Notorious serial killer Richard Cottingham, known as the “Torso Killer” and the “Times Square Killer,” confessed to the murder of an 18-year-old woman in New Jersey, authorities said Tuesday.
Cottingham, 79, admitted to killing Alys Eberhardt at the teen’s home in Fair Lawn, the local police department said in a Facebook post. Eberhart was found dead on Sept. 24, 1965; she had been raped and stabbed more than 50 times.
“Over the course of several years, and through countless interviews and persistent effort, Richard Cottingham ultimately provided a full confession, including details that were never publicly known,” Fair Lawn police said.
Cops have now tied Cottingham to more than 20 murders across New York and New Jersey through the 1960s and 1970s. He has previously claimed to have killed at least 100 people, though authorities doubt many of his claims.
He earned the “Torso Killer” nickname because he dismembered several of his victims, removing their heads, breasts and limbs. His victims were all women, ranging in age from 13 to 29, and he frequently sexually assaulted them before killing them.
Cottingham was captured in 1980, after a maid at a hotel near Times Square heard screaming coming from a room and called the cops, who caught Cottingham just before he escaped.
Eberhardt’s murder was the only unsolved case in Fair Lawn, a small town about 13 miles northwest of Central Park. Cops reopened the case in 2021 and interviewed Cottingham several times. He finally admitted to the murder last year, when a confidant said he was in poor health and wanted to speak with police.
Cottingham is already serving multiple life sentences and will not face prosecution for Eberhardt’s murder.
“Alys was a vibrant young nursing student who was taken from our community far too soon,” Fair Lawn Police Chief Joseph Dawicki said. “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.”
