Richard Cottingham
Richard Cottingham | |
|---|---|
Cottingham's May 1980 mugshot | |
| Born | Richard Francis Cottingham November 25, 1946 |
| Other names | Torso Killer Times Square Ripper The Times Square Killer |
| Occupation | Computer operator |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated at South Woods State Prison, Bridgeton, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Spouse |
Janet Cottingham
(m. 1970; div. 1981) |
| Children | 3 |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment |
| Details | |
| Victims | 19+ |
Span of crimes | 1967–1980 |
| Country | United States |
| States | New York New Jersey |
Date apprehended | May 22, 1980 |
Richard Francis Cottingham (born November 25, 1946) is an American serial killer who was convicted in New York State of committing six murders between 1972 and 1980 and convicted in New Jersey of committing twelve murders between 1967 and 1978. He was nicknamed by media as the Torso Killer and the Times Square Ripper, since some of the murders he was convicted of included acts of 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 murder convictions, Cottingham claimed that he had committed at least eighty "perfect murders" of women in various regions of the United States.