[chris]

Richard Francis Cottingham was an American serial killer whose crimes took place mainly in New York and New Jersey from the 1960s through 1980. He lived what appeared to be a fairly ordinary life, working as a computer operator and raising a family in New Jersey, while secretly abducting and murdering women. Cottingham became known as the “Torso Killer” and “Times Square Killer” because several of his victims were found mutilated in or around New York City's Times Square area. He was eventually convicted of multiple murders and has confessed to many additional killings. Cottingham has claimed that he may have killed as many as 100 women, although that number has never been proven.

One of the crimes that brought particular attention to the case occurred in December 1979. Firefighters were called to a hotel near Times Square after smoke was noticed coming from one of the rooms. Inside, they discovered the bodies of two women lying on separate beds. Both victims had been decapitated and their hands had been removed, apparently in an attempt to make identification more difficult. Their bodies had also been set on fire. One victim was identified as 22-year-old Deedeh Goodarzi, while the second woman remained unidentified. The disturbing condition in which the women were found played a major role in Cottingham receiving the “Torso Killer” nickname.

Cottingham continued attacking women until May 22, 1980, when one of his victims survived. He had taken an 18-year-old woman to a motel in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, where he restrained and attacked her. Her screams attracted the attention of motel employees, who contacted police. Officers arrived while Cottingham was still at the motel and arrested him. The woman was found alive, and investigators soon began connecting Cottingham to other assaults and murders. Searches also uncovered personal belongings that could be traced to some of his victims.

Cottingham was later convicted of murders in both New Jersey and New York and received lengthy prison sentences. For decades after his arrest, investigators continued looking at unsolved killings that might have been connected to him. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick and admitted responsibility for four additional killings of women on Long Island during the early 1970s. Those confessions helped close cases that had remained unsolved for approximately 50 years.

Even more cases have been connected to Cottingham in recent years. In January 2026, authorities announced that he had confessed to killing 18-year-old nursing student Alys Eberhardt in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, in 1965. The murder had remained unsolved for about 60 years before detectives reopened the investigation and eventually obtained his confession. Cottingham, now serving life sentences in New Jersey, has continued providing information about old murders, leaving investigators with the difficult task of determining which of his many claims can actually be confirmed.

[calvincole444]

now thats something you dont see everyday

[diamount]

nice grave digging!

[the aBROKalypse]

[butterfly]

Nice b/w pics. Does anyone have any info?

[Shadowkeeper]

Originally Posted by butterfly ↗

Nice b/w pics. Does anyone have any info?

Here you go, I stole this from the Wacky World of Murder site:


On December 2, 1979, Fireman in New York responded to an alarm at a shitty little hotel near Times Square. When they forced their way inside and put the fire out they found something more than burnt furniture. Stretched out on the beds were two headless corpses. They bodies also had their hands removed. They had been doused with lighter fluid and set alight. The missing body part were never found, but once x-rayed one victim was identified as Deedeh Goodarzi, 22, an immigrant from Kuwait who was working as a prostitute. The other headless corpse was never identified.

Homicide detectives linked the murder with that of the murder of teenage hooker Helen Sikes. She had gone missing from Times Square in January 1979. When found her head was hanging by a thread. Her legs had also been hacked off, and were eventually found a block away from the rest of the body. The legs were laying side by side as if still attached to a body.

On May 5, 1980, police found another prostitute, who's street name was Shelley Dudley, dead in a motel room. She had been beaten and strangled then stuffed under the bed of the room. She had been given one hell of a beating and her killer had eaten away at her nipples, almost severing one. This murder was linked to an earlier murder in the same motel. Maryann Carr was also brutally beaten, but police could not positively link the crimes.

On May 15 another prostitute was found murdered in a motel room. Jean Reyner was stabbed to death in a motel near Time Square. Her breasts had been hacked off and her body was set on fire. This time it seems the police were able to link this crime.

One week later police were called to the same motel, but this time it was for a disturbance. Someone had called about a girl screaming, as if she was being tortured. When police arrived they caught a man trying to flee the room. When they entered the room they found a young girl handcuffed to the bed. She was in hysterics, crapping on about what this guy had put her through. She had been beaten, raped, sodomized and forced at knife point to give the man a blow job. he had also stabbed her and bit almost right through her nipples.

Richard Francis Cottingham was arrested for the attack. At a glance it would seem he was a very unlikely suspect. He was a respected family man and had a good job in computers for a major health insurance firm. But once police searched him and his house it would reveal a different story. When arrested he had handcuffs, a leather gag, two slave collars, a switchblade, a replica pistols and a shitload of pills. At his house he had a trophy room where he kept some personal stuff from some of the victims also. His wife had recently filed for divorce and he was a known regular at certain gay bars.

While in prison police were building a very strong case against Cottingham and had found three surviving victims. The attacks on these three had taken place in 1978, one year before his first known murder.

He was eventually found guilty of the Dudley murder, drawing a sentence of 173 to 197 years in prison. In two following trials he was found guilty of four second degree murders. One would very much doubt that Richard Cottingham will be freed in the near future.

OTHER SHIT
One month before his arrest Cottingham's wife filed for divorce citing 'extreme cruelty'. She also claimed that he had refused sex with her since 1976.

While in prison Cottingham smashed his glasses and attempted to take his own life. But he fucked up and just ended up with out his glasses for a while.

[butterfly]

Love you shadow. I found your info funny sad but funny. Thanks for the good laugh.

[vsecretlove2]

cool

[Faline]

Thanx shadow my good man!

[Shadowkeeper]

Originally Posted by kelly ↗

Thanx shadow my good man!

No problemo, but remember, it's evil man, I have to maintain my rep, or the other undead will smell weakness and try to eat me alive!