do you have any do you have a number in your head that you think I would say this well over again do you think that many well over there is no sentence that I can impose that will truly be enough this video contains the interview of a convict who has killed over 20 women Richard Cottingham murdered at least 18 young women and girls in New York and New Jersey between 1967 and 1980. he was nicknamed the New York Ripper the Torso killer and the Times Square killer since he was convicted of three murders that occurred there that included mutilation it wasn't until 1981 and 1982 that the police began to link him to any of the crimes his victims were widespread and he was careful not to kill or dispose of any of them in exactly the same way it's too close to dinner it would be shaved foreign [Applause] [Applause] we're talking about those when I drove you up there last time did anything look familiar no I'm trying to get it different yeah I know it would be it was all formal in there let me see when we grow up the last time I always went so start from where there's talk the street that the ice rink was on let me explain to you this way you know everything I know about this okay every time I went there I came up the street going to that street here's the street going to the ice rink okay this was the Garden State Parkway there yet we're not even built yet okay I used to always come with the same way up to Riverdale right up River Road and then I wind up coming down this road here this was the field the cornfield that I always the world's back here this time I came and it looked kind of wet and everything so I didn't I used to just drive right off the road drive back in and turn the car around and stay and face this way so I always knew even if a cop car came by and seen me from here by the time he got back here I was going into the woods so I never brought my car there so this time I went up to here and I I went around this way and my intention was to see if this was drier and then now on the other side just like this right from right from here that was all swamp or Woods whatever so this time I went now the tree houses I'm talking about or heated he is and heated so I pulled the car off this way and I went in I said let me try over here maybe I'll find a new spot Nottingham is able to give a detailed account of his movements even years later this was possible because he had a routine and planned his actions carefully and when I went in about 40 or 50 feet the car stopped I could I got stuck in the mud so we stayed here about 10-15 minutes I was talking I was trying to decide what to do the cop car came up this way and then he went by and then I seen him back up so I knew he'd spotted the car in there so I got out of the car with her and I ran into the woods I didn't even know where I was going now the dogs there was dogs in his house started barking either from me or the cop car or whatever so that's your trip so now I said let me go over that way so I stopped here and she started screaming she heard the [ __ ] on she's screaming the culture up there they couldn't see where the screaming was coming from but they they would buy that empty car but we were now 40 or 50 feet into the woods Nancy car is the victim's car right it was her car right her car was right you're right right around here we're we're back back here I can see the cops because they had flashlights and everything but they couldn't see me which they could hear her screaming so I panicked and I stabbed it I tried to shut her off and then I took off and I ran behind this house behind this house and between these two houses with the doors were backing from this house and I came back of course here now the castle out here I ran right they didn't see me and I ran this way so they're thinking I'm still running into the woods I came back to the other way and when I read from that second house ran I would say a straight line maybe it's you know a little curved or anything I almost fell over the well okay so if you get the address of this house it's directly opposite it's directly out from the end of the house it's almost directly opposite and I would say 150 to 175 yards in you'd have a yeah now they might it looked like there's a whole house development there all right and then let me just back shows this tree here that that's the street that the Montvale ice skating rink that used to run that street down down here further all right so that's down here but you sure you weren't over the New York line yet no because my uncle lives up the other way remember I took it up to rooms at Copper sat a river or something he lives in well that that is up a set of rules but but if you kept going this way Rockland County and you're right here right but you're sure that the ice rink is here but you were still in Montvale oh yeah I was this whole thing was my Killing Room yeah if you want to call it that so I knew the area and then when I ran I read like I said I almost tripped over as a big piece of corrugated metal over it and then I ran out here and I got back on this road I ran over through the woods and everything behind some other houses here and I ran on this one that's how and I ran I walked always back to Westwood that's why I know if you find out where that that girl where they write up the girl then you get land records you'll know the exact right to the edge where the second house was like the thousands aren't there no more because we went by there was no houses there I don't think I've probably seen three out there and said yeah well there might be three houses but there might be 100 next I don't know they were old farmhouse okay let me back a minute so just for the girl that so you're positive you abducted that girl from the Bergen Mall that's the mall that you have well I can't say that okay it was either that I'm 90 sure of the bergam wall but it could have been the Garden State mall okay but it's one of the most okay the iron team 100 100 percent it was about uh it was dark I would say it was probably about 6 30 6 o'clock 6 30. and give me just approximately here you you when did you move to Lodi Little Ferry oh right okay this is a little furry from 1970 to like 73 I think okay and then I moved to Lodi prior to 70 where were you living room right that's what I thought so when this happened though were you living in Rivervale or Little River I don't remember I think although Cottingham can recall the specifics of his crimes he doesn't keep track of basic information such as where he was living at the time Cottingham took pride and pleasure in his kills and serial killers often replay them in their minds right now on my patreon you can watch the most shocking interrogation you'll