According to The Associated Press, Cottingham confessed to. [16], In the early hours of May 22, 1980, Cottingham picked up 18-year-old Leslie Ann O'Dell, who was soliciting on the corner of Manhattan's Lexington Avenue and 25th Street. Richard Cottingham by his own admission claims to have killed upwards of 100 women and remains a suspect in dozens of unsolved cases. Richard would start to come out of his shell socially when he entered high school, attending Pascack Valley High School. The Torso Killer seemed to be escalating fast. Among S&M books and pornographic artwork wereMaryann Carr's apartment key and jewelry that belonged to his other victims. Later on, the police also found a room in the basement of Richards home that served as his trophy room. We Know What Kind of Creeps Are Out There ! A search of Cottinghams home turned up a bizarre trophy room, containing personal effects from several of the murdered prostitutes. He was with Leslie ODell, a teenage sex worker. In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. He was careful, and only one fingerprint was retrieved from a crime scene. [13][14] Anzilotti had spent 15 years interviewing Cottingham, working toward the confession. Cottingham slipped the noose of law enforcement by deliberately preying on marginalized sex workers during a time when crime-ridden New York City descended into lawlessness. The notorious serial killer targeted women, mostly sex workers and those working in the adult entertainment industry. The other headless corpse was never identified. Then in exchange for immunity from prosecution, he confessed to murdering three New Jersey schoolgirls. Nobody at the time suspected that Cottingham's killing spree had began over a decade earlier with the murder ofNancy Vogel in 1967 and five New Jersey high school girls in 1968 and '69. Cottingham is currently in state prison on a . 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 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. Later on, Richard took a job with Blue Cross Blue Shield in New York as a computer operator. Her body would be left in the room and subsequently set ablaze by Cottingham before fleeing the scene. In a strange turn of events,Deedah Goodarzi's biological daughter, Jennifer Weiss has forged an unlikely friendship with the man who strangled and beheaded her mother in 1979. [4], The BCPO "exceptionally closed" the three cold case murders with agreement from the victims' families and evidence corroborating the confessions, but for several years kept this secret from the public to keep Cottingham talking about other cases. 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. Goodarzi gave up her daughter for adoption when she was less than two weeks old, it wasn't until Weiss tried to reconnect with her biological mother in 2002 that she discovered the disturbing truth of her violent demise, 'All of the women that Richard killed left this world in a horrific way,' said Jennifer Weiss in the doc. The doc also spotlights a conversation with Jennifer Weiss, DeedahGoodarzi's biological daughter, who made headlines last year when she struck up an unlikely friendship with her mother's killer while he served his prison sentence. Both 1974 cases would be dismissed. Richard would soon meet his future wife, and the two were married on May 3rd, 1970. He would commute daily to New York for his job, but once in a while, when the mood struck, Richard would not go home after work. Richard was arrested at a motel in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, in May 1980. Cops eventually tied him to the crime when they found Reyner's necklace among his 'trophies.' The baffled police had few clues to follow. [7] On October 28, 1967, he strangled Nancy Schiava Vogel, a 29-year-old married mother of two, in Little Ferry, New Jersey. 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Its also unclear whether or not he continued to do so. Richard would dump her along a chain link fence near the apartment complex he once called home, the ligature still tied around her neck. At one point, Leslie grabbed Richards gun and pointed it at him, only to realize that it was fake. 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. Her legs had been severed and dumped a few blocks away. Authorities believed it to be, thus far, the oldest criminal case to be solved and prosecuted by direct DNA evidence. To date, the Torso Killer claims to have killed upwards of 100 victims. 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. Inside, they found the bodies of two women who were missing their heads and hands. You're in complete control of somebody's destiny.'. Leslie Ann ODell recalled what had happened and how things escalated so quickly. Did he intend on killing this poor girl? 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. Inside they found the bodies of 22-year-old sex worker Deedeh Goodarzi[9] and an unidentified woman estimated between 16 and 22. [15], In 2022, Cottingham was arraigned from his prison hospital bed for the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick in Long Island, New York. 'It always weighs heavily over me. 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. 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. The killer had severed her breasts and placed them on the headboard, 'for shock value,' recalled Vernon Geberth, former Commanding Officer of Bronx Homicide. Investigators were again able to quickly link this murder with many others due to the killer's M.O. She was positively identified through a cesarean-section scar after a friend recognized her clothing. Cottingham was not charged with this murder until June 2022, when he was implicated by DNA.[10]. Her throat had been cut so severely that he nearly severed her head. 