Hell and High Horror Podcast

    On October 10th, 1969, Cottingham was arrested for drunk driving in New York and served 10 days in jail and paid a fine of $50. His petty criminal record also included a shoplifting incident in 1972. He was convicted of stealing from Stern’s department store in Paramus, NJ and paid a $50 fine. The next year, Cottingham was arrested and charged with robbery, sodomy, and sexual assault in New York City, but the case was dismissed. His first child, Blair, was born on October 15th, 1973 and just four months later Cottingham was charged with unlawful imprisonment and robbery in New York City, but again the case was dismissed. Between the years of 1970 and 1974, Cottingham and his family lived in the Ledgewood Terrace apartments in Little Ferry, NJ. They moved into a rented three-bedroom home at 29 Vreeland Street in Lodi, NJ in February of 1975. Janet and Cottingham’s second child, Scott, was born just one month later. Janet gave birth to their last child, Jenny, On October 13th, 1976. In the years the followed, Cottingham’s crimes escalated to drastic levels of sadism and violence. 

On December 16th, 1977 at 7:00 in the morning, the body of 26-year-old Maryann Carr was discovered in Little Ferry. Carr, an X-Ray technician, was still wearing her uniform and was wedged between a chain-link fence and a parked van. The pants of her uniform had been cut to expose her left leg and a clump of her own hair was placed on her right leg and she was missing her shoes. She had lacerations to her chest and feet and showed signs of having been bound at the wrists and ankles. Traces of adhesive tape were present around her mouth and there was an imprint of a ligature around her neck. An autopsy revealed that she had a hemorrhage on her left occipital bone, indicating that a blunt instrument was used. Carr was approximately 5 foot 5 inches tall, 115lbs, and had dyed blonde hair. 

    Carr, a nurse, had been seen last in the parking lot of her apartment building, the Ledgewood Terrance Apartment, which was visible from the crime scene. A neighbor had seen her talking to a white male, about 32 years old with brown hair. Investigators suspected that Carr had been taken shortly after she arrived home from work. Cottingham had abducted her and taken her to a nearby hotel. Inside, he had raped, cut, beaten, and bit her for hours. He tied her up and strangled her before dumping the body where it was later found. Just like Nancy Vogel, Maryann Carr’s case would grow cold for several years. Meanwhile, Cottingham began a three-year-long affair with a woman named Barbara Lucas. 

On March 22nd, 1978, Richard Cottingham was drinking at the Third Avenue Tavern in New York. He noticed a woman who was also drinking at the bar, 22-year-old Karen Schilt. Schilt, like Carr, was 5 foot 5 inches tall with artificially colored blonde hair. She weighed about 140lbs and had blue eyes. She had just finished a shift waiting tables at Tuesday’s restaurant on Third Avenue. She had gone home to have dinner with her boyfriend, and the father of her unborn child, at 6:00 pm. She had left work just after 8:00 pm and went straight to the tavern. Cottingham approached Schilt and introduced himself as John Schaefer. The two had a couple of drinks together and at one point in the conversation Cottingham asked Schilt if she was a “working girl”. She told him that she was not, but Cottingham kept hinting that he thought she was a sex worker. Cottingham told her that he lived in New Jersey, but liked to drink in the city.    

After about an hour at the bar, Schilt left and started walking back to her apartment at 94 Third Avenue, which was a little under one mile away (14 blocks, near big daddy’s). She began to feel dizzy and ill and suspected that someone had drugged her drink. Cottingham had followed her out of the bar and offered to drive her home. Because of her physical state, Schilt agreed. They started driving and Schilt soon realized that they were not heading toward her apartment, but were instead en route out of Manhattan toward New Jersey. 

Cottingham offered Schilt a pill to make her feel better. The drug was Tuinal, a barbiturate that depresses the nervous system. Schilt took the pill and fell asleep. Luckily, she would stay unconscious for the majority of her assault at the hands of Cottingham. He drove to a parking lot across from the Ledgewood Terrace Apartments. There, he sexually assaulted Schilt. At one point, she briefly woke up to a searing pain on her breast. She remembered hearing Cottingham say that he had once lived where they currently were. Schilt quickly slipped back into unconsciousness. 

