richard cottingham lodi, nj address

On February 15, 1968, Cottingham killed his second known victim. Cottingham, whose attorney did not return messages seeking comment, has claimed to have killed as many as 100 women. Richard Cottingham seemed like a character from a pulp novel: the crazed killer and the family man. But something a hunch, past investigative speculation, the proximity of the crimes drew Mr. Anzilotti to the prisoner. He enjoys our relationship. 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. Goodarzi had come to the United States years prior from Iran. It was mainly psychological. I didnt know what to expect. This is possibly due to the fact that he got married in 1970. The predator, dubbed The Torso Killer, would strike again in May 1980. Richard Cottingham, convicted of murdering prostitute and kidnapping three. Long-Buried Secrets: The Serial Killer and the Detective, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/nyregion/new-jersey-serial-killer-cottingham-anzilotti.html. His "justification" for doing this was that he "didn't like anyone getting one over" on him. You can set your cookie preferences below. 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. 0000009992 00000 n But beneath the veneer of normalcy was a heinous double-existence as a serial killer. Richard was arrested at a motel in Hasbrouck . Questioning Mr. Cottingham was complicated. One day, Cottingham told his co-worker that he had stolen a sex worker's money and clothes while she was sleeping. A judge sentenced him to 25 years to life after Cusicks brother and only child read emotional impact statements in court. 0000003451 00000 n Select this result to view Richard P Cunningham's phone number, address, and more. Trophies like jewellery and other personal items belonging to his victims were taken by him. Serial Killer House in Lodi, New Jersey, United States. According to his neighbors, he seemed like a regular family man. Much of Cottinghams crimes were not murders, but other violent crimes like abductions and rapes. He described things only the killer would know, like where hed thrown her car keys afterward. O'Dell's muffled cries of pain became so loud that the motel staff, already uneased by the previous two murders of Carr and Street, called police and then rushed to the room demanding that Cottingham open the door. 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. And last week, three more were added to his grisly toll. 0000003707 00000 n 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. 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. He said he wouldn't have done it if I wasn't retiring.. 0000002882 00000 n He forced his victims to address him as "master". Over the course of 13 years, beginning in 1967, Cottingham killed six women in New Jersey and New York. On the way out, he bumped the author on the shins with a bag that felt like it contained bowling balls, Vronsky said. For over 40 years, its been folklore in this county.. Hed order pizza and play cards with the older man and other detectives. 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. He then left the scene with their severed heads and hands. Shed been abducted by Cottingham from the Ledgewood Terrace apartments, in Little Ferry, where Cottingham had previously lived, said Vronsky. Hes hedged around and all but confessed.. . She, like members of the other families, agreed to forgo a guilty plea in open court. He began to speak about a particular case, he said. 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. It was like a game to him, Anzilotti recently said. 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). 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. A third the killing of 13-year-old Jackie Harp seemed to be the work of another killer. [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. It contains 0 bedroom and 0 bathroom. Cottingham severed the victim's breasts and posed them on the headboard of the bed, and set fire to the mattress under her body before fleeing, similar to the Travel Inn torso killings. She was stunned. He tortured women before he killed them and did terrible things to them, and yet we still dont know who he is because he preyed on sex workers, Berlinger said, adding that he hopes this series helps destigmatize sex work and potentially solve more cold cases. The schoolgirl murder confessions increased that to to nine. 0000013001 00000 n Its an ongoing process, Vronsky said. Richard Cottingham was born in 1946 and grew up largely in New Jersey. 7{(~tm LB IBJ*ZB`0 She agreed to have sex with him for money. The motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated. Mr. Anzilotti, doing his best not to betray any emotion, slowly pulled out his Blackberry and took notes. The following is a chronological summary of Cottingham's seventeen identified murder victims and four identified survivors: Cottingham's case has been discussed in several books and documentaries on serial killers. They'd left home for a trip 13 miles (21 kilometers) north to . Note that there seems to have been a "lull" between 1970 and 1973. New documentary The 12th Victim: Is Fugate a Natural Born Killer or Starkweather victim? This story has been shared 151,197 times. [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). Cottingham was indicted in Cusicks killing in June after DNA evidence linked him to the cold-case slaying believed to be the oldest match to ever lead to a prosecution, Nassau County prosecutors said. In early December 1979, firefighters were called to the Travel Inn Motor Hotel on 42nd Street as a fire burned in room 417. Five months later, the serial slayer struck again, strangling Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves, an 18-year-old Manhattan woman originally from Puerto Rico. It doesnt bring my mother back, but at least I have answers now. 21 23 The Blase family agreed. Richard Cottingham, serial killer from New Jersey operating in New York between 1967 and 1980. 