EP. 247 - SERIAL KILLER: THE TORSO KILLER - RICHARD COTTINGHAM PART 2

Warning the following podcast is not suitable for all audiences we go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence rape murder and offenses against children this podcast is not for everyone you have been warned. Today's episode is presented by a 24's highly anticipated next horror event, back rooms, a furniture store owner vanishes after discovering a mysterious doorway in his basement that leads to an endless network of interconnected rooms from Kane Parsons the preeminent creator of the back rooms YouTube series this tense psychological horror thriller explores the suffocating dread of liminal spaces and the unknown lurking behind them don't miss back rooms only in theaters May 29th get your tickets now. In part one of this series we discussed a man named Richard Coddingham otherwise known as the torso killer a man who stalked New York City in New Jersey driving pleasure from beating women terrorizing them and then taking their lives. He was put on the map so to speak following the murder of Dede Goodarzy and the Manhattan Jane Doe two women who he had tortured for days on end murdered and then set on fire in a hotel room just blocks away from Times Square in December of 1979. He was arrested just five months later after forcing a woman named Leslie Odell into a hotel room where she bravely fought back and managed to alert hotel staff that she was being attacked after his arrest law enforcement was able to connect him to five horrific murders and for those crimes he was sentenced to 192 years in prison plus life which he was set to serve in New Jersey state prison until his dying breath. With his conviction there was a hope that people had seen the last of Richard Coddingham that he would waste away behind bars forgotten but there were secrets hidden in Richard's past over a dozen more victims. Their families were scattered across the United States desperate for answers about who had killed their loved one but for decades they never knew. As Richard rotted away behind bars he thought that no one would ever know about his secrets that they were forever his own serving as one last bit of power he held over his victims but he was wrong. Because as one detective Robert Inzelotti sat down with boxes of unsolved cold cases he didn't see something hopeless or pointless he saw a serial killer that he had to chase with victims who deserved justice and families who deserved answers so this is the story of the ongoing investigation and to Richard Coddingham's additional victims. I'm Courtney Browen and I'm Colin Browen and you're listening to Murder in America. [Music] The year was 2000 and Detective Robert Inzelotti had a lot to prove. After years of climbing through the ranks he had just been promoted to serve as a detective in the homicide unit for the Bergen County Police Department in New Jersey. He was in his own words green around the gills a newbie whose main investigative experience had been doing playing close work related to financial crimes mob crimes and sex trafficking. For him landing a role investigating homicides was a dream come true but that dream didn't come without its fair share of trouble. As soon as he was promoted he was passed down an additional assignment on top of his daily workload to take a look at the county's cold cases specifically from about 1964 to 1975 without much guidance he was told to try and solve them. So wanting to make his mark he immediately went down to the evidence locker and asked an evidence officer for the files he needed and the officer came back with one dusty filing box, then another, then another, and another. By the time Detective Inzelotti had all the boxes of evidence set up in his office he was practically drowning in paperwork. He found himself paging through photos of victim after victim and crime scene after crime scene. In total he was focused on 12 victims all women ranging in age from just 13 up to 29 years old. For the next several years as Detective Inzelotti worked his daily caseload those 12 victims lingered in his mind. In the torso killer confessions he remarked, "There were many a Sunday night where I'd put the kids to bed and I'd take an A to Z file full of case reports and crime scene photos and just pour a glass of wine at my dining room table and spend hours pouring over the cases and taking notes just on my own time. Doing these cold cases was not my only job or my only assignment by any stretch. And yet the cases slowly turned into all Detective Inzelotti could think about. He disclosed what I didn't know when I started digging through those files was that they would light a fire in me. Each young woman he looked at wasn't just a person. They were a reminder of loving families who had been waiting 30, 40 years for answers. And as a father to two daughters himself the idea of surviving that long without knowing justice began to eat away at him. He recalled, "I wanted to give these families some sense of justice. I just grew so attached to the cases. So attached in fact that he knew the cases inside out. By 2003 the case files were like a language only he could speak. He knew every detail, every timeline, every witness family member suspect. And there was one suspect whose name came up time and time again, Richard cutting him." From Richard's arrest in 1980, up to Detective Inzelotti's investigation, there had been a few other detectives who had tried to speak with Richard regarding some potential additional victims. But each time Richard shut them down, refusing to speak with them at all. In fact, even 20 years after his arrest, Richard still refused to admit that he had any involvement in the murder of the five women he had been convicted of killing. If anyone ever asked him, he insisted that he was framed, that the department had gotten it all wrong. So a Detective Inzelotti knew he would have to take a different approach if he was going to get answers. He'd have to become useful to him, or enough of an enemy that Richard would tell him things just to get him to go away. And surprisingly, Detective Inzelotti decided to do both. You see, during Inzelotti's previous work investigating mob crimes, he became acquainted with an incarcerated hitman, Richard Koklinski, better known as the Iceman. Koklinski trusted Inzelotti, the two had a rapport built on years of interrogations. So an Inzelotti realized that Koklinski was housed in the same prison. On the same wing as Richard cutting him, he saw his end. During one meeting, he asked Koklinski if he knew cutting him. Koklinski told him with disgust, "I hate that scumbag. What kind of animal does those things to women?" Without any resistance, Koklinski began to tell Inzelotti everything he knew about cutting him, namely that he ran a gambling ring in the prison, organized bets on sporting events. For Inzelotti, that was the Golden Ticket. On February 1, 2004, the day of the Super Bowl, Inzelotti gave the prison a tip. Richard cutting him was gambling. And that day, out of all days, he was bound to have evidence of it in his cell. Quickly, the guards moved in. And there, they found cutting him with dozens of dozens of betting slips hidden within his cell. As a result of the serious