1
00:00:07,501 --> 00:00:17,460
♪

2
00:00:18,168 --> 00:00:20,543
[Monitor
continues beeping]

3
00:01:01,751 --> 00:01:04,001
[Anzilotti] This is
Richard Cottingham.

4
00:01:04,126 --> 00:01:07,043
By all accounts,
he's dying.

5
00:01:07,168 --> 00:01:08,876
Personally, I think he's
like a cockroach and

6
00:01:09,043 --> 00:01:10,585
he just lives forever.

7
00:01:24,418 --> 00:01:25,876
In the world of
serial killers,

8
00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:27,168
I would rank
Richard Cottingham

9
00:01:27,251 --> 00:01:29,085
up there with the
worst of them.

10
00:01:29,251 --> 00:01:30,751
[Reporter] ...firemen were
the first to arrive on the

11
00:01:30,918 --> 00:01:33,001
scene at about
9:30 this morning.

12
00:01:33,126 --> 00:01:34,835
Two women were
found decapitated,

13
00:01:34,918 --> 00:01:36,585
with their hands
cut off as well.

14
00:01:36,710 --> 00:01:39,668
♪

15
00:01:39,793 --> 00:01:42,960
It could be up to 100
women that he's killed...

16
00:01:43,085 --> 00:01:45,210
New Jersey,
and beyond.

17
00:01:45,335 --> 00:01:48,960
He's flown under the
radar all this time...

18
00:01:49,085 --> 00:01:52,376
because he's not given up
all of his crimes.

19
00:01:52,668 --> 00:01:54,668
♪

20
00:01:54,751 --> 00:02:00,418
After 18 years of time
with this savage...

21
00:02:00,543 --> 00:02:04,751
I've been able to get a
number of confessions.

22
00:02:04,918 --> 00:02:07,418
It was a flat-out negotiation.

23
00:02:07,543 --> 00:02:09,168
He's the king of all deals.

24
00:02:09,293 --> 00:02:13,501
It's all about, "What
are you gonna do for me?"

25
00:02:13,626 --> 00:02:15,835
That was a big thing
for him, control.

26
00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:17,710
♪

27
00:02:17,835 --> 00:02:22,001
My game with him was to
get him to confess...

28
00:02:22,085 --> 00:02:25,210
To bring a measure
of peace and

29
00:02:25,335 --> 00:02:27,543
closure to the
victims' families.

30
00:02:27,626 --> 00:02:29,501
Their minds,
over these decades,

31
00:02:29,626 --> 00:02:32,501
race with theories and
race with suspects,

32
00:02:32,585 --> 00:02:35,960
some of whom were in
their own families.

33
00:02:36,085 --> 00:02:37,751
They want to know
what happened.

34
00:02:37,918 --> 00:02:39,626
♪

35
00:02:39,751 --> 00:02:42,626
Richard Cottingham is
responsible for a lot more.

36
00:02:42,751 --> 00:02:46,126
♪

37
00:02:46,251 --> 00:02:47,710
I was not done with him.

38
00:02:47,793 --> 00:02:50,710
You can take all the serial
killers there's ever been.

39
00:02:50,876 --> 00:02:52,835
There's not been
one like me.

40
00:02:57,918 --> 00:03:04,376
♪

41
00:03:04,668 --> 00:03:10,751
♪

42
00:03:10,918 --> 00:03:16,876
♪

43
00:03:17,001 --> 00:03:21,835
♪

44
00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:25,585
♪

45
00:03:25,751 --> 00:03:27,835
♪

46
00:03:27,918 --> 00:03:29,043
In the year 2000,

47
00:03:29,210 --> 00:03:33,168
I was assigned a
series of cold cases.

48
00:03:33,251 --> 00:03:38,585
The majority of them were
from 1974 through 1965.

49
00:03:38,751 --> 00:03:41,835
♪

50
00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,918
When I pulled the cases,
the evidence officer

51
00:03:45,085 --> 00:03:48,835
gives me boxes and
boxes and boxes...

52
00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:50,876
Report after report,

53
00:03:51,001 --> 00:03:52,835
lab results after
lab results,

54
00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,043
crime scene photo after
crime scene photo.

55
00:03:55,168 --> 00:03:57,543
♪

56
00:03:57,710 --> 00:04:01,293
I was pretty much the new guy
in the homicide squad and,

57
00:04:01,418 --> 00:04:04,126
this was an overwhelming
and daunting task...

58
00:04:04,251 --> 00:04:07,085
for somebody that
was kind of

59
00:04:07,210 --> 00:04:10,043
green around the gills.

60
00:04:10,168 --> 00:04:12,793
What I didn't know when I
first started digging through

61
00:04:12,918 --> 00:04:16,043
those files was that it would
ignite a fire inside of me.

62
00:04:16,210 --> 00:04:19,710
♪

63
00:04:19,835 --> 00:04:22,543
There were twelve cases.

64
00:04:22,710 --> 00:04:25,543
There were a number
of girls that were

65
00:04:25,668 --> 00:04:28,168
either last seen
hitchhiking...

66
00:04:28,293 --> 00:04:31,251
or had been picked up
by a stranger.

67
00:04:31,376 --> 00:04:33,543
Ultimately, raped
and then murdered,

68
00:04:33,710 --> 00:04:37,918
dumped in and around
Bergen County.

69
00:04:38,043 --> 00:04:40,751
Bergen County is situated
in the northern part of

70
00:04:40,876 --> 00:04:43,210
New Jersey, and it is just
across the Hudson River

71
00:04:43,376 --> 00:04:45,710
from New York City.

72
00:04:45,835 --> 00:04:48,043
♪

73
00:04:48,168 --> 00:04:50,585
The whole community
was in shock.

74
00:04:50,751 --> 00:04:53,168
Kids stopped walking
home from school.

75
00:04:53,251 --> 00:04:55,085
All these girls were
innocent.

76
00:04:55,210 --> 00:04:57,876
Innocent kids.

77
00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:00,918
You know, they had a
life ahead of them.

78
00:05:01,085 --> 00:05:03,168
There were a lot of theories.

79
00:05:03,251 --> 00:05:06,043
They never found who did it.

80
00:05:06,210 --> 00:05:08,085
And it went on
for a long time.

81
00:05:08,251 --> 00:05:09,918
♪

82
00:05:10,043 --> 00:05:11,251
Everybody was a suspect.

83
00:05:11,376 --> 00:05:13,460
Even back in the
beginning days...

84
00:05:13,585 --> 00:05:16,876
the priest of the
church was a suspect.

85
00:05:17,043 --> 00:05:18,710
♪

86
00:05:18,793 --> 00:05:20,751
It never seemed
to go anywhere.

87
00:05:20,876 --> 00:05:23,626
Guy going around killing
girls from Bergen County,

88
00:05:23,751 --> 00:05:27,335
you figure somebody
knew something.

89
00:05:27,460 --> 00:05:29,293
My life changed immediately.

90
00:05:29,418 --> 00:05:31,210
I had no more sister.

91
00:05:31,376 --> 00:05:33,210
My family wanted answers.

92
00:05:33,376 --> 00:05:38,668
Who, where, when, why?
We had no idea.

93
00:05:38,793 --> 00:05:41,376
You go from one as
young as 13, and then,

94
00:05:41,501 --> 00:05:45,210
you know, one as old
as 29 years old.

95
00:05:45,376 --> 00:05:47,043
They're wildly different
in some aspects

96
00:05:47,210 --> 00:05:49,043
of their victimology.

97
00:05:49,168 --> 00:05:50,876
♪

98
00:05:51,001 --> 00:05:53,710
At the time, the community of
Bergen County is just really

99
00:05:53,835 --> 00:05:55,835
on edge, and the police
are just all-in trying to

100
00:05:55,918 --> 00:05:58,001
figure out if there's
any commonalities

101
00:05:58,085 --> 00:05:59,918
between these killings.

102
00:06:00,085 --> 00:06:01,918
They're not finding any.

