richard cottingham lodi, nj address
This story has been shared 150,597 times. Three days later, Mr. Anzilotti walked out of his office for good. He had three children, two boys and a girl, with his wife. 0000005280 00000 n When a worker came to check on her, ODell cracked open the door and gave a hand signal asking for help. The Rent Zestimate for this home is $3,099/mo, which has increased by $3,099/mo in the last 30 days. Therefore, you should be respectful and not step foot on the property without permission. Among the other faces in separate windows on the Zoom screen was a 66-year-old woman, identified simply as Nancy. Taking a bus to another location, Cottingham and Blase spent some time together. ADVERTISEMENT. A judge sentenced him to 25 years to life after Cusicks brother and only child read emotional impact statements in court. In May of 1980, police arrested Cottingham while he was torturing a sex worker at a motel room in New Jersey. 0000004535 00000 n [12] Both bodies had their hands and heads removed, and had been doused with lighter fluid and set on fire. Again, he knew details from Ms. Falascas file. He pleaded innocent and for decades insisted he was being "framed", until admitting in 2009 that he had actually perpetrated those five murders. This is a somber day as we revisit the horrific acts and terror this man brought upon Bergen County nearly 50 years ago, the prosecutor said Tuesday. 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. 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. With Cottinghams next victim, a killers hunting ground of sorts began to form. Cottingham, a depraved killer already serving more than 200 years in prison, confessed to tossing the 22-year-old mother of two from a bridge ending her familys half-century quest for answers. Neither complainant appeared in further proceedings, however, and the case was dismissed. And even though Harp ran, Cottingham soon overtook her and dragged her into a grouping of bushes where teens would often go to smoke and make out, he said. 43 0 obj<>stream Those cases were already closed. 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 Trenton's New Jersey State Prison. 0000007874 00000 n The killer would suddenly recall picking a girl up from a store somewhere, and the chief, in the front passenger seat as a detective drove, surreptitiously took notes. 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. And later that same month, a fifth woman was found mutilated in the former Hotel Seville near Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. In April 2021, Cottingham confessed to the unsolved 1974 double-abduction, rape, and forcible drowning murders of Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, and Mary Ann Pryor, 17, in Montvale, one of New Jersey's most notorious cold cases. There was also a lockbox filled with trophies from his murders, including Maryann Carrs apartment key and a necklace belonging to Jean Reyner. He remembers certain aspects of a person, Mr. Anzilotti said. Denise Falasca, 15, of Closter, New Jersey. The New York Times, p. 26. There were at least five unsolved killings of girls, each an open wound for families seeking resolution. You can change your choice at any time by using the Privacy Center link in our footer. Once, he outright explained his hesitation: He said, I know once I give you that case, Ill never see you again, Mr. Anzilotti recalled last month. Cottingham has confessed to murdering 12 women. These include the Times Square Killer, the Torso Killer, and the Times Square Torso Ripper. If hes going to confess to some others, if they can get him to talk, just for those families if he can confess to those, that right there would be I dont know the right word to say, Ms. Mulder said. Everyone deserves justice under the law.. 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. That girl was found drowned, similar to Blases killing, he said. His "justification" for doing this was that he "didn't like anyone getting one over" on him. The teenagers were last seen on Aug. 9, 1974, in North Bergen. 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 his fault this is out.. He married in 1970 and had three children. [6] In 2022, Cottingham officially confessed to the 1970 murder of Lorraine McGraw, under a non-prosecution agreement. It was just shock all the way around.. Cottingham has claimed in the past he. Richard Cottingham pleaded guilty to murder in the death of one Long Island woman and admitted under oath to killing four others. And he sat there with literally no remorse. On March 12, 1974, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery and unlawful imprisonment on the complaint of another prostitute. startxref This murder was later linked to the 1977 murder of Maryann Carr, who was left in the same motel's parking lot. Hes been chief of detectives nearly five years. The New York Times, p. 26. He was imprisoned. So he would remember something on the way: a racetrack or a shopping mall. It represented closure, Moye said of this weeks hearing. Her name was Nancy Schiava Vogel. I knew, he recalled, that was Irene Blase.. 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. The New York Times, p. 2. He tortured women before he killed them and did terrible things to them, and yet we still dont know who he is because he preyed on sex workers, Berlinger said, adding that he hopes this series helps destigmatize sex work and potentially solve more cold cases. 