Soon, Cottingham persuaded Blase to go for a drink with him. Below, you will find the address and the GPS coordinates for this location. We've received your submission. 21 0 obj <> endobj The newspapers called the murderer The Torso Killer. Then on May 22, 1980, a worker at a Quality Inn in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., heard a woman screaming. Five months later, the serial slayer struck again, strangling Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves, an 18-year-old Manhattan woman originally from Puerto Rico. But first, he wanted to return to those two murders from 47 years ago. She agreed to have sex with him for money. But on May 22, 1980 Cottingham's life as a predator came to light. ADVERTISEMENT. While some serial killers claim murders they have not committed, Mr. Anzilotti didnt believe Mr. Cottingham was that type, but still he meticulously lined up details of the admissions with facts that only the killer would know. 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. Location of first contact Maryann Carr = her apartment; Prostitutes = street or bar . She then grew up without a father because her grandparents did not like him, she said. 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. In 2010, Bergen County authorities announced hed pleaded guilty to a sixth murder, a 1967 strangling in Bergen County. He kept these "trophies" in a locked room in the basement. Mr. Cottingham was summoned before a judge on April 27, remotely, via Zoom, sitting in a wheelchair in a conference room at the prosecutors office. PB| Her attacker was caught as he ran away. Cottingham lived here with his wife, Janet, and their three children, Blair, Scott, and Jenny. It will take her a while to forget the habit of calling the detectives for updates a lifetime constant, through the deaths of her parents, her marriage and divorce, her second marriage and widowhood. After his wife filed for divorce in April of 1979, it seems as though his killings became far more frequent. He continued to live here until the police eventually arrested him on May 22nd, 1980. Investigators noted the crime scene was devoid of evidence and they were unable to identify the victims. In 1981, he was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison. Mr. Anzilotti would arrange to have the inmate transported to his office more than hours drive from the prison. )' 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. 0000003431 00000 n 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. That was less than a year after Cottingham and his wife had their first child. 0000006846 00000 n It was pure evil. The inmate, with no real incentive to say anything about that crime, had given the chief what amounted to a parting gift. [5] On May 15, 1980, Jean Reyner was strangled and her throat cut in New York's historic Seville Hotel. On May 4, 1980, the body of Street, a sex worker, was found at the same Quality Inn where Cottingham had dumped Carrs body. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). 0000000016 00000 n But Mr. Anzilotti kept pressing him: You know youre going to tell me.. She had been abducted while walking home from practice with her schools fife-and-drum team in 1968. 0000003183 00000 n Years ticked past, 1974 into 1975, into the 1980s, the 1990s. But the arrest in 1980 changed everything, exposing Richard's double life and deadly exploits. I can go all the way back to the first detective on the case. 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. Defense attorney John Bruno recited the details, which the white-bearded, 74-year-old killer acknowledged. 0000001412 00000 n I had long suspected that whoever killed Irene Blase also killed Denise Falasca, Mr. Anzilotti said. There was also a lockbox filled with trophies from his murders, including Maryann Carrs apartment key and a necklace belonging to Jean Reyner. I never broke my promise to him, all these years later, the chief said. iP^ -KvWZvxhc'm$93tSz =oBTmD]+)bTJ T|u>/. The five victims addressed . For over 40 years, its been folklore in this county.. 0000003686 00000 n It could only be Jackie Harp.. Cottingham is currently in state prison on a life sentence . 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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. He had his list of names, each one a dead girl and a crime long unsolved. On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. The 45th year passed in the same way. The Zestimate for this house is $598,600, which has decreased by $7,680 in the last 30 days. 0000000991 00000 n Blase was 18 when she was found strangled in Saddle River in 1969. Blase was found strangled to death in 4 feet of water in Saddle River the next day. He was a coward.. The girls, Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16, had last been seen days earlier at a nearby bus stop. HUMs@Wf~}m1`16N7NLf%=Io8. [1] He was nicknamed the New York Ripper, the Torso Killer and the Times Square Killer, since his crimes often targeted prostitutes and included mutilation. 0000001262 00000 n Follow him on Twitter @rodrigotorrejon. Bergen County investigators realized there were numerous open sexual assault cases with similar hallmarks: Cottingham kidnapped them from Times Square, drugged and assaulted them. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. Hes embarrassed by this case, he said. Richard Francis Cottingham (born November 25, 1946) is an American serial killer and rapist who murdered at least eighteen young women and girls in New York and New Jersey between 1967 and 1980. 