103
00:06:02,085 --> 00:06:04,085
♪

104
00:06:04,251 --> 00:06:06,710
They had several
main suspects...

105
00:06:06,835 --> 00:06:09,001
who may or may not
have been involved.

106
00:06:09,126 --> 00:06:11,376
♪

107
00:06:11,501 --> 00:06:15,251
There was a convicted
rapist, Raymond Alves.

108
00:06:15,376 --> 00:06:18,293
He claimed he'd
killed 15 women,

109
00:06:18,418 --> 00:06:21,376
and he was up for parole.

110
00:06:21,460 --> 00:06:24,793
There was Robert Reldan,
a former honor student

111
00:06:24,918 --> 00:06:27,751
who had been
involved in rapes.

112
00:06:27,876 --> 00:06:30,001
Another suspect
was Joe Kallinger,

113
00:06:30,085 --> 00:06:32,210
who was known as 'The
Shoemaker' for a knife that

114
00:06:32,335 --> 00:06:35,960
he used in a murder
spree in three states,

115
00:06:36,085 --> 00:06:38,168
which ended in
Bergen County...

116
00:06:38,293 --> 00:06:41,335
with the death of a nurse.

117
00:06:41,418 --> 00:06:44,460
I went through all
these suspects.

118
00:06:44,585 --> 00:06:48,960
I flew all over the
country following leads.

119
00:06:49,085 --> 00:06:50,710
And they all went nowhere.

120
00:06:50,876 --> 00:06:53,126
The one name that I
couldn't eliminate

121
00:06:53,251 --> 00:06:55,501
was Richard Cottingham.

122
00:06:59,335 --> 00:07:01,376
Richard Cottingham
In 1980,

123
00:07:01,501 --> 00:07:06,710
had been convicted of
killing five women.

124
00:07:06,835 --> 00:07:08,418
Three were in
New York City,

125
00:07:08,585 --> 00:07:10,543
two were in Bergen County.

126
00:07:10,626 --> 00:07:13,460
Those killings in
Times Square dubbed him

127
00:07:13,585 --> 00:07:17,210
'The Torso Killer' by the
New York media.

128
00:07:17,335 --> 00:07:19,751
Because several of
the victims had

129
00:07:19,918 --> 00:07:22,293
their heads cut off,
their hands cut off,

130
00:07:22,418 --> 00:07:24,085
and the room lit on fire.

131
00:07:24,251 --> 00:07:26,210
♪

132
00:07:26,335 --> 00:07:28,210
He ultimately got caught
in Bergen County

133
00:07:28,376 --> 00:07:30,585
trying to rape and kill
another woman...

134
00:07:30,710 --> 00:07:34,876
at a local motel in Hasbrouck
Heights, New Jersey.

135
00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,168
[News] Cottingham is being
held in a jail adjacent to

136
00:07:37,293 --> 00:07:38,793
the Bergen County Courthouse.

137
00:07:38,918 --> 00:07:40,835
He was originally charged
with aggravated sexual

138
00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:43,001
assault and attempted murder
of a woman thought to be

139
00:07:43,085 --> 00:07:46,501
a prostitute on May 22nd,
in a Jersey motel.

140
00:07:46,626 --> 00:07:49,876
[Anzilotti] Of these 12
cold case homicides that

141
00:07:50,043 --> 00:07:51,501
I'm investigating,
some of them were

142
00:07:51,585 --> 00:07:54,960
all centered
around this area.

143
00:07:55,085 --> 00:07:59,210
Cottingham was incarcerated
since his arrest in 1980.

144
00:07:59,293 --> 00:08:02,043
In the years that followed,
some NYPD detectives,

145
00:08:02,210 --> 00:08:04,793
as well as Bergen County
detectives attempted to

146
00:08:04,918 --> 00:08:08,835
gain his cooperation in
unsolved murders.

147
00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:11,251
Unfortunately, it never
materialized into anything.

148
00:08:11,418 --> 00:08:17,960
♪

149
00:08:18,085 --> 00:08:19,876
Everything I knew about him
at that point was

150
00:08:20,043 --> 00:08:22,960
focused in the late 70s,
up until 1980.

151
00:08:23,085 --> 00:08:24,460
Had no idea if he could
have been operating

152
00:08:24,585 --> 00:08:26,876
in the 60s or early 70s.

153
00:08:27,001 --> 00:08:28,460
But certainly,
it was a possibility

154
00:08:28,585 --> 00:08:30,501
just based on his age.

155
00:08:30,585 --> 00:08:32,543
So, he was always just
lingering in the back of

156
00:08:32,668 --> 00:08:34,876
my head as like, hey, one day,
I gotta get to this guy

157
00:08:35,001 --> 00:08:37,210
Cottingham and see if he's
good for any of these.

158
00:08:37,335 --> 00:08:42,001
♪

159
00:08:42,126 --> 00:08:44,668
In 2003, I got
promoted to sergeant,

160
00:08:44,793 --> 00:08:46,501
and that's when I moved on
to the street crimes unit.

161
00:08:46,626 --> 00:08:49,043
It was known as the Special
Investigations Squad.

162
00:08:49,210 --> 00:08:50,126
And as a sergeant,

163
00:08:50,251 --> 00:08:52,376
I was responsible for a
number of detectives.

164
00:08:52,501 --> 00:08:55,085
We were putting together
really big cases.

165
00:08:55,251 --> 00:08:57,043
But in between there,
I made sure I always

166
00:08:57,168 --> 00:09:01,210
found the time for my
cold case work.

167
00:09:01,335 --> 00:09:02,918
There was many a
Sunday night

168
00:09:03,085 --> 00:09:05,043
where I'd put the
kids to bed and,

169
00:09:05,210 --> 00:09:07,418
I would take an A to Z file
full of reports and

170
00:09:07,585 --> 00:09:10,293
crime scene photos...

171
00:09:10,418 --> 00:09:12,418
and just pour a glass of
wine at my dining room table

172
00:09:12,585 --> 00:09:14,043
and just...

173
00:09:14,126 --> 00:09:16,168
spend hours poring over
the cases and taking notes,

174
00:09:16,293 --> 00:09:18,043
just on my own time.

175
00:09:18,210 --> 00:09:20,418
Doing these cold cases was
not my only job or

176
00:09:20,585 --> 00:09:22,960
my only assignment,
by any stretch.

177
00:09:23,085 --> 00:09:26,543
You've got a whole bunch of
cases that you're assigned to.

178
00:09:26,626 --> 00:09:28,293
You've got other homicides,

179
00:09:28,418 --> 00:09:32,085
you've got active organized
crime investigations.

180
00:09:32,251 --> 00:09:35,668
Yet, you had to find time to
work the cold cases

181
00:09:35,793 --> 00:09:39,460
because we never,
ever close them.

182
00:09:39,585 --> 00:09:41,376
Never.

183
00:09:41,460 --> 00:09:43,668
[Anzilotti]
Having daughters...

184
00:09:43,793 --> 00:09:46,376
and then investigating the
rapes and murders of these

185
00:09:46,460 --> 00:09:49,585
young girls, as teenagers,
really hit home for me.

186
00:09:49,710 --> 00:09:51,251
And I wanted to give
these families

187
00:09:51,376 --> 00:09:53,085
some sense of justice.

188
00:09:53,251 --> 00:09:58,585
♪

189
00:09:58,710 --> 00:10:01,210
I just grew so attached
to these cases.

190
00:10:01,335 --> 00:10:03,501
I knew them inside and out.

191
00:10:03,626 --> 00:10:05,543
I had been studying
them for years,

192
00:10:05,668 --> 00:10:07,335
kind of on a
part-time basis,

193
00:10:07,460 --> 00:10:10,335
and got very
passionate about it.

194
00:10:10,460 --> 00:10:12,043
But I wasn't
making any inroads,

195
00:10:12,168 --> 00:10:15,960
and that really
just nagged at me.

196
00:10:16,085 --> 00:10:17,293
I never wanted
to forget them,

197
00:10:17,418 --> 00:10:19,168
I never wanted to
give up on them.

