Episode 22- Richard Cottingham: New York's Torso Killer Part 3

Listen To The Full Episode Here

Monday, October 30, 1967, was a normal day for two young girls who had returned from school and gone up to a bedroom to play. A while later, while peering out of one of the upstairs windows they saw what they would later recount appeared to them a waxy mannequin lying in a car parked on the street below. Curious, they went outside to investigate but when they got closer, to their horror they realized it was a woman lying naked in the backseat of the car. In this episode we wrap up our series deep dive into the known crimes of Richard Cottingham. As of February 2024, Cottingham continues to serve his life sentences in a New Jersey State Prison. 

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of the assault, torture, and disfigurement that victims of Richard Cottingham endured. In this episode, some of the victims discussed are in their early teens. Some listeners may find the topics discussed difficult to listen to. Listener discretion is advised. 

Richard Francis Cottingham

Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, New Jersey, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Getting The Confessions

Robert Anzilotti- Bergen County detective who started work on 12 cold cases. He would forge a relationship with Richard Cottingham in an attempt to help solve some of those cold cases. It would take many years of hard work to get Cottingham to open up about his crime, but the hard work paid off and some of those 12 cold cases would be solved and closure given to families of the victims. 

Jennifer Weiss- Daughter of one of Richard Cottingham's New York Victims, Deedeh Goodarzi. Jennifer was adopted at ten weeks old and started to search for her birth parents as an adult. She would learn from the orphanage where she was placed prior to adoption that her mother was one of Richard Cottingham's victims. She would eventually write to Cottingham, forging a relationship with him in an attempt to get him to tell her where he had hidden the head and hands of her mother and the Jane Doe. While there is some controversy on the subject, Cottingham did tell Rolling Stone that his relationship with Jennifer is one of the reasons he has confessed to some of the crimes. 

Peter Vronsky- A forensic author and historian, Peter Vronsky would work with Richard Cottingham to write his book- Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters. Vronsky states that he had encountered Richard Cottingham in the elevator of the Travel Inn Motor Lodge when Cottingham was leaving with a black duffle bag that likely contained the heads of the two victims that Cottingham would leave there on December 2, 1979. You can find his blog post regarding his encounter here: https://serialkillershistory.wordpress.com/2017/11/01/serial-killer-history/

The Victims Revealed

Nancy Vogal

On October 27, 1967, Nancy had plans to play Bingo at St. Margaret’s Roman Catholic Church with a friend, but she never showed. She was married to her husband Henry for nine years and they had two young children. Henry reported Nancy missing the following morning. Police initially found nothing. Her body would be found a few days later in the back of her car parked in a residential neighborhood. Cottingham was offered a plea deal, life in prison without possibility of parole for pleading guilty to the murder of Nancy Vogal. This wouldn’t change anything for him since he was already serving multiple life sentences for his previous convictions. He agreed to the plea deal however and they set up a court date for August 2010.

Irene Blase, Denise Falasca, & Jacalyn Harp

[Left] 18 year old Irene Blase disappeared from a bus stop on April 7, 1969. She was last seen at a bus stop speaking with a man who was frequently tugging on his right ear during their conversation. She would be found the following day in the Saddlebrook River. On June 20, 2014, Richard Cottingham would formally confess to her murder. 

[Middle] On July 14, 1969, 15 year old Denise Falasca was seen getting into a car along a road she had been walking on her way to meet her boyfriend. She was found the following day by a boy riding his bicycle near the Saddlebrook Cemetary. 

[Right] On July 17, 1968, 13 year old Jacalyn Harp was walking home after band practice when she was approached by Richard Cottingham. He would follow her after she refused a ride from him. She was found later by police in an ally about a half a mile from her home. Richard Cottingham confessed her murder on June 1, 2017

All three cases were closed by Bergen County through exceptional clearance. 

Lorraine Kelley & Mary Ann Pryor

On August 9, 1974, 16-year-old Lorraine Kelley and 17-year-old Mary Ann Pryor were two best friends going to the mall together to buy a bathing suit for an upcoming vacation to the Jersey Shore. The girls were hitchhiking to the mall when Cottingham drove past them on his way to work. A few witnesses would later report seeing them getting into a car with a white man. They were found a few days later in Montvale. Richard Cottingham would formally confess to their murders on April 14, 2021 and receive two more life sentences. 

Lorraine McGraw

In August of 2022, investigators offered Richard Cottingham a non-prosecution agreement and received a confession from him to the murder of Lorraine McGraw. Hikers found her body on March 1, 1970 off of Tweed Boulevard in South Nyack. Like Jennifer Weiss, Lorraine’s granddaughter was searching for the truth as to what happened to her grandmother. She believed for years that Cottingham had something to do with it, so she wrote to him. 

Diane Cusick

In February of 1968 Richard Cottingham took the life of Diane Cusick, a 23 year old mother of one who worked as a dance teacher. Diane had told her parents that she was going to the mall on February 15th to buy shoes. With Diane’s case, investigators had DNA evidence, which was how they were able to finally connect Cottingham to her murder 54 years later. Cottingham would would recieve 25 years to life in prison for the murder of Diane in exchange for non-prosecution for the confession of another four murders. 

Mary Beth Heinz

Mary Beth Heinz disappeared at the age of 21 on May 5th, 1972. Cottingham confessed to her murder as part of his plea deal on the charges for Diane Cusick. 

Laverne Moy & Marita Rosado Nieves (Not Pictured)

Laverne Moy was a 23 year old mother of two. She was found two months after Mary Beth Heinz in the same area of Rockville Center in a muddy creek. 

Marita Rosado Nieves, aged 18, was found on Jones Beach by park maintenance workers after having been strangled on or about December 27, 1973

Both of these confessions from Cottingham were part of the non-prosecution deal with Richard Cottingham for the murder of Diane Cusick.

Sheila Hyman

On July 20, 1973, Sheila's husband found her in the bathroom of their North Woodmere home having been attacked and left deceased while he was out shopping. Until his death in 2004, Sheila's husband lived with the burden of suspicion for her murder. As part of his plea deal for the death of Diane Cusick, Richard Cottingham would formally confess to Sheila's murder. 

Mary Ann Della Sala

Mary Ann Della Sala, a 17 years old senior at Hackensack High School disappeared in January of 1967 while walking home after her shirt at the Shop-Rite on Essex Street in Hackensack, New Jersey. She was found in the Passaic River three months later. Richard Cottingham would confess to her murder in March of 2022. 

Episode Sources