In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. Richard was arrested, and at the time, he had handcuffs, knives, prescription pills, and other suspicious items on him. He was known for his signature "trophy taking," keeping items belonging to his victims as mementos. In December 2019, forensic historian and author Peter Vronsky, on the eve of publishing the revelation in his second edition of Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters, publicized the confessions with the BCPO's cooperation, in a community meeting in Midland Park. The baffled police had few clues to follow. Tow Guys Towing. 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. I thought he could be responsible for some, Anzilotti said, explaining that while the methods and victims were different, the timing matched. Crystal Ponti. She had been given one hell of a beating and her killer had eaten away at her nipples, almost severing one. 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. As the smoke cleared, the firefighters realized theyd stumbled onto a gruesome crime scene. The Story Of Richard Cottingham, The Times Square Torso Ripper. One more detail about this case was that the severed body parts of the two women were never located and are still a mystery as to what Richard did with them. 595 Words3 Pages. 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. 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. Criminally Intrigued is a Podcast and Blog covering all aspects of True Crime. Directed by serial killer-aficionado Joe Berlinger, the Netflix series features interviews with former detectives, police officers, sex workers. Who is Richard Cottingham? In May 1981, Cottingham was convicted on fifteen felony counts related to the murder of Valerie Street, drawing a sentence of 173 to 197 years in prison. Valerie Street's body was covered in bite marks and brutally beaten in a chillingly similar manner to the murder of 26-year-old Maryann Carr, that had occurred in the same motel three years earlier. Was this man, the same man who committed the similar brutal crime? Richard was also connected to the murder of Valerie Street in New Jersey. 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. You're a whore and you have to be punished." Richard would soon meet his future wife, and the two were married on May 3rd, 1970. The killer had severed her breasts and placed them on the headboard, 'for shock value,' recalled Vernon Geberth, former Commanding Officer of Bronx Homicide. Pornographic films are advertised in Manhattans Times Square in January 1971. NYPD realized they had a serial killer on their hands in December 1979, after they uncovered the charred, mutilated remains of two women at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel in Times Square. He would be charged with the murders of most of his victims in New Jersey and in New York City. There easily could have been more crimes but its unknown. Cottingham was arrested and put on trial, where he initially denied his acts of violence. Former FBI agent and criminal profiler Candice DeLong delves into Richard Cottingham, Show Killer Psyche, Ep Richard Cottingham: The Torso Killer - Mar 7, 2023 Hed spent his childhood in New Jersey, married his wife Janet in 1970, and had three children. Their monster would end up being 33-year-old Richard Cottingham, a married milquetoast father of three from Lodi, New Jersey, who worked as a computer operator for BlueCross BlueShield in Manhattan. Unfortunately that would not be the case. 'It's God-like, almost. Richard Cottingham, now 78, is a former computer programmer linked to at least 12 murders from the 60s and 70s. But there were signs that Richard Cottingham was living a double life. One of these cases was of Diane Cusick, a 23-year-old dance teacher. 183 locals recently requested a quote. Prison records indicate that Richard, now about 74 years old, remains incarcerated at South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Police would eventually link Richard to the case because of a fingerprint found on the set of handcuffs. But it had a much seedier reputation in the latter half of the 20th century. You're in complete control of somebody's destiny.'. Hed eventually leave the company and start working for Blue Cross, where he performed the same tasks. A search of Cottingham's home turned up a bizarre "trophy room," containing personal effects from several of the murdered prostitutes. Cottingham murdered Jennifer Weiss' birth mom Deedeh Goodarzi in a Times Square motel room in 1979. A few months later, on May 5, 1980, a housekeeper at a Quality Inn in New Jersey found the body of 19-year old Valerie Ann Street stuffed under the bed. Richard also had a self-described obsession with bondage and had had numerous extramarital affairs. Cottingham was apprehended in the hallway by arriving police officers. He was with Leslie ODell, a teenage sex worker. [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. Published: 09:02 EDT, 31 December 2021 | Updated: 09:02 EDT, 31 December 2021, A new Netflix documentary investigates Richard Cottingham, also known as the 'Times Square Killer' who said he raped and killed over 105 women and is currently serving a life sentence in New Jersey. 