She was found lying with her breasts and genitals exposed by Little Ferry patrolman Raymond Auger. Auger checked Schilt’s pulse and discovered that she was close to death. She was missing her coat, scarf, purse, and a silver ring. Her pulse was weak and her breathing was shallow. Auger called for an ambulance and Schilt was transported to Hackensack Hospital. Paramedics had to administer oxygen and cardiac massage to bring her heartbeat back before taking her to the hospital. Karen Schilt survived the horrific attack and blood testing confirmed that she had amobarbital and secobarbital in her system when she was attacked. Doctors noted extensive injuries on the young woman including bruises on her legs, cigarette burns on her left breast, trauma to her elbow, scratch marks on both breasts, and bite trauma to her chest. 

Seven months later on October 10th, 1978 Cottingham set out on 8th avenue looking for his next victim. He found Susan Geiger, a sex worker who, like Karen Schilt, was pregnant at the time. Cottingham approached the 5 foot tall, 96 pound Geiger and asked if she was available. She told him that she was committed for the evening and he offered $200 for an appointment with her that night. She declined but gave Cottingham her telephone number and told him to call for a date. He called her the next day and arranged an appointment for that night, October 11th. Geiger met Cottingham in front of the Alpine Hotel at around midnight. Cottingham took her to Flanagan’s Tavern between 65th and 66th streets. He told Geiger that his name was Jim and that he was married with young children and lived in New Jersey. He also told her that he worked with computers in Manhattan. During their conversation, he boasted that he had recently won a substantial amount of money from gambling and produced a wad of cash, likely containing a few thousand dollars, to back up this story. At one point Geiger got up and when she returned Cottingham gave her a screwdriver cocktail that he had ordered for her. He told her to keep stirring it with a straw. She did so and soon after she took a few sips of the drink she began feeling dizzy and detached. Like Schilt, her memory of what happened that night was incomplete. 

First, Cottingham put her in his car, which she remembered was a “light-colored, older thunderbird with a soiled interior”. She passed out in the vehicle and awoke only a few times before morning. She remembered snippets of Cottingham sexually assaulting her, but she was physically unable to fight back. She also remembered Cottingham using a length of green garden hose to whip her. She finally regained full consciousness in the early afternoon of October 12th. She awoke on the floor of a motel room. She later found out that she had spent the night in Room 28 of the Airport Motel in South Hackensack, NJ. She had been robbed by Cottingham, who had taken her handbag and everything in it as well as her gold earrings, which had been ripped downward from her ears, causing them to tear. She was severely injured and was bleeding from her vagina, rectum, face, mouth, and breasts. She had scratches on her swollen face and her lip was bleeding. Some of her fake nails were missing. Despite her horrific physical state, she got dressed in her torn blouse and left the motel room. She could barely walk and made it as far as the motel parking lot, where South Hackensack Police Captain John Agar noticed her. He pulled his patrol car into the parking lot of the motel and asked Geiger, who was wandering around frantically, to tell him her name. She was still impaired by the drugs she had been slipped and appeared confused. She told Captain Agar that her name was Susan Geiger and recounted as much of the last 24 hours as she could remember. 

Captain Agar went to examine the motel room and found several articles of Geiger’s clothing that she was unable to put on, some of her broken fake fingernails, an unmade bed, and two discarded motel towels. Agar made sure that these items were recovered for examination. Agar drove Geiger to the Hackensack Hospital, where Karen Schilt had also been treated. They tested Geiger’s blood and the same drugs that were in Schilt’s system were found in Geiger’s. Doctors took note of all of her injuries, which included lacerations over her right eye, on her lips, abdomen, thorax, and in her mouth. She had bruises on her left thigh and buttocks, as well as abrasions on her right thigh. Her breasts had been violently bitten and had contusions and abrasions. Geiger, like Schilt, was treated and her case was opened but remained inactive. The towels from the motel room were tested and forensic scientists found seminal fluid on the fabric. They tested the secretion and were able to determine that the offender had type O blood. 

