With Cottinghams next victim, a killers hunting ground of sorts began to form. My parents couldnt handle it., She had called Bergen County every few months to ask about the case for 47 years, she said. )' Now 74, Cottingham, who claims responsibility for dozens of murders, has confessed to a. He had his list of names, each one a dead girl and a crime long unsolved. In 2000, as a young detective in the Bergen County prosecutors office, Robert Anzilotti was tasked with looking into the murders, along with a few other similar cold cases from the 1960s and 1970s. Getting to that point wasnt easy, Anzilotti said. On Monday, July 13, 1969, at approximately 8:00 p.m., On March 1, 1970, a group of hikers came across a young woman's naked body in the woods to the west of Tweed Boulevard in, At approximately 7:00 a.m. on the morning of December 16, 1977, the body of X-ray technician, At 9:30 a.m. on May 22, 1980, police entered Room 117 at the same Quality Inn where Carr and Street were murdered and found 18-year-old, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 15:20. 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. 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. The Blase family agreed. The inmate made it clear that pressure would not work. 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. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. On May 5, 1980, a motel housekeeper found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn. To this day, I dont even think they would have ever said anything. The sergeant was undeterred. When reporters ran with the story, Mr. Anzilotti considered himself absolved from keeping his silence about the cases. He was also extremely fidgety and unable to sit still. But eventually, their old give-and-take resumed. In this image taken from a New Jersey Courts virtual hearing, Richard Cottingham, center, known as the "Torso Killer," pleads guilty April 27, 2021, 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. Stumped, the police used mannequins from nearby department stores and dressed them in the victims clothing, hoping to spark an identification from friends or family who recognized the outfits. 0000002435 00000 n But it was a way to get him comfortable to talk to me about murders.. She later testified that he said, "You have to take it. No one could find any clues in the girls backgrounds: no drugs, no trouble with the law. Their heads and hands had been cut off. South Hackensack, Richard Cottingham, Lorraine Kelly, Mary Ann Pryor, Bergen County Prosecutor's Chief of Detectives Robert Anzilotti, Ecuadorian National Pleads Guilty To Brutal Stabbing Death Of Popular Bergen County Chef, Franklin Lakes Driver Indicted In Teaneck T-Bone Crash That Kil, Paterson Non-Violence Activist Shot Dead In Police Standoff Was, Man Killed By Amtrak Train In Central Jersey Was Family Breadwi, WATCH: YouTube Video Shows Rapper Assaulting Bergen Shop Rite W, Motel Guest Covered In Lotion Rescued From Knife-Wielding Woman, DWI Suspected In Horrific Route 80 Crash In Bergen County. 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. 0000000991 00000 n The bridge where Mallory Beach died in a boating accident. Once again, the victim did not appear in further proceedings and the case was dismissed.[6]. He married in 1970 and became a father of three. However, he started killing again in 1974, when he murdered Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. Goodarzi was later identified as the woman who had been tortured, killed, beheaded and had her hands cut off by Cottingham. In early December 1979, firefighters were called to the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on 42nd Street as a fire burned in room 417. Crime: Cottingham, a Lodi resident, killed six women in New Jersey and New York between 1967 and 1980. No leads were forthcoming. 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. Investigators noted the crime scene was devoid of evidence and they were unable to identify the victims. You can change your choice at any time by using the Privacy Center link in our footer. In 2010, Bergen County authorities announced hed pleaded guilty to a sixth murder, a 1967 strangling in Bergen County. 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. On March 12, 1974, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery and unlawful imprisonment on the complaint of another prostitute. The series features interviews with former sex workers, including Barbara Amaya, who was raped and robbed at gunpoint by a man she believes was Cottingham, although she was inexplicably spared. They captured Cottingham soon after. 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. It is situated at 29 Vreeland Street in Lodi, New Jersey. His "justification" for doing this was that he "didn't like anyone getting one over" on him. <<8BD7E4F5B15F3F4A8993EB3A0150F7AC>]>> 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. 0000013001 00000 n There was also a lockbox filled with trophies from his murders, including Maryann Carrs apartment key and a necklace belonging to Jean Reyner. Moye, who traveled from Georgia to see Cottingham confess to killing his mother and four other women as part of a plea deal, said he leaned heavily on his Catholic faith as the unrepentant killer watched via video feed from South Woods State Prison in New Jersey, where hes serving multiple life sentences. 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.. Its been half my career, he said. 0000010308 00000 n Anything that might close more cases, bring answers to more families. 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. Cottingham's reign of terror on both sides of the Hudson River is the subject of Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer, whose tale begins on Dec. 2, 1979, with New York City police and fire. K3nVxb;X)oxeHME~> 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.". Soon, Cottingham persuaded Blase to go for a drink with him. Peter Karas/The Record, via USA Today Network. She had been abducted while walking home from practice with her schools fife-and-drum team in 1968. 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. As the New Jersey press reported on Cottinghams arrest, the NYPD started to take notice. I believe hes killed between 85 and 100, as he claims, Vronsky told The Post. Hearing prosecutors detail grisly crime scenes like where Laverne was found was especially difficult to endure, her son said. 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. . But beneath the veneer of normalcy was a heinous double-existence as a serial killer. 