118. Richard Cottingham - The Torso Killer
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Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. I'm the husband. Okay, you guys, Garrett and I are excited to announce that we have decided to put some staple Murder With My Husband merch items up for sale at

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Really, you finally love something about this podcast. Finally. Just a reminder, we have bonus content, early release, and ad-free on our Patreon. We've really been upping the game over there, so if you've been wanting to check it out and haven't, now is the time at patreon.com slash murderwithmyhusband. We are also available on Apple subscriptions now. Again, you do not have to pay for our podcast. All of this is just bonus content.

content added on top of what you already receive as a way to support the show and also a proceed of the earnings go to different organizations who help in the true crime industry every month. So yeah, if you want to check it out, do. All right. So I played pickleball for the first time in like three weeks. I was sick and then I don't know, we got busy and things were crazy. So that was fun. I'm really sore though. Like every time I do something for the first time, like any type of exercise,

Next day is always the worst. But I did get some new sneakers, some new Nikes. So I'm excited about that. Those come. Wait, you got new ones? New ones. Yeah. Oh, okay. Okay.

I remember I showed you a picture yesterday. Nope, don't remember that. Don't recall it. Other than that, I mean, I don't really have much going on. I kind of wanted to see the new Jurassic World. I don't know if anyone else has seen that, but we haven't seen it yet. So if you've seen it, let us know how it is. Maybe we'll go see that. It's kind of been a chill week. Nothing too crazy going on. So I don't think I have anything else other than that. So let's hop right into it. Okay, our case sources for this episode are Murderpedia, A Case File, Podcast Episode, Wikitree.com, Find a Grave, Rolling Stone,

the New York Times, nj.com, Chicago Today, radford.edu, moviemaker.com, and state.nj.us. So I do want to give a disclaimer before we jump into this episode that there are multiple sources who list that the victims in this episode, some of them were sex workers. And as I've been reading, I've often heard

that maybe there's been this misconception that victims are often labeled as sex workers from back in the 70s and 80s that weren't, but it was just easier to label them that way. And so I want to clarify that. And then also because...

this is happening in the 70s and 80s. This was a time where women's rights in general and definitely sex workers' rights were largely ignored, you know, where misogyny was very well practiced and accepted. Women weren't believed or just quote-unquote crazy. So I did just want to give a disclaimer that some of the older sources kind of feed into this a little bit and that oftentimes this case can be misconstrued. And I just want to get that out of the way before we get into it.

So our case this week begins on December 2nd, 1979 in Times Square, New York. For those of you who don't know, Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment center, and neighborhood in Manhattan, New York. And it's known for its bright, colorful lights and its lively atmosphere. It's sometimes even referred to as the crossroads of the world. And at one point, it was the world's busiest pedestrian areas. So it's huge.

If you visit New York, you are definitely going to go to Times Square. It's something people don't miss. And it is definitely like a sight to see. And actually approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily.

But we are taking it all the way back to 1979 in Times Square. Now, during this time, conditions were worsening, not just in Times Square, but in the rest of the city. Crime was rising. What used to be prominent theaters and attractions were turning into go-go bars, peep shows, etc.

All kinds of criminal activity was happening around Times Square. And it was during this shift that the glittering tourist attraction that we know and love today kind of became the grounds for a notorious serial killer.

a killer who stalked, hunted, and murdered in such gruesome ways that his nickname became the Torso Killer. And unknown to everyone around him, he had just started his journey in New Jersey, but eventually made his way to Manhattan where he carried out majority of his crimes in Times Square. And to date, the Torso Killer has claimed to have killed upwards of 100 victims.

But that's just ego and evil talking. The current documented number remains at 11. But back in 1979, no one knew who the torso killer was. In fact, even police were barely drawing a connection between all 11 murders. And that only enabled him to keep striking, which is where we are on December 2nd, 1979, right in the middle of his murders, Times Square at the Travel Inn.

firefighters have just been called there. A reported fire on floor four. They were needed right away. They burst into room 417 where the suspected fire is coming from and they see two burned bodies on the twin beds in the hotel room. Covered in heavy gear and smoke all around, one firefighter quickly grabbed the body off of the bed in hopes of saving it. But when he looked down, his heart dropped. The burned body on the bed wasn't alive, but

But the only reason he knew that was because the burned body on the bed did not have a head. The smoke was cleared and it was only until that happened that firefighters realized they had not stumbled upon an accidental motel fire. They were standing in a crime scene. Both women who had been left on the twin beds had been strangled and lit on fire, both of them missing their heads and both of their hands had been cut off. Oh my gosh. I don't think I could physically see that.

