And he sat there with literally no remorse. This case was always haunting me.. [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). But in. trailer He called his detectives and gave the word: Bring in Cottingham. No one could find any clues in the girls backgrounds: no drugs, no trouble with the law. You can set your cookie preferences below. After his wife filed for divorce in April of 1979, it seems as though his killings became far more frequent. 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. Mr. Anzilotti, by then a sergeant, arranged a surprise search of the inmates cell the day after the Super Bowl. Lodi Serial Killer Confesses To 1960s Bergen Schoolgirl Murders Then he followed with an unusual request. Just shy of his 21st birthday, Richard Cottingham began a vicious killing spree that tore through north New Jersey and New York City. Later on, Richard took a job with Blue Cross Blue Shield in New York as a computer operator. She then grew up without a father because her grandparents did not like him, she said. One day, Cottingham told his co-worker that he had stolen a sex worker's money and clothes while she was sleeping. 0000009543 00000 n 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. But he eventually realized the years-long association, which involved countless state prison visits, was coming to an end. 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. Instead, she ended up shopping at one of Bergen Countys malls, according to Vronsky. The following is a list of his victims in chronological order. Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates. Select this result to view Richard P Cunningham's phone number, address, and more. A real sick bastard did this, retired NYPD detective Jim Riegel, who was working as a beat cop that day, recalls his sergeant telling him in the new Netflix series Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer, out Wednesday. Other locations that are relatively close to this place. 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. Justice was served and thats the end of it case closed. . Richard Cottingham, New Jersey prison photo. A judge sentenced him to 25 years to life after Cusicks brother and only child read emotional impact statements in court. [15], In 2022, Cottingham was arraigned from his prison hospital bed for the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick in Long Island, New York. 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. 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. 'Torso Killer' pleads guilty in 1974 cold-case murders - AP NEWS He said he would talk about other murders only on the condition that the revelations would be kept out of the papers. By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. In 1981, he was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison. For over 40 years, its been folklore in this county.. 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. 0000003202 00000 n HUMs@Wf~}m1`16N7NLf%=Io8. Richard Francis Cottingham was born on November 25, 1946, in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, the first of four children. When reporters ran with the story, Mr. Anzilotti considered himself absolved from keeping his silence about the cases. It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently said. 0000002847 00000 n The bodies of the women had no heads and no hands. In early December 1979, firefighters were called to the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on 42nd Street as a fire burned in room 417. We've received your submission. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. They found an 18-year-old victim who'd been bitten and stabbed bound with handcuffs. Its taken more than 46 years, but a Bergen County police veteran who is only days from retirement got one of the countrys most notorious serial killers to confess. I was an immediate adult when it happened, she said later in an interview. She was believed to have accepted a ride from a stranger, and her body was found on the side of a road near a cemetery. I think it was just an evolution in his killing.. The sergeant was undeterred. 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. [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 would occasionally remove and dispose of his victims heads and hands, presumably to make identification more difficult. After 'Torso Killer' confession, NJ loved ones explain how 1960s His proclivity toward violence and the lack of solid profiling tactics for serial killers made Vronsky believe that Cottinghams claim of 100 victims was possible. And last week, three more were added to his grisly toll. A killing in Somerset County a week after Cottingham got his drivers license may have been one of his first victims, Vronsky said. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. They have also lived in Manasquan, NJ and Ada, MI. They were facedown, side by side, as if placed there with care. A third the killing of 13-year-old Jackie Harp seemed to be the work of another killer. 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.CreditBryan Anselm for The New York Times. 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. 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. His upcoming sentencing will add more time to a prison term that already extends beyond his remaining years. She, too, had been strangled. [13] In 2021, he pleaded guilty to the 1974 kidnapping, raping and drowning of Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. Infamous New Jersey 'Torso Killer' admits to abducting, torturing and On Tuesday, Richard Cottingham, 74, sat in a wheelchair in beige prison scrubs as he pleaded guilty to kidnapping the teenage girls and raping them for days before he drowned them in a motel room bathtub. I can go all the way back to the first detective on the case. He enjoys our time together., The chief also had another theory. 43 0 obj <>stream 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. 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. She had been abducted while walking home from practice with her schools fife-and-drum team in 1968. 0000003707 00000 n It is situated at 29 Vreeland Street in Lodi, New Jersey. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. I lost so much more than just my mother that day, Altman said. Anyone can read what you share. [5] On May 15, 1980, Jean Reyner was strangled and her throat cut in New York's historic Seville Hotel. A few days later, Mr. Anzilotti visited Mr. Cottingham in his new surroundings and told him, I put you here.. 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. )' And even worse, the rape laws were particularly onerous, and you had to provide a witness to bring an allegation of rape. 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. 0000001082 00000 n Cottingham had just raped, tortured and beheaded two sex workers in a room at the motel before setting it on fire. That night, city firefighters responded to a blaze at a motel in Times Square, the New York Daily News reported. She knew that Mr. Anzilotti had solved Denises killing, too. After the hearing, the cameras off, Mr. Anzilotti approached Mr. Cottingham. 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. For more details, please read our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. (1981, June 25). The police were called and Cottingham was apprehended while trying to flee. I knew, he recalled, that was Irene Blase.. 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. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here.
Franks Tract Hunting Permit, Where Is Group Number On Excellus Insurance Card, Pagsasaka Noong Unang Panahon, Ulcer Friendly Chicken Recipes, Mobile Patrol Gibson County, Articles R