infraction, cutting him was immediately thrown into the hole, which is solitary confinement. All of his privileges were gone. No commissary snacks, no window, no phone calls, no air conditioning, and no connection with the outside world. No prison in and of itself is maddening, but solitary confinement is much, much worse. And cutting him remained there for seven days, until finally guards came to get him and brought him into an interview room. Across from him, Sad Detective Inzelotti, the two had never met before. Caughting him had no idea who Inzelotti was, but Inzelotti knew everything there was to know about Richard cutting him. And he knew in his bones that this man had several more murders under his belt. So without flinching, he looked him in the eyes and told him, "I'm the reason you're in there. And I'm going to make your life a living hell, unless we have a conversation." It was a bold move. But it paid off. Cunningham agreed to meet with Anselotti and have continued conversations with him on two conditions. He gets moved out of the hole, and Anselotti never plays dirty with him like that again. Anselotti agreed, and thus he began a nearly two-decade long game of cat and mouse. Over the next several years, Anselotti developed a relationship with him. At first, Cunningham refused to admit that he had even committed the murders he was convicted of. Then slowly he started to talk about them in a vague way. And soon he was openly talking about them, telling Cunningham details about how he managed to get women, specifically sex workers, alone. But not all of Cunningham's victims were sex workers. In about 2007, after years of back and forth, Cunningham began to give Anselotti tips about another murder he was involved in, the 1967 murder of 29-year-old Nancy Vogel. And though he continued to give Anselotti details about her murder, that only the killer would know, he refused to give a full confession. For Anselotti, the lack of concrete admissions was frustrating. He recalled, in the torso killer confessions, it was such a game of being like, who is in control of this relationship that we have. But in the end, it was Anselotti's patience that went out. After years of getting Cunningham small things he asked for in exchange for conversation, that's a lot he knew he had built enough trust that he could finally put his foot down. During one meeting, he told Cunningham outright, "I'm not doing another fucking thing for you until we get at least one confession." And then, the floodgates opened. On July 7, 2010, Cunningham confessed to the 1967 murder of Nancy Vogel, giving Anselotti all the details regarding the unsolved case, 43 years later. So let's go back to 1967. It was just after midnight on October 29, and 9-year-old Karen Vogel couldn't sleep. In the silence of her home in Ridgeville Park, New Jersey, there was a loud thought running through her mind over and over. Why isn't Mom home? Her mother, 29-year-old Nancy Vogel, had gone to play Bingo at a local church hours ago. And as the clock ticked closer and closer to 1 a.m., her mom still wasn't home. The anxiety was nong away at Karen as she lay in bed. Until finally, she couldn't stand it anymore. She slipped out of bed and tipped out into her parents' bedroom. There, her father Henry was fast asleep. She nervously shook him awake. Without her mom in the room, it felt empty. She could hear the echo of her own voice, when her dad finally opened his eyes. She asked him, "Daddy, where's Mom?" Immediately, Henry felt the empty bed beside him. And in that moment, he found himself waking up into a nightmare. Earlier around 7 p.m. on October 28, Nancy stepped out to go to a Bingo game with a friend at St. Margaret's Roman Catholic Church and nearby Little Fairy, New Jersey, a dedicated mother to 9-year-old Karen and 5-year-old William. Nancy rarely had the opportunity for a night out. So that night, her husband Henry kissed her goodbye, encouraging her to enjoy herself. And with that, she went on her way. Hours later, when she wasn't home around the time he fell asleep, he didn't think anything of it. It wasn't unusual for Nancy to go to a friend's house for a round of cards, or to stretch out a night of fun on the town when she got the opportunity to. But when his daughter awakened him around 1 a.m., and Nancy still wasn't home, he instantly knew something was wrong. Henry raced out into the kitchen and began dialing all the friends he could think of. He made call after call after call. And each friend came back with the same response. They hadn't heard from Nancy. Sometime after 2 a.m., he couldn't take it anymore. Henry got in his car with Nancy's brother Frank, and the two began going street by street. Desperately searching for Nancy's vehicle, or any sign of her. But the streets were empty. The town was asleep, silent, and Nancy was nowhere to be found. As the sun rise started to creep across the landscape, Henry realized he couldn't deny it anymore. His wife of 9 years, the love of his life, was missing. He raced to the Bergen County Police Department and filed a missing person's report for 29-year-old Nancy Vogel. For the next several days, he sat at home in agony, fielding questions from his terrified kids, and consoling Nancy's mother. As the family waited for answers, Nancy wasn't the type to run off. She wasn't the type to have an affair or a secret life. Whatever happened to her, couldn't have been good. And just two days later, two miles away, those fears were confirmed. On Monday, October 30, 212-year-old girls returned home from school when they noticed a car parked on their street. It didn't belong to anyone they knew, and it was odd. The girls noticed that the car had been parked there since the day before, and as they crept towards it, they noticed something in the backseat. At first they were convinced it was a mannequin, but as they got closer, the reality of what they were looking at crashed over them. It was a woman's body, nude, twisted and turned in the backseat. She was faced down with a seat cover tossed over her. The girls screamed and ran to a neighbor who quickly called the police. Within minutes, first responders were on scene, and they were quickly able to identify the body. It was Nancy Vogel. The missing mother had severe bruising on the right side of her face, a black eye, and another large bruise on the back of her head. Her hands were tied in front of her body with a thin nylon cord, and a rope still wrapped around her neck had been used to strangle her. As soon as the police began processing the scene, the news spread rapidly, and before a police could speak with the family, local reporters did it for them. When Nancy Vogel's 9-year-old daughter Karen answered the knocking at her front door, she was stunned to see a row of reporters standing in the doorway. In the kitchen, her grandma was cooking a traditional Italian lunch. Her brother, who was just five, stood behind her in the entryway. He knew his mom was missing, that something was wrong, but he was too little to comprehend what the reporter said to his sister next. Now that your mother has been found dead, how do you feel? Imagine, for a second, asking a 9-year-old girl that. Karen immediately burst into tears. Their