Richard Cottingham has confessed to a number of other murders in recent years. On March 12, 1974, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery and unlawful imprisonment on the complaint of another prostitute. He would be charged with robbery, sodomy, and sexual assault but all charges would ultimately be dismissed. Richard was born in Bronx, New York, in November 1946. [2], In 2010, he pleaded guilty to the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel. Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. Cottingham was eventually arrested in May 1980 after committing a string of grisly murders across Manhattan and New Jersey, with the same hallmark traits, Cottingham evaded law enforcement by deliberately preying on marginalized sex workers during a time when crime-ridden New York City was dubbed 'Fear City.' Richard Cottingham, now 78, is a former computer programmer linked to at least 12 murders from the 60s and 70s. This time it seems the police were able to link this crime. Richard Cottingham, now 78, is a former computer programmer linked to at least 12 murders from the 60s and 70s. 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. Who Were Richard Cottingham's Victims? Were not ruling out the possibility that two men could have been involved.. Richard Cottingham, 74, pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, both of North Bergen. 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 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. Crystal Ponti. [2] Four surviving abduction-rape victims testified against Cottingham; he was convicted in three of the cases and acquitted in one. [8] Vogel's nude and bound body was found on October 31, under a blanket behind the passenger seat of her car parked in nearby Ridgefield Park. They had been doused with lighter fluid and set alight. Before doing so the pair agreed on a price and after awhile found themselves checking in to a room. Inside they found the bodies of 22-year-old sex worker Deedeh Goodarzi[9] and an unidentified woman estimated between 16 and 22. There easily could have been more crimes but its unknown. Police responded to a fire in Room 417, where two women had been discovered on a pair of twin beds. You're in complete control of somebody's destiny. But the arrest in 1980 changed everything, exposing Richards double life and deadly exploits. One of Cottinghams only admissions of guilt was, I have a problem with women. Weeks after his arrest, his wife was able to finalize the divorce from the monster. A few months later he would be charged with robbery and sodomy. Her body would be left in the room and subsequently set ablaze by Cottingham before fleeing the scene. Richard was also connected to the murder of Valerie Street in New Jersey. Shed be discovered by hotel staff accidentally when they were attempting to vacuum underneath the bed. They offered a possible description of a man in his 30s, about 510 and 175 pounds, with brown hair. Did he intend on killing this poor girl? 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. He would approach them in bars, drug them with the date rape drug Tuinal, take them to a remote locationtypically a motelwhere he would bind, gag, torture, and stab them before killing them by strangling them with a ligature. Cottingham was apprehended in the hallway by arriving police officers. 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. Once inside, Richard would torture the girl repeatedly through various means; beatings, bites, cuts and rapes. Richard Cottingham (1977-1980) was a 31-year old computer operator and valued employee of Blue Cross-Blue Shield in downtown New York City. On February 15, 1968, Cottingham killed his second known victim. Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer will stream on Netflix starting Dec. 29. During a court appearance Tuesday, 74-year-old Richard Cottingham, also known as the "Torso Killer," pleaded guilty and admitted he kidnapped and raped the girls, then drowned them in a motel room . 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. At knife point, he proceeded to torture, beat and sexually assault the 19-year-old runaway for hours, (nearly biting off one of her nipples) until a maid heard her muffled screams. Later, Cottingham claimed that Times Square cops stopped him as he carried the severed heads in a large potato sack to his car before letting him go. Cottingham confessed to Vogel's murder in 2010, nearly 30 years after his arrest. An animal who lacked empathy for all and cared only for satisfying his sexual desires at any cost. He was sentenced to 173 to 197 years, which he is currently serving in Trenton's New Jersey State Prison. You're in complete control of somebody's destiny.'. He decapitated the women and cut off their hands before setting them on fire. 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. Cottingham murdered Jennifer Weiss' birth mom Deedeh Goodarzi in a Times Square motel room in 1979. Cottingham would confess to many murders after being put behind bars. 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Former FBI agent and criminal profiler Candice DeLong delves into Richard Cottingham, Show Killer Psyche, Ep Richard Cottingham: The Torso Killer - Mar 7, 2023 Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. Leslie added, He told me to shut up, that I was a whore, and I had to be punished. 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). Emergency services. Though Cottingham resisted at first, he slowly began to reveal details of his past crimes. When found her head was hanging by a thread. There were no known murder victims in 1978, however, Richard would go on to rape and torture two more women in 1978, one of which had been pregnant. He killed several women over five months and injured many more. At one point, Leslie grabbed Richards gun and pointed it at him, only to realize that it was fake. This murder was later linked to the 1977 murder of Maryann Carr, who was left in the same motel's parking lot. All was quiet and one can be certain that it was probably looking like an average, quiet night. The story of the Torso Killer began on Dec. 2, 1979, when firefighters were called to the Travel Inn near Times Square. Her legs had been severed and dumped a few blocks away. Over the years, the two would go on to have 3 children. Richard cut the womans breasts off and ended her life via strangulation. North-jersey.comA father of three, Richard Cottingham seemed an unlikely killer. June 12, 2022 | tj maxx distribution center san antonio | Category: . The divorce affidavits further alleged that Cottingham was an habitual, patron of gay bars and homosexual spas in Manhattan. One more detail about this case was that the severed body parts of the two women were never located and are still a mystery as to what Richard did with them. 