198
00:10:19,293 --> 00:10:21,335
♪

199
00:10:21,418 --> 00:10:26,210
In just researching some
different suspects...

200
00:10:26,293 --> 00:10:29,168
the name Richard Cottingham
kept coming up again.

201
00:10:29,293 --> 00:10:31,668
♪

202
00:10:31,751 --> 00:10:34,126
I was aware that other
detectives before me had

203
00:10:34,251 --> 00:10:38,168
tried to speak to Cottingham,
and he never cooperated.

204
00:10:38,293 --> 00:10:40,335
How am I going to get this
guy Cottingham to talk to me?

205
00:10:40,460 --> 00:10:44,835
♪

206
00:10:44,918 --> 00:10:47,710
By sheer coincidence,
Cottingham was housed in the

207
00:10:47,835 --> 00:10:51,210
same prison, on the same
wing with 'The Iceman'.

208
00:10:51,335 --> 00:10:55,251
♪

209
00:10:55,376 --> 00:10:59,543
Besides these 12 cold cases
involving young females,

210
00:10:59,668 --> 00:11:01,543
I was also looking
into a number of

211
00:11:01,668 --> 00:11:04,626
other cold case homicides...

212
00:11:04,751 --> 00:11:08,376
some of which involved
mob-style hits.

213
00:11:08,460 --> 00:11:12,710
This led me to Richard
'The Iceman' Kuklinski.

214
00:11:12,835 --> 00:11:15,335
The Iceman was at that time
incarcerated for

215
00:11:15,418 --> 00:11:17,335
a number of homicides
that he had committed

216
00:11:17,418 --> 00:11:19,085
in and around Bergen County.

217
00:11:19,251 --> 00:11:22,543
He purported himself to
be a hitman for the mob.

218
00:11:22,710 --> 00:11:24,668
He was very boastful
about his killings,

219
00:11:24,793 --> 00:11:27,126
and his ties to the mafia.

220
00:11:27,251 --> 00:11:29,376
It is New Jersey, and
we're certainly well-known,

221
00:11:29,543 --> 00:11:32,043
especially back then, for our
traditional organized crime.

222
00:11:32,168 --> 00:11:33,710
The typical La Cosa Nostra,

223
00:11:33,835 --> 00:11:36,085
Soprano-style
organized crime cases:

224
00:11:36,210 --> 00:11:37,585
loansharking,
illegal gambling,

225
00:11:37,751 --> 00:11:41,210
extortion, prostitution.

226
00:11:41,335 --> 00:11:43,793
Kuklinski got the nickname
'The Iceman'

227
00:11:43,918 --> 00:11:46,710
because he actually
killed somebody,

228
00:11:46,876 --> 00:11:48,710
put them in a freezer to
try and change the body

229
00:11:48,835 --> 00:11:50,543
temperature to fool
the medical examiner.

230
00:11:50,668 --> 00:11:53,626
♪

231
00:11:53,751 --> 00:11:55,210
Well, he got caught
eventually for it so,

232
00:11:55,335 --> 00:11:56,710
I don't know how
much it worked, but...

233
00:11:56,835 --> 00:11:58,543
All these guys think
they're so ----ing smart.

234
00:11:58,710 --> 00:12:00,835
♪

235
00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:02,626
I spent hundreds
of hours with him.

236
00:12:02,751 --> 00:12:04,835
I'd have him transported
up from the prison.

237
00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:07,043
He'd stay at the
Bergen County Jail.

238
00:12:07,168 --> 00:12:08,710
Eventually,
I developed a

239
00:12:08,835 --> 00:12:11,543
relationship with him.
really good

240
00:12:11,626 --> 00:12:13,793
He began to trust me enough
that I got a number of

241
00:12:13,918 --> 00:12:15,543
unsolved homicides
out of him.

242
00:12:15,668 --> 00:12:17,418
♪

243
00:12:17,543 --> 00:12:20,460
Rob built such a relationship
with Kuklinski that

244
00:12:20,585 --> 00:12:23,126
Kuklinski became
Rob's informant...

245
00:12:23,251 --> 00:12:27,251
on anything that Kuklinski
could come up with.

246
00:12:27,418 --> 00:12:30,876
I figured this might be a
way to get to Cottingham.

247
00:12:31,001 --> 00:12:33,543
One particular interview,
I bring up his name.

248
00:12:33,710 --> 00:12:35,418
And I'm like, "Hey, do you
know this guy, Cottingham?"

249
00:12:35,585 --> 00:12:39,293
And Kuklinski had the most,
just vile reaction,

250
00:12:39,418 --> 00:12:42,710
and he just was like,
"I hate that scumbag."

251
00:12:42,876 --> 00:12:44,543
And he's like,
"What kind of an animal

252
00:12:44,626 --> 00:12:46,460
does these things to women?"

253
00:12:56,335 --> 00:12:59,751
♪

254
00:12:59,918 --> 00:13:01,876
Richard Kuklinski,
known as 'The Iceman',

255
00:13:02,001 --> 00:13:04,460
was housed in
New Jersey State Prison.

256
00:13:04,585 --> 00:13:07,751
The Iceman is probably
one of the most foreboding

257
00:13:07,876 --> 00:13:10,668
individuals I've ever
seen in my life.

258
00:13:10,793 --> 00:13:12,835
He was like 6"8,

259
00:13:12,918 --> 00:13:15,543
just a huge human being.

260
00:13:15,668 --> 00:13:17,418
He had a hair-trigger temper.

261
00:13:17,543 --> 00:13:19,543
This is unwarranted.

262
00:13:19,668 --> 00:13:21,751
Unnecessary.

263
00:13:21,876 --> 00:13:24,710
These guys watch
too many movies.

264
00:13:24,793 --> 00:13:26,626
He could be a
really scary dude.

265
00:13:26,751 --> 00:13:29,376
♪

266
00:13:29,501 --> 00:13:31,668
The strange twist to my
relationship with The Iceman

267
00:13:31,751 --> 00:13:34,293
is that during our
conversations...

268
00:13:34,418 --> 00:13:37,335
when I asked Kuklinski
about Cottingham,

269
00:13:37,418 --> 00:13:41,751
it became quickly evident
that he despised Cottingham.

270
00:13:41,876 --> 00:13:44,710
To kind of get this from
this big, giant of a,

271
00:13:44,793 --> 00:13:46,251
of a guy who kills people,

272
00:13:46,376 --> 00:13:49,210
and now he's got his
own moral code

273
00:13:49,335 --> 00:13:51,376
where he's disgusted by
this other killer.

274
00:13:51,501 --> 00:13:54,668
So, he began to cooperate
with me and kind of

275
00:13:54,793 --> 00:13:56,418
give me some dirt
on Cottingham.

276
00:14:27,543 --> 00:14:29,335
Turns out- Kuklinski
explains to me-

277
00:14:29,418 --> 00:14:31,668
Cottingham ran an
illegal gambling operation

278
00:14:31,793 --> 00:14:33,418
within the prison.

279
00:14:33,543 --> 00:14:35,710
♪

280
00:14:35,835 --> 00:14:39,376
So, he used to run like, like
football and baseball and

281
00:14:39,460 --> 00:14:41,710
all sorts of gambling through
these tickets, right?

282
00:14:41,793 --> 00:14:44,751
Like, like an illegal lottery.

283
00:14:44,876 --> 00:14:47,418
And I decided that
that would be my in.

284
00:14:47,543 --> 00:14:52,001
♪

285
00:14:52,085 --> 00:14:54,585
In early 2004,
the Super Bowl

286
00:14:54,751 --> 00:14:57,876
that year was in
Houston, Texas.

287
00:14:58,001 --> 00:14:59,710
I'd never been
to a Super Bowl.

288
00:14:59,793 --> 00:15:01,626
♪

289
00:15:01,751 --> 00:15:03,876
I thought it'd be really
cool if me and my dad

290
00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:06,710
took the trip out there,
and took in the game.

291
00:15:06,793 --> 00:15:09,376
I had amazing seats.