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. Hed been a married father of three, but the Lodi resident - who would brutalize his victims bodies, cutting off limbs, heads and breasts - would later become known as the Torso Killer" for what he left behind. It was mainly psychological. Sitting in a conference room, Mr. Cottingham calmly reached back more than 40 years and described how hed murdered a woman whose name he couldnt remember, a 29-year-old mother found strangled in her car in Ridgefield Park, N.J., in 1967. He married in 1970 and became a father of three. Note that there seems to have been a "lull" between 1970 and 1973. 0000006081 00000 n Goodarzi had come to the United States years prior from Iran. He had been dubbed the Times Square Torso Ripper setting off Vronskys lifelong fascination of serial killers. What started in 1967 with the discovery of a Ridgefield Park woman dead, nude and bound in her own car continued until 1980, when the hulking Cottingham, then 33, was arrested after the screams of a would-be victim pierced the walls of a Hasbrouck Heights motel room. The confessed killer then fatally bludgeoned Sheila Heiman, a 33-year-old mother of three, in July 1973, at her North Woodmere, NY, home, where her husband found her upon returning from shopping, authorities said. Altman, who was just 3 years old at the time, said her parents had separated prior to Cusicks killing. Rodrigo Torrejon may be reached at rtorrejon@njadvancemedia.com. 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 . At the time, Cottingham, who had not been arrested or identified, was dubbed the "Times Square Ripper.. His wife withdrew the petition upon his arrest in May 1980, then completed the divorce after his 1981 conviction. She was a mother, she was a wife, a daughter and a grandmother taken far too early. 0000012661 00000 n 0000001082 00000 n 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. Responding officers found an 18-year-old victim whod been bitten, stabbed and bound with handcuffs. 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. This is the house where the "Times Square Killer," Richard Cottingham, lived between 1975 and 1980. You are in complete control of somebodys destiny, he told Fezzani in footage shown in the series. 0000000756 00000 n I didnt know what to expect. Through the years, other people were assigned. Right up to Mr. Anzilotti. The New York Times, p. 26. Vronsky and Weiss had been meeting with Cottingham in prison since the spring of 2017, counseling him to make the confession. Hed order pizza and play cards with the older man and other detectives. 21 23 %%EOF Like a werewolf, Vronsky told The Post. Inmates were wagering everything from cash to cigarettes. 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. He married in 1970 and became a father of. They were never able to fully recover from the monumental loss, she said. He called his detectives and gave the word: Bring in Cottingham. 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. But beneath the veneer of normalcy was a heinous double-existence as a serial killer. 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. He did, however, leave behind their clothing, including a pair of Bonjour jeans, white leotards and a black fur coat, neatly folded in the bath tub. But he eventually realized the years-long association, which involved countless state prison visits, was coming to an end. In the thirteen-year period during which he is known to have committed at least seventeen murders, only one fingerprint belonging to him was ever recovered, from the ratchet mechanism of handcuffs left behind on Valerie Street. endstream endobj 34 0 obj<>stream I lost so much more than just my mother that day, Altman said. Since his conviction, Cottingham has pleaded guilty to 12 murders. The sergeant was undeterred. [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). (1981, June 16). 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. startxref 0000009992 00000 n Before his arrest, he was a successful computer operator who worked at the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance company in Midtown Manhattan. [6] In 2022, Cottingham officially confessed to the 1970 murder of Lorraine McGraw, under a non-prosecution agreement. 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. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. But then, four years ago, Mr. Cottingham stunned the chief. 0000009264 00000 n Authorities tied him to the killings after police were called to a Hasbrouck Heights motel, where a maid had heard a woman screaming. 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. 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. Anzilottihas spent all but 4 years of his law enforcement career with the prosecutors office after coming over from the Woodcliff Lake Police Department. Cusicks daughter, Darlene Altman, told Nassau County Judge Caryn Fink her late grandparents raised her after her mothers shocking slaying. The photographs are ordered from left to right and top to bottom. 