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. For about six months between 1979 and 1980, Cottingham murdered sex workers in brutal fashion. Today, Times Square is a glittering tourist attraction. May 22, 1980. Walter Leporati/Getty ImagesPornographic films are advertised in Manhattans Times Square in January 1971. Cottingham later described his motives as a game and mainly psychological., I was able to get almost any woman to do whatever I wanted them to do, psychologically, he said decades after being found guilty of five murders. For the murders of Mary and Lorraine, Richard was to. Post author: Post published: February 17, 2022; Post category: miami university facilities management; Post comments: . The following year, in 1973, Richard would escalate his crimes when an early victim reported an attack. He was sentenced to 173 to 197 years, which he is currently serving at Trenton State Prison in New Jersey. 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. [Cottingham] told me to shut up, that I was a whore and I had to be punished, ODell testified. I think it was just an evolution in his killing.. During a court appearance Tuesday, 74-year-old Richard Cottingham, also known as the "Torso Killer," pleaded guilty and admitted he kidnapped and raped the girls, then drowned them in a motel room . After the abduction of Leslie Ann ODell, authorities were able to quickly build a case against the deranged suspect. Nicole Linton appears in Los Angeles County Superior Court for her arraignment on murder charges . On February 15, 1968, Cottingham killed his second known victim. FacebookDeedah Goodarzi, a sex worker who Cottingham killed and dismembered. Richard cut the womans breasts off and ended her life via strangulation. New York City was gripped with fear after the Travel Inn Motor Hotel murders went unsolved. He mainly stayed at home where he started to develop an obsession with bondage pornography. The missing body part were never found, but once x-rayed one victim was identified as Deedeh Goodarzi, 22, an immigrant from Kuwait who was working as a prostitute. What drove this married father of three to kill? In addition to multiple murder counts, Richard Francis Cottingham was linked with the brutal abduction and rape of three surviving victims including two prostitutes and a young housewife during 1978. Things started well, a nice massage to relax things. Richard Gere's wife Alejandra shares new photos of 73-year-old actor as they celebrate her 40th birthday in Mexico - after he was hospitalized with pneumonia Richard Gere is 'mostly recovered . He chose "Times Square Killer" Richard Cottingham not because he's a household name, but because he isn't. "He's interesting in the annals of serial killing, because . 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. The other female victim has never been identified and to this day remains a Jane Doe. Deedeh Goodarzi, Jane Doe, Jean Reyner, Valerie Street, and Maryann Carr (who was killed in 1977). Among S&M books and pornographic artwork wereMaryann Carr's apartment key and jewelry that belonged to his other victims. 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. She was also the mother of a then-four-year-old girl. SERIAL killer Richard Cottingham has been behind bars for over 40 years, but he's still being linked to old crimes. A firefighter grabbed one in hopes of saving a life. 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. 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. 4.8 (27 reviews) Towing. When she left, they believed that Cottingham posed as a security guard and accused her of shoplifting to get her to stop, then abducted her. The other headless corpse was never identified. When police arrived they caught a man trying to flee the room. Emergency services. In the early morning hours, a couple decided to check in to a Quality Inn Hotel. 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. Investigators were again able to quickly link this murder with many others due to the killers M.O. Richard Cottingham Research Paper. 'It was pretty much the hotel room from hell,' said detective Malcolm Reiman in the documentary. She was a respected nurse. Cottingham's DNA was collected from her body, although DNA wasn't used in solving crimes at the time. 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. [4], On May 3, 1970, Cottingham was married at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, Queens. Then in exchange for immunity from prosecution, he confessed to murdering three New Jersey schoolgirls. She would die of asphyxiation and once finished, Richard stuffed the girl under the bed. 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. She had recently been arrested in Miami for prostitution and was last seen getting picked up by a John in New York City on May 5, 1980. This time it seems the police were able to link this crime. 'So I maintain a relationship with Richard nowbecauseI want the names of the unidentified victims he took. And less than a month after that, firefighters made yet another gruesome discovery near Times Square. The crime scene was particularly gruesome, Cottingham severed her breasts and placed them on the headboard before torching the room. Leaving some without hands or heads, he soon earned the moniker of The Times Square Torso Killer or The New York Ripper.. He would grow up in a typical catholic household. 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. 