And he sat there with literally no remorse. And at. For over 40 years, its been folklore in this county.. Cottingham has claimed in the past he. Questioning Mr. Cottingham was complicated. So we just stayed in the car and we kept talking to each other, getting to know each other and so forth., If the rain wasnt there, they would have just went to the mall and that would have been it, he said, And I would have went to work.. Richard Cottingham, New Jersey prison photo. 0000003451 00000 n According to his neighbors, he seemed like a regular family man. The chief pressed ahead with his list. He described things only the killer would know, like where hed thrown her car keys afterward. His "justification" for doing this was that he "didn't like anyone getting one over" on him. 0000008735 00000 n The details stopped him cold. By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. He worked hard on this., There were never any meaningful updates, until a Monday this April, when detectives knocked on her door in Ocean County, N.J., and said they had obtained a confession. endstream endobj 34 0 obj<>stream Cottingham had kept these items as souvenirs so that he could remember his victims and relive his attacks. A number of killings of young women and girls in New Jersey and New York had gone unsolved for years before a night in May 1980 when a maid at . The police hunted for leads, questioning prostitutes about suspicious men, examining the handwriting of the guest who had checked into Room 417: Carl Wilson of Merlin, N.J., a fake name from a fake place. [3], 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. On February 15, 1968, Cottingham killed his second known victim. At the time, Cottingham, who had not been arrested or identified, was dubbed the "Times Square Ripper.. 0000007658 00000 n Harp was found strangled to death the next day. 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. 0000003707 00000 n This is a private property. %%EOF 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. You are in complete control of somebodys destiny, he told Fezzani in footage shown in the series. [2] Four surviving abduction-rape victims testified against Cottingham; he was convicted in three of the cases and acquitted in one. One day, Cottingham told his co-worker that he had stolen a sex worker's money and clothes while she was sleeping. Which is entirely possible, especially in those days.. Which, of course, I wasnt overly interested in, the former chief 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. The house is close to Lodi High School, the Riverside Cemetery and Interstate 80. I was an immediate adult when it happened, she said later in an interview. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. A horrible scene, the police commissioner said that day. In April of 1979, he started living in the basement of the property after his wife initiated divorce proceedings against him for "abandonment" and "mental cruelty.". 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. On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. 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. Cottingham murdered at least twelve women between 1967 and 1980. 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. [12] Both bodies had their hands and heads removed, and had been doused with lighter fluid and set on fire. Furthermore, one of the women that he murdered in 1979 is still unidentified. Falasca, 15, accepted. On Dec 15, 1977, Carr was found dead in the parking lot of a Quality Inn motel, in Hasbrouck Heights. This number may increase in the future, as he has stated in the past that his victim count is much higher. ,X3ieG(>]/TUW#gI" p&gGgy`Un(aE6e#./"e3 Location of first contact Maryann Carr = her apartment; Prostitutes = street or bar . This guy was particularly ruthless. Now I just have to go on with my life.. The 45th year passed in the same way. On Dec. 2, 1979, fire alarms rang out at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on West 42nd Street. 0000001425 00000 n He said he wouldn't have done it if I wasn't retiring.. To bring Mr. Cottingham back to court, where the case would certainly draw attention, would stop him from talking about other open cases, the chief explained. He described in detail how, instead, he took the girls to a motel, held them captive and eventually drowned them in the bathtub. That made 11 murders Cottingham that admitted since his arrest more than 30 years ago. Mr. Anzilotti had begun to believe, he said in a recent interview, that Mr. Cottingham, between his history and the suspicions of detectives that came before me, could be responsible for one or more of those deaths. The weather worsened. 0000001071 00000 n As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. 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. In 2022, Cottingham also confessed to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick after DNA evidence linked him to the crime. He had three children, two boys and a girl, with his wife. This is a "Then and Now" photograph of Cottingham's former house at 29 Vreeland Street. 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. His murders were not the outcome of stalking or planning but of fleeting encounters. It was a game to me. Again, he knew details from Ms. Falascas file. The house was built in 1974one year before Cottingham and his wife, Janet, moved in. He called his detectives and gave the word: Bring in Cottingham. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. In March, looking back on 25 years with the office, Mr. Anzilotti decided it was time to move on from the job. But Cottingham had other victims, and he would later boast of killing 85 to 100 people. Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. 