0000002420 00000 n She was a mother, she was a wife, a daughter and a grandmother taken far too early. Vronsky, who frequently visits Cottingham in prison, said he had a freak, random elevator encounter with the serial killer on the early morning of Dec. 2, 1979, as he tried to check into the Travel Inn Motel near a seedy and sex-crazed Times Square. Over the months that followed, Mr. Anzilotti cultivated an unusual relationship with Mr. Cottingham, sometimes testy, sometimes closer to a sort of warmth. He described in detail how, instead, he took the girls to a motel, held them captive and eventually drowned them in the bathtub. K3nVxb;X)oxeHME~> Cottinghamss name came up several times, but it didnt fit for me, she said. Richard Cottingham, convicted of murdering prostitute and kidnapping three. Its an ongoing process, Vronsky said. Cottingham was indicted in Cusicks killing in June after DNA evidence linked him to the cold-case slaying believed to be the oldest match to ever lead to a prosecution, Nassau County prosecutors said. On April 14, in a recorded interview, Mr. Cottingham said he remembered Mary Ann Pryor and Lorraine Kelly, and Mr. Anzilotti asked why he knew their names, when he hadnt in past cases. The inmate, with no real incentive to say anything about that crime, had given the chief what amounted to a parting gift. They found an 18-year-old victim who'd been bitten and stabbed bound with handcuffs. No leads were forthcoming. By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. Richard Cottingham, New Jersey prison photo. His additional confession to a 1974 murder was discounted by Rockland County police. 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. 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. Harp was found strangled to death the next day. [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. The other girls did, you have to take it, too. Then, in January of this year, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office made an announcement: The notorious serial killer Richard Cottingham, known as "The Torso Killer," had confessed to the murders. 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. 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 a Hasbrouck Heights hotel called police saying shed heard a woman screaming. On the way out, he bumped the author on the shins with a bag that felt like it contained bowling balls, Vronsky said. A horrible scene, the police commissioner said that day. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a photograph of Jean Reyner. 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. Richard Cottingham, 74, pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, both of North Bergen. 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. Like a werewolf, Vronsky told The Post. For years, the three confessions remained a secret, until January 2020, when a true-crime writer who had been visiting Mr. Cottingham in prison, Peter Vronsky, announced that the inmate had revealed his crimes in interviews for a forthcoming book. Anyone can read what you share. I took over handling the calls, the arrangements. Trophies like jewellery and other personal items belonging to his victims were taken by him. The motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated. For over 40 years, its been folklore in this county.. His upcoming sentencing will add more time to a prison term that already extends beyond his remaining years. 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. It was mainly psychological. 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. That was roughly one month after his arrest. 0000009264 00000 n 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. The police pursued a welter of tips, rumors and false alarms, The New York Times reported at the time. Richard Cottingham seemed like a character from a pulp novel: the crazed killer and the family man. 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. Crime: Cottingham, a Lodi resident, killed six women in New Jersey and New York between 1967 and 1980. PB| Fifty years after his mother was strangled and thrown from a Long Island bridge, John Moye finally got a glimpse of the wickedness that altered his life forever. Vogel was found dead in her own car in Ridgefield Park, nude and bound. He kept these "trophies" in a locked room in the basement. %%EOF On Dec 15, 1977, Carr was found dead in the parking lot of a Quality Inn motel, in Hasbrouck Heights. He did not want his family hassled by reporters or the police, and he vowed to Mr. Anzilotti that he would never again allow himself to be thrust into the spotlight. 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. He did not know the names of those he killed. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, How a retired detective snared his seventh Torso Killer confession, Expert reveals biological reason why were obsessed with true crime shows. He called his detectives and gave the word: Bring in Cottingham. [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. Her youth and difference in appearance, with a boyish haircut, set her apart from the other victims. 