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. The serial killer remains imprisoned in New Jersey. He said the other girls took it and I had to take it, too. On May 5, 1980, a motel housekeeper found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn. He said that uncountable times.. Cops eventually tied him to the crime when they found Reyner's necklace among his 'trophies.' 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). Leslie added, He told me to shut up, that I was a whore, and I had to be punished. Their skulls were never found. Both girls were strangled to death. In December 1979, Richard had tortured, raped, and killed Deedeh Goodarzi and an unidentified teenager (Jane Doe) in a hotel in New York. At the time of his arrest, he was living in New Jersey with his family and spending his days working in New York as a computer operator at Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Richard would start to come out of his shell socially when he entered high school, attending Pascack Valley High School. Jean Reyner was stabbed to death in a motel near Time Square. In a sign of things to come, Cottingham had kidnapped Pryor and Kelly after they asked him for a ride. Today, Times Square is a glittering tourist attraction. 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. At knife point, he proceeded to torture, beat and sexually assault the 19-year-old runaway for hours, (nearly biting off one of her nipples) until a maid heard her muffled screams. On the other hand, arresting officers had relieved him of handcuffs, a leather gag and two slave collars, a switchblade and replica pistol, plus several bottles of pills. Janet had even filed for divorce in 1979, though she reneged the next year. In 1958, at 12 years of age, he and his family would move to River Vale, New Jersey. The teenagers were last seen on Aug. 9, 1974, in North Bergen. And Richard spent inordinate amounts of time in their basement, where Janet later found womens clothing, shoes, and jewelry. richard cottingham trophy room. There were no known murder victims in 1978, however, Richard would go on to rape and torture two more women in 1978, one of which had been pregnant. Weiss was given up for adoption when she was less than two weeks old. She had been brutally strangled and left nude in plain sight. I founded J.R. Miller Associates over four decades ago. He also cut off her breasts and placed them on the headboard in the room. Lives that never came to fruition. The couple had met a few hours earlier in Manhattan. But when first responders attempted CPR, they realized the bodies had no heads and no hands. Born in the Bronx on Nov. 25, 1946, Richard Cottingham lived an outwardly normal life. One detective said it was 'the cleanest crime scene he's ever seen.' Cottingham offered to give O'Dell a massage and she rolled onto her stomach. Their skulls and hands were never found. He was also found guilty of kidnapping and assault, with his sentence going up to more than 200 years. He is currently being held at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, NJ, and is not eligible for parole. 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. Three of those murders Cottingham later confessed to included Jacalyn Harp. On December 2, 1979, fireman in New York responded to an alarm at a shitty little hotel near Times Square. He brought Cottingham to his office and offered him pizza and card games. Still, the extent of Richard Cottinghams crimes shocked New York and New Jersey. 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On May 5, 1980, police found another prostitute, Valerie Streets, dead in a motel room. Firefighters responded quickly to the room and put out the fire, and were stunned at the horrific site of these mutilated corpses. He forced his victims to address him as "master". Richard was then brought to justice for his crimes, and over the years, has admitted to committing even more murders. He pleaded innocent and for decades insisted he was being "framed", until admitting in 2009 that he had actually perpetrated those five murders. Later on, the police also found a room in the basement of Richard's home that served as his trophy room. 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. [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. Cottingham was caught in 1980 when a maid heard a woman's screams coming from his motel room. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. top social media sites in bangladesh With that horrific incident still lingering in their minds, they decided to phone the police. In May 1980, Richard Cottingham attacked four women with terrible barbarity, killing three of them. 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. On May 22, 1980, Cottingham picked up Leslie Ann O'Dell in Midtown Manhattan and dragged her back to the same New Jersey motel where he mutilated his last victim just 18 days earlier. She was positively identified through a cesarean-section scar after a friend recognized her clothing. the sexual predator with the perfect hunting ground. Cottingham's confirmed killings resulted in nine convictions and a further eight confessions under non-prosecution agreements, leading to him serving multiple life sentences in New Jersey prisons. The first victim was 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street, whose body was found naked and bloodied in a Hasbrouck Heights motel on May 4 (via Radford University ). One victim was recognized as Deedeh Goodarzi while the other slain woman remains unknown to this day, Deedeh Goodarzi was a 22-year-old high-end prostitute from Iran whose family immigrated to Long Island when she was a teenager. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. union square hospitality group gift card; clubhouse baseball baseball; forest service lease cabin for sale utah. [5] On May 15, 1980, Jean Reyner was strangled and her throat cut in New York's historic Seville Hotel. On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. The story of the Torso Killer began on Dec. 2, 1979, when firefighters were called to the Travel Inn near Times Square. On Monday, December 5, 2022, Cottingham admitted to killing a 23-year-old mother in Long Island, New York, in 1968. You're a whore and you have to be punished.". A married mother of 2, Nancy Vogel was found dumped in her car. deviant drain of illicit thrills, pornography, prostitution and crooks - providing. His name had floated around in the lore of Bergen County cold cases.. Her killer, Richard Cottingham, was a computer operator, married with three children of his own, living a seemingly normal life. Richard was born in Bronx, New York, in November 1946. Soon, he was connected to a series of murders in New Jersey and New York that had occurred over the previous few months. Spatter, gore, fingerprints, puddles of blood, there was no evidenceexcept 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. He would be charged with robbery, sodomy, and sexual assault but all charges would ultimately be dismissed. Investigation of the suspect's background revealed two arrests for consorting with hookers in the early 1970's, with both cases dismissed. [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". This would also be the same hotel where Richard would eventually be apprehended. As they burst into room 417, they saw two badly burned bodies on the twin beds. He would commute daily to New York for his job, but once in a while, when the mood struck, Richard would not go home after work. 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. It was the same necklace that had been pictured on Reyner in a previous arrest photo for prostitution, In 2010, while serving multiple life sentences, Cottingham pleaded guilty in the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel, 29. He was also found guilty of kidnapping and assault, with his sentence going up to more than 200 years. The legs were laying side by side as if still attached to a body. Soon after checking in, the 18-year-old girls screams began to echo throughout the halls of the hotel. 'When you're looking for a killer in 1970s Times Square, you're looking for a needle in a haystack,' said Geberth. They were raped and drowned in the bathtub of a New Jersey motel, In 2020, Cottingham admitted to murdering 13-year-old Jackie Harp (left) in 1968, and 15-year-old Denise Falasca (right) in 1969. But it had a much seedier reputation in the latter half of the 20th century. Anzilotti and BCPO subsequently confirmed the "exceptional closures" of these three murders.[13][8]. 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. . Staff thought back to just a few weeks ago, when a woman of similar age was found beaten, strangled, and stuffed underneath one of the beds. 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. According to Janet, Richard spent a lot of time in a room in the basement where she later discovered female clothing, shoes, handbags, jewelry, and other . 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. Were not ruling out the possibility that two men could have been involved.. 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. Deedeh Goodarzi and another unknown female had joined Richard in a hotel room near his stomping grounds of Times Square. Her legs had also been hacked off, and were eventually found a block away from the rest of the body. Looking for more answers, she reached out to Richard Cottingham in prison and has visited him over 30 times. Richard cut the woman's breasts off and ended her life via strangulation. 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. Cottingham primarily sought prostitutes who were petite blondes in their late teens to mid-twenties. ODell, whod survived her encounter with the Torso Killer, described how he tortured his victims. He also confessed under immunity to the 1968 and 1969 homicides of New Jersey teenagers Jackie Harp, Irene Blase, and Denise Falasca. Cottingham confessed to Vogel's murder in 2010, nearly 30 years after his arrest. 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. Lives that never came to fruition. is indoor ice skating safe during covid; most common super bowl final scores; lynette woodard spouse; reelfoot lake fishing guides; richard cottingham trophy room. It contained many items that linked him to the murders. Her throat was slashed and she was then set on fire. North-jersey.comA father of three, Richard Cottingham seemed an unlikely killer. Soon after their arrival then man tried to escape but was apprehended shortly thereafter. Who Were Richard Cottingham's Victims? richard cottingham trophy room. Once in custody the man would be identified as Richard Francis Cottingham a father of 3 from Lodi, New Jersey. Him for a ride had handcuffs, knives, prescription pills, and other suspicious items on him York New! Of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in the room and put out the fire and... She had been given one hell of a beating and her killer had eaten at... 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