FUN FACT: New Jersey serial killer Richard Francis Cottingham is often referred to as "Santa Claus" in prison. After decades of evading the suspicion, Cottingham was arrested on May 22, 1980, after picking up 18-year-old Leslie Ann ODell in Manhattan. While Cottingham did confess to the murders in April 2021 hes currently awaiting sentencing Anzilotti claims that the confessions were a retirement present from Cottingham to him after he hung up his badge in May 2021. To keep creating 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. Weiss kept writing to Cottingham, talking to him on the phone, and, eventually, even visiting him in prison. Richard Francis COTTINGHAM - Murderpedia Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. 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. Personalities shine at A+E Networks EMEA. What if her real mom was an upgrade? 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 on March 1, 1970. Also, he confessed and pled guilty in the kidnap, rape, and murder of Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, and Mary Ann Pryor, 17, in 2021. 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. When arrested, he had handcuffs, a leather gag, two slave collars, a switchblade knife, replica pistols, and a stockpile of prescription pills. Janet Cottingham provided most of the insights into her husband, Richard Cottingham's decision, and was one of the key players in Richard's sentencing. 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. 21 23 Weiss contacted the Fort Lee Police Department in 2017 to report that Cottingham had told her where Goodarzis head was located: under a prominent New York landmark. Denise is the executive director of the Ramsey Family Foundation. When the sun went down, and the moon came up, the animal form that is in all of us came out and controlled my actions. A particularly sadistic killer, Cottingham raped and tortured his victims before murdering them. Wife withdrew divorce and moved to Poughkeepsie, New York with her three children. How Many Games Are Played In The First Round Of The NHL Playoffs. Great focus on the history (& plight) of sex workers and societys attitudes towards them. Well do everything we can to see you thrive and grow. In April 1980, Cottingham's wife had filed for divorce, charging him with "extreme cruelty" and refusal to engage in marital sex since late 1976. . [10], 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). Cottingham took ODell to the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn in New Jersey, where he had left the remains of his last victim, 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street, just weeks before. For more information, please see our Maryann Carr was also brutally beaten, but police could not positively link the crimes. The three-episode series focuses on Richard Cottingham, known as the Torso Killer," who was initially believed to have preyed on sex workers in New York City's Times Square. If you ask him a question directly often he cant frame his memory around an answer. On the other hand, Richard Cottingham has three daughters of his own. How these confessions came about is highly contested, though: Former Chief of Detectives for the Bergen County Prosecutors Office Robert Anzilotti would say hes responsible for wearing Cottingham down over the years, while Weiss and her friend. I dont think they have a clue on how the [confessions] came about, Anzilotti says of Weiss and Vronsky. Vronsky thinks of he and Weiss as the good cop and the bad cop, respectively. A+E Networks EMEA is an amalgamation of A+E Networks UK, Germany, Italy, Poland, Nordics, Benelux, Spain and Africa. Cottingham killed her in February 1968. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. But when I got there, they gave me all those horrific newspaper articles. The articles, she claims, were compiled by a case worker who recognized Goodarzi, and all detailed with Deedehs murder. 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. I was trying to figure out pieces of my mothers life and where her remains were, she says. Richard turned white, started sweating. Her killer, Richard Cottingham, was a computer operator, married with three children of his own, living a seemingly normal life. She had been beaten and strangled then stuffed under the bed of the room. The murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed and entered a guilty plea in August 2010. Richard Cottingham: The Torso Killer - The CrimeWire xb```"VV~g`0pt 9mzQ[2fXar9XcK',6=3Yb%^)= RZlr$:kX;e =_i& ` ?# Richard Cottingham Wife: Janet Cottingham December 6, 2022 1 Min Read People believe Richard Cottingham had a wife and we will find out who his wife was. While Cottingham rotted in prison and Vronsky plumbed the depths of killers psyches, Jennifer Weiss wondered who, exactly, she was. He doesnt want to deal with the public. Janet thus filed for divorce in April 1979 and even accused him of frequenting gay bars. I always planned on confessing at some point after I was found guilty of the earlier crimes, Cottingham wrote to Rolling Stone. The couples divorce was seemingly finalized in 1981, and all of them have preferred to maintain a low profile since then. Love & Death Boasts a Delightfully Gonzo Elizabeth Olsen and Little Else. Our people are our strength, and our differences are celebrated. Richard Cottingham (American Serial Killer) ~ Bio with [ Photos | Videos ] Here is everything about Janet Cottingham. In an old photo, dark-haired Jennifer grins between her fairer parents, bangs teased high, teal dress puffy. Richard Cottingham's age is 76. Cottingham, who wrote to Rolling Stone from South Woods State Prison for his first published interview in more than 10 years, credits both, seeming to play his confidantes against each other even behind bars. And the only answer I have for that is, the man has no control over any aspect of his life. Hes an old man in a wheelchair with dentures who killed up to a hundred women, she says, stressing that they are not friends. Who Was 'Torso Killer' Richard Cottingham And Where Is He Now? During his marriage, Richard reportedly had an apartment in Midtown in New York City, New York, and would stay there, telling Janet he worked the night shift. He was also a married, respectable man with three children. On May 3, 1970, Cottingham married Janet Cunningham at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, New York. Things kind of went south in court, Anzilotti recalls. He'd spent his childhood in New Jersey, married his wife Janet in 1970, and had three children. It later came to light that this was his trophy room; full of female clothing, shoes, handbags, jewelry, and other things he kept as souvenirs from his homicide victims. Richard Francis Cottingham (born November 25, 1946) is an American serial killer from New Jersey operating in New York between 1967 and 1980. . 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. 0000001412 00000 n They had three children, a girl and two boys. Since the two criminals were at the same facility, Kuklinski fed Anzilotti intel about Cottinghams illegal gambling ring, and the cop staged a bust. xref 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
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