Richard Cottingham's house

29 Vreeland Street

This is a "Then and Now" photograph of Cottingham's former house at 29 Vreeland Street. 

The police photograph on the left was taken in June of 1980. That was roughly one month after his arrest. The Google Street View image on the right was taken 38 years later, in June of 2018.

Cottingham lived here with his wife, Janet, and their three children, Blair, Scott, and Jenny. According to his neighbors, he seemed like a regular family man.

During a search of the house, investigators discovered personal items belonging to some of his victims. He kept these "trophies" in a locked room in the basement.

The items included necklaces, broaches, earrings, and other pieces of jewelry.

Cottingham had kept these items as souvenirs so that he could remember his victims and relive his attacks.

Ledgewood Terrace

Between 1970 and 1974, Cottingham and his wife, Janet, lived at an apartment block called Ledgewood Terrace in Little Ferry, New Jersey.

The picture in the top left corner shows Cottingham during one of his trials. As you can see, he didn't always look like Santa Claus.

Coordinates: 40.858773, -74.039801

Google Maps Link

Richard Cottingham

Cottingham has been given various nicknames over the years. These include the Times Square Killer, the Torso Killer, and the Times Square Torso Ripper.

He was originally from the Bronx in New York City. However, his family moved to River Vale, New Jersey, when he was 12 years old.

Before his arrest, he was a successful computer operator who worked at the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance company in Midtown Manhattan.

According to one of his co-workers, he was smart, well-read, and up-to-date on current events. He was also extremely fidgety and unable to sit still.

On more than one occasion, he would openly talk about his experiences with sex workers.

One day, Cottingham told his co-worker that he had stolen a sex worker's money and clothes while she was sleeping. His "justification" for doing this was that he "didn't like anyone getting one over" on him.

During his trial, he testified that he had been fascinated by bondage since he was a young child.

Since his incarceration, he has attempted suicide on two occasions.

Victims

Cottingham has confessed to murdering 12 women. This number may increase in the future, as he has stated in the past that his victim count is much higher.

The following is a list of his victims in chronological order.

1967: Nancy Schiava Vogel (29).

1968: Jacalyn Harp (13).

1969: Irene Blase (18).

1969: Denise Falasca (18).

1974: Lorraine Marie Kelly (16).

1974: Mary Ann Pryor (17).

1977: Maryann Carr (26).

1979: Deedeh Goodarzi (22).

1979: Unidentified female.

1980: Jean Reyner (25).

1980: Valerie Ann Street (19).

The photographs are ordered from left to right and top to bottom. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a photograph of Jean Reyner. Furthermore, one of the women that he murdered in 1979 is still unidentified.

Note that there seems to have been a "lull" between 1970 and 1973. This is possibly due to the fact that he got married in 1970. In other words, he may have been content and/or preoccupied.

However, he started killing again in 1974, when he murdered Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor. That was less than a year after Cottingham and his wife had their first child.

After his wife filed for divorce in April of 1979, it seems as though his killings became far more frequent.

In 2022, Cottingham also confessed to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick after DNA evidence linked him to the crime.

Google Street View

The Google Street View image above was taken in May of 2022.

The house was built in 1974—one year before Cottingham and his wife, Janet, moved in.

Notably, none of his crimes took place on the property.