richard cottingham trophy room
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Richard Cottingham was found guilty of five murders and numerous counts of kidnapping and s*xual assault using evidence found in his 'trophy room' combined with a matching fingerprint left on the handcuffs used in the Valerie Street murder. At one point, Leslie grabbed Richards gun and pointed it at him, only to realize that it was fake. Though Cottingham resisted at first, he slowly began to reveal details of his past crimes. Soon after their arrival then man tried to escape but was apprehended shortly thereafter. This murder was later linked to the 1977 murder of Maryann Carr, who was left in the same motel's parking lot. Straddling her back, he drew a knife and put it to her throat as he snapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. He said the other girls took it and I had to take it, too. 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. Haunted by a handful of unsolved New Jersey homicides, Detective Robert Anzilotti began to wonder if Cottingham had killed more people than police knew. Nobody at the time suspected that Cottingham's killing spree had began over a decade earlier with the murder ofNancy Vogel in 1967 and five New Jersey high school girls in 1968 and '69. Despite obvious similarities, 'no one in New Jersey connected them to the Times Square killer,' explained former NYPD detective Malcolm Reiman in the doc. His murders were calculated and methodical, and he managed to evade . Cottingham is currently in state prison on a . Goodarzi was only 22 when she was killed, beheaded and set on fire. 'It's God-like, almost. When police arrived they caught a man trying to flee the room. Dominick Volpe, a former colleague at BlueCross BlueShield, testifies to Cottingham's perverse sexual tendencies. He was sentenced to 173 to 197 years, which he is currently serving in Trenton's New Jersey State Prison. He will spend the rest of his years behind bars with the hope that he will never have the chance to act on his horrific urges again. He admitted that he brought the two girls to a motel room where he tied them up, raped them, then drowned them in bathtub. This murder was linked to an earlier murder in the same motel. Criminal profiling was still in its infancy and it was before CCTV footage was commonplace and the use of computers helped detectives share information across states. Recently, her daughter that she gave up for adoption while turning tricks has made headlines for forging an unlikely friendship with Richard Cottingham in prison, Richard Cottingham earned his moniker as 'the Torso Killer' after he raped and murdered two women in a Times Square motel before setting their decapitated torsos ablaze. 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. [15], In 2022, Cottingham was arraigned from his prison hospital bed for the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick in Long Island, New York. 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 . She was also the mother of a then-four-year-old girl. Were not ruling out the possibility that two men could have been involved.. A father of three, Richard Cottingham seemed an unlikely killer. On December 2, 1979, the authorities were called to a hotel room in New York City after a fire was reported. 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. 'It was pretty much the hotel room from hell,' said detective Malcolm Reiman in the documentary. Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. We may, at no cost to you, receive a commission for purchases made through these links. Richard also had a self-described obsession with bondage and had had numerous extramarital affairs. He was also found guilty of kidnapping and assault, with his sentence going up to more than 200 years. Police had no suspects and the case quickly grew cold, collecting dust in a file for years. Richard Francis Cottingham (born November 25, 1946) is an American serial killer and rapist who murdered at least seventeen young women and girls in New York and New Jersey between 1967 and 1980. WickedWe is reader supported, some products displayed may earn us a commission if you purchase through our links. [4], On May 3, 1970, Cottingham was married at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, Queens. Her legs had also been hacked off, and were eventually found a block away from the rest of the body. On May 5, 1980, police found another prostitute, Valerie Streets, dead in a motel room. Over the years, the two would go on to have 3 children. The Torso Killer seemed to be escalating fast. 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. Subscribe to our mailing list and get interesting stuff and updates to your email inbox. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. [7] On October 28, 1967, he strangled Nancy Schiava Vogel, a 29-year-old married mother of two, in Little Ferry, New Jersey. Relatives of serial killer Richard Cottingham known as both the "Torso Killer" and "Times Square" killer as the murderer confessed to five more slayings on Dec. 5, 2022, bringing his known . Hopefully new developments are made and one day we will know the full scope of Cottinghams crimes, as well as hold him accountable for his actions. The other girls did, you have to take it too. He would stalk the various bars in Manhattan preying on unsuspecting women, trying to unwind from a busy day. When they entered the room they found a young girl handcuffed to the bed. 