292
00:15:09,543 --> 00:15:11,918
The only thing that detracted
from my Super Bowl experience

293
00:15:12,043 --> 00:15:15,418
was the anxiousness
and the anxiety...

294
00:15:15,543 --> 00:15:17,585
wondering whether
this plan that I had

295
00:15:17,710 --> 00:15:19,543
was actually
going to work.

296
00:15:19,668 --> 00:15:21,293
♪

297
00:15:21,418 --> 00:15:24,710
Having years of
prior experience

298
00:15:24,835 --> 00:15:26,376
in the Organized
Crime Squad,

299
00:15:26,460 --> 00:15:27,751
investigating
illegal gambling,

300
00:15:27,918 --> 00:15:30,876
doing undercover work,
purporting to be a bookmaker,

301
00:15:31,001 --> 00:15:33,876
I understand there's no
crazier gambling day

302
00:15:34,043 --> 00:15:35,626
than Super Bowl Sunday.

303
00:15:35,751 --> 00:15:39,418
♪

304
00:15:39,543 --> 00:15:42,918
In the weeks that led up
to that Super Bowl Sunday,

305
00:15:43,085 --> 00:15:44,793
I made all the
arrangements with

306
00:15:44,918 --> 00:15:46,543
the investigators
at the prison,

307
00:15:46,668 --> 00:15:49,710
gave them all the
information they needed to...

308
00:15:49,876 --> 00:15:52,710
enact my plan...

309
00:15:52,835 --> 00:15:56,085
for Cottingham's cell to be
raided by prison officials

310
00:15:56,210 --> 00:16:00,751
the morning after
Super Bowl Sunday.

311
00:16:00,876 --> 00:16:02,460
When they
searched his cell,

312
00:16:02,585 --> 00:16:04,418
they found evidence
of the gambling operation,

313
00:16:04,543 --> 00:16:08,501
and Cottingham was
thrown into the hole.

314
00:16:08,626 --> 00:16:10,710
In the prison system,
'the hole' was

315
00:16:10,793 --> 00:16:12,876
basically solitary
confinement.

316
00:16:13,001 --> 00:16:14,918
♪

317
00:16:15,085 --> 00:16:16,376
You were removed
from your cell,

318
00:16:16,460 --> 00:16:18,001
all your privileges
were revoked.

319
00:16:18,126 --> 00:16:20,043
You didn't go outside,
you had no fresh air.

320
00:16:20,168 --> 00:16:22,168
There's no air conditioning.

321
00:16:22,293 --> 00:16:25,543
The New Jersey prison
at the time was old and,

322
00:16:25,626 --> 00:16:27,543
it was not fun.

323
00:16:27,710 --> 00:16:29,710
♪

324
00:16:29,835 --> 00:16:31,001
Several days later,

325
00:16:31,085 --> 00:16:33,710
I go down to the prison
with my partner.

326
00:16:33,793 --> 00:16:36,918
♪

327
00:16:37,085 --> 00:16:38,460
They pull him
out of the hole,

328
00:16:38,585 --> 00:16:41,085
and bring him to
an interview room.

329
00:16:41,251 --> 00:16:44,710
I see this nearly
60-year-old guy,

330
00:16:44,835 --> 00:16:48,710
long white beard...
belly.

331
00:16:48,876 --> 00:16:52,918
Looking like a Santa Claus
with a really bad hangover.

332
00:16:53,043 --> 00:16:54,668
You know, his eyes
were bloodshot.

333
00:16:54,793 --> 00:16:57,543
He's dripping in sweat.

334
00:16:57,710 --> 00:16:59,460
And I just looked
at him and told him,

335
00:16:59,585 --> 00:17:00,876
"I'm the reason
you're in there."

336
00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:05,960
♪

337
00:17:06,085 --> 00:17:08,751
He looked at me with
some pretty wild eyes.

338
00:17:08,876 --> 00:17:10,543
And I didn't even give him
a chance to respond and was

339
00:17:10,626 --> 00:17:13,001
just like, "I am going to
make your life a living hell

340
00:17:13,085 --> 00:17:14,751
unless we have
a conversation."

341
00:17:34,251 --> 00:17:36,126
He, of course, did not
confess to anything.

342
00:17:36,251 --> 00:17:37,876
Didn't agree to anything.

343
00:17:38,001 --> 00:17:40,126
The only thing he
would agree to is...

344
00:17:40,251 --> 00:17:42,876
that he would be willing
to have continued

345
00:17:43,043 --> 00:17:45,585
conversations with me
on one condition.

346
00:17:45,751 --> 00:17:47,085
And that condition was,

347
00:17:47,210 --> 00:17:48,876
if I ever tried to mess
with him again like this,

348
00:17:49,001 --> 00:17:50,626
our relationship
would be over.

349
00:17:50,751 --> 00:17:53,168
♪

350
00:17:53,251 --> 00:17:55,126
Thankfully, my gut
intuition told me

351
00:17:55,251 --> 00:17:57,668
that he wasn't bluffing,

352
00:17:57,793 --> 00:18:00,168
and that the right move
was to just try and

353
00:18:00,251 --> 00:18:04,835
begin to schmooze him and
begin to develop a trust.

354
00:18:04,918 --> 00:18:06,460
I needed to

355
00:18:06,585 --> 00:18:08,626
take a different tact than
that initial approach.

356
00:18:08,751 --> 00:18:10,918
That the tough guy routine
wasn't going to work with him.

357
00:18:11,043 --> 00:18:15,626
♪

358
00:18:15,751 --> 00:18:20,626
♪

359
00:18:20,751 --> 00:18:24,710
I started with Richard
Cottingham in early 2004.

360
00:18:24,835 --> 00:18:27,210
I had no idea what cases he
might be responsible for.

361
00:18:27,376 --> 00:18:29,460
It was just a feeling
that maybe he was

362
00:18:29,585 --> 00:18:31,710
responsible for
some of them.

363
00:18:31,793 --> 00:18:34,543
♪

364
00:18:34,626 --> 00:18:38,126
I was visiting him
at the prison.

365
00:18:38,251 --> 00:18:41,210
I just told him, "Hey, I think
you committed crimes

366
00:18:41,335 --> 00:18:43,210
long before you
were arrested."

367
00:19:13,710 --> 00:19:15,585
I spent a lot of time with
him to try and build a

368
00:19:15,751 --> 00:19:17,876
relationship, but he refused
to talk about anything new.

369
00:19:38,043 --> 00:19:41,793
Anzilotti understood he was
in it for the long game.

370
00:19:41,918 --> 00:19:45,668
And that means he's going to
spend a lot of time and

371
00:19:45,751 --> 00:19:49,585
come away with nothing,
time after time after time.

372
00:19:49,751 --> 00:19:53,085
But, if he played it right
and he stayed vigilant

373
00:19:53,210 --> 00:19:55,876
for the weak spots,

374
00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:57,543
the openings...

375
00:19:57,710 --> 00:20:00,043
he would be able
to get information.

376
00:20:00,126 --> 00:20:02,710
♪

377
00:20:02,835 --> 00:20:05,126
And it's difficult to...

378
00:20:05,251 --> 00:20:07,043
spend hours with someone
and feel like

379
00:20:07,210 --> 00:20:08,668
you're not
accomplishing anything.

380
00:20:08,751 --> 00:20:12,668
But like water dropping
on a rock, okay...

381
00:20:12,751 --> 00:20:16,001
eventually the rock begins
to smooth out and change.

382
00:20:16,126 --> 00:20:19,210
You're going to crack it.

383
00:20:19,376 --> 00:20:22,793
Rob was persistent,
he never gave up.

384
00:20:22,918 --> 00:20:25,335
Rob Anzilotti was
handpicked because of

385
00:20:25,418 --> 00:20:29,543
who Rob Anzilotti was.
He was just a great cop.

386
00:20:29,876 --> 00:20:34,293
♪

387
00:20:34,418 --> 00:20:36,751
I did not always
want to be a cop.

388
00:20:36,876 --> 00:20:41,335
I was kind of a, you know,
confused, mixed up teenager.