Right. How do you recover from that? I don't think I could handle that. One victim was traced back to 22 year old Dita Godarzy, the other, a 16 year old who to this day remains unidentified. Were all the victims burned like that? No. He had killed? No. Okay. Just so far these ones.

Dita and Jane Doe victims to a brutal murder, but police had no idea where to start. They discovered the killer had registered at the hotel under the name Carl Wilson of Merlin, New Jersey, but it was a fake name with a fake address. And to make matters worse, hotel employees had barely interacted with him and they didn't even have a concrete description. Yeah.

Yeah.

But probably the most well-known part about this murder was the fact that someone had bumped into the killer as he was fleeing the crime scene he had just set on fire. That someone was Peter Vronsky, who went on to write a book about his experience after he ended up visiting the killer in prison for years to come.

Apparently, though, back on December 2nd, Peter was on his way into the travel inn when a man with a duffel bag accidentally walked into him and the duffel bag slammed against Peter. He recalls it as a soft duffel bag that at the time he figured was carrying bowling balls.

Oh my gosh. Oh, that's so disturbing.

Now you know why he's named that. And he would keep on killing. That was until May 22nd, 1980, when the torso killer would literally be caught red handed in the act. So it was a summer day in New Jersey at the Quality Inn Motel. The fire at the travel inn had already happened.

But it wasn't a great summer day here. Three years earlier, a woman's dead body had been found in the parking lot of this hotel in New Jersey. And then just 18 days ago, housekeeping had entered a room and found another woman's body underneath a bed.

She had been brutally murdered and left there to be found. Because of these awful events, and the last one had just happened 18 days earlier, everyone was on high alert at the Quality Motel. And then, this day, they heard muffled cries coming out of one of the rooms.

Yeah.

Police arrived at the hotel also aware of the last murder here 18 days earlier. They were able to arrest the man in the hallway outside of the room. He was found with handcuffs, a leather gag, two

two slave collars a switchblade replica pistols and a stockpile of prescription pills a beaten and bloody woman laid barely alive on the bed inside of the motel room and it is for sure the same person for sure which is interesting why would he go back to the same hotel three times three times where he just did this well because he still hadn't gone caught and had been years that

That's so, it's weird. Right. Her name, the woman on the bed, was 18-year-old Leslie Ann O'Dell. So I don't even know if I can call her a woman. She's barely an adult. She told police that earlier that day she had been willingly picked up by the man and he drove her to the Quality Inn Motel. As he offered to give her a massage, he drew a knife to her throat and handcuffed her. He then began torturing her

biting her to the point where pieces of her flesh were missing. Oh my gosh. Police arrested the man and finally identified him as 35-year-old Richard Francis Cottingham. He was a married father of three young children with a home in New Jersey.

Police received the warrant to search his family home, and that is when they discovered the astonishing truth. Richard had not just done this that day at this motel. He had done it numerous times, and it was the evidence that they found in his home that proved it. Don't tell me he was keeping the you-know-what secret.

Like in the basement or something? Well, he had a locked trophy room in his basement containing personal artifacts from multiple unsolved murders in the area, bondage porn, bondage equipment, all locked inside of this trophy room. It was all the proof they needed. But who is Richard Cottingham? So the...

the victims heads were not in there no but their purses their ids pieces of their hair things like that like trophies is what they call it were all kept locked inside this room with a human head then he would just dispose of it somewhere but he was just an a brutal awful serial killer that was part of the thrill for him okay

So when they discover all this, this is obviously just an astonishing discovery as they're like, oh man, these personal artifacts belong to multiple unsolved murders in the area. They were like, who is this guy? Who is Richard Cottingham? How long had he been doing this? And to what extent had his evil gone? So Richard Francis Cottingham was born in the Bronx in New York on November 25th, 1946. So I share a birthday with Richard, which is very uncool in my opinion.