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. So, if youre curious to know what happened to Richard, weve got you covered. Following his 1980 arrest, police found, in the locked room and in the trunk of his car, personal effects which they traced to several of his victims. One slain woman was positively identified througha cesarean-section scar as 22-year-old, Iranian prostitute, Deedeh Goodarzi. He said that uncountable times.. [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). I think we need to remember them because they deserve justice'. One week later police were called to the same motel, but this time it was for a disturbance. December of 1979, would be Richards most vicious attack to date. Three of those murders Cottingham later confessed to included Jacalyn Harp. Inside, they found the bodies of two women who were missing their heads and hands. Richard Cottingham was found guilty of five murders and numerous counts of kidnapping and s*xual assault using evidence found in his 'trophy room' combined with a matching fingerprint left on the handcuffs used in the Valerie Street murder. 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. His name had floated around in the lore of Bergen County cold cases.. Richard had abducted the woman and brought her to a hotel. When police arrived they caught a man trying to flee the room. Richard kept things like jewelry and trinkets as souvenirs from the slayings. One of these cases was of Diane Cusick, a 23-year-old dance teacher. On May 15th another prostitute was found murdered in a motel room. Hed spent his childhood in New Jersey, married his wife Janet in 1970, and had three children. Even before he confessed to additional killings after his conviction, Cottingham was given life in prison with a sentence of more than 300 years. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. A New Jersey serial killer known as the "Torso Killer" pleaded guilty Tuesday 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 would occasionally remove and dispose of his victims heads and hands, presumably to make identification more difficult. But it had a much seedier reputation in the latter half of the 20th century. He would graduate in 1964 and shortly afterwards, take a job with his father at the Met Life Insurance Company, working on the companys computers. 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. After one of the trials, Richard smashed his glasses and attempted to take his own life but was unsuccessful. 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. Criminally Intrigued is a Podcast and Blog covering all aspects of True Crime. Leslie told the authorities that Richard picked her up in New York City, New York, and brought her to the motel in New Jersey. 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. 'All of the women that Richard killed left this world in a horrific way,' she said in the doc. It is believed that she was his first victim, In 2021Cottingham confessed and pleaded guilty to the double kidnapping and murders of Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16 and Mary Ann Pryor, 17 in 1974. Cops eventually tied him to the crime when they found Reyner's necklace among his 'trophies.' ODell, whod survived her encounter with the Torso Killer, described how he tortured his victims. In his possession were handcuffs, a leather gag, two slave collars, a switchblade, replica pistols and a stockpile of sedatives. They increasingly became louder and louder as time went on. On December 15, 1977, the body of X-ray technician Maryann Carr, 26, was found brutally beaten and strangled in the parking lot of the Quality Inn motel in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, but police did not link the murder to Cottingham until his 1980 arrest at the same motel. He said that uncountable times.. You're a whore and you have to be punished." He seemed nice enough. Tow Guys Towing. Homicide detectives linked the murder with that of the murder of teenage hooker Helen Sikes. In 2010, Cottingham pleaded guilty tothe 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel. Trophies like jewellery and other personal items belonging to his victims were taken by him. WickedWe is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. After this look at Richard Cottingham, The Torso Killer, read up on Ed Kemper, the Co-Ed Killer, and Rodney Alcala, the Dating Game Killer. Then, read the stories of Jack the Rippers victims. On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. She agreed to have sex with him for money. After the abduction of Leslie Ann ODell, authorities were able to quickly build a case against the deranged suspect. 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. 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. We may, at no cost to you, receive a commission for purchases made through these links. That included the 1977 slaying of a married 27-year-old nurse whose body was found dumped by a chain-link fence in the parking lot of the same Quality Inn where hed committed other atrocities three years later. 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. Had he killed more? The brief encounter later inspired Vronsky to write his serial killer histories and paved the way for his prison meetings with Cottingham four decades later. 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. He would continue this line of work until his arrest. Thankfully, Cottingham's reign of terror would not last forever. Richard Francis Cottingham (born November 25, 1946) is an American serial killer and rapist who murdered at least seventeen young women and girls in New York and New Jersey between 1967 and 1980. The women left in the room had been strangled, their heads and hands cut off, before the killer doused them both with lighter fluid and fled. 'It's God-like, almost. Cottingham pleaded guilty to 2nd-degree murder in the case of Diane Cusick. His murders were calculated and methodical, and he managed to evade . I am proud of the growth and achievements of JRMA and the community of talented architects, engineers, and project . 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