Richard Cottingham: The Torso Killer

Richard Francis Cottingham told reporters he had committed 80 to 100 perfect murders. Photo courtesy of NCMA.

Family Man Turned Serial Killer

Richard Cottingham committed his first known murder at 20 years old, though he claims to have started in his teens. He is known as a serial rapist, abductor, and ephebophilic serial killer (“a person who is primarily attracted to mid-to-late or post-adolescents”). Cottingham is considered one of the worst in the United States and became known as the “Torso Killer” and the “Times Square Ripper.”

From 1967 to 1980, Cottingham is known to have killed nine females and attempted to kill another four, though he claims to have killed close to 100.

An average father of three, living in a home in suburban New Jersey, he commuted to Manhattan to a great job. By all appearances, Cottingham was an upstanding citizen.

Early Years

Born November 25, 1946, in Mott Haven, New York City, Cottingham was the first of four children. In 1948, his family moved to Dumont, New Jersey, and in 1956 to Riverdale, where he began to show an interest in bondage pornography. In 1964, Cottingham graduated from Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale, New Jersey.

Richard “Dick” Cottingham worked for Metropolitan Life in Manhattan during the 1970s as a mainframe computer operator. Photo courtesy of Missing Leads.