His father worked at an insurance company called Metropolitan Life, and his mother was a homemaker. Cottingham actually had two younger siblings. The Cottingham family eventually settled in Rivervale, New Jersey, when he was 12 years old. Richard Cottingham actually attended St. Andrews, a school for boys and girls. He was apparently a bit of a loner at school and spent most of his time with pigeons. Now, I don't know what that means, but multiple sources reported that, so...

WTF? I don't even know. I feel like it's normal. There's people, I don't know. Oh, I guess like pigeon watchers. Exactly. Okay. Now I feel bad. Now I feel bad. Okay. I don't think you're a weirdo if you're spending time with pigeons. I think you're a weirdo if you go on to become a serial killer. Okay. After you spend time with pigeons. After you spend time with pigeons. No, but they have, there's like a pigeon watcher and they even like train them to like deliver. That's so true. And what a good life that would actually be. Like notes and letters and stuff. Right? Right. I think you're totally right. I mean, that's just what I've seen in the movie. So if I'm wrong, let me know. Right. Okay.

So he joins the cross country and track team, which is the only sport that he would do. And it suited his lonely personality. He could run alone. He didn't have to talk to anybody, which is why he chose it. In 1964, 18 year old Richard Cottingham graduates from high school.

for two years he goes to work for his father's insurance company he starts as a mailroom worker and eventually becomes a computer operator he also took additional classes to learn more about computers around age 20 coddingham decides to leave his father's company and join blue cross blue shield of greater new york as a computer operator now interestingly during this time

Serial killer Rodney Acala, which is the dating game killer who was in New York in 1969 under the alias John Berger, also worked at the same Blue Cross Blue Shield office. Although neither of them claim to have been aware of each other, nor is there any evidence that they were familiar with one another prior to each other's arrest. But that would be two serial killers working in the same office at the same time.

which is pretty that's super that i mean when i found that out are very very low very low so i also think it's interesting to note that the suspect from the freeway phantom murders was also a computer operator or programmer so now three serial killers doing the same profession

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Now, I'm just going to point out here, there were definitely earlier crimes for sure, but this is the first documented one while he's working at the Blue Cross Blue Shield office. It was on October 28th, 1967, when Nancy Schiavi Vogel, a 29 mother of two, told her husband she was going to play bingo, but then went shopping at one of Bergen County's malls where she met a young man who abducted her and took her to a field in Montvale before strangling and murdering her.

Given that Nancy's husband thought she was at bingo that night, it took longer for the police to be called about her going missing. Two little girls were playing nearby when they saw a mannequin in a car and they went up to it to investigate. It...

Obviously, it's never a mannequin. It's never a mannequin. They found her body. They also found the new shoes and blouse that she had bought while at the mall in the trunk of her car, which is how they arrived at the suspicion that she had even met her killer at the mall. Was she going to actually go on a date?

think so again it's not clarified but this is kind of where the lines get blurry about everyone saying well she was probably just a sex worker or not so her husband's saying no okay so police initially believed nancy knew her killer because her clothes were folded neatly underneath her and there was evidence she had sexual relations before again going back to the assumption that every victim in this case was a sex worker which i think we've come to find out is just not true

Cottingham pled guilty to the murder of Nancy Vogel in 2010 under immunity.

Then on July 17th, 1968, one year later, 13-year-old Jackie Harp from Midland Park went walking home from band practice when she ran into a man who tried to coax her into his car. She initially refused, but later got in. The man then drove a little bit ahead, pulled over, got her out, and dragged her into some bushes where she was strangled with a leather flag sling. I don't understand how, again, you can...

We talk about it, strangling versus shooting someone. Like it's all just so more intimate. Again, why I said these were definitely not his first crimes. There were definitely signs. There was probably a ton of sexual assaults leading up to this and he eventually made it to murder. Her parents reported her missing at 9.50 p.m. that night when she didn't come home from music practice. When her body was finally found, it appeared she had been struck in the face and her clothes were in disarray. There were no signs of sexual assault though.

