HKo0l06CYf,Y(v (I?0c9 Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. [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). Her body was found the next morning by the side of a road next to a cemetery in Saddle Brook. The house is close to Lodi High School, the Riverside Cemetery and Interstate 80. Questioning Mr. Cottingham was complicated. It is my fervent hope that this arrest and conviction bring some semblance of closure to the friends and family of Mary Ann and Lorraine and a measure of justice to members of our communities, who have long feared this unknown actor.. PB| Taking a bus to another location, Cottingham and Blase spent some time together. 0000007078 00000 n You are in complete control of somebodys destiny, he told Fezzani in footage shown in the series. He said, Youre welcome.. Find NJ.com on Facebook. He enjoys our relationship. She was found strangled to death the next day in Saddle Brook. Blase was 18 when she was found strangled in Saddle River in 1969. 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. endstream endobj 34 0 obj<>stream Hes hedged around and all but confessed.. [15], In 2022, Cottingham was arraigned from his prison hospital bed for the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick in Long Island, New York. Richard was arrested at a motel in Hasbrouck . A horrible scene, the police commissioner said that day. On Thursday, authorities told NJ Advance Media that Cottingham confessed to the murders of three Bergen County teenagers in the late 1960s - each a cold case for over 50 years. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. He lived with his wife and kids in. [5] On May 15, 1980, Jean Reyner was strangled and her throat cut in New York's historic Seville Hotel. As Cottingham was fleeing the scene of the torso murders, he briefly encountered the 23-year-old Peter Vronsky, who was attempting to check into the Travel Inn while in New York on a film production assignment. On July 17, 1968, Harp, of Midland Park, was walking home from band practice when a strange man, Cottingham, tried to coax her into his car, Vronsky said. He forced his victims to address him as "master". 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. On May 5, 1980, a motel housekeeper found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn. There were at least five unsolved killings of girls, each an open wound for families seeking resolution. On May 4, 1980, the body of Street, a sex worker, was found at the same Quality Inn where Cottingham had dumped Carrs body. He kept these "trophies" in a locked room in the basement. It contains 0 bedroom and 0 bathroom. Inside they found the bodies of 22-year-old sex worker Deedeh Goodarzi[9] and an unidentified woman estimated between 16 and 22. When Mr. Cottingham entered prison in 1981, Robert Anzilotti was not yet a teenager. 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. Then hed clear the room until only he and Mr. Cottingham faced each another, and begin with his questions. 0000000756 00000 n 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. But it was a way to get him comfortable to talk to me about murders.. In the case of Diane Cusick, it was a drive-in that no longer exists there He remembers the victims characteristics, but he doesnt remember their names.. Cottingham is currently in state prison on a life sentence . Little more than a week after Street was found, Reyner was found butchered in the Seville Motel in New York City. That girl was found drowned, similar to Blases killing, he said. Authorities tied him to the killings after police were called to a Hasbrouck Heights motel, where a maid had heard a woman screaming. F! The teenagers were last seen on Aug. 9, 1974, in North Bergen. He said he would talk about other murders only on the condition that the revelations would be kept out of the papers. Victims' kids confront serial 'Torso' killer Richard Cottingham On March 12, 1974, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery and unlawful imprisonment on the complaint of another prostitute. 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. On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. He continued to live here until the police eventually arrested him on May 22nd, 1980. 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.CreditBryan Anselm for The New York Times. 0000001082 00000 n The items included necklaces, broaches, earrings, and other pieces of jewelry. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. It was mainly psychological. That made 11 murders Cottingham that admitted since his arrest more than 30 years ago. <<8BD7E4F5B15F3F4A8993EB3A0150F7AC>]>> You're a whore and you have to be punished." He had no relationship to his victims. At the mall, Cottingham, then a tall, brown-haired young man, met Vogel, a married mother of two. Denise Falasca, 15, of Closter, New Jersey. 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. New documentary The 12th Victim: Is Fugate a Natural Born Killer or Starkweather victim? xref The other girls did, you have to take it, too. 0000009264 00000 n Theyre pushing him on multiple other cases. Hes been interviewing Cottingham in state prison for years. Zestimate Home Value: $598,600. In 2022, Cottingham also confessed to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick after DNA evidence linked him to the crime. Instead, she ended up shopping at one of Bergen Countys malls, according to Vronsky. [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). [6] The confession was extracted by Detective Anzilotti weeks before his retirement and was facilitated by historian Vronsky and by Jennifer Weiss, the daughter of Deedeh Goodarzi, one of Cottingham's later victims. The back and forth went on for weeks. The public in Bergen County deserved to know the outcome of those girls, he said. It is situated at 29 Vreeland Street in Lodi, New Jersey. . They were marginalized sex workers in a Times Square that was nearly lawless and when the police, at best, looked the other way.. 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. 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. Pages in category "People from Lodi, New Jersey" The following 21 pages are in this category, out of 21 total. %PDF-1.4 % Anzilottihas spent all but 4 years of his law enforcement career with the prosecutors office after coming over from the Woodcliff Lake Police Department. The Google Street View image above was taken in May of 2022. 