ever see by far what happens in this interrogation room is certainly not suitable for YouTube and it will leave you completely shocked go to patreon.com stranger stories plus to watch it plus many other patreon exclusive videos no no I I definitely wasn't living in Revenue okay so then you think it has to be after 1970 then well it definitely was then it would have to be up to 1970. the early 70s okay I mean yeah I never thought of it that way no but how because what I did was see one of my okay there's there's a diner on route 4. it was it was a pretty famous diner back then and probably still there uh okay which when the United was near the Bergen Mall what I did was I parked my car it's a 24-hour diner that's where I parked my car and then there's a couple times so my car would be if it if I didn't come back for a day there's always people coming and going they never then I'd go and the dinette had four [Music] I I wouldn't be surprised at the at the time of this foreign there used to be a diner on the corner of Forest Avenue and Route four right the building is still aware of us and opposite that Diner as you go across the highway this way is there a walkway yeah because that's what I did I parked my car there and I walked across the things into the mall then I walked around the mall one of the difficulties of working on older cases is how the scene changes over time buildings can be enlarged or torn down completely New Roads can cut through what was once an empty field and waterways can shift or dry up completely so how did you get her how did you end up getting her back in her car anything that helps me no she was getting into a car and I just pushed my way in okay that's how I always did Cottingham often left the bodies at the scene of the murder but he would travel great distances to transport others this made discovering a pattern to the murders more difficult and then you take you take her car yeah I push my way in i i handcuffed or I tied I didn't I tied her up and then we just wrote about the mafia okay so then once you're up this way and you're solid your rock solid this is my film okay the only thing I can say I'm right I'm right excited about this whole thing a 90 sure that's the intersection I can't believe there's any other intersection going this way there is a particular Street that's still there where this comes up as you go across Chestnut Ridge Road there's a 45 degree angle going this way and then the street continues up this way going towards going into upper side of the river and route 17. going towards Route 17. well I don't know I like that back then uh yeah I could just that's the direction where my uncle lives in other words at this intersection here if I if I made a right turn that's when we went down to where my uncle lives okay about a mile down there that's where I knew the area is that's why I'm 90 90 95 that has to be the intersection okay it's just that it looks so different now I mean but you're positive this is off of Chestnut Ridge Road which or off on the street where the where the monville ice skating rink was on yeah the Montvale ice rink was on Chestnut Ridge Road almost there okay you know you're putting doubts in my head no you're not you don't want it but you know being a guy from Riverdale I would think you would know when you were in Montvale that's why I just want to be sure no not really okay no but like I said I wanted this place 20 times but I always would come up here and then see I could only go during the winter that's amazing that'd be a cold month because they're in the summit just to draw corn you couldn't drive over okay so in the winter it was all cut down not summer or anything when the corn was growing and I always would come up and then just drive right a crew right across the field turn around and then slide you know I might be over here one time here which is always usually within 50 feet it's almost like what was it beautiful because I I can command this whole View and I could you know and there was no traffic I mean maybe a car would go by every 10 minutes That's how little traffic was back then it was all cornfield all Woods in cornfield the only life was at this corner there's a traffic signal there was a traffic signal I I think but I think I think it used to just plank I know that was a red and green I think it was like a flashlight like a flashing yellow or flashing red type thing okay so they didn't have to actually come to a stop go back so I can research this a little better you mentioned you stabbed her do you know for sure you know how many times you stand or anything at one time okay you're in the face oh it was definitely in the face okay she was screaming I used to apparently I was just trying to show them stabbing wasn't one of cottingham's favorite methods he liked to inflict as much pain as possible and usually strangle them suffer from screaming and she would have been tied up in some way at that point I don't I don't even know if she might have even been loose I might have one tired of it because we were in the car for about 10-15 minutes before that because I couldn't tell you that I was I didn't know what to do I couldn't back out I couldn't go forward right so and so I didn't know what did that you know I didn't want to hurt curl the head you know that I wouldn't have done that to them and if the cop car didn't come by I don't know what I would have done in fact I was thinking I can tell you she was dressed and she had a suit on she had like a suit jacket and a tie a tie yeah a tie about how old is she early 20s I would say okay dark here you love dark hair Matt you know the funny thing is most of my mixes sorry but I like going so all right I I have something to work with on that what kind of car hey Andy what kind of car it was I have no idea okay it was a regular I mean it wasn't steak that I know but uh now tell me about the well how did you ever first find the well in the beginning I wanted to find a place to drop the body but see I always like to draw from nearly sideish streets I can be found there easy and most of them you'll sign over today almost online but in the beginning I didn't think that way because then I think yeah I didn't want these people rotten you know so I got it said a little settlement let's say if you drop them near the street somebody will find them in a day or two but I will I will I I might have just got out to take the leak or something but I walked back you could walk from this field this field was north south this is I mean there's no water no no no swamp but when you walk back in here if you got about 40 50 feet it turned to swamp you know where there's actually water you know you couldn't actually walked right and