On November 29tt, 1979, Richard Cottingham checked in to the Travel Inn Motor Lodge at 515 West 42nd Street in Manhattan. He booked room 417 under the name Carl Wilson. He said he lived on Anderson Place in Merlin, NJ (Merlin NJ doesn’t exist). After arriving at his room, Cottingham hung a “do not disturb” sign on his door. Staff reported that he rarely left his room after checking in. Then, on December 2nd, 1979, at 9:00 in the morning smoke and ash started drifting through the hallway on the fourth floor of the Travel Inn Motor Lodge. The fire department was called and the firefighters found that the smoke was coming from Room 417. Mere minutes before the emergency call was made, a man with bushy brown eyebrows, a clean-shaven face, and sandy hair parted to the right rushed out of the hotel lobby. He was carrying a large bag. 

After Cottingham left the hotel, he got in his car and began driving away. He was pulled over by police, who asked him what he was doing out at 3:30 in the morning. He told them that he was staying at a nearby hotel and was driving to get something to eat. The officers never asked to see inside of the bag and took Cottingham at his word. He then disposed of the contents of the bag. 

Meanwhile, the firefighters entered Room 417, they identified two figures through the thick smoke. One fireman, who had been with the New York Fire Department for 15 years, was able to drag one of the unconscious people out of the room and into the hallway. He got on his knees to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but when he lowered his face toward the person he discovered that there was no head. When he could finally make out the person’s body, he was horrified to see that the body was also missing its hands. That firefighter was so traumatized that he sought out trauma counseling after this incident. 

Another body was removed from the room, also missing its head and hands. Firefighters were able to put out the flames and the police were called to investigate the crime scene. The room had been cleaned of fingerprints and most evidence, although blood remained on the mattress. The victims’ clothing was found folded in the bathtub. Each woman’s outfit was folded with her shoes on top. The heads and hands of the victims were not recovered from the room, nor was the dismemberment tool, although Cottingham later revealed that he used a hacksaw to sever the six body parts before stashing them in his bag and leaving the building. It was later determined that the woman had been sexually assaulted and beaten while still alive. The bodies had cigarette burn marks, bruises, and bite marks around the breasts. Each woman had been placed on a twin bed and Cottingham had attempted to destroy the bodies by setting the bedsheets on fire. The bodies were charred where the flames had touched them, but the trauma inflicted by the killer was visually evident. The amount of blood left on the mattresses indicated that the decapitations occurred on the beds. Hotel staff told authorities that the man staying in that room was around 35 years old, with light hair and pale skin.

Autopsies determined that the women had been killed at different times, though the identities of the victims were unknown. One victim was thought to be in her late teens. The other was eventually identified as 23-year-old Deedeh Goodarzi. Goodarzi was an immigrant from Kuwait. She was a sex worker and had been living in Trenton, NJ and commuted to Manhattan by train. Goodarzi was known to be a “high-class” sex worker who did business in much fancier hotels than the one she was killed in. The other victim is still a Jane Doe. 

On May 5th, 1980 the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street was found by Maryann Sancanelli, a housekeeper at the Hasbrouck Heights Quality Inn in NJ. Sancanelli was cleaning Room 132 and found it unusual that one bed had not been slept in by the previous night’s guest. The bedspread was slightly askew, though, and the other bed had been slept in. She began vacuuming the room and when she went to clean under the unmade bed, the vacuum hit something behind the hanging bedspread. She lifted the fabric and found Street’s corpse. Sancanelli called the police. Like the previous victims, Street had suffered a brutal death. She had been handcuffed behind her back and the handcuffs had cut into the flesh of her wrists. She had been gagged with adhesive tape, which left residue around her moth. Two deep ligature marks were found on her neck. She had bite marks, bruises, and scratches on her breasts and had been hit in the shins of both legs. No clothing or personal items were found in the room. Street was 5 foot 4 inches tall, weighed 135 pounds, had blue eyes, and had dyed strawberry blonde hair. 

Police were able to isolate a fingerprint from the ratchet side of the handcuffs. An autopsy was performed and the Bergen County Medical Examiner stated that Street’s injuries were “bizarre and startling”. She had been hit with a blunt instrument so hard that she had contusions to her brain. The murder weapon was likely a thin cord that had been tied around her neck and pulled upward from the right side. Street had checked into the hotel under the false name Shelly Dudley. She had listed Florida as her home state, which was partially true. Valerie Street had arrived in New York just 6 days earlier. On May 4th between 4 and 4:30 pm, Street had checked in to the hotel. She was heard from at 10:00 the next morning when she called the front desk to tell them she wanted to keep the room for one more day. She was likely murdered immediately after making that phone call.

