[LadyCPlum]

Originally Posted by dEAD mICHAEL ↗

Elliot Ness spent the remainder of his life trying to find this killer. He also tried to find his sister that dissapeared.

Never solved either case.

Another fun fact about this case. Jack the Ripper stopped killing in England just a few months before the killings in Cleveland started. Some speculate it was Jack that came across the big pond to keep killing. But who knows?

Hang on, Jack stopped killing in 1888, the CTM's didn't start until the 1920's at the earliest if I'm not mistaken.....

[Cowboy]

Weird

[deanmine]

The Cleveland Torso Murderer (also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run) was an unidentified serial killer who killed and dismembered at least 12 victims in the Cleveland, Ohio, area in the 1930s.

The official number of murders credited to the Cleveland Torso Murderer is 12, although recent research has shown there may have been more. The 12 victims were killed between 1935 and 1938, but some, including lead Cleveland Detective Peter Merylo, believe that there may have been 40 or more victims in the Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Youngstown, Ohio, areas between the 1920s and 1950s. Two strong candidates for addition to the list of those killed are the unknown victim nicknamed the "Lady of the Lake," found on September 5, 1934, and Robert Robertson, found on July 22, 1950.

The victims were usually drifters whose identities were never determined, although there were several exceptions. Victims numbers 2, 3, and 8 were identified as Edward Andrassy, Flo Polillo, and possibly Rose Wallace, respectively. Invariably, all the victims, male and female, appeared to be from the lower class of society—easy prey in Depression-era Cleveland. Many were known as "working poor," who had nowhere else to live but the ramshackle shanty towns in the area known as Cleveland Flats.

The Torso Murderer always beheaded and often dismembered his victims, sometimes also cutting the torso in half; in many cases the cause of death was the decapitation itself. Most of the male victims were castrated, and some victims showed evidence of chemical treatment being applied to their bodies. Many of the victims were found after a considerable period of time following their deaths, sometimes a year or more. This made identification nearly impossible, especially since the heads were often not found.

During the time of the "official" murders, Eliot Ness held the position of Public Safety Director of Cleveland, a position with authority over the police department and ancillary services, including the fire department. While Ness had little to do with the investigation, his posthumous reputation as leader of The Untouchables has made him an irresistible character in modern "torso murder" lore.


Most researchers consider there to be 12 definite victims, although new evidence militates for including a woman dubbed "The Lady of the Lake." Only two victims were positively identified; the other ten were six John Does and four Jane Does.

Several noncanonical victims are commonly discussed in connection with the Torso Murderer. The first was nicknamed the Lady of the Lake and was found near Euclid Beach on the Lake Erie shore on September 5, 1934, at virtually the same spot as canonical victim number 7. Some researchers of the Torso Murderer's victims count the "Lady of the Lake" as victim number 1, as well as "Victim Zero".

A headless, unidentified male was found in a boxcar in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on July 1, 1936. Three headless victims were found in boxcars near McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, on May 3, 1940. All bore similar injuries to those inflicted by the Cleveland killer. Dismembered bodies were also found in the swamps near New Castle, Pennsylvania during the years 1921 to 1934 and 1939 to 1942.

Robert Robertson was found at a business at 2138 Davenport Avenue in Cleveland on July 22, 1950. He had been dead six to eight weeks when found and appeared to have been intentionally decapitated.

[Arista]

How did he decapitate himself?! Great posts- love a good story to accompany pics!

[murofhsirgo]

the old people in these photos were alive when the civil war was going on. this is a long time ago, i get all nostalgic with the old b and w's. thanks a ton i love 'um

[vagabond]

Love this stuff- great post!

[deanmine]

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Rape - Torture - Mutilation
Number of victims: 6
Date of murders: 1967 / 1977-1980
Date of arrest: May 22, 1980
Date of birth: November 25, 1946
Victims profile: Nancy Schiava Vogel, 29 / Maryann Carr / Deedeh Goodarzi and "Jane Doe" / Valerie Street / Jean Reyner
Method of murder: Strangulation
Location: New York/New Jersey, USA
Status: Sentenced to 173 to 197 years in prison in May 1981. Sentenced to 20 years to life in 1982. Sentenced to75 years to life in 1984

On December 2, 1979, New York City firemen responded to an alarm at a seedy hotel on West 42nd Street, not far from Times Square. They fought their way through smoky corridors to quench a blaze inside one room, discovering two women's bodies there. Stretched out on separate beds, the headless corpses also had their hands removed, legs doused with lighter fluid and set on fire.

The missing parts were never found, but X-rays identified one victim as 22-year-old Deedeh Goodarzi, a Kuwaiti immigrant who earned her living as a prostitute. Goodarzi's young companion in death was never identified. The crime reminded homicide detectives of another unsolved case.

Teenage hooker Helen Sikes had disappeared from Times Square in January, turning up in Queens, her throat slashed so deeply that she was nearly decapitated. Her severed legs were found a block away, laid side-by-side in ritual fashion, as if still attached to the body.

There were no leads in either case, and police were no closer to a suspect on May 5, 1980, when teenaged prostitute Valerie Street was found beaten and strangled, stuffed beneath a bed at a motel in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. In addition to the savage beating, her breasts had been gnawed so violently that one nipple was nearly severed.

Detectives recalled that a young nurse, Maryann Carr, had been brutally slain at the same motel on December 16, 1977, but the connections seemed tenuous, at best.

The similarities were obvious on May 15, when prostitute Jean Reyner was found stabbed to death in a 29th Street hotel near Times Square, her breasts severed, the body set afire.

A week later, on May 22, officers were called back to the motel in Hasbrouck Heights, responding to reports of a woman screaming. They bagged a man emerging from the room, and went inside to find his teenage victim naked, handcuffed to the bed, hysterical from pain and fear. She had been beaten, raped and sodomized, forced to perform oral sex at knifepoint, after which her assailant slashed her with his blade, biting her breasts until they bled.

The prisoner, 33-year-old Richard Cottingham, made an unlikely suspect at first glance. A respected family man from Lodi, New Jersey, he ran computers for a major health insurance firm. On the other hand, arresting officers had relieved him of handcuffs, a leather gag and two "slave" collars, a switchblade and replica pistol, plus several bottles of pills.

A search of Cottingham's home turned up a bizarre "trophy room," containing personal effects from several of the murdered prostitutes. Investigation of the suspect's background revealed two arrests for consorting with hookers in the early 1970s, with both cases dismissed.

In April 1980, Cottingham's wife had filed for divorce, charging him with "extreme cruelty" and refusal to engage in marital sex since late 1976. The divorce affidavits further alleged that Cottingham was an habitual, patron of gay bars and homosexual "spas" in Manhattan. Despondent in custody, Cottingham smashed a lens of his spectacles and attempted suicide by slashing his wrists with the glass.

Surviving that attempt and two others, he was held under $250,000 bond while detectives built their overwhelming case against him. In addition to multiple murder counts, Cottingham was linked with the brutal abduction and rape of three surviving victims -- including two prostitutes and a young housewife -- during 1978.

In May 1981, Cottingham was convicted on fifteen felony counts related to the murder of Valerie Street, drawing a sentence of 173 to 197 years in prison. A year later, conviction on second-degree murder charges in the death of Maryann Carr added another sentence of 20 years to life.

In 1984, convicted on three counts of second-degree murder, involving Times Square prostitutes, Cottingham earned a final sentence of 75 years to life

[Darkknight1]

Thats sick

[ptorico60]

Great post!!, is good to back at the history of serial killers.

[blancadon]

Nice post!