Cottingham confessed to Jackie Harp's murder in 2010 under immunity. Next, on April 7th, 1969, again, roughly one year later. So these have all kind of been a year apart, which is also strange. 18-year-old Irene Blase from Bogota, New Jersey, was seen on Main Street at approximately 8 p.m. that Monday night before being spotted one last time around 8.45 p.m. at a bus station with an unidentified white male.

Oh.

She was beaten, bruised, and stabbed once through the back into the right lung. Cottingham confessed to Irene's murder in 2010 under immunity. So when you say immunity, what exactly do you mean then? Because that's so confusing to me. It's probably very confusing for you because you don't know the rest of the story. And I'm just realizing that now. You said immunity twice and I'm like, are we on Survivor? Like what is happening right now? Oh my gosh.

So no, I, sorry. Sometimes when I write these, I have the full story. So he will obviously get caught for these crimes. That's how we know it's him. And he will get prosecuted for certain crimes, not all 11 murders.

I just don't understand why he'd be like, oh yeah, I killed six people, but not eight people. Right. Like, where's that going to get you at this point? I know. I know. So years later, detectives would go to him and say, we know you killed more people. We have many more unsolved murders. Uh,

We know you killed him. So you need to give us some more. And it was almost like a game with detectives, the FBI, where he would say, okay, come in. We'll have a meeting and I'll give you three more names. Okay. Five years later, I'm going to have you come in and I'll give you three more names. So all 11 of these weren't pieced together for years. Okay. But he would eventually confess to all 11 and give details that only like, it wasn't the police didn't lead him into these confessions. He confessed, uh,

to all of them, which is why they're the only documented ones. I just can't believe you can kill that many people. Right. And not just... And keep it a game. Also, people that you don't know. I think maybe I would comprehend it more if it was like family or something. You know, like, oh, I hate this person or this person. I hate my second cousin. Not that you should obviously kill someone, but you know what I'm saying? Just random people. Random people. Your brain is best...

better able to comprehend someone killing a family member that they might have beef with over abducting a 13 year old off the road and murdering her. Well, yeah, a hundred percent. So in 1969, after,

After he kills Irene. This was the first known year that Cottingham struck back to back. Just two months after murdering Irene, he noticed Denise Falska walking by the side of the road in Emerson. It was July 14th, 1969 when he pulled up next to her and offered her a ride, which she unfortunately accepted.

On July 15th, Denise was found strangled to death the next day in front of St. Mary's Cemetery on the side of Westminster Place in Saddlebrook, New Jersey. She was nude from the waist up and had been sexually assaulted, had bruises on her chin and face, and there was a bloody palm print left on her thigh. So I am giving you minimal details because I want to show you that no murder was the same.

Like they were all strangled, all of them usually sexually assaulted, but not always. There was always different gruesome things that he did, which I'm pointing out so you can understand the evilness. It wasn't some ritualistic thing he was doing. He took very...

very much pleasure in this. So Cottingham confessed to Irene Blaze, Denise Falaska, and Jackie Harp's murders in 2010 under immunity. Remember these took place in 1969. Okay. So it didn't come out until 2010. 40 years later.

These three cases were not originally linked to Cottingham, and that's why all three confessions weren't until 2010. It's almost like his murders have two separate classifications, and these might have been the earlier ones in his killing career, but they weren't discovered until after he was already in prison for later murders. Could he have been lying about these or no? He knows too much to like.

Police say he knew too much detail that they hadn't released. They were cautious of not leading a confession. They wanted to make sure 100% that he had done these and wasn't just taking credit for them. So from here, from 1969, he takes a break from murder after this. Oh, I'm just taking a break. Yeah, I mean... But like you said, I feel like his killings or crimes were spread out, it seems like year over year, which seems more...

realistic in serial killing than the case that we did last where a couple weeks ago where it was just this rampage of 10 days three days five days four days you know what I'm saying and it also is harder to catch a killer who's spreading it out year after year because you're not getting a new lead every month and I feel like when I think of a serial killer that's what I think of someone who killed someone then a couple years later kills someone else then kill someone else a couple years later

So on October 3rd, 1969, after these killings at the age of 23, so he's killed brutally murdered three girls at the age of 23, which again is a startling statistic. Cottingham was charged and convicted of intoxicated driving in New York city. And he spent 10 days in jail and paid a $50 fine. It is interesting to note that back in 1969, he had to spend actual time in jail for a drunk driving offense, which means he was probably very, very intoxicated.

and maybe tried to resist arrest, which is what got him thrown in there. Because according to most sources back then, drunk driving was more of like an embarrassment instead of a dangerous crime that it's seen as today. So it was a really, it's kind of a big deal that he was even jailed for this.