0000007658 00000 n 'The Torso Killer' Who Hunted Prostitutes in Times Square In April 1978, Cottingham's wife filed for divorce on the grounds of "abandonment" and "mental cruelty" (refusing to have sex with her after the birth of their third child, staying out until early morning, and leaving her with insufficient household funds). Lodi Serial Killer Confesses To 1960s Bergen Schoolgirl Murders On September 4, 1973, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery, oral sodomy and sexual abuse on the complaint of a prostitute and her pimp. On Dec. 2, 1979, fire alarms rang out at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on West 42nd Street. Crime: Cottingham, a Lodi resident, killed six women in New Jersey and New York between 1967 and 1980. She later testified that he said, "You have to take it. With Cottinghams next victim, a killers hunting ground of sorts began to form. %%EOF Its Godlike almost. The police pursued a welter of tips, rumors and false alarms, The New York Times reported at the time. 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. He had pornographic artwork, adhesive tape, books about S&M, said Geberth. N.J.'s most infamous killers behind bars: Then and now - nj.com He tried a different approach. [2] Four surviving abduction-rape victims testified against Cottingham; he was convicted in three of the cases and acquitted in one. They'd left home for a trip 13 miles (21 kilometers) north to . 0000010308 00000 n Years after her sisters death, she had found some comfort speaking to another from her tribe, Karen Miller, a sister of Denise Falasca. But beneath the veneer of normalcy was a heinous double-existence as a serial killer. What they want is an outright statement and a sign-off of Yes thats me,' Vronsky continued. I just kind of looked at it and touched it and put it in a box where I had some dried flowers for my mother when she passed.. He enjoys our time together., The chief also had another theory. Filming Location in Lodi, New Jersey, United States, Filming Location in Paterson, New Jersey, United States, Filming Location in Clifton, New Jersey, United States, Filming Location in Bloomfield, New Jersey, United States, Crime Location Wylie, Texas, United States, Crime Location Memphis, Tennessee, United States, Place of Interest Brooklyn, New York, United States, Crash Site Location Beaufort, South Carolina, United States. 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. Then he followed with an unusual request. To this day, their remains have never been recovered. 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham admits drowning North Bergen girls Richard Cottingham, 74, pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, both of North Bergen. Prosecutors will seek dual life sentences to run alongside his current lifetime term when Cottingham is sentenced on July 9 for what Musella said were the willful, deliberate, and premediated murders of Mary Ann Prior and Lorraine Kelly. 43 0 obj <>stream Its not something you can ever get over, Altman, 58, told The Post. endstream endobj 22 0 obj <> endobj 23 0 obj <> endobj 24 0 obj <>/ColorSpace<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/ExtGState<>>> endobj 25 0 obj <> endobj 26 0 obj <> endobj 27 0 obj <> endobj 28 0 obj [/ICCBased 41 0 R] endobj 29 0 obj <> endobj 30 0 obj <> endobj 31 0 obj <> endobj 32 0 obj <> endobj 33 0 obj <>stream Furthermore, one of the women that he murdered in 1979 is still unidentified. She knew that Mr. Anzilotti had solved Denises killing, too. 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. After his wife filed for divorce in April of 1979, it seems as though his killings became far more frequent. During his trial, he testified that he had been fascinated by bondage since he was a young child. 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.. HUMs@Wf~}m1`16N7NLf%=Io8. 29 Vreeland St, Lodi, NJ is a single family home that contains 2,716 sq ft and was built in 1974. Jennifer Weiss Befriends Richard Cottingham, "The Torso Killer" | Crime She had been a teenager when her sister was killed. (1981, June 16). 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. After dismembering Goodarzi, Cottingham lit her torso on fire, along with a second unidentified woman, who was found next to Goodarzi on the same bed. On one occasion, he dismembered two sex workers and set fire to their torsos at a hotel near Times Square. 21 23 They have also lived in Manasquan, NJ and Ada, MI. 0000009992 00000 n Other locations that are relatively close to this place. He had not yet put in for retirement, or even told his boss he planned to do that the following week. I was shocked that one human being was capable of all this carnage, Moye said of Cottingham. Defense attorney John Bruno recited the details, which the white-bearded, 74-year-old killer acknowledged. Torso Killer: Ailing Richard Cottingham Confesses to More Murders Unfortunately, we were unable to find a photograph of Jean Reyner. [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. (1981, June 25). Cottingham, who is already serving a lifetime state prison sentence for killing several other women and girls, was brought to the office of Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella in Paramus to enter his pleas before Superior Court Judge Keith Bachmann in Hackensack. xb```"VV~g`0pt 9mzQ[2fXar9XcK',6=3Yb%^)= RZlr$:kX;e =_i& ` ?# Mary Anne and Lorraine deserve it, God rest their souls, Bergen County Prosecutors Chief of Detective Robert Anzilotti said Tuesday after Richard Cottingham of Lodi admitted killing both in 1974. His yearbook photo shows a cross-country runner with blond hair slicked back. Justice was served and thats the end of it case closed. The Zestimate for this house is $598,600, which has decreased by $7,680 in the last 30 days. They sat at the kitchen table, very professional, very polite, very considerate, Ms. Mulder recalled. I was able to get almostany woman to do whatever I wanted them to do . Math-wise its possible," said Vronsky. A friend of one victim came forward and the slain woman was later positively identified through a cesarean-section scar and chest X-ray as 22-year-old prostitute Deedeh Goodarzi. Those cases were already closed. Among the other faces in separate windows on the Zoom screen was a 66-year-old woman, identified simply as Nancy. Hed order pizza and play cards with the older man and other detectives. 