We may, at no cost to you, receive a commission for purchases made through these links. Even before he confessed to additional killings after his conviction, Cottingham was given life in prison with a sentence of more than 300 years. Two focused entirely on him: Rod Leith's The Prostitute Murders: The People vs. Richard Cottingham (Lyle Stuart Inc., 1983) and Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer (Netflix, 2021). It contained many items that linked him to the murders. The serial killer remains imprisoned in New Jersey. Hed spent his childhood in New Jersey, married his wife Janet in 1970, and had three children. For the murders of Mary and Lorraine, Richard was to. His name had floated around in the lore of Bergen County cold cases.. In October 1966, he became a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked until his 1980 arrest. She had been given one hell of a beating and her killer had eaten away at her nipples, almost severing one. Homicide detectives linked the murder with that of the murder of teenage hooker Helen Sikes. Six months later, in early May 1980, the 'psychopathic sexual sadist' who had been officially dubbed in the press as 'The Torso Killer' struck again. You're a whore and you have to be punished.". But it had a much seedier reputation in the latter half of the 20th century. Once in custody the man would be identified as Richard Francis Cottingham a father of 3 from Lodi, New Jersey. Youre in complete control of somebodys destiny.. We dont know if hes the one who rented the room, Deputy Chief Richard Nicastro said at the time. [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 not charged with this murder until June 2022, when he was implicated by DNA.[10]. She would die of asphyxiation and once finished, Richard stuffed the girl under the bed. Leslie added, He told me to shut up, that I was a whore, and I had to be punished. They increasingly became louder and louder as time went on. 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. He was with Leslie ODell, a teenage sex worker. FacebookDeedah Goodarzi, a sex worker who Cottingham killed and dismembered. 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. [18], During the early 1980s, Cottingham was convicted of five murders in two separate New Jersey trials in 1981[19] and 1982,[20] and in a single New York trial in 1984 for three murders. Richard was born in Bronx, New York, in November 1946. They had been doused with lighter fluid and set alight. The Story Of Richard Cottingham, The Times Square Torso Ripper. I founded J.R. Miller Associates over four decades ago. "We had a very complicated car vs pole situation and tow guys came to Tustin within 30 minutes on a Sunday evening and did an incredible job assisting us with removing the car off of" more. Today, Times Square is a glittering tourist attraction. Its also unclear whether or not he continued to do so. 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Cottingham slipped the noose of law enforcement by deliberately preying on marginalized sex workers during a time when crime-ridden New York City descended into lawlessness. One detective said it was 'the cleanest crime scene he's ever seen.' She had been beaten and strangled then stuffed under the bed of the room. Responds in about 10 minutes. . He was sentenced to 173 to 197 years, which he is currently serving in Trenton's New Jersey State Prison. [12] Both bodies had their hands and heads removed, and had been doused with lighter fluid and set on fire. Deedeh Goodarzi, Jane Doe, Jean Reyner, Valerie Street, and Maryann Carr (who was killed in 1977). All was quiet and one can be certain that it was probably looking like an average, quiet night. 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. Street, a sex worker whod arrived from Florida just a few days earlier, had been beaten, bitten, bound, and strangled to death. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. So, if youre curious to know what happened to Richard, weve got you covered. 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. 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. Richard would soon meet his future wife, and the two were married on May 3rd, 1970. 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. 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. So the detective started spending time with the Times Square Killer. the sexual predator with the perfect hunting ground. Richard Cottingham by his own admission claims to have killed upwards of 100 women and remains a suspect in dozens of unsolved cases. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Not only was Times Square filled with porn shops, peep shows, and prostitutes, but it also became the hunting ground for serial killer Richard Cottingham, the Torso Killer. When arrested, he had handcuffs, a leather gag, two slave collars, a switchblade knife, replica pistols, and a stockpile of prescription pills. The Full Story Of The Hamilton-Burr Duel And The Tragic Death Of Alexander Hamilton, The Full Story Behind Columbine High School Shooters Eric Harris And Dylan Klebold, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Although Cottingham has formally admitted to eighteen killings and has claimed to have killed as many as 100, he is known to have only murdered seventeen girls between 1967 and 1980 and attempted to kill a further four. She was positively identified through a cesarean-section scar after a friend recognized her clothing. Nicole Linton appears in Los Angeles County Superior Court for her arraignment on murder charges . 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. 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. She had been beaten, raped, sodomized and forced at knife point to give the man a blow job. It contained many items that linked him to the murders. The other girls did, you have to take it, too. A search of Cottingham's home turned up a bizarre "trophy room," containing personal effects from several of the murdered prostitutes. On December 2, 1979, fireman in New York responded to an alarm at a shitty little hotel near Times Square. Once he had his fill, Richard decided to light the bodies on fire and flee the scene. Cottingham committed his first known murder when he was 20-years-old, although he claims to have started as an adolescent. 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