Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. Keep up to date with our latest articles, creepy news, info and products and receive promo material for great deals on all your wicked products. 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. 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. Leaving some without hands or heads, he soon earned the moniker of The Times Square Torso Killer or The New York Ripper.. deviant drain of illicit thrills, pornography, prostitution and crooks - providing. Once inside, Richard would bind both females and torture the two for hours. One detective said it was 'the cleanest crime scene he's ever seen.' Richard cut the woman's breasts off and ended her life via strangulation. You're a whore and you have to be punished." In his possession were handcuffs, a leather gag, two slave collars, a switchblade, replica pistols and a stockpile of sedatives. What drove this married father of three to kill? Cottingham was caught in 1980 when a maid heard a woman's screams coming from his motel room. 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. In August 2022, with a non-prosecution agreement, officials in Rockland County, New York, corroborated and accepted Cottingham's confession to the murder of 26-year-old Lorraine McGraw, who was beaten and killed March 1, 1970. Like before, the murderous butcher had set the room on fire, which immediately tipped off authorities that they had a serial killer on their hands. Richard Cottingham has confessed to a number of other murders in recent years. Cottingham targeted sex workers in Times Square before torturing and mutilating their bodies, often leaving only their torsos behind as evidence. Someone had called about a girl screaming, as if she was being tortured. [4], On May 3, 1970, Cottingham was married at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, Queens. Cottingham was arrested and put on trial, where he initially denied his acts of violence. The baffled police had few clues to follow. An animal who lacked empathy for all and cared only for satisfying his sexual desires at any cost. Her body would be left in the room and subsequently set ablaze by Cottingham before fleeing the scene. 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. This time it seems the police were able to link this crime. Investigators were again able to quickly link this murder with many others due to the killers M.O. New Jersey Department of CorrectionsRichard Cottingham has confessed to a number of other murders in recent years. 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. He was careful, and only one fingerprint was retrieved from a crime scene. Police arrested 33-year-old Richard Cottingham at the scene. Soon, he was connected to a series of murders in New Jersey and New York that had occurred over the previous few months. As they burst into room 417, they saw two badly burned bodies on the twin beds. One of these cases was of Diane Cusick, a 23-year-old dance teacher. The killer had registered at the hotel under a fake name with a fake address Carl Wilson of Merlin, N.J. and hotel employees had hardly interacted with him. The other girls did, you have to take it too. Cottingham was not charged with this murder until June 2022, when he was implicated by DNA.[10]. 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. Jean Reyner was stabbed to death in a motel near Time Square. The Story Of Richard Cottingham, The Times Square Torso Ripper. They had been doused with lighter fluid and set alight. Still, the extent of Richard Cottinghams crimes shocked New York and New Jersey. Richard Cottingham, serial killer from New Jersey operating in New York between 1967 and 1980. As the smoke cleared, the firefighters realized theyd stumbled onto a gruesome crime scene. 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 . On December 2, 1979, fireman in New York responded to an alarm at a shitty little hotel near Times Square. Richard also had a self-described obsession with bondage and had had numerous extramarital affairs. 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. 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. Pornographic films are advertised in Manhattans Times Square in January 1971. SERIAL killer Richard Cottingham has been behind bars for over 40 years, but he's still being linked to old crimes. Richard would dump her along a chain link fence near the apartment complex he once called home, the ligature still tied around her neck. 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. 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. He also cut off her breasts and placed them on the headboard in the room. Unfortunately that would not be the case. 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. Confounded, investigators used mannequins from nearby department stores and dressed them in the victims' clothing, hoping someone might come forward with information. Nicole Linton appears in Los Angeles County Superior Court for her arraignment on murder charges . North-jersey.comA father of three, Richard Cottingham seemed an unlikely killer. Directed by serial killer-aficionado Joe Berlinger, the Netflix series features interviews with former detectives, police officers, sex workers. Her body would be left in the room and subsequently set ablaze by Cottingham before fleeing the scene. [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. Leslie Ann ODell recalled what had happened and how things escalated so quickly. "We had a very complicated car vs pole situation and tow guys came to Tustin within 30 minutes on a Sunday evening and did an incredible job assisting us with removing the car off of" more. The crime scene was particularly gruesome. Both 1974 cases would be dismissed. Within his home, detectives were able to find his trophy room which contained multiple personal items and keepsakes which belonged to his victims. Richard was arrested at a motel in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, in May 1980. Weiss was given up for adoption when she was less than two weeks old. [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. The other headless corpse was never identified. A killing spree that lasted a few months eventually led to his arrest in May 1980, bringing to the fore previously unconnected murders as well. He was also found guilty of kidnapping and assault, with his sentence going up to more than 200 years. It contained many items that linked him to the murders. 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. 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. Growing up, he had trouble making friends, and after graduating high school, he worked for his fathers insurance company. A serial killer known as the "Torso Killer" already convicted of 11 homicides admitted on Monday that he also killed five women on Long Island in the late 60s and early 70s. So the detective started spending time with the Times Square Killer. A father of three, Richard Cottingham seemed an unlikely killer. 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. 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. One slain woman was positively identified througha cesarean-section scar as 22-year-old, Iranian prostitute, Deedeh Goodarzi. 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. A few months later he would be charged with robbery and sodomy. You're in complete control of somebody's destiny.'. Over the years, the two would go on to have 3 children. 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. 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. On March 12, 1974, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery and unlawful imprisonment on the complaint of another prostitute. 'When you're looking for a killer in 1970s Times Square, you're looking for a needle in a haystack,' said Geberth. Dominick Volpe, a former colleague at BlueCross BlueShield, testifies to Cottingham's perverse sexual tendencies. one strange rock gasp quizlet New Lab; glider timetable dundonald park and ride; 12 gauge 100 round drum; Richard Cottingham was born on November 25th, 1946 in the Bronx, New York. Do not sell or share my personal information. 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. On May 5, 1980, police found another prostitute, Valerie Streets, dead in a motel room. He had three children, two boys and a girl, with his wife. He said that uncountable times.. May 22, 1980. He would stalk the various bars in Manhattan preying on unsuspecting women, trying to unwind from a busy day. Had he killed more? I was able to get almost any woman to do whatever I wanted them to do, psychologically,' said the sinister 75-year-old in a recent jailhouse interview with journalistNadia Fezzani. 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. Known for being particularly cruel, Cottingham earned the nickname "The Torso Killer" because he would sometimes mutilate the body of his victims, leaving . 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. This murder was linked to an earlier murder in the same motel. She was a respected nurse. 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