Is Richard Cottingham Still Alive? Does He Have Wife & Children? The Time Square Torso Killer Story Explained

Richard Cottingham is the name making headlines in the new Netflix series Crime Scene: The Times Square Serial Killer. The new Netflix docuseries cover the story of horrific crimes perpetrated in New York and New Jersey in the 1970s.

Richard Cottingham was said to be a notable serial killer in New Jersey whose crime acts trayed in the late 60s. Many questions are now popping in about who this serial killer was, his family, victims and children. Continue reading below to know more about Richard Cottingham and his modus operandi.

Who Is Richard Cottingham?

Between the mid-to-late 1960s and 1980s, Richard Cottingham became a well-known serial killer in New Jersey. He was first suspected of preying on sex workers in Times Square in New York City.

Richard Cottingham earned the moniker “The Torsi Killer” for his method of executing his victim.  Born in 1946 and raised in The Bronx, New York City, the first of three children. His family relocated to River Vale, New Jersey when he was 12 years old. Cottingham graduated from Hillsdale, New Jersey’s Pascack Valley High School in 1964.

The new Netflix documentary uncovered the atrocities he committed.

Who Is Richard Cottingham Wife, Does He Have Children?

According to The New York Times, Richard Cottingham got married to Janet, his wife in 1970 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, New York. Their marriage produced three children.

Richard Cottingham resided in Lodi, New Jersey, with his wife and children, roughly 30 minutes outside of Manhattan, where he worked as a computer operator for Blue Cross Blue Shield.

During his trial in court, Janet Cottingham testified against her husband in the courtroom.

How Many People Did Richard Cottingham Kill? Who Are His Victims?

Deedeh Goodarzi, 22, and an unnamed adolescent victim were tortured and killed by Richard Cottingham, who cut their heads and hands and put their torsos on fire. The dismembered heads and hands were never discovered when Cottingham departed the site.

On May 22, 1980, he was captured at a New Jersey hotel while abusing a young sex worker whom he had recruited and driven there from New York City.

Cottingham was convicted of five murders, two in New Jersey and three in New York, as well as several charges of kidnapping and sexual assault, in a series of trials from 1981 to 1984 in New Jersey and New York. Nancy Vogel was murdered in 1967, and Cottingham pled guilty to her murder in 2010.

He confessed to the killings of New Jersey schoolgirls Jackie Harp, Irene Blase, and Denise Falasca in 1968–1969 in Bergen County, New Jersey, while under the protection of the law. He confessed and pled guilty in the kidnap, rape, and murder of Lorraine Marie Kelly, 16, and Mary Ann Pryor, 17, in 2021.

Cottingham is recorded as having killed 11 individuals, although he claims to have killed between 85 and 100 more. Cottingham is a prisoner in Trenton, New Jersey’s New Jersey State Prison.

Is Richard Cottingham Still Alive?

Yes, Richard Cottingham is still alive. After his conviction, Richard who is now in his mid-70s was sentenced to prison for more than 300 years and he is currently being held at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.