389
00:20:41,418 --> 00:20:44,043
I didn't know what the
hell I wanted to do.

390
00:20:44,126 --> 00:20:46,043
My mom was a nurse.

391
00:20:46,168 --> 00:20:49,210
I always kind of just had a
thing about helping people.

392
00:20:49,293 --> 00:20:52,210
So, I became a paramedic.

393
00:20:52,293 --> 00:20:53,876
Worked in Newark
for a while.

394
00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:56,376
It was during the crack
epidemic, very violent city.

395
00:20:56,543 --> 00:20:59,335
Saw a lot of,
lot of crazy stuff.

396
00:20:59,418 --> 00:21:01,126
That's what brought me
to law enforcement,

397
00:21:01,251 --> 00:21:03,251
just seeing how hard the
cops worked and

398
00:21:03,376 --> 00:21:04,835
what they had to deal with.

399
00:21:04,918 --> 00:21:07,210
I loved it from the minute
I put the uniform on.

400
00:21:07,293 --> 00:21:09,460
♪

401
00:21:09,585 --> 00:21:12,210
That same passion that I felt
when I first put the uniform

402
00:21:12,335 --> 00:21:14,876
on was only amplified
and magnified

403
00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,085
when I became a detective.

404
00:21:17,251 --> 00:21:18,376
In 2004, I was a
sergeant in the

405
00:21:18,543 --> 00:21:20,751
Special
Investigations Squad.

406
00:21:20,876 --> 00:21:23,126
The new chief formed that
squad and hand-picked

407
00:21:23,251 --> 00:21:25,251
the people that
go into it.

408
00:21:25,376 --> 00:21:27,376
I was given a lot
of leeway to do...

409
00:21:27,501 --> 00:21:29,418
whatever I felt,
without anyone

410
00:21:29,543 --> 00:21:31,960
interrupting me dealing
with Cottingham.

411
00:21:32,085 --> 00:21:34,335
♪

412
00:21:34,418 --> 00:21:36,210
Once I was talking to
Richard Cottingham

413
00:21:36,376 --> 00:21:38,335
for those early months,

414
00:21:38,418 --> 00:21:41,126
he would give me
absolutely nothing.

415
00:21:41,251 --> 00:21:43,001
It was worse than
pulling teeth,

416
00:21:43,085 --> 00:21:46,210
it was like just hitting
a brick wall all the time.

417
00:21:46,335 --> 00:21:47,876
There was no way
for me to let it go,

418
00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,210
because at some point,
to let it go

419
00:21:50,293 --> 00:21:52,001
would be a complete failure,

420
00:21:52,126 --> 00:21:53,960
and I couldn't
accept failure.

421
00:21:54,085 --> 00:21:57,376
I really saw these baby steps
as an opportunity to get

422
00:21:57,460 --> 00:22:01,001
where I needed to go
with these 12 cold cases.

423
00:22:01,126 --> 00:22:03,168
The best way to
get there was

424
00:22:03,251 --> 00:22:04,876
to just get him talking
all the time,

425
00:22:05,043 --> 00:22:07,835
and he grew comfortable
talking about crimes

426
00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:10,043
that the world knew he
committed already,

427
00:22:10,126 --> 00:22:14,376
crimes he went to trial on,
crimes he was convicted of.

428
00:22:14,501 --> 00:22:18,293
Prior to his arrest, he went
on this murderous...

429
00:22:18,418 --> 00:22:21,501
frenzy, in just a
handful of weeks,

430
00:22:21,585 --> 00:22:23,543
when he was hunting
prostitutes.

431
00:22:45,168 --> 00:22:51,335
♪

432
00:22:51,418 --> 00:22:53,918
I was on routine
patrol that morning.

433
00:22:54,043 --> 00:22:55,460
♪

434
00:22:55,585 --> 00:22:58,918
And then, that first call
on the radio came through.

435
00:22:59,043 --> 00:23:01,210
♪

436
00:23:01,335 --> 00:23:03,960
"Go down to the Quality Inn.

437
00:23:04,085 --> 00:23:06,210
There's a report of a
woman screaming in a room."

438
00:23:06,335 --> 00:23:08,501
♪

439
00:23:08,585 --> 00:23:11,376
As I pulled into the
motel parking lot,

440
00:23:11,543 --> 00:23:14,543
there was a man
waving frantically.

441
00:23:14,626 --> 00:23:17,335
He says, "There's
a man with a gun."

442
00:23:17,418 --> 00:23:21,001
♪ [Suspenseful] ♪

443
00:23:25,918 --> 00:23:28,501
We received a radio message

444
00:23:28,585 --> 00:23:32,543
about a woman screaming
at the Quality Motel...

445
00:23:32,668 --> 00:23:35,251
in Hasbrouck Heights,
on route 17.

446
00:23:35,376 --> 00:23:37,835
♪

447
00:23:37,918 --> 00:23:40,418
When I came into
the small lobby,

448
00:23:40,585 --> 00:23:42,918
down the hallway from
around the corner,

449
00:23:43,085 --> 00:23:46,293
I saw a man
running towards me.

450
00:23:46,418 --> 00:23:49,210
He was carrying a satchel,

451
00:23:49,335 --> 00:23:51,335
and he had a gun.

452
00:23:51,418 --> 00:23:53,376
As he rounded the corner...

453
00:23:53,501 --> 00:23:56,501
I yelled,
"Stop, don't move!"

454
00:23:56,626 --> 00:24:00,835
He stopped approximately
one inch from the barrel.

455
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,501
Had he moved his right hand,

456
00:24:03,585 --> 00:24:05,251
I would have pulled
the trigger.

457
00:24:05,418 --> 00:24:07,418
There was no ifs,
ands, or buts.

458
00:24:07,585 --> 00:24:10,793
He dropped all his
parcels on the ground.

459
00:24:10,918 --> 00:24:13,543
He says, "I didn't
do anything.

460
00:24:13,626 --> 00:24:16,876
I was with a hooker
and got scared."

461
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,043
His name was
Richard Cottingham.

462
00:24:19,126 --> 00:24:23,043
♪

463
00:24:23,168 --> 00:24:26,293
Inside the room,
they found a young female

464
00:24:26,418 --> 00:24:30,376
identified as Leslie O'Dell.

465
00:24:30,501 --> 00:24:34,418
Leslie O'Dell was naked.

466
00:24:34,585 --> 00:24:38,543
She had handcuffs
on her ankles.

467
00:24:38,626 --> 00:24:41,418
She recounted a story about

468
00:24:41,543 --> 00:24:44,210
how she had met
a male in New York,

469
00:24:44,293 --> 00:24:48,460
and he had taken
her to the motel.

470
00:24:48,585 --> 00:24:51,335
Leslie O'Dell was working
as a streetwalker

471
00:24:51,418 --> 00:24:53,210
in New York City.

472
00:24:53,335 --> 00:24:56,126
Cottingham was able to
convince her to come with him

473
00:24:56,251 --> 00:24:58,210
under the promise that he
would give her money so

474
00:24:58,293 --> 00:25:01,918
she could get out of the
prostitution business.

475
00:25:02,043 --> 00:25:03,543
So, she got into the
car with Cottingham,

476
00:25:03,668 --> 00:25:05,793
they went to New Jersey.

477
00:25:06,043 --> 00:25:08,043
♪

478
00:25:08,168 --> 00:25:12,585
Next thing you know, they end
up in the Quality Inn Motel.

479
00:25:12,710 --> 00:25:15,210
What started out as a
simple sexual encounter

480
00:25:15,335 --> 00:25:19,043
suddenly escalated with
bondage and torture.

481
00:25:19,168 --> 00:25:21,501
♪

482
00:25:21,585 --> 00:25:24,043
He was just beginning.

483
00:25:24,168 --> 00:25:26,501
♪

484
00:25:26,585 --> 00:25:30,043
He handcuffed her on
her ankles because

485
00:25:30,126 --> 00:25:33,460
he was afraid she was
going to escape.