0000002831 00000 n 0000013001 00000 n Cottingham, whose attorney did not return messages seeking comment, has claimed to have killed as many as 100 women. [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). Hackensack, 0 FPh_3Gj Nt%Q[r L`%/9QTh/| Q4_g8KI}u'?xbif`H>;wNQ|sd2(? The police photograph on the left was taken in June of 1980. Vronsky and Weiss had been meeting with Cottingham in prison since the spring of 2017, counseling him to make the confession. 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. The Zestimate for this house is $598,600, which has decreased by $7,680 in the last 30 days. They were never able to fully recover from the monumental loss, she said. According to one of his co-workers, he was smart, well-read, and up-to-date on current events. [2] Four surviving abduction-rape victims testified against Cottingham; he was convicted in three of the cases and acquitted in one. 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. I never thought I would get caught, he added. This is the house where the "Times Square Killer," Richard Cottingham, lived between 1975 and 1980. Straddling her back, he drew a knife and put it to her throat as he snapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. She was stunned. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. Through the years, other people were assigned. Right up to Mr. Anzilotti. He married in 1970 and became a father of. Cottingham had kept these items as souvenirs so that he could remember his victims and relive his attacks. A notorious New Jersey serial killer pleaded guilty Tuesday to the cold case murders of two teenage girls in 1974. 0000009992 00000 n 0000008735 00000 n But Cottingham flew under the radar precisely because of how he chose his victims and who his victims were. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. But first, he wanted to return to those two murders from 47 years ago. View Richard Cottingham's record in Manchester, NJ including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. As you can see, he didn't always look like Santa Claus. Its mind-boggling and very scary, especially to know theres more of them out there.. As he moved through Midtown undetected, Cottingham, a successful computer operator at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Manhattan, was also committing sadistic sexual assault and sometimes murder at the Quality Inn, a motel in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. He later detailed his brief 1979 encounter with Cottingham in Times Square Torso Ripper: Sex and Murder on The Deuce. His upcoming book on the vicious predator will be released next fall. [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. 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 1980. Note that there seems to have been a "lull" between 1970 and 1973. Ms. Falasca was a 15-year-old who left her familys house in July 1969 and never returned. Five months later, the serial slayer struck again, strangling Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves, an 18-year-old Manhattan woman originally from Puerto Rico. Hes younger when all this is going on in Bergen County, he said. Cottingham's confirmed killings resulted in nine convictions and a further eight confessions under non-prosecution agreements, leading to him serving multiple life sentences in New Jersey prisons. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. This case was always haunting me.. You can set your cookie preferences below. He soon realized the woman had no head, the Daily News reported. She later testified that he said, "You have to take it. In March, looking back on 25 years with the office, Mr. Anzilotti decided it was time to move on from the job. 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. It doesnt bring my mother back, but at least I have answers now. But the arrest in 1980 changed everything, exposing Richard's double life and deadly exploits. More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23, Rodrigo Torrejon | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, discovery of a Ridgefield Park woman dead, nude and bound. 0000001250 00000 n The five victims addressed . He said he wouldn't have done it if I wasn't retiring.. The following is a list of his victims in chronological order. 0000000016 00000 n The bridge where Mallory Beach died in a boating accident. But he carried those cold cases with him literally, his thick files in cardboard boxes that he moved from office to office chipping away at the false leads, seeking similarities in the victims and in the crime scenes. 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. They have also lived in Manasquan, NJ and Ada, MI. After nearly 15 years of interviews by Anzilotti and Detective Capt. 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. This is a "Then and Now" photograph of Cottingham's former house at 29 Vreeland Street. 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. It contains 0 bedroom and 0 bathroom. Both men were keenly aware that it was their years-old relationship that had brought about this moment. Years after her sisters death, she had found some comfort speaking to another from her tribe, Karen Miller, a sister of Denise Falasca. 0 F! This girl did everything right, Vronsky said. He had come further in closing cases than his younger self could have imagined. 0000003451 00000 n It is situated at 29 Vreeland Street in Lodi, New Jersey. 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. New documentary The 12th Victim: Is Fugate a Natural Born Killer or Starkweather victim?