On May 3, 1970, Cottingham marries a woman named Janet in Queens Village, New York. From 1970 to 1974, they lived at the apartments called Ledgewood Terrace in Little Ferry, New Jersey. One of his victims, Marianne Carr, would later be kidnapped from this same location and found dead by strangulation. I'm confused how he can kill people, women, get married...

to a woman and not want to kill her? Take a four-year break, not kill his wife. And have kids? And have kids. And then continue to kill people? After. Oh, that makes no sense to me. So on August 21st, 1972, now 25-year-old Cottingham is charged and convicted of shoplifting and again fined $50.00.

The next year, he is charged with robbery, sodomy, and sexual assault of a teenage sex worker. But the victim failed to appear in court, and the case was dismissed. So in 1973, a victim he chose not to kill comes forward to talk about the crimes he committed against her, a teenage sex worker who he surely took advantage of.

A month later, Cottingham's wife delivers his first son, Blair. So a month before his first son was born, a sex worker came forward and said, hey, he tortured me, tied me up. Nothing was consensual, but it didn't go to trial. This was all during his five-year break from actually murdering women between 1969 and 1974. He was clearly still attacking and living his life. He just was not in prison and he was not murdering.

On February 1973, Cottingham is arrested again in New York City and charged with unlawful imprisonment and robbery stemming from a complaint from another sex worker. But the case was again dismissed for the second time when the victim didn't show up for the proceedings. Now, this is not strange or weird or disappointing that a victim would find reason to not follow through even in today's day and age.

In fact, based on the sadistic nature of Cottingham's killings and the torture thus far, it almost seems unsurprising that a victim, especially a young sex worker in the 1970s, would feel safe or any sense of justice in even reporting the crime in general.

So after what seems like a pretty lengthy break considering his past crimes, Cottingham doesn't strike again until 1974, five years after his last murder. Lorraine Marie Kelly, who's 16, and Marianne Pryor, who is 17, disappeared August 9th, 1974 after being dropped off at a bus stop on Broad Avenue in Ridgefield. They were going to go to the Garden State Plaza Mall.

It was known that the girls sometimes hitchhiked, which again was very common in the 70s. But there is an article in the Daily News that the girls had been seen, labeled runaways and were fine. So when they were reported missing, the police were like, oh, they're just runaways. They're fine.

Five days later, on August 14th, both of the girls' bodies were found in Montville, August 14th, 1974, in a small sloped wood strip across the street from Ridgemount Gardens apartment complex. It is believed that the girls were murdered elsewhere and then carefully placed at this location. Marianne Pryor was identified by a gold necklace with a little cross around her neck. Both victims actually had their necklaces and one had a bracelet attached.

Marks indicated that they had been bound at the ankles and wrists, but without any of their clothing. Both of them were sexually assaulted, tortured by burning, and then drowned.

So it wasn't strangulation. Oh my gosh. So he burned them alive and then drowned them? Yes. It appeared to police that one of the victims might have lived longer than the other and in turn might have seen the suffering of their friend. That is so bad. It's awful. It's confirmed that the girls were held captive for at least 24 hours. This demands the statement that if police had immediately cared instead of brushing it off as runaways, there might have been immediately

And I mean, very small chance they could have been found alive. It's small. It's harder. But possible. I feel like you're also in the 70s. Right. Hey, everyone was labeled as a runaway. It wasn't until April 27th, 2021, that Cottingham pled guilty in Bergen County, New Jersey, to two counts of first degree murder in the double abduction case.

a sexual assault and murders of Lorraine Marie Kelly and Marianne Pryor. So these are even later than his round of 2010 confessions. These were in 2021 that he confessed to these. After this double homicide, we see another three-year break with no documented murders from him. Again, this begs the question, are there more?