grandmother raced into the room and began swearing at the reporters in Italian, telling them to go to hell before she slammed the door in their faces. But the damage was done. Karen, her grandmother, and Bill all found out that the person they loved most in the world was gone. And sadly, the pain the media put them through was far from over. Because in the weeks that followed, leads when it came to their mother's death were scarce. But police began to have a theory. You see, that night, Nancy had said she was going to a bingo game. Instead, she went to a local store and bought herself two pairs of shoes and a shirt. Initially, police believed that she may have lied to her husband about where she was going, because that night, she was meeting a man. In reality, though, it seems like Nancy had just wanted a night to herself. And telling her family that she was going to church bingo with her friend was more acceptable at the time than saying she wanted to treat herself to some shopping. However, the media quickly ran with the affair angle, which was only exacerbated by what police found underneath Nancy's body. On the floor of the car, police discovered Nancy's clothing, folded neatly and put in a pile. At the time, detectives didn't realize that folded clothing was a rare, consistent part of Richard Cottingham's M.O. In their eyes, the folded clothes could only mean one thing. Nancy had willingly gotten naked before her death. They began to publicly suggest that, in spite of the bruising, black eye and bondage, she had consensual sex prior to her death, and after that, her lover had killed her in a fit of rage. These theories were presented in the newspapers at the time, tainting the reality of what had happened to Nancy. For 40 years, her kids had no answers, just the lingering questions that the news coverage left them with. Until finally, in 2010, when Detective Anselotti coaxed the truth out of her killer. Because on July 7, 2010, Richard Cottingham told him everything. He confessed that when Nancy was shopping, he spotted her loading up her car. He approached her, and then he forced his way into the vehicle. He drove her to an isolated cornfield in Montville, just a few miles north, and there, in the back of the car, he beat her, raped her, and finally strangled her. With her body in the back of the vehicle, he drove back to Little Ferry, parked within walking distance of his apartment, and left. Following the confession, Nancy Vogel's children were invited to the prosecutor's office to meet with Robert Anselotti, regarding the death of their mother. After an entire lifetime of not knowing, Karen and William Vogel got to hear the name and see the face of their mother's killer. And they got to know that finally, they were going to get justice. As William and Karen walked out after their meeting, William recalled that Anselotti pulled him aside and gave him one simple instruction, "Don't Google Richard Coddingham." He didn't want William to be faced with thoughts of dismemberment, days long torture, and burning, that Coddingham had forced other victims to endure. After all the pain that Richard Coddingham had caused, he wanted his confession to be a relief, not a new level of agony. For William, specifically, that tip. was a lifesaver. And luckily for their family, they were getting justice. Because Richard Cottingham agreed to plead guilty to the murder of Nancy Vogel in front of a Bergen County Superior Court judge. Nancy's son, William, was there. In the torso killer confessions, he recalls seeing his mother killer walk into the courtroom, saying this. "For the first time, I see Richard Cottingham. He looks like Santa Claus with his big white beard, and he's overweight in everything, and he just looks like nothing I'd imagined. So, you know, as a little kid, you find out your mom is murdered, you think it's this big monster, this big, bad, ugly, terrible person. And here's, he's nothing. He's a shell of a man." During his trial, that shell of a man did something pretty shocking. He apologized. After being prompted by the judge, Cottingham turned around, facing Karen and William Vogel, and he told them, "I'm very sorry for the pain I've caused you. I mean that. Obviously, I must be sick somehow. Normal people don't do what I did." And then in front of everyone, for the very first time in the six murder cases he had faced, he pleaded guilty. During closing statements, the judge remarked, "I never thought I'd have the devil in my courtroom, but I see him and you." And with that, Richard Cottingham was given another life sentence. But Anselotti wasn't done. Nancy Vogel was just the beginning. Slowly, over the years, he continued to chip away at Richard Cottingham, aiming to go back to where it all began, and to work through to 1980 when he was finally arrested. Here's a portion of an interrogation Anselotti conducted in 2014. "What year is the first you think? Do you have anything you have? Do you have no idea? I can not get down to one or two years. What do you think? How far about 67? Maybe they have the 66, 67. A lot of years are running around. A lot of seats. Do you have any number on your head that you think? Do you ever sit back and think about it? It seems to say I actually couldn't count it back. So they start to get jumbled. I would say it is well over here. You think that many? Well over. And on the floor of a Connecticut, quite New York. That's me, New Jersey. All to one. Any place within driving distance that was not connected to me, that was right. My whole thing was not to make a pattern, which I never did, and never to try to kill in the exact same way or to leave a signature. I wouldn't stupid. That was the thing with me. I wasn't a serial killer. No, you tell me that you can't leave over anything. That fits the definition pretty well. No, it doesn't. But I know what you say. Because you've told me in the past, there's been many more of you, like, hundreds. I didn't know how to kill somebody. Most of what I killed was when I would have been somehow connected to them. And I didn't want to get caught. There was more of things just not getting caught. I was just thinking about myself. What do you mean? Can I be like somebody might have seen her get caught? Yeah, like in the Bergen Mall. Yeah, I walked around the mall. I walked the park and I walked out of the park and I didn't like to sit in the park. To me, in my mind, I don't know anybody seen her. It was shocking when Richard admitted to murdering over 80 women. But investigators knew that they had to be smart during their approach. Their main goal was to keep Richard talking. To get details that he couldn't back out of, details that only the killer would know. I'd be on a camera down here or whatever. Those were the ones I couldn't leave. But if the girl wasn't dangerous to me, I never went out to kill. That's why I didn't say that. I'm not really like a standing surgeon killer. I didn't get it. No, I don't know. That's the truth. Never had no joint. It was very hard. So what was it for? It was a more race. Control, tie it up, just do the game. It was being able to get away with it. Just walking. To be able to be able to do it was like the perfect murder every time. From 2010 to 2017, Richard ultimately