I was walking back there to see if I could find a place to you know to hide a body were you by yourself when you first discovered it like you were just on like a scouting Mission or did you actually have a body in there that first time do you know I had I had a body okay and uh I had a first time I seen it I didn't know what it was that's what it was I walked on it and it was tint it was like it was like a galvanized round height you know like corrugated yeah it was like it was like I'd say eight foot long ten foot long slice of wide so today it was a big year it was a big piece because I walked on it I realized they said ground normal and it was like metal but it was Pitch Pitch Black I couldn't see what it was I didn't have no flashlight I didn't carry a flashlight or a light or anything the next time I came back I was earlier it was only about eight o'clock at night it was still dark but it was early it was lighter the water moon was out of something so I went back to see what it was and I see it was a metal piece so I moved it and I couldn't see nothing it was Pitch Black so I dropped the rod out and with that one it sounded like 100 feet but it worked on about 20 feet 15 20 feet and uh I've seen the side the side it was like a well it looked like but not Brick Like a Stone or old cinder block or something like like an all-time cistern or something and somebody covered up so no one would fall in and then I said hey this is a good spot and then I remember the Tariq girls that dropped in there and then then I said then I started thinking about them rotten and I got I said uh that's why I started dropping them by the side of the streets so there's there you only use that wealth for three bodies true this would have been the fourth one but she got away I don't know if I was going to put her in this because I I after those three were in there I went back in many times but I never put nobody else in there okay so I I don't know which it wasn't always planned it was you know just how how things came out you know I don't know if if we would if this wasn't if it just looked different to me that time I thought I might get stuck that's why I went around the other way I would have went back I don't know if I would drop there in the well as the fourth one or not but I brought quite a few others after that that I didn't have to ask me I never went back to that world but you would go back to this field of them here and then you would just go dumped about it somewhere else right okay then three the three girls that are in the well any ideas uh to help with those like do you remember them at all no where they came from how they're killed anything one loser hookup many of cottingham's victims were prostitutes as most did not question him about meeting in out of the way locations little fury it was a hooker bar there and no fur I used to go into and uh I'm pretty sure and one was a waitress I remember she was a waitress from my I don't know I don't know local local in the areas that I don't know where I think she was she was young too I think I'm not sure and the other the other girl could be a blonde from Atlantic City but I'm not sure that's what I'm saying I admit mixed up or just some kind of wanted to the other and then sometimes for six months I didn't do it you know what would have made you bring a girl from Atlantic City all the way up here did you go down there yeah I was in Atlantic City what made you bring her all the way up here that's where we want them on that's what I'm saying dude almost everyone was not all of them right but almost everyone was so let's assume for a man that you killed the girl in this field forget the wealth for a minute you you kill a girl on this field what would you do then you just take the dead body and put it in your car to go dump it somewhere well I would if I was in her car I would just goes different places you know I've gone up to New York State I've driven from there always after the end of Long Island how would you get back what how would you get back okay and drop the car wherever sometimes it would be in my own car but I never I never drove my own car Crush there so I was always afraid to get stuck I wouldn't know if I got stuck I could just run right I never never took my car today like I said a lot of times I believe in the 24-hour diamonds this was good car can stay there forever nobody ever know nobody looked for it and I could always I always knew once I get I make it back to that Diner I'm okay and that one on roof there had a big backpack in life had a little small one on the front facing US Route four but in the back was enormous like 70 80 cars get flipped there was a good nice Diamond good food in there but I would always thinking that's why nobody ever knew what was going on because I I would drive three hours out this month's walk and everybody did next time I go that one went down the turnpike so I couldn't go no further jail see everybody this so they would never never connected never two or three until they're very young where I got started getting stupid what do you think what's what year is the first do you think do you have it in your head or you have no idea I cannot sit down one or two years what do you think how far back 67. 60 maybe even 66. 67. it's a lot of years of running around other states still yeah do you have any do you have a number in your head that you think did you ever sit back and think about it it's safe to say I couldn't count that uh they start to get troubled I would say this well over again you think that many well over I've done something in Florida Connecticut but New York Pennsylvania New Jersey Baltimore okay any place within driving distance that was not connected to me I would try but my whole thing was not to make a pattern which I never did not remember to try to kill him the exact same way or to you know leave a signature you know I was I wasn't stupid you know and other than that one time in Hackensack we're just lucky I would have been caught there right I don't even remember who she was but I was coming back for a month ago at the time and that's what it was at I was coming back coming down River Road and I was during the day too I really really did anything during the day but it was like 11 o'clock in the morning so I can remember certain legal facts about everything until I started thinking you know everyone's been something some might pop in and what a lot of run a lot of runaway you see a lot of a lot of the girls were hitchhikers runaways oh everybody got a check yeah everything gonna work I get I used to get more rides let's see that was the thing with me I I wasn't I wasn't serious though no and you tell me I think he killed it over 