Richard Cottingham

Richard Francis Cottingham
Cottingham's May 1980 mugshot
Born
Richard Francis Cottingham

(1946-11-25) November 25, 1946 (age 77)
OccupationComputer operator
Spouse
Janet Cottingham
(m. 1970; div. 1981)
Children3
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment
Details
Victims18–19+
Span of crimes
1967–1980
CountryUnited States
State(s)New York
New Jersey
Others suspected
Date apprehended
May 22, 1980

Richard Francis Cottingham (born November 25, 1946) is an American serial killer and rapist who murdered at least eighteen young women and girls in New York and New Jersey between 1967 and 1980.[1] He was nicknamed by media as the New York Ripper, the Torso Killer and the Times Square Killer, since he was convicted of three murders that occurred there that included mutilation.

Cottingham's confirmed killings resulted in nine convictions and a further eight confessions under non-prosecution agreements, leading to him serving multiple life sentences in New Jersey prisons. In 2009, decades after his first five murder convictions, Cottingham told a journalist he had committed at least 80 "perfect murders" of women in various regions of the United States.[2]

  1. ^ Bonfiglio, Briana (December 5, 2022). "'Torso Killer' Admits to Decades-old Murders of 5 Women in Nassau, Pleads Guilty in Green Acres Mall Killing". Long Island Press. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  2. ^ Fezzani, Nadia (2015). Through the Eyes of Serial Killers: Interviews with Seven Murderers. Toronto, ON: Dundurn Press.