Fingerprints finally revealed Street’s real identity. She had been convicted of prostitution in Florida and the fingerprints on the arrest record matched the body. Another sex worker told police that she had last seen Street on May 3rd at 1 am on the corner of 32nd Street and Madison Avenue. Although authorities now knew her identity, Valerie Street’s murder would go unsolved for over a month, but would eventually be linked to the murder of Maryann Carr, who had been found near the same hotel. 

On May 12th, Cottingham picked up sex worker Pamela Weisenfeld in New York City. Cottingham likely drugged Weisenfeld as he had Schilt and Geiger. He drove her to Teaneck, NJ where he beat, tortured, and raped her. She was left in a parking lot where police found her the next morning, covered in bruises and bite marks on her chest. Weisenfeld was treated at a local hospital and survived. 

On May 15th, 1980, just 10 days after Valerie Street’s body was found, the FDNY was called to the Hotel Seville located at 22 East 29th Street off of 5th avenue. A fire had been set in one of the hotel rooms. Firefighters were able to put out the flames and found the severely mutilated remains of 25-year-old Jean Reyner. Reyner, like Goodarzi, was a sex worker who catered to upper-class clients. It was unusual for her to be working in a hotel as seedy as the Seville. Unlike the other victims found at the Travel Lodge, Reyner still had her head and hands intact. However, Cottingham had dissected both of Reyner’s breasts and had placed them next to one another on the headboard for police to find. Signs of bondage and torture were found in the room and on the body. Police almost immediately linked this murder with the Midtown Torso Cases, as they had been dubbed. 

One week later on May 22nd, 1980 Cottingham solicited the services of 18-year-old Leslie Ann O’Dell. O’Dell stood at 5 feet 4 inches tall and had blonde hair. She had arrived in New York from Washington State just four days prior and had quickly been trafficked by bus station pimps. Cottingham told O’Dell that his name was Tommy and took her to a bar, where the two drank for a couple of hours. He told O’Dell that he was going to drive them to New Jersey where they could get a hotel room and have sex. On the way, they stopped to have dinner at the New Star Diner in South Hackensack, NJ. The diner is located half a mile from the Ledgewood Terrace Apartments. From there, Cottingham and O’Dell went to the Quality Inn where Valerie Street had been murdered 17 days earlier. 

Cottingham made O’Dell wait in the car while he checked in at the front entrance. He then came out to get her and their belongings from the trunk of his car. They entered Room 117 and Cottingham briefly left to move the car. O’Dell waited for him to return, completely unaware that she was about to be tortured in unimaginable ways. When Cottingham returned, he was brandishing a knife and told her to undress and lay face down on the bed. He got on top of her and used the knife to threaten her. He told her that he would slit her throat if she made any sound. He swiftly handcuffed her wrists behind her back, as he had done to Valerie Street. He told O’Dell that he was sexually aroused by torturing and beating women and that he had done this to other women before her. He ranted at her about how she was a “whore” and had to be punished. He reportedly scraped her Pre-sacral region with the knife (internal or external?) before raping her. He lacerated her sternum and scraped, bit, stabbed, and cut her breasts. He then forced her to perform oral sex on him. Throughout the entire ordeal, Cottingham verbally threatened and abused O’Dell. 

Cottingham later used another pair of handcuffs to shackle O’Dell’s ankles before removing the handcuffs around her wrists. He then ordered her to perform a variety of nauseating acts, including licking his entire body, kissing and licking his feet, and enduring sodomy. At one point, O’Dell instinctively screamed and Cottingham immediately threw her on the bed and started strangling her. O’Dell was convinced that she was about to die. Luckily, motel staff had heard her scream and called the police, not wanting to take any chances after Valerie Street’s murder. Before police arrived, staff members attempted to enter the room. Cottingham told O’Dell what to say to make them go away and held her at knifepoint while she spoke through the slightly open door. The hotel employee asked O’Dell if everything was alright and she responded “yes”, but moved her eyes side-to-side in an attempt to communicate that she was in danger. Cottingham fled, but police intercepted him and took him into custody. He had an opened roll of adhesive tape, two leather slave collars, a leather gag, a fake gun a knife, liquor, handcuffs, and Tunial capsules in his possession when he was arrested. According to the officers who interrogated Cottingham, he uttered only one sentence, “I have a problem with women”. He then asked for an attorney and the interview ended. 