80. that's that's the definition pretty well no it doesn't but I know what he said because you've told me in the past there's been many more that you let go of hundreds yeah in other words I didn't go out to kill somebody most anyone I killed was when I would be somehow connected to them and I didn't want to get caught there was more than just not getting caught uh you know just thinking about myself what do you mean like somebody might have seen her again like in the Bergen Mall you know I walked around the mall I walked the apartment or what followed her into the parking lot anybody's going to sit in the car Cottingham is killed over 100 women in his estimation but he doesn't see himself as a serial killer to me in my mind I don't know if anybody's seen me you know that to me you know like I tell you one time in Atlantic City in the uh in the uh in resorts she went with me and I brought her back up here in my mind Hey I could be on a camera down there or whatever so those were the ones I couldn't leave but if the girl wasn't dangerous to me I never I never went out to kill that's why I didn't say I said that I'm not really like a standard serial killer I did I didn't get an old showing methods online and that's the truth never had no choice it was very hard so what was it for us was it more race control tying up through the game it was being able to get away with it distorting the thing to be able to to be able to do it it was like the perfect murder every time you see someone in the paper the body was trying to hit he never heard nothing because it was never nothing after that you know new cops ever came around me or stepped it right like you see on TV it was getting away with it and uh even a lot of times it was controlled but I mean I thought you didn't even have sex sometimes another reason Cottingham doesn't believe he is a serial killer has that he took no pleasure from The Act of Killing and that his only enjoyment came from getting away with murder a lot of times sometimes it was more oh I used to say the hardest see I when I was doing the hookers the hardest thing in the world is to be the hook you know what I mean b Isaiah right the outh you don't understand that because you never was in the if you would have seen New York City hooked into the 60s they were Sharp and they would never do anything ever until you pay them first I mean it was like a religion but I would get them so greedy by showing so much money I would ever show them a wide like a thousand twelve hundred dollars the rides will go crazy and I'd appear I I always appeared innocent naive green I I play that act like I didn't know what I was doing you know and I could Freight around here we're going to get quarter all this stuff so in their mind they're gonna rob me and it was the game to get most times we went out drinking I'd get him drinking get him drunk get him in a room have all the sex and what never paid them and that's that was the majority of the thing that the beat that matter their money because they were going to try to beat me out I mean I had cases I had a case right here ran on Route 46. I had the girl that she was so greedy she took my she she was naked from from the way stuff she grabbed my pants and ran out of the room with my pants and left her shirt behind and she runs right into a guy next door he opens the door you're the noise though she was telling me well she was yeah she grabbed it she got about 1100 for me they're the only one that ever got away got my money out of all of them she did because I never thought she'd run out would have a clothes you know so I'm pretending I'm drunk and I'm glad I'm laying there everything man she made a beeline to that truck that's classic oh I can tell you the stories I know you can I know you can but that was mainly what it was and then [Music] next to me and the girls pointing at me to him so he starts chasing me so I'm just running down the third I'm in the car driving down Third Avenue not knowing why and he stopped showing a gun that I almost passed I mean I never carried a gun I got up to 34th Street Cottingham takes pleasure in recounting his kills the same way other men enjoy retelling High School football stories and I got away from I went through red lights and everything I come back to the same area where I picked her up I see her with the same guy so I'm watching Mariah see I used to watch the cops right in fact with no pill if you ever talk to her yeah we used to sit for hours watching the vice cops pick up all the white girls to see how they do it how they sit the one Cafe the one cup here we followed the whole way down this with Senator booking where they took him what door they went in what door we came they came out one time they just take the rest of the earth they stopped in a deli to get all the girls they wanted 12 he said I bought the girl there I walked in the deli and then I'm going to the edge and she directed that right yeah I'm trying to figure out how I can get her out of the deli but you know well the cops chase me leave the other girls or whatever sometimes I mean it was exciting I fill an awful lot to figure this one out I think the only way is if the record in in the foreign [Music] early 70s or late 60s and I did move into much with terrorists in Little Ferry until May of 70. and if I was driving back that way if I was living a river I would have been driving back that way so and always I wouldn't I wouldn't have been part because I I said I walked always to Westwood and then I got a bus in Westwood that took me to Route four and then I I walked along Route 4 to get to that Diner and I don't think I would have been down in that Diner if I lived up in Riverdale okay so I think I I was probably 70 or 71 72. nothing says even if I was able to find it nothing says that it's not developed all over that I don't know it's Australian possible or that obviously we would eat we'd have no you know who knows how we would even identify anybody in it I don't even know but obviously I'd like to find it because we would like to put these three girls to wear somewhere but that would hit the papers that's what scares me that you couldn't cover that I don't know if they found the bodies now no but that doesn't that doesn't mean that it's you to fix the papers unless you know you decided to accept responses you know I thought it was true how did you know it was located over there you know reporters aren't stupid either you know and this is a tall lawyer trying to find this yeah I mean you know I knew last time when we drove out there that it's just changed so much there was not never gonna work but we'll try and I'll try it again the um the girl that you talked to me about that looks like that