Richard Francis Cottingham | |
---|---|
Born | Richard Francis Cottingham November 25, 1946 |
Occupation | Computer operator |
Spouse |
Janet Cottingham
(m. 1970; div. 1981) |
Children | 3 |
Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment |
Details | |
Victims | 18–19+ |
Span of crimes | 1967–1980 |
Country | United 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]