Authorities searched his home and discovered a private room that he did not allow his wife or children to go into. In that basement room, investigators found various trophies from Cottingham’s murders. Deedeh Goodarzi’s earrings, Maryann Carr’s keys, and dozens of pieces of clothing jewelry from victims. News of Cottingham’s crimes and court proceedings were plastered across newspapers all over the tri-state area. The media dubbed him “The Torso Killer”, “The Times Square Ripper”, “The Butcher of Times Square”, “The New York Ripper”, and “The Times Square Torso Ripper”. In April of 1978, Janet Cottingham had filed for divorce from Cottingham, citing “extreme cruelty” and noting that Cottingham had refused to have sex with her since 1976. Throughout early 1980, Cottingham had another affair with Jean Connelly until his arrest. After Cottingham’s arrest in 1980, Janet withdrew her petition for divorce and moved to upstate New York with the couple’s three children. 

On August 15th, Cottingham was charged with triple homicide in New York City for the murders of Jean Reyner, Deedeh Goodarzi, and the Jane Doe. In September, Karen Schilt and Susan Geiger identified Cottingham in a police lineup. Two days later the Bergen County Prosecutor's office in NJ indicted Cottingham on 21 counts. Cottingham’s trial in New Jersey began in June of 1981. Throughout the trial, Cottingham took copious notes. The District Attorney, Dennis Calo, remembers him as a very intelligent man who was extremely involved in his own defense. He was often seen passing notes to his attorneys with suggestions for them. Cottingham never confessed to the murders, instead opting to drag jury members and the loved ones of his victims through a trial. Several family members of the victims were called to the stand to identify the victims from the crime scene photos. 

On June 6th Cottingham testified at his trial. He told the court that he had a predilection toward bondage pornography but that he did not enjoy hurting others. He denied knowing any of the living victims besides Leslie O’Dell since he was caught with her in the hotel. On June 11th he was convicted of 15 out of 20 counts. 3 days later Cottingham attempted suicide by drinking six ounces of liquid antidepressant medication in his Bergen County jail cell. The next month Cottingham was sentenced to 173-197 years in state prison for his crimes. He was also fined $2,350. 

On February 25th, 1982 Cottingham collapsed while being escorted back to his cell while waiting for the Maryann Carr trial to begin. He was taken to a hospital and was diagnosed with a duodenal ulcer. Because of Cottingham’s illness, a mistrial was declared. When the trial for the murder of Maryann Carr began again in the fall of 1982, Cottingham attempted to escape but was captured quickly. On October 10th, he was convicted of second-degree murder in a nonjury trial and was sentenced to 25 years to life with a minimum of 30 years to be served concurrently with his previous sentence. In March of 1983, Cottingham was transferred to a men’s detention center in Manhattan to await his trial for the murders of Deedeh Goodarzi, “Jane Doe”, and Jean Reyner. On July 5th, 1984, Cottingham smashed his eyeglasses and attempted to cut his wrists with the shards in front of the jury. 4 days later he was convicted for all three murders and was sentenced to 75 years to life. 

Cottingham was incarcerated in the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. In 2010, Cottingham confessed to the 1967 murder of Nancy Shiava Vogel. Cottingham was tried for Vogel’s murder and received a new concurrent life sentence. 

In the first week of January 2020, Cottingham broke his decades-long silence and confessed to three murders committed in the 1960s. Cottingham claims that he murdered Jacalyn Harp on July 17th, 1968. 13-year-old Harp was walking home from band practice in Midland Park when Cottingham pulled his car up next to her. He asked her if she wanted a ride and she declined. She began walking forward, but Cottingham drove ahead of her and got out of the car. Harp began running and Cottingham caught up to her. He dragged her to an area of bushes and sexually assaulted her before strangling the young teen to death. Jacqueline Harp’s murder remained unsolved until Cottingham confessed in 2020.