actress Sherry Ashley right do you remember the stuff that you told me no I remember I remember because I want to hear your what you remember about it I don't remember yeah you had good detail on it you really did thank you I remember there was a girl that the name of the picture was Roswell yeah that's the name of the picture you should have said every time I watched that picture it reminded me of that girl correct looked exactly like it for some reason exactly what you thought I don't know that that I remember I got to play it back in my head okay he told me he found her from a store in Hackensack and see yeah does that bring it back no I'm in trouble for stuff all right I met her in Sears okay I seen that she was buying something she bought something in Sears she purchased something serious and a scarf or something like that and I followed rather Stewart and she walked down Main Street towards the movie theaters down there I thought I was just walking behind to seeing where she was going and she stopped at one of the stores either right before the movies or right after the movies I was looking in the window and I went up next to when I started talking to her and I try I'm trying to get her to go to if she wants to go to the movie and she said no she had to be home by 10 o'clock or something like that so I'm trying to figure out how could Cottingham sought out victims at every opportunity there are perhaps hundreds of women who narrowly escaped being one of his victims how can I get it for some drinks to get some liquor rental or whatever like that was right that was right by the movie theaters how did you get it I I way to go for one drink no matter how old she was oh I I think at I don't know how old I was at the time I don't know what year it was but I think she was pretty close to my age she was we were you know I think the early 20s I'm not mistaken but she she was right around my age okay I think she I think she told me she was divorced not sure I think she told me she was divorce store split up with her husband or already an early 20s yeah something like that to split up with it I might have been a boyfriend but I think that because we talked about something like that I don't remember exactly though and where'd you end up going I got I got her to go to the Holiday Inn in Little Ferry on the circle there and that's where I had my car parked should I walk there you know we took a bus oh okay no no we don't care we want to get a person and there were no buses that were going down I was trying to get to the bus said I used to catch a bus in little Prairie to go to New York so the bus came from up in Hackensack so I was trying to catch the bus that came through Hackensack that went to Little Ferry and either was none at that time at night or I don't know if it was a weekend or not I don't remember but we wanna we wound up taking a kiss we took the captain Little Ferry the little five draw I had like I didn't tell her yeah I didn't want to mention the holiday in itself and you know as the thing but I told them it was a nice Lounge there and I said my car is parked there because that part that's where another place I parked my car right next to the Valley Fair I parked in the Holiday Inn parking lot because you know of course Anonymous it could stay there if I Never Had It come back in two days it would still be there and nobody would be saying what's the score you know so I bought a lot of phones right there and when we went into the lounge there was normally like about 10 people and it was really really empty I remember I thought this was good because we sat in the back but I got the feeling she wasn't going to do nothing you know I you know I just you know I can tell you know she had two drinks I got a second drinking tour I can tell you one thing if they they have I can tell you a list now I can tell you what your stomach context would say pizza do I AP today no no not there later on but we stopped and got some pizza back about 11 o'clock at night okay I think in Hackensack but that's what we want we went for pizza lady so to let let she should have pizza in that stomach and then where'd you go now I'm telling you too much we haven't made no deal yet nothing you didn't tell me in the car ride back to Trenton remember this I gotta show you my notes back then I had a Blackberry while I was Jimmy McMorrow was driving you were in the backseat talking I was texting my I was uh emailing myself on my BlackBerry suddenly Cottingham feels like he has given the investigators too much information and he's afraid it will affect his ability to negotiate with bullet points of what you were saying so I wouldn't forget the detail you were giving me I remember that because I remember now I don't remember telling you about a thing but I remember I remember one time driving back I said he's recording what else that's what I thought you were doing yeah I was typing out here I can see you're doing something from the back and I didn't want to forget what you were saying because you were given a lot of detail so where did you end up taking it I'll have to Pizza where do you end up actually killing her for now I'm going to leave that we've got to still work out a deal and we still gotta we got we got to work I understand before I started doing all this there's no Miranda there's no nothing right I wanna I wanna see what if it matches what I have upstairs in my nose you want to make sure that you your your memory hasn't faded in the last four years my memory has created a lot you remember I know I remember sharing out with that that's how I called it I had never heard of Sherry Applebee until you told me I never knew I never heard of the show Roswell until you told me that the funny thing is the show came out 10 15 years later yeah but then I think it was in the 90s the show came out and that's what I remember yeah I said that reminds me of that girl but at that time I didn't know anything about Sherry after you remember saying she was a Dead Ringer do you remember where you've done with her yeah you do for sure town or just or you just think you remember just in your head you're seeing it [Applause] you gotta you gotta remember everything was so different back then I know you know it was even even in Little Ferry and mother and all Woods I mean at night there was no lights the hood you know you couldn't just you couldn't see in front of your hand half the time you know once you got to attack a second it all got lit up and or towards Little you know a circle there but when when you went into the side streets the town is doing no lights there was no streets all them people like you know glasses they were still Farmland back then you know everything is