486
00:25:33,585 --> 00:25:36,168
She had adhesive
tape on her mouth.

487
00:25:36,293 --> 00:25:38,626
♪

488
00:25:38,751 --> 00:25:42,210
He cut her in the
area of her breasts,

489
00:25:42,335 --> 00:25:44,418
burned her with a cigarette...

490
00:25:44,585 --> 00:25:47,543
sodomized her.

491
00:25:47,710 --> 00:25:51,043
At some point, he decides
he wants a tongue bath,

492
00:25:51,168 --> 00:25:54,210
which means he wants her to
lick him all over his body.

493
00:25:54,335 --> 00:25:55,626
But in order to do that,

494
00:25:55,751 --> 00:25:58,710
he has to take the tape
off her mouth.

495
00:25:58,876 --> 00:26:02,126
She saw an opportunity,
she lets out a scream.

496
00:26:02,251 --> 00:26:07,293
♪

497
00:26:07,418 --> 00:26:09,418
[Knocking]

498
00:26:09,543 --> 00:26:11,085
Richard Cottingham is
standing behind

499
00:26:11,210 --> 00:26:13,376
Leslie O'Dell with a
knife to her back:

500
00:26:13,543 --> 00:26:17,251
"Tell her
everything's okay."

501
00:26:17,376 --> 00:26:20,960
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes."

502
00:26:21,085 --> 00:26:23,543
At this point, he realizes
the jig is up.

503
00:26:23,626 --> 00:26:26,251
♪

504
00:26:26,376 --> 00:26:29,043
Everything begins to collapse.

505
00:26:29,126 --> 00:26:31,210
Richard Cottingham's
going to be under arrest.

506
00:26:31,335 --> 00:26:34,085
♪

507
00:26:34,251 --> 00:26:36,126
And now they have
a living witness.

508
00:26:36,251 --> 00:26:41,126
♪

509
00:26:41,251 --> 00:26:44,251
After Leslie Ann O'Dell
is rescued by the police,

510
00:26:44,376 --> 00:26:46,251
they find a number of things.

511
00:26:46,376 --> 00:26:48,085
They find a bottle of whiskey.

512
00:26:48,210 --> 00:26:50,585
And he was known to
be a big drinker.

513
00:26:50,710 --> 00:26:53,085
And encouraged his
victims to drink.

514
00:26:53,210 --> 00:26:56,085
He would use drugs
to drug his victims,

515
00:26:56,210 --> 00:26:58,210
barbiturates and other
downers, so to speak,

516
00:26:58,335 --> 00:27:01,126
to kind of relax them,
and then get them to pass out.

517
00:27:01,251 --> 00:27:03,251
You know, clearly,
this is a mouth gag.

518
00:27:03,376 --> 00:27:05,543
Put it in, he would put
it in somebody's mouth,

519
00:27:05,668 --> 00:27:07,710
tie the collar around.

520
00:27:07,793 --> 00:27:10,210
And, that would be a
way to keep them silent.

521
00:27:10,335 --> 00:27:12,335
These chokers that I
assume he would put on

522
00:27:12,418 --> 00:27:13,543
his victim's neck.

523
00:27:13,626 --> 00:27:15,418
So, these two
pair of handcuffs.

524
00:27:15,543 --> 00:27:17,668
I have two daughters
and, and for me,

525
00:27:17,793 --> 00:27:20,335
it comes to like I just
couldn't fathom, you know,

526
00:27:20,460 --> 00:27:23,210
having one of my loved ones,
one of my daughters...

527
00:27:23,335 --> 00:27:25,251
be brutally attacked
like this by an animal.

528
00:27:25,418 --> 00:27:26,710
He's got kids.

529
00:27:26,793 --> 00:27:30,376
He's got a girl, he has a
wife that he didn't abuse,

530
00:27:30,460 --> 00:27:31,668
as far as I know.

531
00:27:31,793 --> 00:27:34,043
And yet, look at what he's
doing to total strangers.

532
00:27:34,168 --> 00:27:35,543
I think he thought
he was untouchable.

533
00:27:35,668 --> 00:27:40,043
♪

534
00:27:40,168 --> 00:27:41,543
Having looked at the
crime scene photos

535
00:27:41,710 --> 00:27:43,210
of Leslie Ann O'Dell,

536
00:27:43,335 --> 00:27:45,751
there were some similarities
to some of the unsolved

537
00:27:45,876 --> 00:27:48,376
cold cases that I had
been looking at.

538
00:27:48,501 --> 00:27:51,751
Some of the victims of these
cold cases had ligature marks

539
00:27:51,876 --> 00:27:54,210
on their ankles,
on their wrists.

540
00:27:54,335 --> 00:27:57,501
Some were found tied up.

541
00:27:57,585 --> 00:27:59,793
By letting him just
talk and ramble,

542
00:27:59,918 --> 00:28:03,210
I'm learning what
makes him tick...

543
00:28:03,335 --> 00:28:05,210
and that was really,
really important

544
00:28:05,335 --> 00:28:07,543
in those early years.

545
00:28:07,668 --> 00:28:09,043
He would talk in
general terms about

546
00:28:09,210 --> 00:28:10,876
what he would
call 'hunting'.

547
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:12,751
So, I began to
learn about, like,

548
00:28:12,876 --> 00:28:14,418
some of his killing methods.

549
00:28:40,918 --> 00:28:43,210
Does this guy have
a beef with women?

550
00:28:43,335 --> 00:28:45,876
Is there something in
his past that led him

551
00:28:46,001 --> 00:28:48,376
to become this
killer that he is?

552
00:28:48,501 --> 00:28:50,293
I really had no idea.

553
00:28:50,418 --> 00:28:52,293
♪

554
00:28:52,418 --> 00:28:56,376
Richard Cottingham was
a young family man.

555
00:28:56,543 --> 00:29:00,418
He lived in Lodi,
New Jersey.

556
00:29:00,585 --> 00:29:02,835
A wife, three children...

557
00:29:02,918 --> 00:29:06,626
had a good job in the
computer division of

558
00:29:06,751 --> 00:29:10,126
Blue Cross Blue Shield
in New York.

559
00:29:10,251 --> 00:29:14,585
He was a smart individual,
but very manipulative.

560
00:29:14,710 --> 00:29:16,710
♪

561
00:29:16,835 --> 00:29:19,710
His parents were
decent people.

562
00:29:19,835 --> 00:29:22,585
He didn't come
from a bad home.

563
00:29:22,751 --> 00:29:25,710
He comes from a
Catholic background.

564
00:29:25,835 --> 00:29:26,876
He's always told me that

565
00:29:27,043 --> 00:29:28,501
he's not your typical
serial killer.

566
00:30:08,918 --> 00:30:11,376
Richard Cottingham
oversimplifies

567
00:30:11,460 --> 00:30:13,960
what it means to be
a serial killer.

568
00:30:14,085 --> 00:30:17,585
And he seems to think that
they all enjoy killing,

569
00:30:17,710 --> 00:30:18,668
and that isn't true.

570
00:30:18,751 --> 00:30:21,376
Only some of them
enjoy killing.

571
00:30:21,501 --> 00:30:25,585
Many of them do exactly
what he did- or said he did-

572
00:30:25,710 --> 00:30:29,626
which is to torture someone,
and then

573
00:30:29,751 --> 00:30:31,835
remove the witness...

574
00:30:31,918 --> 00:30:34,585
and that is a lot
of serial killers.

575
00:30:34,751 --> 00:30:36,418
He fits that.

576
00:31:06,793 --> 00:31:09,001
Because of the way that

577
00:31:09,085 --> 00:31:13,710
Leslie O'Dell was abused...

578
00:31:13,835 --> 00:31:17,585
made us suspect immediately

579
00:31:17,751 --> 00:31:19,710
that there was
a connection to

580
00:31:19,876 --> 00:31:22,710
a number of
unsolved homicides

581
00:31:22,876 --> 00:31:25,710
that occurred at
the same motel.