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. She was in hysterics, crapping on about what this guy had put her through. The divorce affidavits further alleged that Cottingham was an habitual, patron of gay bars and homosexual spas in Manhattan. But there were signs that Richard Cottingham was living a double life. Jean Reyner was stabbed to death in a motel near Time Square. The prisoner, 33-year-old Richard Francis Cottingham, made an unlikely suspect at first glance. The sexual predator prowled Times Square for his victims which was considered a deviant playground for pornography, prostitution and crooks, The documentary paints a terrifying portrait of a city overrun with crime, which allowed Cottingham to flourish and evade law enforcement. Vronsky and Weiss had been meeting with Cottingham in prison since the spring of 2017, counseling him to make the confession. In his possession were handcuffs, a leather gag, two slave collars, a switchblade, replica pistols and a stockpile of sedatives. By all accounts, he was 'an average guy who drove an average car and lived in an average house' explained reporter Rod Leith in the series. Cops had a lucky break in the case almost six months after the two headless torsos were first found in Times Square. He said that uncountable times.. In April 1980, Cottinghams wife had filed for divorce, charging him with extreme cruelty and refusal to engage in marital sex since late 1976. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. 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. On May 15, they found the body of 25-year-old sex worker Jean Reyner in the Seville Motel. Cottingham later described his motives as a game and mainly psychological., I was able to get almost any woman to do whatever I wanted them to do, psychologically, he said decades after being found guilty of five murders. Cottingham offered to give O'Dell a massage and she rolled onto her stomach. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. . It was the same necklace that had been pictured on Reyner in a previous arrest photo for prostitution, In 2010, while serving multiple life sentences, Cottingham pleaded guilty in the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel, 29. You're a whore and you have to be punished." richard cottingham trophy room. To date, the Torso Killer himself claims that he could have as many as 100 victims. Published on January 3, 2022. So, if youre curious to know what happened to Richard, weve got you covered. The first killing was that of Valerie Ann Street. [18], During the early 1980s, Cottingham was convicted of five murders in two separate New Jersey trials in 1981[19] and 1982,[20] and in a single New York trial in 1984 for three murders. Shed be discovered by hotel staff accidentally when they were attempting to vacuum underneath the bed. So the detective started spending time with the Times Square Killer. Her breasts had been hacked off and her body was set on fire. He has officially been charged with 11 murders but says he's killed over 100 women, Netflix's new 'Crime Scene' docuseries examines the notorious case of Richard Cottingham who left a bloody trail of victims between 1967 and 1980. 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. Richard would become increasingly more deranged as time went on. In a similar case, Richard killed Jean Reyner, a sex worker, in another hotel in New York. Netflixs Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer is a three-part docuseries that explores the horrific crimes committed by serial killer Richard Cottingham. Cottingham targeted sex workers in Times Square before torturing and mutilating their bodies, often leaving only their torsos behind as evidence. The other, a 16-year-old, remains a Jane Doe to this day. The basement became known as the "trophy room." The "Torso Killer" had been found. 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. Beneath the happy exterior lurked an incredibly dangerous and vicious animal. She had gone missing from Times Square in January 1979. At three different trials in New Jersey and New York, Richard was convicted for murdering Deedeh Goodarzi, Jane Doe, Jean Reyner, Valerie Street, and Maryann Carr (who was killed in 1977). And, thanks to a dogged New Jersey detective, the Times Square Killer has confessed to a number of additional murders. [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 decapitated the women and cut off their hands before setting them on fire. She had been given one hell of a beating and her killer had eaten away at her nipples, almost severing one. He was also known to threaten them with a plastic gun and leave it within their reach so they could try to grab it only to find out it was false, severely bite and scrape their nipples, cut around the breasts, and use other forms of torture. Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. It was the same motel that a maid had discovered the mutilated body of Valerie Street just two weeks earlier, and the body of Maryann Car in 1977. December of 1979, would be Richards most vicious attack to date. Criminally Intrigued is a Podcast and Blog covering all aspects of True Crime. What drove this married father of three to kill? By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. The body of 25-year-old Jean Reyner, a single mother who was turning tricks to finance a child custody battle, was found violently murdered on May 15, 1980 in a midtown hotel. In May 1981, Cottingham was convicted on fifteen felony counts related to the murder of Valerie Street, drawing a sentence of 173 to 197 years in prison. 