He recalled the exact place in the woods where he left the bodies. 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. And before I go, I want to close out the Kelly-Pryor case., Mr. Cottingham urged the chief to reconsider leaving the force. 0000010308 00000 n He began to speak about a particular case, he said. At the mall, Cottingham, then a tall, brown-haired young man, met Vogel, a married mother of two. Her breasts had been severed and torso had been set on fire, Vronsky said. . In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. Theyre pushing him on multiple other cases. Hes been interviewing Cottingham in state prison for years. N.J serial killer now linked to 9 victims, but will his murder toll 0000000991 00000 n Cottingham is currently in state prison on a life sentence . Which is entirely possible, especially in those days.. 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. She, too, had been strangled. The family lived in Lodi, and Mr. Cottingham commuted to a job as a computer operator at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Manhattan. endstream endobj 34 0 obj<>stream Berlinger said well never truly know how many women died at Cottinghams hands, but his story had long fascinated the director, who sees a social justice component aspect to telling his story. This number may increase in the future, as he has stated in the past that his victim count is much higher. He pleaded innocent and for decades insisted he was being "framed", until admitting in 2009 that he had actually perpetrated those five murders. He would describe to me certain routes he would drive, Vronsky said of Cottinghamm relaying his murderous spree in letters and interviews over the span of five years. Location of first contact Maryann Carr = her apartment; Prostitutes = street or bar . 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. A local investigator began to wonder: Could there be a link to a series of infamous Times Square murders? Defense attorney John Bruno recited the details, which the white-bearded, 74-year-old killer acknowledged. But the killer was a clever bastard, too. Cottingham was apprehended in the hallway by arriving police officers. Cottingham had kept these items as souvenirs so that he could remember his victims and relive his attacks. Below, you will find the address and the GPS coordinates for this location. The house was built in 1974one year before Cottingham and his wife, Janet, moved in. 0000007874 00000 n One day, Cottingham told his co-worker that he had stolen a sex worker's money and clothes while she was sleeping. This is the house where the "Times Square Killer," Richard Cottingham, lived between 1975 and 1980. 0000003686 00000 n 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. 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. In 2010, Bergen County authorities announced hed pleaded guilty to a sixth murder, a 1967 strangling in Bergen County. Crime: Cottingham, a Lodi resident, killed six women in New Jersey and New York between 1967 and 1980. 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. 21 0 obj <> endobj He has been charged with 11 murders in all. 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. With Cottinghams next victim, a killers hunting ground of sorts began to form. Mr. Anzilotti and another investigator drove to the town of Reading, Vt., to deliver the news to Jackies older sister, Suzan Mulder, then 69. That girl was found drowned, similar to Blases killing, he said. 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. And I said, Hop in., He drove to the mall. There were at least five unsolved killings of girls, each an open wound for families seeking resolution. Her glasses, a ring, a necklace, Ms. Mulder said. He kept these "trophies" in a locked room in the basement. It would take about five months after the grisly Travel Inn slayings for investigators to arrest their man, a married father of three from Lodi, New Jersey, who preyed on sex workers in Times Square, then a seedy nucleus of pornography, prostitution and crime. For a year, he refused to speak to Mr. Anzilotti. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. You can change your choice at any time by using the Privacy Center link in our footer. 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. In other words, he may have been content and/or preoccupied. [7] On October 28, 1967, he strangled Nancy Schiava Vogel, a 29-year-old married mother of two, in Little Ferry, New Jersey. 'The Torso Killer' Who Hunted Prostitutes in Times Square 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. But first, he wanted to return to those two murders from 47 years ago. Responding officers found an 18-year-old victim whod been bitten, stabbed and bound with handcuffs. Her attacker was caught as he ran away. Before his arrest, he was a successful computer operator who worked at the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance company in Midtown Manhattan. Maywood, Cottingham offered to give O'Dell a massage and she rolled onto her stomach. Inside they found the bodies of 22-year-old sex worker Deedeh Goodarzi[9] and an unidentified woman estimated between 16 and 22. He asked to quietly close their daughters murder case without formally charging the killer. 0000003125 00000 n 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. Neither complainant appeared in further proceedings, however, and the case was dismissed. <<69EF7C237A736942AE760EBDB9B8F80B>]>> 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. No leads were forthcoming. Their heads and hands had been cut off. This girl did everything right, Vronsky said. ,X3ieG(>]/TUW#gI" p&gGgy`Un(aE6e#./"e3 The police believed they had given up on the bus and were trying to hitchhike to a mall. Correctional officers found contraband and evidence of bookmaking and transferred Mr. Cottingham to solitary confinement. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. 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. Richard Cottingham who is already serving time in state prison for several . The murders committed by the Torso Killer bore little resemblance to the ones Mr. Anzilotti was investigating, but their timing matched up with Mr. Cottinghams settling in New Jersey. On February 15, 1968, Cottingham killed his second known victim. I can go all the way back to the first detective on the case. 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. %%EOF Detective Anzilotti was startled to discover the same man killed all three. On more than one occasion, he would openly talk about his experiences with sex workers. Hes hedged around and all but confessed.. [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]. The 45th year passed in the same way. [2] Four surviving abduction-rape victims testified against Cottingham; he was convicted in three of the cases and acquitted in one. 29 Vreeland St, Lodi, NJ is a single family home that contains 2,716 sq ft and was built in 1974. Now 74, Cottingham, who claims responsibility for dozens of murders, has confessed to a. 29 Vreeland St, Lodi, NJ 07644 | Zillow By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. Long-Buried Secrets: The Serial Killer and the Detective, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/nyregion/new-jersey-serial-killer-cottingham-anzilotti.html. The plea leaves the question: Will they be Cottinghams final admissions? 0 As you can see, he didn't always look like Santa Claus. xb```"VV~g`0pt 9mzQ[2fXar9XcK',6=3Yb%^)= RZlr$:kX;e =_i& ` ?# Vronsky, who frequently visits Cottingham in prison, said he had a freak, random elevator encounter with the serial killer on the early morning of Dec. 2, 1979, as he tried to check into the Travel Inn Motel near a seedy and sex-crazed Times Square. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. 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. He continued to live here until the police eventually arrested him on May 22nd, 1980. He was imprisoned. 0000008501 00000 n Years after her sisters death, she had found some comfort speaking to another from her tribe, Karen Miller, a sister of Denise Falasca. I think it was just an evolution in his killing.. 0000005253 00000 n Goodarzi, of Trenton, was a sex worker who had been traveling to the then-seedy streets of midtown Manhattan, Vronsky said. At the time, Cottingham, who had not been arrested or identified, was dubbed the "Times Square Ripper.. On Dec. 2, 1979, the murders that earned Cottingham the nickname the "Torso Killer took place in New York City. 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. Richard Cottingham, serial killer from New Jersey operating in New York between 1967 and 1980. The motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated. 0000003183 00000 n This guy was particularly ruthless. There were similarities in the two cases: the girls ages, the apparently hasty disposal of their bodies, even their appearance, both with long, dark hair. Authorities believed it to be, thus far, the oldest criminal case to be solved and prosecuted by direct DNA evidence. And for Cottingham, every night was a full moon.. 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. [13][14] Anzilotti had spent 15 years interviewing Cottingham, working toward the confession. xb```"WVf~g`0pt 9"~S?``Z V|bG!+N}TzYl@2 `QD2 @DACEDJaOs6x?+[Ihlrt ? This is a "Then and Now" photograph of Cottingham's former house at 29 Vreeland Street. 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. 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. Then in exchange for immunity from prosecution, he confessed to murdering three New Jersey schoolgirls. Soon, the chief closed that case two down. Much like John Moye, Altman, who now lives in Ocala, Fla., said she struggled to process Cottinghams savagery. Instead, she ended up shopping at one of Bergen Countys malls, according to Vronsky. 0000000756 00000 n Instead, he drove her to the Quality Inn, where he tortured, beat and sexually assaulted her for hours, until a maid heard her scream. FPh_3Gj Nt%Q[r L`%/9QTh/| Q4_g8KI}u'?xbif`H>;wNQ|sd2(? The New York Times, p. 26. The chief agreed. Straddling her back, he drew a knife and put it to her throat as he snapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. 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. New Jersey . 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. Times Square Torso Killer: Grisly crimes of Richard Cottingham laid On May 5, 1980, a motel housekeeper found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn. <<8BD7E4F5B15F3F4A8993EB3A0150F7AC>]>> Cottingham lived here with his wife, Janet, and their three children, Blair, Scott, and Jenny. I just ruled him out. Following his arrest, police linked him to the murder of Valerie Streets. When they arrived, one firefighter attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of a woman they found on the bed. Where Is The Torso Killer Now? Richard Cottingham Is In Prison - Bustle When you have a series of crimes today, everything goes through the computers, andwe have computer analysis and a wayof moving these through jurisdictionalboundaries. A horrible scene, the police commissioner said that day. These include the Times Square Killer, the Torso Killer, and the Times Square Torso Ripper. Years ticked past, 1974 into 1975, into the 1980s, the 1990s. Because I was with them for a couple of days, he replied, according to a transcript, and got to know them., It was raining that day in August 1974, and Mr. Cottingham, then 28, was driving to work in Manhattan when he passed the two girls walking in the opposite direction.
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