582
00:31:25,793 --> 00:31:30,710
♪

583
00:31:30,835 --> 00:31:37,418
♪

584
00:31:37,543 --> 00:31:41,835
A maid cleaning room 132,
while she's vacuuming,

585
00:31:41,918 --> 00:31:45,001
bumps into something
under the bed.

586
00:31:45,085 --> 00:31:47,460
She looks under the bed,
she lets out a scream.

587
00:31:47,585 --> 00:31:50,501
♪

588
00:31:59,710 --> 00:32:01,876
On May 22nd, 1980,

589
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:05,335
Cottingham is caught
at the Quality Inn in

590
00:32:05,460 --> 00:32:08,335
Hasbrouck Heights as he
tries to flee the scene...

591
00:32:08,460 --> 00:32:13,418
after attempting to
kill Leslie O'Dell.

592
00:32:13,543 --> 00:32:15,710
Staff had been
totally on high alert,

593
00:32:15,793 --> 00:32:19,376
as had the local police,
because just weeks earlier...

594
00:32:19,501 --> 00:32:22,793
another dead body was found
stuffed under a bed

595
00:32:22,918 --> 00:32:26,001
in that same
Quality Inn Motel.

596
00:32:26,085 --> 00:32:29,001
What the investigators
find is 19-year-old,

597
00:32:29,126 --> 00:32:31,376
Valerie Street...

598
00:32:31,543 --> 00:32:33,543
a known prostitute who had
just recently been arrested

599
00:32:33,626 --> 00:32:35,460
for prostitution offenses.

600
00:32:35,585 --> 00:32:38,335
♪

601
00:32:38,460 --> 00:32:41,793
Valerie Ann Street was naked.

602
00:32:41,918 --> 00:32:43,751
She had what appeared to be

603
00:32:43,876 --> 00:32:48,043
adhesive residue
around her mouth.

604
00:32:48,210 --> 00:32:52,376
She had handcuffs
on her wrists.

605
00:32:52,543 --> 00:32:56,043
There was a latent
fingerprint that was lifted

606
00:32:56,126 --> 00:32:57,835
from the handcuffs,

607
00:32:57,918 --> 00:33:02,043
and that print was retained.

608
00:33:02,126 --> 00:33:04,876
Richard explained to me
that he graduated-

609
00:33:05,001 --> 00:33:06,210
so to speak-

610
00:33:06,293 --> 00:33:11,376
to really focusing on raping
and murdering prostitutes

611
00:33:11,460 --> 00:33:14,585
because he felt
that they were

612
00:33:14,710 --> 00:33:18,918
less accountable in society.

613
00:33:19,043 --> 00:33:21,543
He has a story where,

614
00:33:21,668 --> 00:33:24,710
"Women would do
anything I wanted."

615
00:33:24,835 --> 00:33:26,543
Which just tells you

616
00:33:26,668 --> 00:33:31,085
he would only go for women
that would yield to him-

617
00:33:31,210 --> 00:33:33,918
for money or because they
were young and scared and

618
00:33:34,043 --> 00:33:35,876
didn't know
what else to do.

619
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:37,710
♪

620
00:33:37,835 --> 00:33:41,585
Because of the similarities
amongst those cases,

621
00:33:41,710 --> 00:33:44,710
we weren't just interested
in what occurred with

622
00:33:44,876 --> 00:33:48,668
O'Dell, we were
interested in other things.

623
00:33:48,751 --> 00:33:53,460
Almost three years before
Valerie Ann Street's murder,

624
00:33:53,585 --> 00:33:57,376
another homicide had
occurred at the Quality Inn.

625
00:33:57,668 --> 00:34:02,543
♪

626
00:34:02,668 --> 00:34:05,793
Maryann Carr was
a young, attractive

627
00:34:05,918 --> 00:34:09,626
x-ray technician...

628
00:34:09,751 --> 00:34:13,543
who lived with her husband
in an apartment

629
00:34:13,710 --> 00:34:16,543
at Ledgewood Terrace
in Little Ferry.

630
00:34:16,626 --> 00:34:21,043
Her husband had been
away on a business trip.

631
00:34:21,168 --> 00:34:23,001
When he attempted to
get a hold of her,

632
00:34:23,085 --> 00:34:25,043
he wasn't able to.

633
00:34:25,126 --> 00:34:27,585
And after several tries
he became concerned.

634
00:34:27,710 --> 00:34:32,043
♪

635
00:34:32,210 --> 00:34:35,501
The next morning,
I was notified

636
00:34:35,626 --> 00:34:40,043
that a body had been
found in the parking area

637
00:34:40,168 --> 00:34:43,418
of the Quality Inn Motel in
Hasbrouck Heights.

638
00:34:43,710 --> 00:34:50,626
♪

639
00:34:50,751 --> 00:34:55,210
Maryann was lying
near the parking area,

640
00:34:55,293 --> 00:34:58,793
next to a chain link fence.

641
00:34:58,918 --> 00:35:03,001
She's wearing her white
x-ray tech uniform.

642
00:35:03,085 --> 00:35:06,043
She is lying and
kind of curled up,

643
00:35:06,126 --> 00:35:07,918
where she obviously
had been dumped.

644
00:35:08,043 --> 00:35:10,626
♪

645
00:35:10,751 --> 00:35:14,626
There are ligature marks
on her hands and her feet.

646
00:35:14,751 --> 00:35:17,168
There are tears
in her uniform.

647
00:35:17,293 --> 00:35:18,918
Somebody had sexually
assaulted her and then

648
00:35:19,043 --> 00:35:20,793
redressed her.

649
00:35:20,918 --> 00:35:22,918
She had been strangled.

650
00:35:23,043 --> 00:35:25,335
♪

651
00:35:27,418 --> 00:35:31,210
You know, of my 12 cold cases
involving these young women,

652
00:35:31,335 --> 00:35:32,960
the overwhelming
majority of them were

653
00:35:33,085 --> 00:35:35,876
either strangled
or suffocated.

654
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:40,668
♪

655
00:35:40,751 --> 00:35:44,543
It was a mystery.

656
00:35:44,710 --> 00:35:48,293
And there was no connection
whatsoever between

657
00:35:48,418 --> 00:35:51,085
Maryann Carr and
Valerie Street...

658
00:35:51,210 --> 00:35:54,543
♪

659
00:35:54,668 --> 00:35:57,210
Until they caught
Richard Cottingham

660
00:35:57,335 --> 00:35:59,876
running from the building.

661
00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:02,001
♪

662
00:36:02,126 --> 00:36:06,210
We compared
Cottingham's fingerprint to

663
00:36:06,376 --> 00:36:08,543
the latent fingerprint on

664
00:36:08,710 --> 00:36:11,043
Valerie Ann Street's
handcuffs.

665
00:36:11,126 --> 00:36:14,085
♪

666
00:36:14,210 --> 00:36:17,043
And it was a homerun.

667
00:36:17,168 --> 00:36:18,918
We knew we had the right guy.

668
00:36:42,751 --> 00:36:46,043
He would not admit
his guilt in any of it.

669
00:36:46,168 --> 00:36:48,793
It was like a game of cat and
mouse between the two of us.

670
00:37:27,251 --> 00:37:29,043
You can't feed anything
to them and

671
00:37:29,126 --> 00:37:31,251
put thoughts in their head.

672
00:37:31,418 --> 00:37:33,876
And that's also part of
what this whole

673
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:36,293
kind of grind is with him
because, you know,

674
00:37:36,418 --> 00:37:38,210
he had no fear in talking
about the things

675
00:37:38,335 --> 00:37:39,710
he was already convicted of,

676
00:37:39,793 --> 00:37:41,960
but he refused to talk
about anything new.

677
00:37:42,085 --> 00:37:43,376
♪

678
00:37:43,460 --> 00:37:45,710
He's not just willing to just
sit there and say to me,

679
00:37:45,835 --> 00:37:48,876
"In 1969, I remember
killing this 15-year-old."

680
00:37:49,001 --> 00:37:51,001
It's not like that with him.