confessed to three more murders, all in Bergen County, New Jersey. The murders of 13-year-old Jackie Harp on July 17, 1968. The murder of 18-year-old Irene Blaise on April 7, 1969. And finally, the murder of 15-year-old Denise Falaska on July 13, 1969. For Andalotti, Jackie's murder was the biggest shock. She was the youngest of Richard's victims, just 13-years-old. Jackie loved animals, had a great sense of humor, and was incredibly respectful. She had many friends, and in particular was closest to her teammates on the school color guard where she served as a flag bearer. On July 17, Jackie went to a team practice at a wreck field less than a mile from her home in Midland Park, and not one but two of her teammates offered to give her a ride home following practice. But Jackie wasn't in a rush. The weather was quite nice that day, so Jackie liked the idea of walking home and soaking in the nice breeze. She thanked her friends for the offer and went on her way, starting her walk back home just after 8pm. At her home, her mother waited and waited and waited. By 10pm, she called the police, and by 2am, police had sent out search teams, who combed through the woods and nearby yards with flashlights, looking for any sign of the missing girl. Around 6am, just as the sun began to rise, a man walking his dog made a traumatizing discovery. At the edge of the woods, their lay the crumpled body of 13-year-old Jackie Harp. She had been strangled with the sling of her flagpole. According to Richard Coddingham, he witnessed Jackie walking on the sidewalk when he was stopping in town to get a root beer. After getting that root beer, he then got back into his car and approached Jackie. He tried to persuade her to get in, but she resisted and tried to get away. Richard chased her down, stopped his car directly in her path, and dragged her into a cluster of bushes, where he then strangled her for his own sexual gratification. She was just a baby, a kid growing into herself, and experiencing independence for the first time, and for no reason at all, Richard killed her. At the time of Jackie's murder, her father was out of state attending work training, meaning that her mother had to handle her daughter's disappearance, search, and discovery, completely alone. Less than a year later, on April 7, 1969, Richard killed 18-year-old Irene Blase. Irene hadn't had it easy. Teachers described her as "a bright girl with a difficult home life." She dropped out of high school before she graduated, but in the spring of 1969, she had decided that she wanted to better herself. She was working towards her GED and attending classes to become a receptionist. She loved to read, ride motorcycles, and listen to music. Just weeks before her death, she was starting to come back into herself after years of strife. Before she had the chance to become who she was meant to be, however, Richard Cottingham said his sights on her. That night, Irene had gone to a club with her boyfriend of two years, Richie Gwadagno. The two got into a small argument. One that, to this day, Richie regrets more than anything in his life. In the midst of the argument, the two went their separate ways. Richie got on his motorcycle and went home. Meanwhile, Irene went to a store in Hackensack to buy herself something while she cooled down, and it was there that Richard Cottingham said his sights on her. In his recorded confession, Richie stated that he saw her shopping and then followed her to a nearby bus station. There, he offered to take her for a drink and then drop her off at home in Bogota just on the other side of the Hackensack River. According to him, Irene was hesitant and agreed that she'd have just one drink with him. After the drink, she got in the car, ready to go home as he had promised, but that's not what he had in mind. Instead, he drove her to a remote location, sexually assaulted her, and strangled her with the crucifix chain she wore around her neck. He then dumped her body in the saddle river where she would be discovered floating days later. At the time, police immediately zeroed in on their lead suspect, her boyfriend Richie. The day her body was found, Richie was taken into custody and questioned at a local police station. There, police slid pictures across the table. Each one showing his girlfriend's dead body bloated after days in the water. Richie completely crumbled, sobbing and hyperventilating as the officer drilled him with accusations, suggesting that she had said no to sex and he had raped her and killed her out of anger. Ultimately though, police had nothing to hold him on. But that doesn't mean the suspicion disappeared. Richie wasn't banned from Irene's funeral, but for the next 40 years, her family and friends continued to believe that he had killed her, and rumors about his involvement only seemed to grow. For Richie, it was salt in the wound. Even all these decades later, he still carries a photo of Irene in his wallet. In the torso killer confessions, he stated, "She loved life, you know, I really loved that girl." But, police were utterly convinced, and at the time, the last thing that they thought that the murder was the work of was a serial killer. Just a week after Irene's murder, the Harold News reported, police re-checked another strangulation murder, the murder of Jackie Harp, and determined that there appears to be no connection between the murders. Of course, now we know there was a connection. One that was quickly dismissed in favor of placing the blame on an innocent man. And now for a brief ad break. Anyways, y'all, let's get back to the show. Just two months after Irene's murder, another took place. Denise Velasca was just 15 in July of 1969, enjoying the summer before her junior year of high school, a member of her field hockey and basketball team. She was an active girl who never really slowed down. That summer, she was constantly on the go. On July 13th, around 8 pm, she left her home on Bergenlein Avenue in Closter, New Jersey to meet her friends. When she left, she promised her parents she would be home around 11 pm. However, 11 came and went, and she still wasn't back. Richard later admitted that he saw Denise walking down the road in Emerson, and he pulled over to offer her a ride. After Denise got into his car, he drove her to the parking lot of his old high school, where he forced her to perform oral sex on him. In his recorded confession in 2017, he dared to tell Detective Anzilotti, "Well, she tried. She wasn't very good at it." Detective Anzilotti recalled that it took every bit of his strength to resist jumping across the table and strangling him. Denise was 15 years old, a child who was just enjoying a summer night. But instead, she was forced to spend the last few hours of her life and terror. After sexually assaulting her, Richard decided that she had seen his face, and because of that, she had to die. He strangled her to death with the chain of her own necklace, and then drove her to a nearby cemetery, where he threw her body out of the car and took off down the road. The next morning, Denise was discovered by a man on a walk. She was naked, and had a bloody handprint on her thigh, as she struggled to get away from Richard cutting him. Through the course of a decade of