everything is you know every boundaries of different towns were Blended one into the other you know back then you didn't know when you went into next time if you didn't see those little signs entering parameters or entering saddle over entering little fury or whatever you you didn't know you were in another town when you put that way so you could be in another town 10 minutes and not realize you were in that town right so that's why a lot of times I can't say I was in Paramus versus it was you could drive through 15 minutes and not have to even see a house back then sometimes so what makes you know you just said yes quickly when I asked you do you know where you dumped her what what makes you say yes then you you just have a vision of it or do you know what street or do you know what town I think I know pretty close to where I grew up okay I'm not sure though I'm pretty sure but I'm not sure what did that mean because when I start thinking about something then I say well maybe that was this one right you know maybe like I said I just now I just remembered she had we had the pizza uh you know little things like that you know just for some reason I'll remember it right but you know well where do you thinking out there but for now I'm gonna keep that I'll tell you if you're wrong I think I jumped on a river for a scream okay any idea with that much I'm not sure if she went in the water or not it was too dark okay I heard a little water I looked down I couldn't see if she went in the water I couldn't even see her I went down a steep several of cottingham's victims were found in or near water like an eight foot drop it's very sharp and uh the only thing I would say is it was below Hackensack if you went down at Essex Street I would say if you got out of Hackensack do you remember how she was killed probably you're supposed to see it's the spaghetti problem and that's how I did most of mine right you know do you remember specifically with her no okay so you're just kind of guessing because no you know I love averages yeah I mean she I know she wasn't shot I didn't know yeah no I know that you know things like that you know well like the girl up here like the girls here you stand which is not you know that was very unique and that's only because I panic I didn't tend to and it was it was a steak Knife it was a steak knife and a nice rope that's another fact if you find that the incident you'll see okay then it wasn't anywhere a regular knife like a guy who was a steak knife from one of the places we stopped there had to stay if I told you that that girl the girl that I'm thinking of was stabbed not to death but stabbed one time does that bring back any memory not that it was not by any means what killed her possibly see I used to always [ __ ] around with a knife with him that's why we just put the little marks on them and sometimes that stem just never stay up and like but just puncture them sometimes so that could be possible but it wouldn't have been like a five inch stab on or anything like that I would remember that uh but you're also gonna remember some times I was drunk out of my fights right so you might not remember too all right you know or remember differently you know yeah I don't sit there and think about these things I try not to even think about this thing well Rich so many things to um you're thinking of like if you were to give me everything you got that somehow I'm gonna put it put it to dozens of murders all over the place you see the the lack of detail you have on on a lot of these things and even some of the detail like you said you think is with one it might belong to another one it's not being honest and I think it's easy if you think or maybe not be this might not be as successful as you as you think it would be in terms of what my successful meaning on my end um and that's why a project for so much detail because that's about the only way that you could figure out one case from another I told you in the very very beginning most of the details is not going to be detail you know most of the details be I dropped this body off at Road mark so far on the Jersey Turnpike and you look up and you'll find a body was dropped in but now for me to tell you what girl was I can't remember the one I dropped I dropped off way out in Long Island I remember driving out there I remember I could go to the streets go down here I went there was a fence there I threw it over the fence but to tell you was the one that got hitchhiking over here in parameter so was it you know until I know more facts where I see a picture or something distinctive or something I you know there was just too many I I just don't remember keeping track of the identities of the women hasn't been high on cottingham's priority list it's entirely possible that he didn't even know the names of some of them he killed several in most locations which would also make it harder to keep the individual details straight I can tell you how I always did these things but you know see do you might think the number h18 has been alive but for everyone that I killed I've done this to 30 other girls for every 100. I was out there every night like an animal and most like I said I didn't kill and everything so I have those pictures in my mind too y'all remember funny things and it's that's oh no that's he's still there she's still walking around or whatever like in the middle you know when I was working for like three months yes you know I didn't kill her any longer than that was it I think longer yeah not someone sorry yeah but yet I'll remember I remember her last name was Ziegler now how do I remember I just remember yeah I remember sitting down in front of her she took me to our house in Teaneck and we set out looked at her family stuff I remember that but I don't remember everything they just didn't and then you gotta remember I had regular girlfriends you know I was juggling a girlfriend here my wife's here girlfriend here nanelle was here you know I go from water I mean it was it was a comedy I'd leave work at 11 I grew up and I picked Gene and Connolly up at Montefiore Hospital I take her down one of the boys fighting in the southern we'd spend till two o'clock take her back and then go over to Barbara Lucas's house spend an hour or two there then I dropped my windows then I'd go home and I stay home by five five thirty and this was a constant thing and before all that I didn't know what scouting the hook you know all the strolls and everything you know and if something popped up there then it was a thing of chance what made you on certain nights say go see your girlfriend versus end up going out and looking to rape somebody is there was there anything that triggered it like