Taking a bus to another location, Cottingham and Blase spent some time together. 0000006846 00000 n His yearbook photo shows a cross-country runner with blond hair slicked back. . I asked them where they were going. The mall, they replied. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and grew up largely in New Jersey. Its an ongoing process, Vronsky said. He also claimed to have committed 80 perfect murders no one knows about. It was pure evil. In 2022, Cottingham also confessed to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick after DNA evidence linked him to the crime. Inmates were wagering everything from cash to cigarettes. He was eventually convicted of five murders in New Jersey and New York and sent to a New Jersey state prison in the early 1980s. 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. Mr. Anzilotti and another investigator drove to the town of Reading, Vt., to deliver the news to Jackies older sister, Suzan Mulder, then 69. 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. 0000007078 00000 n His wife withdrew the petition upon his arrest in May 1980, then completed the divorce after his 1981 conviction. How it ended was me literally shaking his hand and saying, Thank you, Mr. Anzilotti said. 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. He abducted Vogel and took her to a field in Montvale, where he strangled her. Crime: Cottingham, a Lodi resident, killed six women in New Jersey and New York between 1967 and 1980. View Richard Cottingham's record in Manchester, NJ including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. 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. He did not know the names of those he killed. Thats not the natural order its supposed to go in.. 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. Her youth and difference in appearance, with a boyish haircut, set her apart from the other victims. Her breasts had been severed and torso had been set on fire, Vronsky 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 He forced his victims to address him as "master". His search for a killer led him to a man already locked away, in New Jersey State Prison, 75 miles from his office. 0000003183 00000 n The plea leaves the question: Will they be Cottinghams final admissions? Irene Blase, Denise Falasca and Jacalyn Harp all girls whose murders were unsolved. Over time, though, one investigator was slowly developing a theory. Anzilottihas spent all but 4 years of his law enforcement career with the prosecutors office after coming over from the Woodcliff Lake Police Department. It is not a public place. She was Nancy Pryor, and she was 19 when her sister, Mary Ann, was found dead. The police were called and Cottingham was apprehended while trying to flee. Mr. Anzilotti would arrange to have the inmate transported to his office more than hours drive from the prison. 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. 0000009992 00000 n It also left enormous holes in the souls of family and friends of Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16. Cottingham, a divorced father of three who previously lived in Lodi, NJ, also pleaded guilty to the February 1968 rape and murder of Diane Cusick, 23, a dance instructor from New Hyde Park, NY. 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. Hes been chief of detectives nearly five years. We've received your submission. He had pornographic artwork, adhesive tape, books about S&M, said Geberth. They sat at the kitchen table, very professional, very polite, very considerate, Ms. Mulder recalled. In 2010, Bergen County authorities announced hed pleaded guilty to a sixth murder, a 1967 strangling in Bergen County. But in. He was the Torso Killer. The girls vanished Aug. 9, 1974, while hitchhiking to a mall in . 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.. Blase was 18 when she was found strangled in Saddle River in 1969. I was shocked that it was a serial killer, Moye said of his mothers confessed murderer. This is possibly due to the fact that he got married in 1970. Authorities executed a warrant on his Lodi home, which had a private room containing evidence linking him to the Torso Killer. With Cottinghams next victim, a killers hunting ground of sorts began to form. It could only be Jackie Harp.. He had his list of names, each one a dead girl and a crime long unsolved. On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. 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. Cottingham murdered at least twelve women between 1967 and 1980. But Cottingham had other victims, and he would later boast of killing 85 to 100 people. 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. He enjoys our time together., The chief also had another theory. 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. For a year, he refused to speak to Mr. Anzilotti. She knew that Mr. Anzilotti had solved Denises killing, too. Absolutely, its completely plausible. Richard was arrested at a motel in Hasbrouck . When a worker came to check on her, ODell cracked open the door and gave a hand signal asking for help. One day in 2014, the chief and a partner were driving the inmate back to prison when, from the back seat, Mr. Cottingham, who by then had spent almost half of his 68 years in prison, began describing a girl he once spotted near a store in Hackensack. "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. The details stopped him cold. 0000002420 00000 n All rights reserved (About Us). 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. %PDF-1.4 % It took some effort to convince him to go to court and let me make it public, Anzilotti said Tuesday. [6] In 2022, Cottingham officially confessed to the 1970 murder of Lorraine McGraw, under a non-prosecution agreement. [21] Cottingham was apparently "forensically aware" in the era before DNA analysis. He drove his car ahead of Harp, pulled over and walked back toward her, Vronsky said. [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. That night, city firefighters responded to a blaze at a motel in Times Square, the New York Daily News reported. He tried a different approach. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and was raised mostly in New Jersey, according to the The New York Times. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. But on May 22, 1980 Cottingham's life as a predator came to light. 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. She had been a teenager when her sister was killed. Trophies like jewellery and other personal items belonging to his victims were taken by him. He described things only the killer would know, like where hed thrown her car keys afterward. He had come further in closing cases than his younger self could have imagined. Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. Their heads and hands had been cut off. It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently said. Dont think youre going to mess with me and Im going to help you, Mr. Anzilotti recalled Mr. Cottingham saying. 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. Goodarzi was later identified as the woman who had been tortured, killed, beheaded and had her hands cut off by Cottingham. But Mr. Anzilotti kept pressing him: You know youre going to tell me.. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Moye, 55, stared down serial murderer and rapist Richard Cottingham in a Nassau County courtroom Monday as the 76-year-old notorious Torso Killer admitted to five more sadistic slayings decades earlier, bringing his known tally to 17 although experts believe that figure could be as high as 100 victims. 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). 0000000991 00000 n 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. 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. 0000000016 00000 n 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. She later testified that he said, "You have to take it. Pages in category "People from Lodi, New Jersey" The following 21 pages are in this category, out of 21 total. I think sometimes he grapples with his own gruesomeness back then., On March 12, a Friday, Mr. Anzilotti summoned the inmate. 0000012661 00000 n 0000002435 00000 n HKo0l06CYf,Y(v (I?0c9 New documentary The 12th Victim: Is Fugate a Natural Born Killer or Starkweather victim? Geberth noted that this was a time before the proliferation of surveillance cameras and the use of computer analysis to establish patterns and share information across jurisdictions. A horrible scene, the police commissioner said that day. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. This is the house where the "Times Square Killer," Richard Cottingham, lived between 1975 and 1980. Maintenance workers found her body covered in plastic bags and wrapped in a gray blanket near a Jones Beach bus stop. 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. Peter Karas/The Record, via USA Today Network. 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.
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