Richard Cottingham

Richard Francis Cottingham (born November 25, 1946 in New York City ) is an American serial killer who murdered six women in the New York area between 1968 and 1980 . Because of his habit of chopping up his victims and leaving only the torso , he is also known as "the torso killer" (Eng. "The torso killer"). He was convicted of murder in 1981 after being caught on the run after an attempted murder. Many books deal with his deeds, such as The Torso Killer or The Prostitute Murders ( ISBN 1-55817-518-0 ) by Rod Leith. He is serving a life sentence in New Jersey State Prison in Trenton , New Jersey .

Life

Cottingham was born in The Bronx, New York City, the first of three children. In 1958 his family moved to River Vale , New Jersey. In 1964 he graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale .

After graduating, Cottingham worked for his father as an operator in an insurance company until 1966 while taking computer courses. From 1966 until his arrest, he worked as a surgeon for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in New York and was very popular among his colleagues. On May 3, 1970, he married his wife, Janet. He has three children with her (* 1973, 1975, 1976). She filed for divorce in April 1979 because her husband was having affairs and was spotted in local gay bars. After Cottingham's arrest in June 1980, Janet withdrew her divorce petition and moved with her children to Poughkeepsie, New York.

crime

Beginnings

Cottingham was arrested for several minor crimes after he started the killing. The police were unaware of these acts at the time. On October 3, 1969, he was sentenced to ten days in prison and a $ 50 fine for drink-driving in New York City . On August 21, 1972, he was charged with shoplifting in Stern's Department Store, New Jersey, and fined $ 50.

Series of murders

His first known victim was Nancy Schiava Vogel, whom he murdered in 1968. The then 29-year-old married mother of two was strangled. Her body was found unclothed in her car near Ridgefield Park, New Jersey . Vogel was last seen three days before she died when she went to play bingo at the local church.

On December 2, 1979, firefighters found two bodies with their hands and heads severed at a hotel near Times Square . They had been doused with liquid fuel and set on fire. The missing body parts were not found. One of the two dead was identified as Deedeh Goodarzi, a 22-year-old prostitute from Kuwait . The other dead person was not recognized. Homicide inspectors linked the case to the murder of a young prostitute who disappeared in Times Square in January 1979.

Five months later, on May 5, 1980, police found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in a hotel in New Jersey. Her hands were tied behind her back, her body was full of bite marks, and her shin was injured. The cause of death was asphyxiation. Traces of duct tape were found on her mouth. The act has been linked to a previous murder in the same hotel: 26-year-old radiologist Maryann Carr was found cruelly beaten. However, there was no clear evidence that both were murdered by the same perpetrator. On May 15, Jean Reyner was stabbed to death at the Seville Hotel .

Final arrest

On May 22, 1980, Cottingham took 18-year-old Leslie Ann O'Dell in his car. She had agreed to hang out with him for $ 100. The two checked in at the same hotel where Valerie Ann Street was found. He offered her a massage and when he finally sat on her back with his legs apart, he threatened her with a knife on her throat while handcuffing her. Cottingham began torturing the girl, almost biting off one of her nipples . She later testified that he had said to her, “You have to take it. The other girls did, you have to take it too. You're a whore and you have to be punished. "(Eng:" You have to accept it. The other girls did it, and you have to accept it too. You are a whore and have to be punished. ") O ' Dell's suppressed screams became so loud that the hotel staff, already frightened by the previous murder, called the police and asked them to open the door in front of Cottingham's room. He was arrested in the hallway by the police just arriving. When he was arrested, he was found in handcuffs, a leather gag, two slave collars, a switchblade , toy weapons and a supply of prescription medicines. In his house he had a “trophy room” in which he kept the personal effects of some of his victims. The allegations in his indictment included kidnapping, attempted murder, aggravated assault and rape.

Condemnation

Cottingham was charged with the murder of Valerie Streets and sentenced to 173 years in prison. In the negotiations that followed, he was found guilty of four conditional murders and his sentence was increased to 197 years.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Robert D. Keppel, William J. Birnes: Serial Violence: Analysis of Modus Operandi and Signature Characteristics of Killers . CRC Press , 2008, ISBN 978-1-4200-6632-6 , pp. 65-96.
2. ^ ^{A b c d e} Richard Francis Cottingham: "The Torso Killer" . Department of Psychology, Radford University . Retrieved April 22, 2010.
3. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ^ First of Three Trials of Jerseyan in Prostitute - Slayings Nears End . In: The New York Times , June 9, 1981. Retrieved December 26, 2016. 
5. ↑ Serial killer confesses to long-ago murder of Little Ferry woman . In: NorthJersey.com , USA TODAY, September 19, 2010. Archived from the original on December 27, 2016 Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved December 26, 2016.