On April 7th, 1969, Cottingham claims that he observed 18-year-old Irene Blase shopping in Hackensack, NJ. He approached her and asked her if she wanted to get a drink with him. Blase and Cottingham took a bus to a bar. After a couple of hours, Cottingham offered to drive Blase back to the bus station and she accepted. Blase was found the next day laying face down in four feet of water in Saddle River. She had been strangled with a thin cord, possibly a length of wire or the chain of her crucifix necklace. 

On July 14th, 1969, at around 9:00 pm 15-year-old Denise Falasca was walking on Old Hook Road in Emerson, NJ. She was on her way to meet friends in Westwood, NJ and was expected to be home at 11:00 pm. Cottingham pulled his car up beside her and offered to drive her to her destination. Falasca accepted the ride. The next day, Tuesday, July 15th, Denise Falasca’s body was found near a cemetery on Westminster Place in Saddle Brook, NJ. All three of his newly named victims were High School students in Bergen County, NJ. 

Cottingham has nine confirmed murders to his name as of February 2020. It is estimated that he could have many more. His early murders were all committed via strangulation of the victim, and all of his victims were white women between the ages of 13 and 29. His later victims were typically between 5 foot and 5’5” tall, weighed between 95 and 140lbs, and had dyed or naturally blonde hair. 

Richard Cottingham is classified as a power-assertive killer. His actions indicate a need to dominate and control his victims. Unlike the vast majority of serial killers, Cottingham experienced no abuse as a child. He had no history of head trauma or brain damage nor did he have physical of mental deficiencies. He had an average IQ, no history of mental health issues or drug abuse in his immediate family, and had no psychological issues surrounding his sexuality. In 2011, journalist Nadia Fezzani interviewed Cottingham for a French documentary. Cottingham had not agreed to an interview before accepting Fezzani’s request after two years of negotiation and correspondence. In his letters, Cottingham claimed to have begun killing 12 years before the murder of Maryann Carr, placing his first murder in 1965, before Nancy Vogel’s slaying. He claimed to have over 85, but under 100 victims, total. In the interview, Cottingham appears in his tan prison uniform with a full, white beard and mustache, his signature bushy eyebrows, and now lightened hair in the same style it had been upon his arrest. He walks with a cane on his right side and although he was always a stocky man, he appears to weight around 300 pounds. 

Cottingham told Fezzani “I wanted to be the best at whatever I did. And I wanted to be the best serial killer”. He chuckled and continued on “I’ve probably done anything a man would want to do with a woman. Obviously, I must be sick somehow, normal people don’t do what I did.” When asked why he had cut off Jean Reyner’s breasts, he responded: “to do something different...to create some sensationalism”. He told her that he had no feelings when he committed his crimes. He said that he could put himself into a mental state that was like “remote control”. Cottingham admitted that the “power of holding someone’s fate in your hands” sexually aroused him. He told Fezzani that he enjoyed torturing his victims and inciting fear in them and that he would go only one or two weeks in between murders over a span of 10-15 years. However, this figure would place his victim count at around 390 victims, which is far out of his estimation. (An average of one victim every 10 weeks would align more with Cottingham’s estimation.)

Richard Francis Cottingham is now 73 years old and is eligible for parole in August 2025, although it is unknown how his latest confessions will affect that date. Investigators are still trying to elicit additional confessions from Cottingham, as they have been since 2004.

Sources:

Serial Violence: Analysis of Modus Operandi and Signature Characteristics of Killers by Robert D. Keppel and William J. Birnes.

Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters by Peter Vronsky

Richard Francis Cottingham “The Torso Killer”: Information researched and summarized by Jacklyn Cowin, Jenna Leonette, and The Phan of Radford University

Serial Killers: Richard Cottingham by Patrick Spica Productions. 

Profile of Serial Killer Richard Cottingham by Charles Montaldo on ThoughtCo

N.J. serial killer now linked to 9 victims, but will his murder toll rise? The timeline of the ‘Torso Killer’ by Rodrigo Torrejon for NJ.com

Cold cases solved: Bergen serial killer confesses to three more deaths by Joshua Jongsma for NorthJersey.com