Cottingham was caught in 1980 when a maid heard a woman's screams coming from his motel room. 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. 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. Firefighters responded quickly to the room and put out the fire, and were stunned at the horrific site of these mutilated corpses. 'All of the women that Richard killed left this world in a horrific way,' she said in the doc. 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. He was known for his signature "trophy taking," keeping items belonging to his victims as mementos. The Story Of Richard Cottingham, The Times Square Torso Ripper. He will spend the rest of his years behind bars with the hope that he will never have the chance to act on his horrific urges again. 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He brought Cottingham to his office and offered him pizza and card games. FacebookDeedah Goodarzi, a sex worker who Cottingham killed and dismembered. 24/7 Availability. On August 21, 1972, he is charged and convicted of shoplifting at a Stern's department store in Paramus, New Jersey, and was sentenced to pay a $50 fine or ten days in jail. They had been doused with lighter fluid and set alight. He also confessed under immunity to the 1968 and 1969 homicides of New Jersey teenagers Jackie Harp, Irene Blase, and Denise Falasca. 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. Cottingham was convicted of five murders in a series of three trials between 1981 and 1984 (two in New Jersey and one in New York). except for their clothing, a pair of Bonjour jeans, a white leotard, patent leather boots and a black fur coat, which the killer had curiously folded neatly in the bathtub. A respected family man from Lodi, New Jersey, he ran computers for a major health insurance firm. The first killing was that of Valerie Ann Street. [2], In 2010, he pleaded guilty to the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel. He also cut off her breasts and placed them on the headboard in the room. 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. The other girls did, you have to take it, too. The series begins with a grisly discovery at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel in Times Square on December 2, 1979. For the murders of Mary and Lorraine, Richard was to receive two life sentences that would run concurrently with the time hes been serving. 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. In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. Richard Cottingham, 74, is currently in state prison on a life sentence for other murders. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Did he intend on killing this poor girl? Over the years, he confessed to killing several more women, with his earliest known murder in 1967. Janet had even filed for divorce in 1979, though she reneged the next year. 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. His name had floated around in the lore of Bergen County cold cases.. Beneath the happy exterior lurked an incredibly dangerous and vicious animal. Looking for more answers, she reached out to Richard Cottingham in prison and has visited him over 30 times. She had been cut about the chest and legs, beaten with a blunt instrument, and covered in bites and bruises, A picture taken of the New Jersey Courts virtual hearing in April 2021, when Richard Cottingham pleaded guilty 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 decapitated the women and cut off their hands before setting them on fire. Her body would be left in the room and subsequently set ablaze by Cottingham before fleeing the scene. Former FBI agent and criminal profiler Candice DeLong delves into Richard Cottingham, the Torso Killer. We Know What Kind of Creeps Are Out There ! A famous pamphlet made by NYPD during the 1970s advised tourists to 'stay off the streets after 6pm,' 'do not walk,' and 'never ride the subway for any reason whatsoever', Cops apprehended Richard Cottingham on May 22, 1980 in a New Jersey Quality Inn after staff alerted police of screams coming from a room. deviant drain of illicit thrills, pornography, prostitution and crooks - providing. 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. Richards criminal activity continued in 1969 when he was convicted of driving while intoxicated in New York. But it soon came out that the Torso Killer had murdered many more than five victims. He was sentenced to 173 to 197 years, which he is currently serving in Trenton's New Jersey State Prison. But the arrest in 1980 changed everything, exposing Richards double life and deadly exploits. One slain woman was positively identified througha cesarean-section scar as 22-year-old, Iranian prostitute, Deedeh Goodarzi. On May 5, 1980, a motel housekeeper found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn. 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. [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. He said the other girls took it, and I had to take it, too. The other headless corpse was never identified. After his arrest, NYPD drew comparisons to the numerous unsolved sexual assault cases with similar hallmarks to the New Jersey crimes. Once he spotted his prey he would attempt to slip drugs into their drinks, take them to a motel, then sexually torture the women for hours. He had an apartment in New York City that he told Janet he needed for late nights at work. 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. 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. Three of those murders Cottingham later confessed to included Jacalyn Harp. The young lady explained how she had arrived in New York earlier that week and was quickly taken advantage of, becoming victim to the number of pimps in the area and trafficked into sex work. It is unclear how exactly he killed the two women, but he would go on to severe their heads and their hands. 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. But it had a much seedier reputation in the latter half of the 20th century. Richard cut the woman's breasts off and ended her life via strangulation. Police had no suspects and the case quickly grew cold, collecting dust in a file for years. Like the other victims, she to had been bound with handcuffs and tortured, her body would be found covered in bite marks. Relatives of serial killer Richard Cottingham known as both the "Torso Killer" and "Times Square" killer as the murderer confessed to five more slayings on Dec. 5, 2022, bringing his known . 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. In 2010, Cottingham pleaded guilty tothe 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel. richard cottingham trophy room. She would die of asphyxiation and once finished, Richard stuffed the girl under the bed. Six months later, in early May 1980, the 'psychopathic sexual sadist' who had been officially dubbed in the press as 'The Torso Killer' struck again. Diane Cusick's daughter Darlene Altman is now 58 years old and was present in the courtroom as Cottingham admitted to killing her mother via video conference. Shed be discovered by hotel staff accidentally when they were attempting to vacuum underneath the bed. Directed by serial killer-aficionado Joe Berlinger, the Netflix series features interviews with former detectives, police officers, sex workers. "Richard Cottingham is a serial rapist and killer that used the streets of New York and New Jersey as his hunting ground in the 1970s. Bergen County Prosecutors OfficeRichard Cottinghams mugshot. Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. Cottingham was apprehended in the hallway by arriving police officers. 'It was a game to me. Though Cottingham resisted at first, he slowly began to reveal details of his past crimes. Still, the extent of Richard Cottinghams crimes shocked New York and New Jersey. A year after the previous charges he would then be charged with unlawful imprisonment and robbery. Hopefully new developments are made and one day we will know the full scope of Cottinghams crimes, as well as hold him accountable for his actions. 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. Published on January 3, 2022. In his possession police found a murder kit which consisted of handcuffs, leather gags, slave collars, knives, pistols, and pills. Last edited on 16 February 2023, at 09:15, Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters, List of serial killers in the United States, List of serial killers by number of victims, "New Jersey's 'Torso Killer' admits murdering 3 teenage girls over 50 years ago", "Justice Story: 'Times Square Ripper' revealed to be mild-mannered husband from suburban Jersey", "Long-Buried Secrets: The Serial Killer and the Detective", "First of Three Trials of Jerseyan in Prostitute Slayings Nears End", "Killer of 2 Is Guilty of 3 More Slayings", "Legislator Gaynor Honors Detectives Who Solved 50 Year Old Cold Case", "Mineola Woman's Murder 48 Years Ago Still Unsolved", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Cottingham&oldid=1139676388. She reached out to Richard Cottingham, 74, is currently serving Trenton! 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