interrogations, Anzilotti managed to close the cases for Nancy Vogel in 2010, Irene Blase in 2014, Denise Velasca in 2017, and Jackie Harp in 2017. After so long praying for answers, their families were finally given the relief of knowing that their loved ones killer was in prison. But Anzilotti knew that there were many, many more families out there still waiting for answers. And after years of working solo, backups soon arrived. On last week's episode, we talked about Dita Goodarzi, the woman Richard Coddingham tortured, murdered, dismembered, and burned inside a hotel room in New York City, along with the man Hatten Jane Doe. Before Dita's tragic end, she had given up her infant daughter for adoption. Her daughter's name was Jennifer Weiss, and as Jennifer grew up, she wanted to learn more about her birth mom. However, her search quickly led her to a devastating discovery, that her mother had been murdered by serial killer Richard Coddingham. Jennifer felt this calling in her life. Her mom had been buried without her head and hands, and more than anything, she wanted to find them so that her mom could rest in peace. So eventually, she got in touch with Detective Anzilotti, and from there, a team was formed. The team was Jennifer Weiss, Detective Anzilotti, and forensic historian Dr. Peter Veronsky. The three of them began to speak with Richard Coddingham while he was incarcerated, working to get answers. Jennifer would later say that she did this because she wanted to find the rest of her mom's body, but she also did it for the countless other victims too. And believe it or not, throughout her correspondence with Richard Coddingham, she formed a friendship of sorts with the same man who had murdered her mother, all in an attempt to get answers for other grieving families. And with all three working together to coax answers out of Richard, more names began to come out more quickly than ever. In 2021, Richard finally admitted to murdering two teenage girls in Montval, New Jersey. The girl's 17-year-old Mary Ann Pryor and 16-year-old Lorraine Kelly had last been seen at a bus stop in August of 1974. At the time, police theorized that the girls gave up on riding the bus and decided to hitchhike to a nearby mall. Their naked bodies were found bound together at the wrists and ankles in the woods behind an apartment complex parking lot. Both had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and burned with cigarettes. It was clear that the girls endured a horrendous end. But as if their torture wasn't enough, their cause of death was incredibly disturbing. They had drowned. Everyone in town was shocked, but there were no clues as to who murdered the two young girls. They were good kids. They never got in trouble. They weren't into drugs. They ran with a good crowd. Everyone close to them, their friends, relatives, and boyfriends were questioned and eliminated as suspects. But nearly 50 years later, Richard Coddingham gave his version of events to Detective Anselotti. He said that that afternoon, on his way to work, Richard saw Mary Ann and Lorraine on the side of the road. They were struggling to stay dry in the middle of a rainstorm. So he pulled up and asked if they needed a ride. The girls said they were going to the Garden State Plaza. Mary Ann wanted to buy a swimsuit, for an upcoming vacation to the Jersey Shore. The mall was just a few blocks away, and as the girls crawled into Richard's car to stay dry on the way there, they had no reason to think he was up to anything nefarious. He chatted with them casually. He didn't hit on them or say anything strange, but then he passed the mall. He kept driving until he pulled into a city motel. Lorraine and Mary Ann were terrified. Mary Ann began to scream for help. But just as she did, Richard put Lorraine in a headlock. He told Mary Ann that if she screamed or resisted, he would hurt Lorraine. And instantly, Mary Ann fell silent. From here, he forced the girls into a motel room. And over the course of a few days, Richard held the girls captive, tortured them, and raped them. At night, he would hogtie them together so he could sleep without them escaping. For 48 hours, the girls lived in total agony at the mercy of a madman. Meanwhile, both of their families worked together just miles away, combing the streets, going door to door, and even going on the news, begging the girls to come home. They had no idea that the entire time, the girls were behind a motel door, unable to leave. And sadly, they never left there alive. After two days, Richard dragged Lorraine into the bathroom, and shoved her into the full bathtub, faced down in the water. He held her there for five minutes, until finally, she stopped thrashing. The entire time Mary Ann lay on the bed nearby, listening as her best friend was killed, and knowing that she was next. And soon enough, Richard did the same to her. Three days after the girls disappeared, their naked, batter, and bruised bodies were discovered in the woods near the motel. They were quickly identified as the missing friends. When Mary Ann's mother learned the news from a detective on her doorstep, she passed out. And from that moment on, both families lived in agony. Their daughters were gone. And until 2021, they had no idea who had taken their lives. But finally, they would get the answers they had been looking for. And on April 27th, 2021, Richard Coddingham was convicted of the murders of Mary Ann prior and Lorraine Kelly. He was given two additional life sentences. In 2022, Richard ultimately confessed to an additional seven murders, which took place between 1967 and 1973. In March, he confessed to another murder that took place when he was just 21 years old. It was the murder of 17-year-old Mary Ann De La Sala on January 24th, 1967. Around 9pm, Mary Ann left her job at shopwright in Hackensack, New Jersey, but was never seen alive again. Here's a portion of the interrogation, where Richard really leans into the cat and mouse games that he's played all his life. - I don't know where in life we go up. - I like her, she's a pretty girl. And I flirt with her, she flirt with me. - How did fate make you two come together the night she died? - I talked a lot. - Talked a lot, it's like quality death. - What is it, is it? - It's always been that way out a little bit. - You want to fall around, right? - I might think that way, but I'm not gonna say, I'm not here to do something, I don't think. - Richard, you can't get yourself out of bed. You're sh*tting anything. - What sounds worse than that? - The reality is, one day you could not wake up, Richard. It's something as simple as this wrong-for-shop write. There's no reason why you should take that with you. - I don't know. - Yes, you do. I'm a victim. - Yes, you do, it's a pain in my ass. - Eventually, Richard confessed that on the night Marianne disappeared. He had stalked her outside of the shop right. He followed closely behind as she walked down the street to her parents' house. Her father had offered her a ride, but Marianne told him that she wanted to walk because it felt nice outside. Ultimately, Richard pulled up next to her and offered her a ride. And because the two knew each other, Marianne got into the car. But rather than drive her home, he