what made you want to hunt on a certain night everybody want to rape somebody I I'm very very raped anybody well what made you like let's say what would make you go Scout looking for to hurt a girl versus what is there anything that happened during the day like is there something you can look back on and go you know what are you trying to do this psychology I'm just interested I'm actually intrigued because when you brought up the girlfriends you had and the things that kept you busy it was like what then what what then did you end up being what what happened like on a certain day versus that would make you be like I want to do this tonight versus I'm gonna go buy Barbara Lucas house or I'm gonna go over here an animal so you can't point to some particular thing that was like on the days that I did this I went scouting with this every day seven days a week 10 years 13 years every day if I went to pick up my car that's how I met them now I went to pick up my car I had it on 9th Avenue 42nd street and she was right in Times Square and I just walked out and talked to her and I got her to come back and wait outside my job until I got off work things just like that you know but I was always looking for an opportunity or I guess that's what I said it was so I just had the Knack I could pick up woman I just I don't know what it was I'm not a great looking guy I don't know what it was but I could walk a block I can see a girl walking down a block and within the block know if I could get her into a motel room or something you know I'd go out for basketball I'd go out Sebastian Robbins and pick up a girl this friend on the street between my job and Baskin Robbins which is only two blocks and have her come to sit in my car and wait for me three four hours until I got off work and then you know things would happen but every time when I got off work at 11 o'clock I could go one of the Scrolls was pretty close to where I worked and I'd always go down there I might make my little routine loose I'd see not always look for new girls you're the old bloody old good old-time girls never pay attention to me because they know I didn't spend no money with them you know so you know I never spent the night actually yeah that was much true but then by 12 o'clock I'd have to be up at the hospital then then I'd come down I had to be in the bars you know but this was seven nights a week I drank seven midnight speak I went out and eat food every night after eight years of marriage and three children cottingham's wife grew weary of his long absences and began the legal proceedings for a divorce she withdrew the petition upon his arrest then completed the divorce after his conviction to my poor wife you know she didn't what she thought I was cheating on her right you know she always excuse me that because I mean I ended up I came home from five six o'clock in the morning drunk every night yeah and I worked seven now the thing too I worked seven I wouldn't work two years straight when that day was Christmas we had I was making so much that's why I always had money I was making so much money I started working 57 a week there in my first year I made over seven thousand dollars it was like five thousand dollars in overtime and ten thousand dollars regular pay we didn't even have to ask for all the time we just sign in sign your name on any shift you wanted to work seven days a week the machines never stopped that's great all right but if see if I never work shift work I never got in trouble who's getting off work 11 o'clock when I first got married I'd go home you know my wife she works so she's asleep already I just said that they were wrong so I started going out to the bar and I started partying and what happens in New York everything opens up at midnight when did you start working it working with and in New York that was what year 64. I was that early yeah you were driving and then taking the bus every Union well in 64 I worked for MetLife I was driving it that must have been 17 54 46 56 17. yeah and I worked for MetLife for two years then I went over to Blue Cross but I always worked the shift for it and do course Cottingham is more apologetic for speaking badly about one of his victims than he is about killing her and you get out of work 11 o'clock in New York City all the nurses from all the hospitals to go off work at the same time and all the cops get off work and fire him so the boys bought the Anthony at 10 o'clock from 11 to 12 o'clock and just tell us 200 people yeah I can stay out all night so I was wanting to read it I could pick up these boards I could stay and drink all night long and I had money to spend did you sleep during the day like you do now yeah yeah well I never I never needed one I'd go home at five o'clock five thirty and by seven I was up I never I never needed that much sleep I wasn't about any I never thought that was I don't think in my life now I don't see more than an hour at a time especially five or six times but the city is you know about any more shifts I would never I don't think I would ever done anything and the drinking didn't know no I don't blame anything on the drinking but no listen you obviously you know you had vinya there was something if if I was the type like you I'm only assumed because I don't know how you drink but a normal person where after four or five drinks I was loaded then I could have done nothing but I can go slide I could go in and drink 15 20 drinks and then be completely normal I mean go out driving around driving all over the city you know I had one accident on the George Washington Turnpike the church George Washington Bridge but many nights I never know how I got home I don't know is I don't know if I took the bridge home or the tunnel I could never remember but I I was always I'd be the ticket right here in Hackensack because I was going 95 miles an hour and judge felt sorry for me he says and he managed that drives 95 miles an hour can't see that drunk and I was I get to think that first of all that 1.0 right on the nose so it could have went either way at that time I don't know if it's lower now at one point there was 1.0 it says 0.08 now and we found the innocent the cops got gray went crazy went crazy but I could drive I could I never had an accident you know that didn't one time so what do you think is going to help you to put details on these things I mean I don't I don't want to like show you pictures or I don't want to you know it's really it's really just talking about it to me it seems just like detail comes back here I mean you add a lot of detail on the the Vogel the Nancy Vogel one the one that we got big like what made that one stick in your head because I want that water I hate to say