0000001001 00000 n As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. This story has been shared 150,597 times. Look her up, she looks like her. Others he remembered from a haircut.. Pages in category "People from Lodi, New Jersey" The following 21 pages are in this category, out of 21 total. Crime: Cottingham, a Lodi resident, killed six women in New Jersey and New York between 1967 and 1980. Prosecutors had long believed that Cottingham abducted Mary Ann and Lorraine both North Bergen High School students whod been known to hitch-hike during a shopping trip to the Garden State Plaza on August 9, 1974. And thats what bothers me, because I probably didnt have to do anything to them., Mr. Anzilotti left the confession both exhausted and relieved. But he told Mr. Cottingham. [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. (1981, June 25). Her killer, Richard Cottingham, was a computer operator, married with three children of his own, living a seemingly normal life. Later on, Richard took a job with Blue Cross Blue Shield in New York as a computer operator. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. "From the sense of other things that Im uncovering, he was a very busy boy., I think the math worked out to one every six weeks, Vronsky also said. xb```"VV~g`0pt 9mzQ[2fXar9XcK',6=3Yb%^)= RZlr$:kX;e =_i& ` ?# By all accounts, he seemed to be leading an everyday life in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and three kids. She was believed to have accepted a ride from a stranger, and her body was found on the side of a road near a cemetery. This girl did everything right, Vronsky said. I couldnt even imagine losing a child. Retrieved April 2nd, 2007, from Factiva database. The following is a list of his victims in chronological order. The Zestimate for this house is $598,600, which has decreased by $7,680 in the last 30 days. It was quite a shock to learn it was him.. With Ms. Pryor and a judge watching on Zoom that day, Mr. Cottingham pleaded guilty to the two murders. 0000008501 00000 n I was able to get almostany woman to do whatever I wanted them to do . During a search of the house, investigators discovered personal items belonging to some of his victims. That man, Richard Cottingham, had been convicted of crimes that seemed to bear little resemblance to the murders of the girls. ,X3ieG(>]/TUW#gI" p&gGgy`Un(aE6e#./"e3 Hes younger when all this is going on in Bergen County, he said. Mr. Anzilotti and another investigator drove to the town of Reading, Vt., to deliver the news to Jackies older sister, Suzan Mulder, then 69. A horrible scene, the police commissioner said that day. This guy was particularly ruthless. Cottinghamss name came up several times, but it didnt fit for me, she said. In fact, Mr. Cottingham lurked around the fringes of a seedy Times Square and the prostitutes who worked its streets. 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. The 45th year passed in the same way. Their murders shook the region. His name had floated around in the lore of Bergen County cold cases.. Her attacker was caught as he ran away. After those confessions, the two men barely spoke. No leads were forthcoming. As you can see, he didn't always look like Santa Claus. The police were called and Cottingham was apprehended while trying to flee. 0000003202 00000 n 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. Serial killer Richard Cottingham made his admission in the cold case murders of the high school girls, acknowledging that he kidnapped, raped and finally drowned the pair inside a motel room. That was roughly one month after his arrest. 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 1980. It took some effort to convince him to go to court and let me make it public, Anzilotti said Tuesday. 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. Mr. Anzilotti, by then a sergeant, arranged a surprise search of the inmates cell the day after the Super Bowl. He later detailed his brief 1979 encounter with Cottingham in Times Square Torso Ripper: Sex and Murder on The Deuce. His upcoming book on the vicious predator will be released next fall. 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. [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. 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. He pleaded guilty to the killing in 2010, but when the news got out, Mr. Cottingham, who evidently thought the hearing would be ignored, was furious. A real sick bastard did this, retired NYPD detective Jim Riegel, who was working as a beat cop that day, recalls his sergeant telling him in the new Netflix series Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer, out Wednesday. 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According to one of his co-workers, he was smart, well-read, and up-to-date on current events. The police believed they had given up on the bus and were trying to hitchhike to a mall. But the arrest in 1980 changed everything, exposing Richard's double life and deadly exploits. 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. The potential payoff in return felt almost too important to describe. 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. At the mall, Cottingham, then a tall, brown-haired young man, met Vogel, a married mother of two. Berlinger said well never truly know how many women died at Cottinghams hands, but his story had long fascinated the director, who sees a social justice component aspect to telling his story. Mr. Anzilotti had begun to believe, he said in a recent interview, that Mr. Cottingham, between his history and the suspicions of detectives that came before me, could be responsible for one or more of those deaths. They have also lived in Manasquan, NJ and Ada, MI. I think sometimes he grapples with his own gruesomeness back then., On March 12, a Friday, Mr. Anzilotti summoned the inmate. I took over handling the calls, the arrangements. Anzilottihas spent all but 4 years of his law enforcement career with the prosecutors office after coming over from the Woodcliff Lake Police Department. FPh_3Gj Nt%Q[r L`%/9QTh/| Q4_g8KI}u'?xbif`H>;wNQ|sd2(? Her breasts had been severed and torso had been set on fire, Vronsky said. Other locations that are relatively close to this place. One would remind him of a TV actress. It could only be Jackie Harp.. I asked them where they were going. The mall, they replied. Anyone can read what you share. Following his arrest, police linked him to the murder of Valerie Streets. Cusicks daughter, Darlene Altman, told Nassau County Judge Caryn Fink her late grandparents raised her after her mothers shocking slaying. The details stopped him cold. 