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. Then he shared his intentions to retire. It took some effort to convince him to go to court and let me make it public, Anzilotti said Tuesday. Now 74, Cottingham, who claims responsibility for dozens of murders, has confessed to a. He didnt have the decency or the dignity to ask for forgiveness or to even address the victims families. He had no relationship to his victims. It represented the opportunity to let the entire world know that Laverne Moye was a human being. It was a game to me. The police believed they had given up on the bus and were trying to hitchhike to a mall. 0000002847 00000 n [4], On May 3, 1970, Cottingham was married at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, Queens. It would take about five months after the grisly Travel Inn slayings for investigators to arrest their man, a married father of three from Lodi, New Jersey, who preyed on sex workers in Times Square, then a seedy nucleus of pornography, prostitution and crime. A maid heard the teenagers guttural screams and called police. Twenty years later, he was reinvestigating several cold cases involving girls and young women who had been abducted, sexually abused and killed. I was shocked that it was a serial killer, Moye said of his mothers confessed murderer. This story has been shared 151,197 times. They found an 18-year-old victim who'd been bitten and stabbed bound with handcuffs. 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. It doesnt bring my mother back, but at least I have answers now. Anything that might close more cases, bring answers to more families. Months later, in May 1980, another prostitute from Times Square was found dead, this time in a New Jersey motel; that murder was linked to yet another at the same location. And even worse, the rape laws were particularly onerous, and you had to provide a witness to bring an allegation of rape. 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. But Cottingham had other victims, and he would later boast of killing 85 to 100 people. 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. He soon realized the woman had no head, the Daily News reported. 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 This girl did everything right, Vronsky said. Cottinghams luck began to unravel in early May 1980 when the maid at the Quality Inn found the naked corpse of a handcuffed woman under the bed. This is possibly due to the fact that he got married in 1970. Irene Blase, aged 18, vanished on April 7, 1969, in Hackensack and was found face down in four feet of water in the Saddle River, strangled with a wire, a cord, or perhaps the chain of a crucifix she was wearing. But something a hunch, past investigative speculation, the proximity of the crimes drew Mr. Anzilotti to the prisoner. The back and forth went on for weeks. Those old enough to remember can recall the fear that many felt after the bodies of two girls from North Bergen whod gone missing after a shopping trip to Paramus were found raped, beaten and drowned in Bergen County. She, like members of the other families, agreed to forgo a guilty plea in open court. He was eventually convicted of five murders in New Jersey and New York and sent to a New Jersey state prison in the early 1980s. He enjoys our relationship. 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. Long-Buried Secrets: The Serial Killer and the Detective, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/nyregion/new-jersey-serial-killer-cottingham-anzilotti.html. 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 Trentons New Jersey State Prison. A woman walking to her car found them: two teenage girls, naked and dead in a sliver of woods behind an apartment parking lot. My whole life has been this, she said. Its an ongoing process, Vronsky said. 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. 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. 0000001001 00000 n Iran hangs protester in first execution over nationwide pr Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, Buster Murdaugh got 'very drunk' with dad 2 months after mom, brother murdered: source, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, Prince Harry was scared to lose Meghan Markle after fight that led to therapy, Prince Harry says psychedelics are fundamental part of his life, Inside Scheana Shay, Raquel Leviss heated confrontation about Tom Sandoval affair, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant allegedly flashes gun at a strip club, Tom Sizemore And The Dangerous Burden of Desperation, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce. Straddling her back, he drew a knife and put it to her throat as he snapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. 0000009543 00000 n In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey. 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. Falasca, 15, accepted. That girl was found drowned, similar to Blases killing, he said. He described in detail how, instead, he took the girls to a motel, held them captive and eventually drowned them in the bathtub. And at. The people listed below were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Lodi, New Jersey. Harp was found strangled to death the next day. Cottingham, a divorced father of three who previously lived in Lodi, NJ, also pleaded guilty to the February 1968 rape and murder of Diane Cusick, 23, a dance instructor from New Hyde Park, NY. The investigators handed Ms. Mulder possessions of Jackies from half a century past. In fact, Mr. Cottingham lurked around the fringes of a seedy Times Square and the prostitutes who worked its streets. Those cases were already closed. For more information, please read our Privacy & Cookie Policy. 0 0000013001 00000 n Knowing better, Harp, just 13 years old, refused. Her killer, Richard Cottingham, was a computer operator, married with three children of his own, living a seemingly normal life. You can set your cookie preferences below. After years in prison, Mr. Cottingham began to open up to the detective about past unsolved crimes.
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