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We've received your submission. [3], Cottingham was arrested on several lesser charges throughout his killing spree. 0000001250 00000 n 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. Mr. Anzilotti would arrange to have the inmate transported to his office more than hours drive from the prison. His name had floated around in the lore of Bergen County cold cases.. 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. Its an ongoing process, Vronsky said. 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. These objects, along with his fingerprint on the handcuffs, were presented as evidence by prosecutors at his trial. In May of 1980, police arrested Cottingham while he was torturing a sex worker at a motel room in New Jersey. 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. Knowing better, Harp, just 13 years old, refused. Everyone deserves justice under the law.. I believe hes killed between 85 and 100, as he claims, Vronsky told The Post. 0000007874 00000 n 21 0 obj <> endobj Neither man has claimed to have been aware of the other, nor is there any evidence they were familiar with each other prior to their respective arrests. During a search of the house, investigators discovered personal items belonging to some of his victims. He married in 1970 and had three children. After their drink, Cottingham offered to bring Blase back to the bus station where they had taken the bus. Cottinghamss name came up several times, but it didnt fit for me, she said. Absolutely, its completely plausible. 0000008501 00000 n It was quite a shock to learn it was him.. It was pure evil. I couldnt even imagine losing a child. They found an 18-year-old victim who'd been bitten and stabbed bound with handcuffs. 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. He then left the scene with their severed heads and hands. She then grew up without a father because her grandparents did not like him, she said. Among the other faces in separate windows on the Zoom screen was a 66-year-old woman, identified simply as Nancy. Their heads and hands had been cut off. Through the years, other people were assigned. Right up to Mr. Anzilotti. [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. He married in 1970 and became a father of three. Shed been abducted by Cottingham from the Ledgewood Terrace apartments, in Little Ferry, where Cottingham had previously lived, said Vronsky. Then came Tuesdays pleas. He had his list of names, each one a dead girl and a crime long unsolved. Richard is related to Rosemarie Marie Cunningham and Larry J Cunningham as well as 3 additional people. Years after her sisters death, she had found some comfort speaking to another from her tribe, Karen Miller, a sister of Denise Falasca. In fact, Mr. Cottingham lurked around the fringes of a seedy Times Square and the prostitutes who worked its streets. It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently said. Then he followed with an unusual request. Thats not the natural order its supposed to go in.. The latitude and longitude coordinates for the house are: To view directions on how to get there, you can use the Google Maps shortcut below: 29 Vreeland StreetLodiNew JerseyNJ 07644United States. Her attacker was caught as he ran away. 43 0 obj <>stream Author Peter Vronsky, who has a forthcoming book on Cottingham, and was first to publicly announce that the imprisoned Cottingham was responsible for the three 50-year-old crimes, says authorities want to add more to the list. [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). The little perks for the older man the pizza, the poker, the distraction from prison life were always in the service of the younger mans long game. Hes been chief of detectives nearly five years. 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. In recent years, he had asked Mr. Cottingham about the case, and the inmate had simultaneously denied responsibility and let on that he knew more than he would share. [21] Cottingham was apparently "forensically aware" in the era before DNA analysis. startxref My parents couldnt handle it., She had called Bergen County every few months to ask about the case for 47 years, she said. Her name was Nancy Schiava Vogel. Pages in category "People from Lodi, New Jersey" The following 21 pages are in this category, out of 21 total. In April 1978, after his wife had initiated divorce proceedings, he kept a locked room in a basement apartment of the house in which they lived in Lodi, New Jersey. Vronsky and Weiss had been meeting with Cottingham in prison since the spring of 2017, counseling him to make the confession. Note that there seems to have been a "lull" between 1970 and 1973. Seth Wenig/Associated Press By Ed Shanahan Dec. 5, 2022 On a. With Cottinghams next victim, a killers hunting ground of sorts began to form. The following is a chronological summary of Cottingham's seventeen identified murder victims and four identified survivors: Cottingham's case has been discussed in several books and documentaries on serial killers. That night, city firefighters responded to a blaze at a motel in Times Square, the New York Daily News reported. For a year, he refused to speak to Mr. Anzilotti. 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. 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. They were never able to fully recover from the monumental loss, she said. Vogel was found dead in her own car in Ridgefield Park, nude and bound. In his possession, the 33-year-old had a stash of handcuffs, tape and sedatives. %PDF-1.4 % It was mainly psychological. God rest their souls," Bergen County Prosecutor's Chief of Detective Robert Anzilotti said Tuesday after Richard Cottingham of Lodi admitted killing both in 1974. .
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