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In the late 1970s, New York City was gripped by fear as a sadistic killer targeted sex workers, leaving their mutilated bodies in Times Square hotels. The media dubbed him the Times Square Torso Killer for his gruesome signature: dismemberment, decapitation, and arson. His real name was Richard Cottingham, and he operated undetected for years—hiding in plain sight as an ordinary, married father from New Jersey.
Cottingham's reign of terror shattered illusions of safety for those on the city's margins and exposed the limits of police coordination at the time.
The Crimes: A Brutal Signature
Richard Cottingham’s modus operandi was not only brutal but ritualistic in its sadism. He targeted sex workers in Manhattan’s Midtown, particularly around Times Square, an area known during the 1970s for its sex trade, adult theaters, and transient population. Cottingham lured his victims by posing as a client, offering large sums of money for their services, and gaining their trust. Once inside cheap motels and hotels, he would overpower them, using handcuffs, ropes, and gags to restrain them.He inflicted horrific torture, including rape, mutilation, and dismemberment, often removing his victims’ heads and hands to delay identification—a calculated move that reflected his forensic awareness. To erase further evidence and escalate the horror, he sometimes set the bodies on fire, leaving police to find charred, faceless torsos.
The December 1979 double murder at the Travel Inn Motel shocked the city. The bodies of Deedeh Goodarzi and a still unidentified woman were found in a scorched hotel room, their heads and hands missing. The killer’s cold precision and theatrical violence terrified both the public and law enforcement.
The media dubbed him the Times Square Torso Killer, turning his gruesome acts into grim headlines that fueled the era’s fear of an increasingly lawless New York.
The Double Life of Richard Cottingham
Perhaps the most chilling aspect of Cottingham’s crimes was how effortlessly he maintained a double life. By day, he appeared to be an ordinary, upstanding member of suburban New Jersey society. He worked as a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield, a stable, well-paying job that placed him at the forefront of emerging computer technologies of the era. To neighbors and coworkers, he was a married father of three, blending seamlessly into the fabric of middle-class respectability.But behind this facade, Cottingham was living a secret life of sadism, violence, and domination. By night, he prowled Manhattan’s seedy underbelly—particularly the Times Square area, known in the 1970s for its pornography shops, massage parlors, and sex work economy. He often spent nights away from home under the pretense of working late shifts or attending business trips, giving him the freedom to indulge his violent fantasies without raising suspicion.
Cottingham’s ability to manipulate, charm, and deceive those around him allowed him to continue killing for years. His lack of empathy and cool, calculated approach to his crimes fit the profile of a classic organized serial killer, someone who could operate undetected by law enforcement, his own family, and society at large.
Capture and Conviction
Richard Cottingham’s reign of terror finally came to an end in May 1980, not through an elaborate investigation, but almost by accident. A motel maid in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, heard desperate screams coming from a room Cottingham had rented. When authorities arrived, they found a horrifying scene: a young woman was chained to the bed, beaten, and tortured—but alive. Cottingham, still in the room, was caught red-handed.His arrest revealed a man in possession of handcuffs, gags, knives, and trophies from previous victims, including jewelry. These personal items, kept as souvenirs, would later help police connect him to multiple unsolved murders across New York and New Jersey.
Over the next several months, Cottingham was charged with multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault. His trial revealed gruesome details of his crimes, shocking even seasoned detectives. The meticulous nature of his torture, the dismemberment, and the intentional arson painted a portrait of a killer who not only murdered but took pleasure in prolonged suffering and domination.
He was eventually convicted of at least six murders, though he is suspected of committing many more—some estimates suggest as many as 85 victims. Cottingham was sentenced to life in prison, where he remains to this day, still confessing to additional murders.
Media, Fear, and Overlooked Victims
The media played a powerful role in shaping public perception of Richard Cottingham’s crimes. The gruesome nature of the murders, the setting in Times Square’s seedy underworld, and the killer’s cold precision made for sensational headlines. The press eagerly labeled him the Times Square Torso Killer, a name that conjured images of a city slipping into lawless chaos during the dark days of the late 1970s and early 1980s.However, the focus was rarely on the victims themselves. The women Cottingham targeted—many of them sex workers or runaways—were often reduced to nameless figures in news reports, their lives summarized in a few grim lines. Their humanity, struggles, and stories were overshadowed by the lurid details of their deaths.
This pattern reflected a broader societal indifference to violence against sex workers and marginalized women. Police at the time, burdened by soaring crime rates and often dismissive of victims in the sex trade, failed to connect the crimes sooner. It wasn’t until Cottingham was caught in the act that authorities began piecing together his true body count.
In hindsight, the media and law enforcement's neglect of Cottingham’s victims highlights a systemic failure to protect those society deems “disposable.” Their stories remain largely untold, overshadowed by the killer’s dark infamy.
Legacy and Modern Revelations
Though Richard Cottingham was convicted in the early 1980s, his story—and the scope of his crimes—didn't end there. Over the years, advances in forensic technology and DNA analysis reignited investigations into cold cases from the 1960s and 1970s. Cottingham, now serving multiple life sentences, began confessing to additional murders that had remained unsolved for decades.In interviews and court statements, Cottingham admitted to at least a dozen more murders, including some cases that had baffled detectives for nearly 50 years. In 2020, he confessed to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick, a 23-year-old dance instructor from Long Island—a case that had long gone cold. His confessions have helped bring long-overdue closure to victims’ families who had waited decades for answers.
Cottingham’s case has also become a cautionary tale for law enforcement, illustrating how jurisdictional gaps, societal bias against sex workers, and fragmented investigative methods allowed a serial killer to operate unchecked for years.
Today, Cottingham is often cited in criminology courses and true crime analyses as a textbook example of an organized, methodical serial killer hiding behind a mask of normalcy. His case has reignited conversations about victim-centered investigations and the importance of treating all victims—regardless of background—with urgency and dignity.