottingham while trying to flee. The missing body part were never found, but once x-rayed one victim was identified as Deedeh Goodarzi, 22, an immigrant from Kuwait who was working as a prostitute. Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. The Torso Killer seemed to be escalating fast. Had he killed more? Richard kept things like jewelry and trinkets as souvenirs from the slayings. The basement became known as the "trophy room." The "Torso Killer" had been found. The legs were laying side by side as if still attached to a body. On May 5, 1980, police found another prostitute, Valerie Streets, dead in a motel room. He has officially been charged with 11 murders but according to Cottingham himself, has committed as many as 105 total slayings over the course of his homicidal career - 80 of which he described as 'perfect murders.'. The series begins with a grisly discovery at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel in Times Square on December 2, 1979. He also confessed under immunity to the 1968 and 1969 homicides of New Jersey teenagers Jackie Harp, Irene Blase, and Denise Falasca. The baffled police had few clues to follow. Two focused entirely on him: Rod Leith's The Prostitute Murders: The People vs. Richard Cottingham (Lyle Stuart Inc., 1983) and Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer (Netflix, 2021). 595 Words3 Pages. She had recently been arrested in Miami for prostitution and was last seen getting picked up by a John in New York City on May 5, 1980. And less than a month after that, firefighters made yet another gruesome discovery near Times Square. He was with Leslie ODell, a teenage sex worker. On May 22, 1980, Cottingham picked up Leslie Ann O'Dell in Midtown Manhattan and dragged her back to the same New Jersey motel where he mutilated his last victim just 18 days earlier. He bragged to police officers and fellow inmates that he had murdered more than 100 women in various parts of the United States throughout his active years. Richard had also kidnapped 17-year-old Mary Ann Pryor and 16-year-old Lorraine Marie Kelly in August 1974 Manhattan, New York. the Torso Killer pleaded guilty to the 1968 murder of Long Island mother Diane Cusick Monday in front of a Nassau County, New York judge, as . [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). In December 1979, Richard had tortured, raped, and killed Deedeh Goodarzi and an unidentified teenager (Jane Doe) in a hotel in New York. Valerie Street's body was covered in bite marks and brutally beaten in a chillingly similar manner to the murder of 26-year-old Maryann Carr, that had occurred in the same motel three years earlier. Richard Cottingham was convicted of six murders and numerous counts of kidnapping and sexual assault using evidence found in his 'trophy room' combined with a matching fingerprint left on. Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway on February 26, 2023 in Fontana, California . When she was found, she'd suffered beatings to her head and body, but her ultimate cause of death was suffocation. But there were signs that Richard Cottingham was living a double life. The other girls did, you have to take it, too. The couple had met a few hours earlier in Manhattan. York, in 2010 collected from her body, but her ultimate cause death! 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