took her to a secluded area, assaulted her, killed her, and abandoned her in a river, where she was later discovered by a group of children. Now, because she was found in a river, the media and police initially suggested that she had died by suicide after jumping off a bridge. But her family was resolute. Marianne was happy. She was thriving. She was a part-time model and an honor student. She loved her job and her boyfriend. He was due to come home any day from serving overseas. She wasn't just floating through life. She was eager to live it. And she wouldn't have killed herself. For her family, the loss was devastating. Her six sublings had to go decades without knowing the truth. And they had to wrestle with the question of whether their sister had taken her own life or if someone else had taken it. Marianne was an incredible soul. But to Richard Coddingham, she was just prey. In June 2022, Richard was a rain from a prison hospital bed for the 1968 murder of 23-year-old Diane Martin Cusik. Diane Cusik, a dance teacher in Long Island, had been found dead in the backseat of her 1961 Plymouth Valiant outside the green acres mall. She had been at the mall to purchase a new pair of dance shoes, leaving her infant daughter with her parents. But instead of coming home to her baby, she was beaten, raped, tortured, and strangled. Richard Coddingham left her body in her car. And tragically, the person who found her was her own father. Unsure if his daughter was alive or dead, he picked her up out of the car and began wailing for help. And like all the others, her family would go decades without answers. Now interestingly, Richard had been hesitant to admit to her murder. But Detective Anselotti, working on a hunch, took the DNA that had been preserved from semen at the scene of the murder and compared it with the DNA he obtained from Richard. When he confronted him with the evidence, Richard caved. He was sentenced to an additional 25 years to life for Diane's murder. Here is Diane's brother speaking at his arrangement in a news clip showing just how fresh the pain is, still, for many family members. He turned our lives upside down. An emotional victim impact statement from Jim Martin, the brother of Diane Cusick. Cusick was only 23 years old in 1968 when she was found bound, beaten, raped, and strangled inside her parked car. Yes. Today, 76-year-old Richard Coddingham pleaded guilty to her murder from his cell in a New Jersey prison. My mom, when they closed my sister's coffin. Falling to her knees and say, no, no. Don't take my Diane away. You did this. On August 26, 2022, Richard also confessed to the murder of 26-year-old Lorraine Montalvo McGraw in February 1970. Lorraine, a mother of two, was found strangled and beaten by a group of hikers in the woods near South Niaq, New York. Lorraine was just 26-years-old. At the time of her murder, she had been working as a sex worker and struggling to make ends meet as a single mother. Richard saw that vulnerability and took advantage of it. She was killed by blunt force trauma, despite being strangled so severely that her neck was broken in two places. Her children, who were just eight and nine at the time of her murder, never came to terms with the horror of their mother it suffered. For the public, it was shocking that Richard had only been charged with the murders of five women back in 1981. And if he had never spoken, the cold cases from the 1960s and 1970s might have remained unsolved. In total, as of the publishing of this episode, Richard has been confirmed as the killer of 20 different women. From 1965 up until his arrest in 1980. In the beginning, everyone thought of him as the man who mostly killed sex workers, which is sadly why not many people even knew his name. Unfortunately, when sex workers are murdered, their stories don't get a lot of attention. But in reality, of the 20 women he killed, only a third worked as sex workers. The majority of his victims were students, mothers, or just career women, all who deserved the same amount of attention. And another one of his victims was 21-year-old Mary Beth Hines, who was found dead on May 10th, 1972. On Friday, May 5th, Mary Beth was due to arrive home in Minneapolis, New York for an important dance, but she never arrived. She worked as an Annie in Belmore, and often rode the bus home on the weekends. Unfortunately, Mary Beth was unable to drive after being diagnosed with epilepsy and sometimes suffered from grandma seizures. Being diagnosed at such a young age, she had been a victim of bullying from her classmates. However, she fully embraced who she was. She surrounded herself with people like her. And on the night of her death, she was looking forward to a dance that was going to be held for people suffering from epilepsy. But that night, the dance started. And Mary Beth was a no-show. Her mother immediately knew something was wrong. Her daughter had been so excited for this dance. She wouldn't have missed it. So, she called the police. But sadly, the police refused to do anything. Because Mary Beth was 21 years old, they weren't concerned. And her family was forced to wait for answers. Answers that came five days later. Tragically, Mary Beth's bloodied and shringled body was found near a creek in Rockville Center, New York. She had cuts all over her face and neck. And for 50 years, Mary Beth's case went cold. But her sister Jean remained active in the search for her killer. In 2022, Richard confessed to murdering Mary Beth and throwing her body off a bridge. Finally, her family was given closure. And she wasn't the only one. A few months after Mary Beth's murder, on July 20th, 1972, 23-year-old Laverne Moy's body was also discovered in the same area by an 11-year-old boy. Laverne, a mother to two children, had been beaten, strangled, and thrown off the bridge. Richard also confessed to killing her. Laverne's son, John, told The New York Times, "There's been some dark days, but today the sun shines brightly because justice has been served." The sister of a murdered, lung eyelid woman has found a way to honor her loved one. And hopefully, you find the family of another victim. The convicted murderer confessed to multiple killings last week. This draws Tamapot and live in Rockville Center with the details of that woman's quest. Tamapot. Well, Doug, Jeannie Hines tells me this memorial you see behind me is not only about honoring her sister Mary Beth and Laverne Moy, but also hopefully bringing attention to the family of another victim. Even though this is where he dumped her body, I have a little bit of peace. It is the last place she was. Jeannie Hines was 12 years old when her sister Mary Beth was murdered. Her body, along with Laverne Moy's, were thrown over this bridge in Rockville Center in 1972. Jeannie put up this memorial to honor them. My sister Mary Beth was a very sweet and loving person. She loved animals. She loved to dress impeccably. She always wore matching outfits, did her hair just perfectly. Last week, convicted serial killer Richard Coddingham pleaded guilty to their murders, and also to killing Diane Cusick in 1968. And Sheila Heyman and Maria Amarita Rosado Nieves in 1973. Hines says while she and her family now have answers for the first time in 