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. Now she's accused of killing 5 in horrific Windsor Hills crash. Cottingham would confess to many murders after being put behind bars. The following week on May 15th, 1980, another sex worker was lured into a Manhattan motel room under the guise of more work but was most likely ambushed when Cottingham locked the door. He was also found guilty of kidnapping and assault, with his sentence going up to more than 200 years. North-jersey.comA father of three, Richard Cottingham seemed an unlikely killer. Cottingham was arrested and put on trial, where he initially denied his acts of violence. He subdued the helpless girl with handcuffs and began the torture session. Its God-like, almost. Denise Falasca, aged 15, was abducted on July 14, 1969, in Emerson, while walking to a friend's home and found the next morning in Saddle Brook, by the side of a road next to a cemetery, strangled with the cord or the chain of her crucifix. Richard Cottingham, now 78, is a former computer programmer linked to at least 12 murders from the 60s and 70s. Its unclear what he was stealing, if he was short on money or so there was no trail of him purchasing a specific item. [Cottingham] told me to shut up, that I was a whore and I had to be punished, ODell testified. And less than a month after that, firefighters made yet another gruesome discovery near Times Square. Known for being particularly cruel, Cottingham earned the nickname "The Torso Killer" because he would sometimes mutilate the body of his victims, leaving . 'So I maintain a relationship with Richard nowbecauseI want the names of the unidentified victims he took. Cottingham was caught in 1980 when a maid heard a woman's screams coming from his motel room. The woman from the motel ended up surviving his torture, but police found her tied up and suffering from knife wounds and human teeth marks. 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. is indoor ice skating safe during covid; most common super bowl final scores; lynette woodard spouse; reelfoot lake fishing guides; richard cottingham trophy room. Criminal profiling was still in its infancy and it was before CCTV footage was commonplace and the use of computers helped detectives share information across states. But beneath the veneer of normalcy was a heinous double-existence as a serial killer. From afar, Richard appeared to be doing everything that was expected of him and lived a happy life. He admitted that he brought the two girls to a motel room where he tied them up, raped them, then drowned them in bathtub. He would occasionally remove and dispose of his victims heads and hands, presumably to make identification more difficult. He had also stabbed her and bit almost right through her nipples. This time it seems the police were able to link this crime. 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. Who is Richard Cottingham? Do not sell or share my personal information. the Torso Killer pleaded guilty to the 1968 murder of Long Island mother Diane Cusick Monday in front of a Nassau County, New York judge, as . Richard was then brought to justice for his crimes, and over the years, has admitted to committing even more murders. He returned back to the hotel to soak the crime scene in lighter fluid and set the room ablaze. Richard Cottingham . Cottingham had been in the process of torturing his latest victim, 19-year-old Leslie Ann O'Dell, who survived the attack and testified against him during his trial. The crime scene was particularly gruesome, Cottingham severed her breasts and placed them on the headboard before torching the room. 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. 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. FROM THE FOUNDER. Former FBI agent and criminal profiler Candice DeLong delves into Richard Cottingham, the Torso Killer. 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. Richard kept things like jewelry and trinkets as souvenirs from the slayings. In December 2019, forensic historian and author Peter Vronsky, on the eve of publishing the revelation in his second edition of Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters, publicized the confessions with the BCPO's cooperation, in a community meeting in Midland Park. He would continue this line of work until his arrest. [1] He was nicknamed the New York Ripper, the Torso Killer and the Times Square Killer, since his crimes often targeted prostitutes and included mutilation. As the smoke cleared, the firefighters realized theyd stumbled onto a gruesome crime scene. It wasn't until she endeavored to reconnect with her biological mother in 2002, that she discovered the disturbing truth of her violent demise through old newspaper clippings. 'When you're looking for a killer in 1970s Times Square, you're looking for a needle in a haystack,' said Geberth. Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway on February 26, 2023 in Fontana, California . You're a whore and you have to be punished.". The other female victim has never been identified and to this day remains a Jane Doe. NYPD realized they had a serial killer on their hands in December 1979, after they uncovered the charred, mutilated remains of two women at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel in Times Square. He was linked to several other women's deaths later on once his DNA began being run against cold cases in the area. She would die of asphyxiation and once finished, Richard stuffed the girl under the bed. Former FBI agent and criminal profiler Candice DeLong delves into Richard Cottingham, Show Killer Psyche, Ep Richard Cottingham: The Torso Killer - Mar 7, 2023 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. Her arms were still handcuffed behind her back. Responds in about 10 minutes. His murders were calculated and methodical, and he managed to evade . WickedWe is reader supported, some products displayed may earn us a commission if you purchase through our links. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. It was mainly psychological. Had he killed more? The legs were laying side by side as if still attached to a body. [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). [2], In 2010, he pleaded guilty to the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel. On December 2, 1979, fireman in New York responded to an alarm at a shitty little hotel near Times Square. Her throat was slashed and she was then set on fire. One detective said it was 'the cleanest crime scene he's ever seen.' On May 5, 1980, police found another prostitute, Valerie Streets, dead in a motel room. Police arrested 33-year-old Richard Cottingham at the scene. 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