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.. Monday marked the first time Moye ever laid eyes on Cottingham, who dismembered some of victims, including two women whose bodies were found without their heads and hands in a Times Square motel in December 1979. He did not know the names of those he killed. 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. Everything that I was taught about evil was evident in his presence, in his demeanor, in the gaze of his eyes, Moye told The Post. [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. For years, the three confessions remained a secret, until January 2020, when a true-crime writer who had been visiting Mr. Cottingham in prison, Peter Vronsky, announced that the inmate had revealed his crimes in interviews for a forthcoming book. Find NJ.com on Facebook. She knew that Mr. Anzilotti had solved Denises killing, too. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Ms. Feech La Manna's house from The Sopranos. 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 third result is Richard Eric Cunningham age 50s in Skillman, NJ. Cottingham primarily sought prostitutes who were petite blondes in their late teens to mid-twenties. My whole life has been this, she said. 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. Cottingham fled the scene with the victims heads and hands. Thats not the natural order its supposed to go in.. 21 23 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. He said, Im going to give you one, Mr. Anzilotti recalled. It represented the opportunity to let the entire world know that Laverne Moye was a human being. Cottingham was not charged with this murder until June 2022, when he was implicated by DNA.[10]. (1981, June 16). Which, of course, I wasnt overly interested in, the former chief said. Ms. Falasca was a 15-year-old who left her familys house in July 1969 and never returned. The plea leaves the question: Will they be Cottinghams final admissions? On December 2, 1979, firemen in New York responded to an alarm at the Travel Inn motel[11] near Times Square. Cottingham, a Lodi man who moonlighted as one of New Jersey's most savage serial killers, had been convicted of murdering five women in New York and New Jersey. We use cookies to deliver personalized advertisements, improve your online experience, and to analyze our site's performance. 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. 0000006151 00000 n It was just shock all the way around.. (1981, June 16). 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. 0000003183 00000 n He enjoys our time together., The chief also had another theory. On March 12, 1974, Cottingham was arrested in New York City for robbery and unlawful imprisonment on the complaint of another prostitute. This is a "Then and Now" photograph of Cottingham's former house at 29 Vreeland Street. Inside they found the bodies of 22-year-old sex worker Deedeh Goodarzi[9] and an unidentified woman estimated between 16 and 22. 43 0 obj <>stream Follow him on Twitter @rodrigotorrejon. Hearing prosecutors detail grisly crime scenes like where Laverne was found was especially difficult to endure, her son said. No one could find any clues in the girls backgrounds: no drugs, no trouble with the law. I never broke my promise to him, all these years later, the chief said. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. He was also known to threaten them with a plastic gun and leave it within their reach so they could try to grab it only to find out it was false, severely bite and scrape their nipples, cut around the breasts, and use other forms of torture. It is not a public place. 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. The back and forth went on for weeks. He called his detectives and gave the word: Bring in Cottingham. Vronsky and Weiss had been meeting with Cottingham in prison since the spring of 2017, counseling him to make the confession. On more than one occasion, he would openly talk about his experiences with sex workers. Her glasses, a ring, a necklace, Ms. Mulder said. xref 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. 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. Below, you will find the address and the GPS coordinates for this location. He was imprisoned. 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. Which is entirely possible, especially in those days.. That was less than a year after Cottingham and his wife had their first child. And I said, Hop in., He drove to the mall. 0 He said, Youre welcome.. I had long suspected that whoever killed Irene Blase also killed Denise Falasca, Mr. Anzilotti said. Their heads and hands had been cut off. 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. However, he started killing again in 1974, when he murdered Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. These objects, along with his fingerprint on the handcuffs, were presented as evidence by prosecutors at his trial. 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. On Dec 15, 1977, Carr was found dead in the parking lot of a Quality Inn motel, in Hasbrouck Heights. Bergen County investigators realized there were numerous open sexual assault cases with similar hallmarks: Cottingham kidnapped them from Times Square, drugged and assaulted them. trailer 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. Justice was served and thats the end of it case closed. Canadian author Peter Vronsky is now writing his second book on the horrifying killing spree that culminated in May 1980 at a New Jersey motel, where cops arrested Cottingham after he handcuffed, stabbed and bit an 18-year-old woman. 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.". The other girls did, you have to take it, too. He rented an apartment in Midtown and told his wife he worked nights. Irene Blase, Denise Falasca and Jacalyn Harp all girls whose murders were unsolved. 0000005280 00000 n Then hed clear the room until only he and Mr. Cottingham faced each another, and begin with his questions. Authorities executed a warrant on his Lodi home, which had a private room containing evidence linking him to the Torso Killer.