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Richard Cottingham, a notorious serial killer from the New York and New Jersey area, has confessed to yet another murder, bringing his tally of known victims to at least a dozen since the 1960s.
FAIR LAWN, N.J. — Richard Cottingham, infamously dubbed the “Torso Killer,” has admitted to the 1965 murder of Alys Eberhardt, authorities revealed on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old’s lifeless body was discovered in her family home located in Fair Lawn, a New Jersey suburb just about 12 miles northwest of Manhattan.
After reopening this cold case in 2021, investigators were able to secure a comprehensive confession from Cottingham. This breakthrough came after years of diligent interviews, during which Cottingham disclosed information that had never been made public, according to a statement from the police department.
Investigators reopened the cold case in 2021, and “through countless interviews” over several years, extracted a full confession from Cottingham, “including details that were never publicly known,” the department said in a statement.
Fair Lawn Police Chief Joseph Dawicki said Cottingham will not face additional charges as the department closes the case.
The 79-year-old has been imprisoned since his arrest in 1980. He is serving three life sentences at the South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton, New Jersey.
“Alys was a vibrant young nursing student who was taken from our community far too soon,” Dawicki said in a statement. “While we can never bring her back, I am hopeful that her family can find some peace knowing the person responsible has confessed and can no longer harm anyone else.”
Lawyers in New York and New Jersey who have represented Cottingham over the years didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment Tuesday.
Cottingham has claimed responsibility for up to 100 homicides going back to the 1960s, though authorities in New York and New Jersey have officially linked him to about a dozen.
In 2022, he admitting killing five women in the New York City suburbs of Long Island in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
He was sentenced to 25 years to life for the 1968 slaying of 23-year-old Diane Cusick but received immunity from prosecution for the four other killings as part of the plea deal.
Cottingham was previously convicted of killing five other women — three in New York City and two in northern New Jersey. He has since admitted to killing several others while behind bars.
He is known as the “Torso Killer” because he dismembered some of his victims.
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