50 years about who murdered Mary Beth, another victim's family still hasn't been found. Maria Amarita Rosado Neves has family somewhere. Her body was found in a garbage bag tossed on the side of the road at Jones Beach. Someone missed her, that Christmas. Hines is hoping to find Maria's family or anyone who might have known her in an effort to give her loved ones some of the same closure she now has. So Jeannie Hines is hoping that the attention that is now on her sister and the other victim from Maria's family who might still be here on Long Island in New York City in New Jersey or even in Puerto Rico where Maria had connections to come forward. Doug. Alright, I hope so. Tammy, did you have anything to say about the kin fashion? Well, I asked her, Doug, if she had any thoughts or words for Richard Cottingham and she said she thanked him for admitting his guilt because she says now that she and her family know the truth. We have some closure and some peace and they can celebrate the holidays and those joyful memories of Mary Beth. For other families, Richard's confession not only brought answers, but exoneration. For decades, victim Sheila Hyman's husband lived under a cloud of suspicion, suspected in the murder of the 33-year-old mother of three. On July 20, 1973, Sheila was found stabbed and bludgeoned to death in her home in Northwood, New York. That morning, her husband loved to run some errands. Her children were away at summer camp. Sheila lived in an upscale neighborhood on Long Island South Shore. It was quiet residential and safe, but around 1.30 pm, Sheila's husband came back home and found her dead in the primary bathroom. She was still wearing her pink night gown. It was reported that there was so much blood, it took investigators several hours to determine if someone had beaten her or if she had fallen and hit her head. During an autopsy, it was confirmed that Sheila had been hit more than 15 times in the head, with a blunt force object. There were no signs of forced entry or struggle. Even further, the person responsible made sure to lock the front door when they left, which only strengthened the case against her husband. Expensive jewelry was not taken, and Sheila's purse, which contained $200, was left untouched. Now interestingly, Sheila was not sexually assaulted. So that, along with all of the other reasons, the news and locals ran wild with the assumption that her husband had killed her. It wasn't until Richard's confession, and thanks to the hard work of Detective Anzilotti, Jennifer Weiss and Dr. Vronsky, that he was finally set free of suspicion. "There's been some dark days behind us, but today the sun shines brightly, because justice has been served." "The three of us were away at sleep when our mom was murdered." On July 20, 1973, Sheila Hyman was found bludgeoned to death in her own home. Her husband found her and lived under a cloud of suspicion his whole life. He died before cutting him confessed. "Nothing can bring back our mom, but we feel like somehow she knows that justice has been served." As part of the plea deal, cutting him will serve 25 years to life for Q6 murder, but gets immunity for the other four. Cutting him had the opportunity to express remorse in court, but he declined. "I think at the minimum, the family deserve that much, and to sit there arrogant, and to not have any remorse for what he's done is absolutely an outrage." Just months after the murder of Sheila Hyman, 18-year-old Maria Amarita Rosado Nieves, originally from Puerto Rico, was found dead in Wanton, New York near Jones Beach, on December 27, 1973. Her body was found dumped in a weeded area near a bus stop on Ocean Parkway, wrapped in a gray blanket and covered with plastic bags. Like many of Richard's victims, Maria was strangled to death. Tragedically, after Richard's confession, none of Maria's family members ever came forward. Investigators are still looking for anyone who knew the young woman, or anyone who could give any insight into who she was as a person. After living in Puerto Rico, she lived in Massachusetts for a time, but aside from that, little is known. Which brings us to another confession in 2022. This time, Richard confessed to the murder of 15-year-old Lisa Thomas on October 7, 1974. It took place in Nanuit, New York. That afternoon, Lisa left her home around 3.30pm and walked to the local mall to purchase a blouse. The mall was only one block away, and although she asked her mother to join her, her mom was busy cooking dinner and didn't have time. So, Lisa made the journey by herself. She didn't mind going alone. She had made that walk so many times before. She often cut through the woods behind her house to get there, which is exactly what she did on that fateful day. Lisa had no reason to think anything bad would happen, and she had promised to be home before dinner. However, she never returned. Later that night, her father Stanley drove around the mall to search for her, but she was nowhere to be found. Around 10.30pm, he decided to call the Clarkstown Police Department. At first, the police believed that Lisa had taken off with a group of friends and perhaps lost track of time. But by the next morning, there was still no sign of her. Investigators launched a search in the wooded area outside the mall. And tragically, that's where Lisa's body would be discovered by her own father. Her white sweater was knotted around her neck, a crimson rag around her eyes, and she had been brutally beaten. An autopsy later confirmed that Lisa had been bludgeoned. She had been struck several times on the bridge of her nose, on the top of her head, and behind her ear. Her skull was fractured, and her lungs and stomach were filled with blood. Near her body were her shoes, cleaned of mud and debris. Investigators could tell that Lisa put up a hell of a fight. It also appeared that sexual assault and robbery were not motives. She had not been raped, and she still had the money she had brought with her to shop and her purse. Now because Lisa was extremely popular, dozens of her friends and schoolmates were interviewed, but no one was ever charged. For decades, her family members worked with investigators to help solve the case, but throughout the investigation, everything led to a dead end. tragically, her father Stanley passed away in 1987, and her mother Barbara passed away in 2020, never knowing that Richard Coddingham was her murderer. And according to reports, although he did confess to murdering Lisa, the investigation is still ongoing, and Richard has not been charged. In 2024, Richard confessed to the 1975 murder of 27-year-old nurse Rosalie Reisberg. Rosalie was described by a close friend as adorable, just adorable and friendly. In all of her photos, she exudes warmth and creativity. After working along shift as a private duty nurse, she returned to the home she shared with her husband, but as soon as she entered, she was ambushed. From there, Rosalie was raped, beaten, and had her throat sliced so severely with a knife that she was nearly decapitated. When her husband returned from his shift as a psychiatrist at a nearby veterans hospital, he walked into the bedroom to discover his wife, not only dead, but also brutally murdered. Immediately after her death, the case went cold. She had no enemies and was beloved by everyone who knew her. Her husband had an alibi clearing him. But he, along with investigators, were left wondering who her killer was for decades. Now, if you recall, we started this series talking about Richard's first murder, 18-year-old Alice Eberhart, a nursing student who was killed in 1965. Up until this point, Richard would never admit to killing her, but in January of 2026, from a hospital bed, Richard finally confessed. Cold case solved. 