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In February of 1975, after starting up Killing Again, Cottingham moves into a new rented three bedroom home in New Jersey. On March 28th, 1975, his second child, Scott, is born when he is 28 years old. Just a year later, his last child and only daughter, Jenny, is born. It was December 15th, 1977, that Mary Ann Carr was a medical technician and radiologist at a doctor's office in Englewood. She was married to a man named Michael.

and they had moved to Little Ferry less than two years earlier. Mary Ann would often be referred to as Cottingham's first victim. But as we know, this is not true. This just happens often with serial killers where the media reports on one victim more than the other. And so the public perception gets confused. This also happened here because there was so much printed between the 1980s about the murders that he goes to prison for. Um,

But then he later confesses to the previous murder. So, so many people were like, this is his first victim. Years later, he comes on and says, no, it's not.

Cottingham had previously lived in Little Ferry and the night Marianne went missing, witnesses say they saw her with a man who looked like her husband, but he was out of town at the time of the murder. Cottingham had abducted her from the Ledgewood Terrace apartments and taken her to New Jersey. Her apartment was found unlocked. She was found fully clothed in her white pant nurse's uniform, except for her shoes and her stockings were missing.

She was found outside in the parking lot of the Quality Inn Motel in New Jersey. So this would be the first body that's found at the hotel where he is later caught in the act. They found remains of white adhesive tape that was used to cover her mouth and bruises on the right side of her body. She also had a hemorrhage in the left bone behind her ear.

She had been asphyxiated, caused by the adhesive tape being placed over her mouth. Police would later find Mary Ann Carr's apartment keys in Cottingham's trophy room. Two more years would go by without another documented murder. On September 23rd, 1978, Cottingham abducts Karen Schilt in New York City, attacks her, and then dumps her in a sewer alive at the apartment complex in Little Ferry, New Jersey once again.

On October 12th, 1978, Cottingham, on a rampage, picks up a pregnant sex worker, Susan, who is then attacked as well. He leaves her in a motel room in New Jersey. It seems like the only M.O. he had was strangulation. Well, not even that, because some he didn't even kill by strangulation. So he didn't really have an M.O., correct? I mean, I think his only M.O. is abducting vulnerable women and murdering them. Okay.

Trigger warning.

Her body was hanging by her head and her legs were missing. Oh my gosh. How do you go from just killing someone normally to that? You know what I'm saying? To cutting up the body and hanging it on display. Her feet were then found a block away laying side by side as if they were still attached to the body. So propped up like normal. What is wrong with people? Like I don't understand. Right. You know, we have seen this happen in some of the prior cases where victims' bodies are staged.

And it is very often done as a method to thwart an investigation or shock the finder or give perverted pleasure to the serial killer, obviously. But according to article, the rarity of unusual dispositions of victim bodies in the Journal of Forensic Science, it is also extremely rare found in only 1.3% of victims are left in an unusual position. So I feel like this is like something talked about often, but it's actually not as common anymore.

as we think it is to stage a body in an extremely gruesome way like this. On December 2nd, 1979, Dita and Jane Doe are found on fire at the Travel Inn Motel, which is the story we started with. On May 12th, Cottingham attacks Pamela Winesfield and savagely bites her. He had a thing for biting. Was he like a cannibal? He'd eat it. Okay. He just would bite off very...

inappropriate pieces of their body. Okay. He then dumps her alive in a parking lot in New Jersey. In April of 1979, Cottingham's wife, Janet, files for divorce. Okay. So she doesn't

He hasn't been arrested yet and she doesn't know about the killings. So she says, but their marriage has gotten to a point where she's now filed for divorce. And I'm sure it's because he's just killing and attacking at this point. Yeah. I mean, I think I'd like to think that, and I'm sure this is the truth. I'm sure she didn't know because I feel like any right-minded person, if they knew their husband was killing someone, they'd be like, Oh, no way. Right. No way. Right. Especially to the extent he is. Right.

So this is the story we started with at the beginning of the episode at in Times Square where he bumps into Peter while carrying the victim's heads out of the hotel. This is when he earned the nickname the torso killer. The

The New York Police Department at this point has now found two, three bodies with heads missing or legs missing, just basically the torso of a body. And so they began staging mannequins wearing the clothes of the victims in hopes that it would help provide information for, did you see this woman? Was she seen with anyone? And this is when they're starting to realize we definitely have a serial killer who's doing this and we're naming them the torso killer.