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. She was in hysterics, crapping on about what this guy had put her through. The police apprehended Richard Cottingham while trying to flee. Authorities believed it to be, thus far, the oldest criminal case to be solved and prosecuted by direct DNA evidence. 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. Its God-like, almost. 3 years later, in 1972, Richard would be caught shoplifting from a local store. Responds in about 10 minutes. Later on, the police also found a room in the basement of Richards home that served as his trophy room. He was also found guilty of kidnapping and assault, with his sentence going up to more than 200 years. 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. This time, he strangled and slit the throat of 25-year-old Jean Reyner, a single mother who had been working as a call girl to finance a custody battle. He was with Leslie ODell, a teenage sex worker. The other headless corpse was never identified. richard cottingham trophy room. New York City was gripped with fear after the Travel Inn Motor Hotel murders went unsolved. The couple had met a few hours earlier in Manhattan. [3], Cottingham was arrested on several lesser charges throughout his killing spree. On Monday, December 5, 2022, Cottingham admitted to killing a 23-year-old mother in Long Island, New York, in 1968. She had been brutally strangled and left nude in plain sight. The following week on May 15th, 1980, another sex worker was lured into a Manhattan motel room under the guise of more work but was most likely ambushed when Cottingham locked the door. Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer will stream on Netflix starting Dec. 29. Cottingham's DNA was collected from her body, although DNA wasn't used in solving crimes at the time. 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. 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. Leslie Ann ODell recalled what had happened and how things escalated so quickly. Police arrested 33-year-old Richard Cottingham at the scene. Richards lust seemed to never fully be satisfied and in December of 1977, Maryann Carr would be claimed as his next victim. With that horrific incident still lingering in their minds, they decided to phone the police. He subdued the helpless girl with handcuffs and began the torture session. I thought he could be responsible for some, Anzilotti said, explaining that while the methods and victims were different, the timing matched. Do not sell or share my personal information. Crystal Ponti. The brief encounter later inspired Vronsky to write his serial killer histories and paved the way for his prison meetings with Cottingham four decades later. For the murders of Mary and Lorraine, Richard was to receive two life sentences that would run concurrently with the time hes been serving. [2], In 2010, he pleaded guilty to the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel. 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. Over there, he began to torture and rape her repeatedly. Richard Cottingham brutally murdered prostitutes he found on the seedy streets of 1970s New York, earning his horrifying legacy as the Times Square Torso Killer. Still, the extent of Richard Cottinghams crimes shocked New York and New Jersey. Their skulls and hands were never found. The other girls did, you have to take it, too. Richard Cottingham, 74, pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, both of North Bergen. Richard was born in Bronx, New York, in November 1946. His wife withdrew the petition upon his arrest in May 1980, then completed the divorce after his 1981 conviction. A firefighter grabbed one in hopes of saving a life. Richard would dump her along a chain link fence near the apartment complex he once called home, the ligature still tied around her neck. For about six months between 1979 and 1980, Cottingham murdered sex workers in brutal fashion. 'So I maintain a relationship with Richard nowbecauseI want the names of the unidentified victims he took. Cottingham would confess to many murders after being put behind bars. She had been cut about the chest and legs, beaten with a blunt instrument, and covered in bites and bruises, A picture taken of the New Jersey Courts virtual hearing in April 2021, when Richard Cottingham pleaded guilty 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. 'It always weighs heavily over me. On February 15, 1968, Cottingham killed his second known victim. A search of Cottingham's home turned up a bizarre "trophy room," containing personal effects from several of the murdered prostitutes. 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. 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. 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 had abducted the woman and brought her to a hotel. 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. [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. 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. As the smoke cleared, the firefighters realized theyd stumbled onto a gruesome crime scene. Starting in 2014, Cottingham confidentially admitted to Detective Robert Anzilotti of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office (BCPO) to being the perpetrator of the murders of three teenage females between 1968 and 1969. The daughter of one of serial killer Richard Cottingham's victims is helping to close other murder cases to which he is connected by using her relationship with him. 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. 595 Words3 Pages. 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