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. He said he wouldn't have done it if I wasn't retiring.. And later that same month, a fifth woman was found mutilated in the former Hotel Seville near Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Her killer, Richard Cottingham, was a computer operator, married with three children of his own, living a seemingly normal life. 0000001412 00000 n Soon, Cottingham persuaded Blase to go for a drink with him. But Cottingham had other victims, and he would later boast of killing 85 to 100 people. Anyone can read what you share. In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. The investigators handed Ms. Mulder possessions of Jackies from half a century past. Mr. Anzilotti, by then a sergeant, arranged a surprise search of the inmates cell the day after the Super Bowl. The sergeant was undeterred. He has been charged with 11 murders in all. But then, four years ago, Mr. Cottingham stunned the chief. The victim's hands were tightly handcuffed behind her back and police would later lift a fingerprint matching Cottingham, the only fingerprint successfully found from any of his known murders. Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates. Jacalyn "Jackie" Harp, aged 13, was randomly ambushed as she walked home in the evening of July 17, 1968, from school band practice in Midland Park and strangled with the leather strap of her bag. No one could find any clues in the girls backgrounds: no drugs, no trouble with the law. 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. So he would remember something on the way: a racetrack or a shopping mall. Now I just have to go on with my life.. But eventually, their old give-and-take resumed. 0000006846 00000 n . We've received your submission. 0000003125 00000 n This story has been shared 150,597 times. He would let his guard down, Mr. Anzilotti said. For decades, a string of killings of teenage girls haunted suburban New Jersey. Eventually, Mr. Cottingham began to loosen up, and he spoke about killing the prostitutes. Falasca, 15, accepted. 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Over the months that followed, Mr. Anzilotti cultivated an unusual relationship with Mr. Cottingham, sometimes testy, sometimes closer to a sort of warmth. I have done many shows about serial killers, and I have always marveled at the fact that [Ted] Bundy, [John Wayne] Gacy, [Jeffrey] Dahmer and Berkowitz were all household names, perversely, Berlinger told The Post. 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. After nearly 15 years of interviews by Anzilotti and Detective Capt. They were never able to fully recover from the monumental loss, she said. I lost so much more than just my mother that day, Altman said. 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. 0000004535 00000 n 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. That was roughly one month after his arrest. Their murders shook the region. [6] At Blue Cross, Cottingham worked in an office with Rodney Alcala, the fugitive child molester and future serial killer who lived in New York under the alias "John Berger". In this image taken from a New Jersey Courts virtual hearing, Richard Cottingham, center, known as the "Torso Killer," pleads guilty Tuesday, April 27, 2021, to two 1974 murders. He abducted Vogel and took her to a field in Montvale, where he strangled her. Mr. Anzilotti would arrange to have the inmate transported to his office more than hours drive from the prison. 0000002435 00000 n YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. He'd been a married father of three, but the Lodi resident - who would brutalize his victim's bodies, cutting off limbs, heads and breasts - would later become known as the "Torso Killer" for. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. The third result is Richard Eric Cunningham age 50s in Skillman, NJ. 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. 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. Before his arrest, he was a successful computer operator who worked at the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance company in Midtown Manhattan. Altman, who was just 3 years old at the time, said her parents had separated prior to Cusicks killing. 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. I thought he could be responsible for some, Mr. Anzilotti said. But something a hunch, past investigative speculation, the proximity of the crimes drew Mr. Anzilotti to the prisoner. Long-Buried Secrets: The Serial Killer and the Detective, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/nyregion/new-jersey-serial-killer-cottingham-anzilotti.html. I knew, he recalled, that was Irene Blase.. 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. However, please be aware that not allowing certain cookies may impact your experience of the site. Then he shared his intentions to retire. Note that there seems to have been a "lull" between 1970 and 1973. 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. 0000002831 00000 n The police hunted for leads, questioning prostitutes about suspicious men, examining the handwriting of the guest who had checked into Room 417: Carl Wilson of Merlin, N.J., a fake name from a fake place. When reporters ran with the story, Mr. Anzilotti considered himself absolved from keeping his silence about the cases. He would occasionally remove and dispose of his victims heads and hands, presumably to make identification more difficult. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. They were facedown, side by side, as if placed there with care. 'Torso Killer' pleads guilty in 1974 cold-case murders - AP NEWS Hes embarrassed by this case, he said. A third the killing of 13-year-old Jackie Harp seemed to be the work of another killer. For more details, please read our Privacy & Cookie Policy. This location belongs to the following categories: Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to see future locations. She, too, had been strangled. 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