On May 4th, 1985, months later, the body of Valerie Ann Street was found at the same quality inn where Cottingham had dumped Mary Ann Carr's body in the parking lot back in 1977. Her body was found under the bed for housekeeping to find when they came in and started vacuuming and they bumped into a hard object underneath the bed. Can you imagine that? No. Can you imagine that? No. What would you do? I...

I don't know. I don't even know how you close your eyes after that. Blows my mind. Valerie had a bruised lip, traces of adhesive tape on her face, had stab wounds, shallow lacerations around her chest, more bruising on her body, and she had also been sexually assaulted. Her clothes and her shoes were missing.

Peter Vronsky writes that this quality inn motel on Route 17 became Cottingham's rent-a-killing ground. Valerie had been a sex worker in Florida who had a prior charge for sex working in Miami, which is how they were even eventually able to identify her. Valerie had recently arrived in New York City and Cottingham had driven her to New Jersey.

The Quality Inn Motel now is actually a three-star Holiday Inn hotel. It's still around. Not even a week after Valerie Street was found, Cottingham killed again on May 15, 1980. So he's on a rampage at this point. Jean Rayner was found strangled and her throat cut in a historic motel in New York City. He did some massive...

mutilation to her body that I'm not going to go into detail of, but he also set her body on fire before fleeing, just like he had done previously at the Travel Inn Hotel. Gene Reiner is the last of the victims we know that Cottingham killed.

As Peter Vronsky shares, most of Cottingham's crimes were not murders. But given the violent crimes like abductions and sexual assaults he was committing, there's probably more murders out there that he just hasn't confessed to yet. On May 22nd, not even a week later, he's on a full rampage and attempts to murder Leslie Ann O'Dell at the Quality Inn, but is interrupted and arrested. And this is how he is caught. Why do you think they go on these rampages? What is that about?

From what I've learned, it's similar to drug use. So they're getting a high every time they're killing. This is whether it's sexual, whatever it is they're feeling, they're getting a high from it. And then the next time they kill, the high is a little less. And the next time they kill, the high is a little less. And then they need to do it more often and they need to do it more gruesome or more victims. You know what I mean? So that's what it's been described as is it's an addiction that they can't feed, which is why they end up just

rampaging to the point where they're obviously going to get caught because they're getting messy they're doing it too often type thing interesting so after getting arrested janet coddingham's wife withdraws her divorce petition and just moves away with her and her three children so she's like i'm not even gonna take the time to divorce you i'm just leaving i'm leaving on august 14th 1980 coddingham is charged with the murders of marianne jean reiner and dita godorzy and jane doe

On September 15, 1980, he is identified in police lineup by his living victims. He actually shaved off his beard and mustache to try and evade this recognition, but they all still ID'd him. On June 6, 1981, his trial starts and Cottingham testifies at his own trial. Keep in mind, police do not know about all 11 victims at this point. Only we do. He admits to a fascination with bondage, but denies that he's ever actually hurt anyone. So he pleads not guilty.

He says he did not commit any of the murders he's being charged with and accuses all the women who survived of lying. So literally that's his only defense. Women are lying. It's just the whole ego thing again. Right. And, and I'm like these women, the reason you're getting charged with these exact murders is because their stuff was in your trophy room.

Yeah. So it's not even like it was just, oh, we think he's done this. There was hardcore evidence in his house. It's just like comical and just, it's comical to the point where it's like, you're just, you're an idiot. Right. Like you are straight up an idiot. So the charges listed in Cottingham's New Jersey indictment included kidnapping, attempted murder, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated sexual assault while armed, aggravated sexual assault while armed again. There are two different types of sexual assaults.

And then another aggravated sexual assault for another different type of sexual assault. Possession of a weapon, possession of controlled dangerous substances, which would basically mean that he was drugging his victims to try to get control of them. On June 11th, 1981, Richard Cottingham was convicted on 15 of those 20 counts.