it she was a [ __ ] and I don't want to know and everything I mean she was a nice woman but she was very unhappy she picked me up and I went out with her about four or five times you know we had drinks right now holiday in there because she used to go to the Valley Fair then we go over to the valley and today's Holiday Inn that place was Anonymous she's going to that Lounge it was never around before it was always empty and you can stay by yourself in a corner booth but I didn't have really that I didn't remember I remember basically where I dropped it that's that's what I remember in most of them like I said you know see there's also cases that if I tell you the truth you'll think I'm mine like what what does that mean I think I told you once before that I just walking but just by instance you can kill somebody one way and it'll appears to be a different way and some of the people that you will say were associated weren't sophisticated I can't I never pronounced that word 60 years I can't say it I don't know why I can't say that word triangle choke whatever smothered but and also and if I tell you the truth how they really were killed I'm gonna say [ __ ] because the death certificate is going to say a different way okay so how would they be killed in it would drown how are we drowning not look like a drowning because if you drop a body in the summer in the heat all the water must evaporate from the body if the body is not found right away so now there's no water in the lungs or anything anymore and I read that you know some reports and papers a couple of times this girl was sophisticated and I didn't know and I really they didn't realize they were pronounced I can't I can't speak to how I get how exact the science is autopsies or 70s you know so but even now they couldn't tell you leave a body out where it starts to Decay you know after two or three days you can't tell it was it was rounds because there's no water in the lungs the ones everything's collapsed already but we don't have that well at least here in Bergen County we don't really have that many no decaying bodies like they're not unsolved I should say not not many of our cold cases have anything to do with the game bodies so I don't know if that's the case of anything that's here in Bergen I can't speak to any of the other candidates well I can tell you for a fact it is here in Marine I don't remember any of them that are uh certainly not decaying Nottingham makes the odd claim that some of his victims didn't die the way the medical examiner said they did the most likely explanation is that they died without him realizing it and he attempted to drown them but there's I'm just using that word but I'm saying if if it's in the summer and it's lifting the Heat I'm assuming what happens is all the water dries up so there is no water in the lungs that we determine has it ever be the farthest thing you would think somebody you find them in a lot you wouldn't ever even think about it what would make you drown somebody and then bring them back in the car why would you leave them in the water because they weren't trended we're a bathtub whatever right so you got to get about it yeah I guess it depends where you are right I did things in all different ways but I told you that at the very beginning you did tell me that I remember you did tell me how to break because I always said you know this is the perfect murder I mean they can't tell obviously then you know when I thought about it and I said well you know the Heat curly drives everything up the body's all dries why would you think somebody's grounded the only way to hell is water in the lungs so that you know the ones that classic they just smothered huh and in our cases right there well you have to enlighten me so I can look at them you have to enlighten me because I I don't know but that but that's what I know but that's true that's why I'm saying it if I if I tell you the truth you'll think I'm lying so I can tell you a lie and you'll think I'm telling the truth not at all not at all yeah I think just tell them what you remember that's all I mean and if it marries up to something it marries up to something if it doesn't then uh you know you know Google so what are you thinking what do you what do you keep saying when we come to an agreement what is it in the agreement that what is what does that mean tell me what that means in your mind besides the obvious that I know already which is you're looking for it not to get back to your children the likelihood of cottinghams not finding out about any of these murders is Slim there's nothing the detectives can do to hide this information if it proves to be correct well that that's the main thing all right but what we got to talk about what I'm going to get out of it the first you know the satisfaction of writing a wrong answer I think you're almost at that point what do you want for dinner tonight let's start with the simple what do we what do we eat tonight we're getting off track here gosh what what is what is it what do you think of the dinner tonight I really don't know nothing striking and fancy at the moment everything nothing you know it's like I don't need anything expensive you know no that's good because I didn't really want to splurge on you because you haven't given me anything Kentucky Fried Chicken over here really I don't eat that yeah whatever New Mexico excuse me this is the worst diagram I've ever seen I think this is such a good drawer I can't even pick up anything anymore every 10 minutes my hands quite a carpal ball they say this but I don't think cottingham's confirmed killings resulted in nine convictions and a further eight confessions under non-prosecution agreements leading to him serving multiple life sentences in New Jersey prisons in 2009 decades after his first five murder convictions Cottingham told a journalist that he had committed at least 80 to 100 perfect murders of women in various regions of the United States in April 2021 Cottingham confessed to an unsolved 1974 double homicide in Montvale one of New Jersey's most notorious cold cases the confession was extracted by ancelotti weeks before his retirement and was facilitated by bronsky and by Jennifer Wiese the daughter of Didi gazari one of cottingham's later victims bronsky and Weiss had been meeting with Cottingham in prison since the spring of 2017. counseling him to make the confession in March 2023 ancelotti elicited another confession from Cottingham the murder of a 17 year old who vanished in January 1967. hopefully you enjoyed the video if you did there is a patreon link in the description where you can support the channel further thank you for watching I'll see you in the next one [Music]