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. It is not a public place. She was a mother, she was a wife, a daughter and a grandmother taken far too early. 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. Cottingham was serving time for five murders, following convictions in New Jersey and New York, when Bergen prosecutors detectives in 2010 tied him to the killing of 29-year-old Ridgefield Park mom Nancy Schiava Vogel, bringing the total then to six. I was shocked that it was a serial killer, Moye said of his mothers confessed murderer. [2] Four surviving abduction-rape victims testified against Cottingham; he was convicted in three of the cases and acquitted in one. The investigators handed Ms. Mulder possessions of Jackies from half a century past. 7{(~tm LB IBJ*ZB`0 Over the course of 13 years, beginning in 1967, Cottingham killed six women in New Jersey and New York. Absolutely, its completely plausible. 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. 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. This number may increase in the future, as he has stated in the past that his victim count is much higher. 0000006081 00000 n xb```"VV~g`0pt 9mzQ[2fXar9XcK',6=3Yb%^)= RZlr$:kX;e =_i& ` ?# Vronsky, who aided investigators in obtaining Junes indictment, is trying to coax as many confessions out of the aging, 300-pound serial killer as possible, but the clock is ticking since he suffers from diabetes and kidney disease, he 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 back and forth went on for weeks. For more details, please read our Privacy & Cookie Policy. The girls vanished Aug. 9, 1974, while hitchhiking to a mall in . 0000007078 00000 n 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. 0000003183 00000 n We've received your submission. 29 Vreeland St, Lodi, NJ is a single family home that contains 2,716 sq ft and was built in 1974. Altman, who was just 3 years old at the time, said her parents had separated prior to Cusicks killing. This time, at the Seville Hotel, where he strangled Jean Reyner, a 25-year-old mother working in the sex trade to finance a child custody battle. The teenagers were last seen on Aug. 9, 1974, in North Bergen. 0000001001 00000 n Math-wise its possible," said Vronsky. This location belongs to the following categories: Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to see future locations. 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. The New York Times, p. 26. It was just shock all the way around.. Hours later, her parents drove to the mall and found Dianes Plymouth Valiant in the parking lot, where her body was discovered in the backseat. Then, with just days remaining before the chief retired, the inmate relented. His crimes were discovered in May 1980, when a maid at a Hasbrouck Heights motel heard. Furthermore, one of the women that he murdered in 1979 is still unidentified. It also left enormous holes in the souls of family and friends of Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16. He enjoys our relationship. [6] In 2022, Cottingham officially confessed to the 1970 murder of Lorraine McGraw, under a non-prosecution agreement. When arrested, he had handcuffs, a leather gag, two slave collars, a switchblade knife, replica pistols, and a stockpile of prescription pills. Feech La Manna's house from The Sopranos. He was locked away to serve several life sentences, aging into a portly man with a thick white beard. The inmate, with no real incentive to say anything about that crime, had given the chief what amounted to a parting gift. The Google Street View image above was taken in May of 2022. 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=1142468060. Twenty years later, he was reinvestigating several cold cases involving girls and young women who had been abducted, sexually abused and killed. I never broke my promise to him, all these years later, the chief said. He described in detail how, instead, he took the girls to a motel, held them captive and eventually drowned them in the bathtub. %%EOF Those cases were already closed. . Shed been abducted by Cottingham from the Ledgewood Terrace apartments, in Little Ferry, where Cottingham had previously lived, said Vronsky. (1981, June 25). Described as average and normal, New Jersey man Richard Cottingham was a father-of-three with a marriage that was slowly unravelling. Harp was found strangled to death the next day. They were never able to fully recover from the monumental loss, she said. 0000000756 00000 n She was Nancy Pryor, and she was 19 when her sister, Mary Ann, was found dead. At the time, Cottingham, who had not been arrested or identified, was dubbed the "Times Square Ripper.. But then, four years ago, Mr. Cottingham stunned the chief. 0000009543 00000 n Defense attorney John Bruno recited the details, which the white-bearded, 74-year-old killer acknowledged. He had come further in closing cases than his younger self could have imagined. Over decades, through his rise from sergeant to detective to chief of detectives, Robert Anzilotti plugged away at cold cases in New Jersey involving young womens murders. That was less than a year after Cottingham and his wife had their first child. 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. xb```"WVf~g`0pt 9"~S?``Z V|bG!+N}TzYl@2 `QD2 @DACEDJaOs6x?+[Ihlrt ? My whole life has been this, she said. [7] On October 28, 1967, he strangled Nancy Schiava Vogel, a 29-year-old married mother of two, in Little Ferry, New Jersey. Mr. Cottingham at his virtual hearing on April 27 in Bergen County Superior Court, where he pleaded guilty to killing Mary Ann Pryor and Lorraine Kelly 47 years later. View Richard Cottingham's record in Manchester, NJ including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. 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, serial killer from New Jersey operating in New York between 1967 and 1980. He then drowned them in a bathtub, he said, and dumped their bodies in the woods in a wooded area behind Rolling Ridge Road in Montvale. Like two little dolls at Christmastime.. He said, Im going to give you one, Mr. Anzilotti recalled. 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. One would remind him of a TV actress. The case also had parallels to a previously unsolved murder of nurse Maryann Carr, who was found dead in the same motel three years earlier. You are in complete control of somebodys destiny, he told Fezzani in footage shown in the series. 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.

Royal Stafford Home Goods, Ventricular Escape Rhythm Vs Junctional Escape Rhythm, Florida Man Murders Frank And Christina, Diy Callus Remover Apple Cider Vinegar, Articles R