On June 14th, he attempts suicide. This would be the first of multiple attempts. On July 25th, 1981, Cottingham is sentenced to 197 years in state prison. In February of 1982, Mary Ann Carr's trial starts, but Cottingham collapses during the trial because of an ulcer and it results in a mistrial. He recovers and trial starts again. And during this trial, he attempts to escape. What?

While the trial is happening, but it's quickly caught. Like he tries to run out of the courtroom. And obviously he was stressed out because he had an ulcer. So obviously he knew...

Karma was coming for him. Yes, exactly. He is later convicted of second degree murder for Marianne Carr's murder and is sentenced to 25 years to life, but he's already in prison for the earlier convictions. In the early 2000s, a detective named Robert was still looking into the murders because remember over half of his victims at this point have still not been tied to him. While this is happening, Jennifer Weiss, who is the daughter of Dita Godarzy, Cottingham's fire victim. So,

So one of the women that he lit on fire in Times Square and cut off her head had a daughter. And that daughter begins looking for her biological mother in the early 2000s and discovers that it's one of Cottingham's victims. Oh my gosh. She begins visiting Cottingham in prison. So she goes and visits her mother's murderer and somehow begins an unlikely friendship with him.

She claims to see him as a father figure. And there's literally a picture of her visiting him in prison and pretending to strangle him while he plays along. Like he's like, Oh, I'm not sure how I, I'm not sure how I feel about that. All I'm going to say is trauma is weird. Trauma is weird. And everyone reacts differently to trauma. And if, if this was her way of trying to cope,

Go for it, I guess. Yes. So, I mean, I don't know if it's our place to judge because she had found out that her mother had been brutally murdered. So, back to the detective who had begun looking into the cases. He, too, begins visiting Cottingham regularly to try and learn more. He's like, I know there's more victims. So, please, let me gain a relationship with you and tell me. Cottingham agrees to do a public interview and in this interview is the first time he boasts about killing up to 85 women. Okay.

No, there's no way. There's no way. This is the issue though. He's, he's never even pled guilty to anything at this point. He's always denied everything. He finally does a public interview and in the interview goes, Oh yeah, I've killed 85 women. No, it's a hundred percent an ego thing. It was a hundred percent that, and that's it.

In September of 2010, after years of building a relationship with Cottingham, Cottingham begins telling the detective a story about a woman that he killed whose name he couldn't remember. And it ended up being Nancy Shiva Vogel, his first known murder. So he tells him this story. The detective goes back and is like, oh my gosh, this is the exact murder he's talking about.

He pleads guilty to it. From the years 2014 to 2019, Cottingham tells this detective details about other murders. Details only the killer would know, and this is how they find out that he murdered Irene Blaze. After working out a deal for immunity, he then confesses to Jackie Harp and Denise Falska as well.

In April of 2021, Cottingham confessed to the double abduction and murders of Lorraine Marie Kelly and Marianne Pryor 47 years after he murdered them. At this point, he's physically tied to or accurately confessed to 11 people. In August of 2025, Richard Cottingham will be eligible for parole. What? Because he was never sentenced to life. But he won't get it. There's no way he gets it.

Well, so here's the thing. It's unclear because when he was sentenced to this, no one, number one, knew about the extent of his murders. And then for immunity, so he can't be tried for those because he confessed under immunity. But his recent confessions will probably affect his parole hearing. He'll go to the parole hearing and they'll say,

You confess to killing 11 people. Back in you go. Like when we originally gave you this sentence, we thought it was only three. And in 2025, he will be, he'll be 79 years old. So basically 80 at the time he's up for parole. And that is the story we're going to end with this.

the names of the victims, Nancy Vogel, Irene Blase, Jackie Harp, Denise Velasca, Marianne Carr, Lorraine Marie Kelly, Marianne Pryor, Valerie Street, Dita Godarzy, Jane Doe, because we don't know who that one is, and Jean Rainer, not to mention the countless victims that he left alive. And that is the victims of Richard Cottingham, the torso killer.

Man, these serial killers are just a different breed. Right. They're just something else. And because it's just another level of evil. We say it every time we cover a serial killer. It's another level of evil. Yeah. All right, you guys. Thank you so much for listening. A reminder that we will have merch coming up and available. We love you guys so much. And we will see you next week with another episode. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.