60 years later, we now know who killed Alice Eberhart. Police in Fairlawn say her death was linked to serial killer Richard Cunningham. He remained jailed for several murders of young women in Bergen County and New York. News 12's Chris Keating spoke with the officers who solved this case. The case surrounding the murder of Alice Eberhart is now closed. Fairlawn police say Richard Cunningham has confessed to killing the 18-year-old in 1965 at her family's home on Saddle River Road. Over the course of five interviews in prison with Detective Eric L.Switch and Detective Brian Rivkema, Cunningham kept offering the same explanation when asked why. So he told us on numerous occasions that he never meant to kill anybody. It just happened, or he did it because he knew that the person would be able to be IDM. It was on their last meeting, December 22nd of last year, that police say Cunningham, in poor health, confessed to the murder of Eberhart. I think he was, you know, he wanted to give some peace for the family himself. In 1965, Alice Eberhart was studying to be a nurse at what was Hackensack Hospital. Cunningham has told police that he saw her randomly one day outside of the hospital whilst he was with friends. Police say, at her later date, Cunningham would track her down to her family's home in Fairlawn and violently attack the teenager on September 24th of that same year. Eberhart's nephew, Michael Smith, has put out a statement saying his family has been waiting for the truth adding Richard Cunningham is the personification of evil. Yet I am grateful that even he has finally chosen to answer the questions that have haunted our family for decades. We will never know why, but at least we finally know who, while this case has been solved, there may be more. Cunningham, who's also known as the torso killer, told detectives he killed 80 women before he was jailed in 1981 after a conviction for killing five women. That's a lot of girls out there, and he traveled a lot, whether it be Florida or New York or Connecticut. It's been time in Las Vegas. - The fair-launch chief, adding. - Hopefully the family has a little measure of comfort and peace in knowing what actually happened on that day. - In the years following his incarceration, Richard has confessed to 20 murders and has provided information connecting him to at least 15 more. Investigators continue to interview Richard in prison, working to uncover as many cold cases as they can. Today, he is 80 years old and in poor health and the clock is ticking to uncover the full scope of his sadistic crimes. - How many of the 80 cases are unsolved? - About 60. - So there are 60 unsolved cases that you say you are responsible for killing the women. - That's correct. - Authorities have not confirmed those claims, but that brings us to the 1966 unsolved case of 39-year-old Marilyn Simons found murdered in her car in Farmingville. Her daughter, Linda Greco, then 17 years old. - It was awful if they said they found her in the front seat of her car and they said she was stabbed. They told me she was stabbed a lot of times. Like, and she was strangled. - I would like to know if you had anything to do with Marilyn Simons stuff. - Oh, let me put it the way I told Wendell. I think she would be happy with being able to hear what I have to say. - Decades of investigation and countless interviews have revealed only part of the terrifying truth behind his crimes. Over the years, Richard has admitted that he killed between 80 to 100 women in various parts of the United States, leaving countless families still desperate for answers. And if that number is correct, he's one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, which is crazy because in all of our years working in true crime, Richard Coddingham's names and crimes have rarely come up. And we have to wonder, is it because a third of his known victims were sex workers? Is it because so many people he targeted were seen as disposable? Luckily now, the victims of his crimes are finally getting the attention they deserve. And we now know that they were women from all walks of life. They were girls, nurses, mothers, sex workers, friends, sisters. All women whose deaths were tragic, no matter who they were. And we can only hope that in the future, more will be revealed and that the victim's families will finally get the closure they deserve. At the end of today's episode, and in the hopes of one day being able to identify victims like the Manhattan Jane Doe, we will be donating to the DNA Doe project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to giving the names back to victims whose stories deserve to be told more than the stories of their killers. We also wanna thank author Rod Leath, his book titled The Prostitute Murders, The People vs. Richard Coddingham was one of the main sources for this episode, along with Jack Rosewood's book titled Richard Coddingham, the true story of the torso killer. Hey everybody, thank you so much for listening to today's episode. This is truly a horrific story and I just hope, Courtney and I both hope in our hearts and souls that before he passes, Richard opens up and tells investigators everything he knows about every crime that he committed because like we just said, the clock is ticking. They are running out of time, but hopefully there is still more closure coming in this case for families who have wondered what happened to their loved ones for decades. If you wanna support the work that we do here on the show, please consider joining us over on Patreon. On Patreon, you can get early ad free access to every episode of the show. So if you do not like the ads, listen in on Patreon and on Patreon, you can also get access to an entire bonus library of episodes of Murder in America. These are full length episodes of the show, like the one you just listened to, with both Courtney and I, with the same editing and storytelling. So if you like what we do here, a great way to support us and to support what we do is to join us over on Patreon. Also, please leave us a five star review wherever you listen to this podcast, whether it's Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever. We love hearing from you guys and those reviews really count and really matterself. If you never left one, leave one today. We would really appreciate it. And you can also follow us on Instagram at Murder in America to see photos from every case that we cover here on the show. Anyways, y'all, we will be back next week. We are beginning an absolutely massive series that is gonna take up almost the entirety of the month of June. But yeah, that's it for today's episode. Thank you for tuning in. My name's Colin Brown and I'll see y'all in the next one. [BLANK_AUDIO]