681
00:37:51,085 --> 00:37:52,085
You kind of have to just get

682
00:37:52,210 --> 00:37:56,418
these little bits and
pieces and put it together.

683
00:37:56,543 --> 00:38:00,335
You're getting something,
but you don't want the guy

684
00:38:00,418 --> 00:38:02,210
to know you're
getting something,

685
00:38:02,376 --> 00:38:04,293
because he's trying
to control that

686
00:38:04,418 --> 00:38:05,876
piece of information.

687
00:38:06,043 --> 00:38:08,376
And you have to be
very cool about it...

688
00:38:08,501 --> 00:38:10,251
because he could
shut it down and say,

689
00:38:10,418 --> 00:38:12,293
"That's it,
no more talking."

690
00:38:12,418 --> 00:38:17,376
'Cause he realizes he
just lost leverage.

691
00:38:17,460 --> 00:38:20,043
That's not okay for
someone who needs control.

692
00:38:20,168 --> 00:38:26,376
♪

693
00:38:26,543 --> 00:38:30,251
We executed a search
warrant at his house...

694
00:38:30,376 --> 00:38:33,793
and on his vehicles.

695
00:38:33,918 --> 00:38:37,876
He had a locked room
in the basement.

696
00:38:38,001 --> 00:38:40,460
His wife, Janet,
was asked about that,

697
00:38:40,585 --> 00:38:43,001
and she said, "Yes,
that is his room.

698
00:38:43,085 --> 00:38:45,793
I know nothing about it.
He keeps it locked,

699
00:38:45,918 --> 00:38:48,168
and I'm not
allowed in there."

700
00:38:48,251 --> 00:38:52,085
She was in the process of
filing for divorce from him.

701
00:38:52,210 --> 00:38:54,001
They had trouble
in the marriage.

702
00:39:10,585 --> 00:39:13,376
His wife had said she
was going to leave him and

703
00:39:13,460 --> 00:39:15,835
take his three kids with her.

704
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:21,043
He blames that for the
reason why he got, "sloppy".

705
00:39:48,585 --> 00:39:50,626
He doesn't want a
divorce, necessarily,

706
00:39:50,751 --> 00:39:55,001
but that he cannot let her be
the one in charge of that...

707
00:39:55,085 --> 00:39:58,543
and she was, she's the one
who made the first move.

708
00:39:58,668 --> 00:40:01,293
Someone who is a
narcissist like he is,

709
00:40:01,418 --> 00:40:04,210
his children are
extensions of himself.

710
00:40:04,335 --> 00:40:06,251
There's an ownership
thing there.

711
00:40:06,418 --> 00:40:09,001
She will not take them.

712
00:40:09,085 --> 00:40:12,210
She will not take the
stability of his life.

713
00:40:12,293 --> 00:40:17,251
♪

714
00:40:17,376 --> 00:40:21,626
Inside that locked room
were a number of items:

715
00:40:21,751 --> 00:40:27,376
money, some
pornography magazines,

716
00:40:27,543 --> 00:40:29,543
women's jewellery,

717
00:40:29,626 --> 00:40:32,376
some articles of
women's clothing.

718
00:40:32,501 --> 00:40:35,085
♪

719
00:40:35,210 --> 00:40:37,918
These were all books that
were found in Cottingham's

720
00:40:38,085 --> 00:40:41,210
residence when the detectives
searched his house.

721
00:40:41,335 --> 00:40:46,043
So, like, "Sex Victims:
Stories of Surrender".

722
00:40:46,126 --> 00:40:47,543
There's,
"The Prisoner of the Sheik,"

723
00:40:47,668 --> 00:40:50,710
and a woman tied up
on the cover.

724
00:40:50,835 --> 00:40:53,251
"Tied Up Teasers," with
two women tied to a bed.

725
00:40:56,251 --> 00:40:57,251
"The Boyfriend's Revenge".

726
00:40:57,376 --> 00:40:59,751
Two men who look like they're
about to rape a woman.

727
00:40:59,918 --> 00:41:01,626
So, finding these books,
I'm sure the detectives

728
00:41:01,751 --> 00:41:03,376
when they found them
were like,

729
00:41:03,460 --> 00:41:06,210
"Wow, we just
found gold here."

730
00:41:06,293 --> 00:41:09,585
Once Bergen County
connected those cases...

731
00:41:09,710 --> 00:41:11,210
they're going to
find out that

732
00:41:11,293 --> 00:41:14,043
it was much bigger than
they thought it was.

733
00:41:14,168 --> 00:41:16,251
Firemen were the first to
arrive at the scene

734
00:41:16,376 --> 00:41:18,126
at about 9:30 this morning.

735
00:41:18,251 --> 00:41:20,168
They were responding to
a report of a fire in

736
00:41:20,293 --> 00:41:22,668
a west side hotel room.

737
00:41:22,751 --> 00:41:25,710
They find two young,
nude bodies

738
00:41:25,835 --> 00:41:28,126
with no heads and hands.

739
00:41:28,251 --> 00:41:30,710
It was something out
of a horror movie.

740
00:41:38,251 --> 00:41:46,418
♪

741
00:41:46,543 --> 00:41:48,668
The New York City Fire
Department was called to the

742
00:41:48,793 --> 00:41:51,543
Travel Inn Hotel on
West 42nd Street

743
00:41:51,710 --> 00:41:53,376
on a report of a fire.

744
00:41:53,501 --> 00:41:56,710
♪

745
00:41:56,876 --> 00:41:59,043
They went into the room,
they dragged the

746
00:41:59,168 --> 00:42:01,376
body of a nude female
from the room.

747
00:42:01,501 --> 00:42:04,085
♪

748
00:42:04,210 --> 00:42:06,210
Pulled it into the hallway,
was about to give

749
00:42:06,293 --> 00:42:09,335
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation,
but there was no head.

750
00:42:09,460 --> 00:42:13,835
♪ [Suspenseful] ♪

751
00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:15,918
And in an effort to
cover up that homicide,

752
00:42:16,085 --> 00:42:19,210
their heads and hands had
been removed and severed and

753
00:42:19,335 --> 00:42:20,168
taken from the scene.

754
00:42:20,293 --> 00:42:22,210
To this day,
they've never been found.

755
00:42:22,376 --> 00:42:24,751
♪

756
00:42:24,918 --> 00:42:28,210
There were marks on their
legs, arm, back, buttocks,

757
00:42:28,376 --> 00:42:30,543
incised marks, but
also puncture marks.

758
00:42:30,710 --> 00:42:33,293
♪

759
00:42:33,418 --> 00:42:36,335
You're dealing with a
psychopathic sexual sadist.

760
00:42:36,460 --> 00:42:38,918
This was pure evil.

761
00:42:39,043 --> 00:42:41,543
[News] Today police search
for clues into the death of

762
00:42:41,710 --> 00:42:43,418
the young women,
both white and about

763
00:42:43,585 --> 00:42:45,293
19 to 20 years old.

764
00:42:45,418 --> 00:42:47,918
A spokesman said the
cuts were very clean.

765
00:42:48,043 --> 00:42:50,210
Probably inflicted
with a butcher's tool,

766
00:42:50,293 --> 00:42:52,585
a surgical instrument,
or sword.

767
00:42:52,751 --> 00:42:56,876
♪

768
00:42:57,043 --> 00:43:01,043
These two women had been held
in that room for three days:

769
00:43:01,210 --> 00:43:03,293
November 29th to
December 2nd.

770
00:43:37,460 --> 00:43:41,335
♪

771
00:43:41,460 --> 00:43:43,501
In an effort to
identify the victims

772
00:43:43,626 --> 00:43:45,418
from the Travel Inn hotel,

773
00:43:45,585 --> 00:43:48,335
they came up with the
creative idea of actually

774
00:43:48,460 --> 00:43:52,876
putting the victims'
clothes on a mannequin...

775
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:58,793
and then putting a picture
of that in the newspaper.

776
00:43:58,918 --> 00:44:01,376
The news was all
over the place.

777
00:44:01,501 --> 00:44:03,626
♪

778
00:44:03,751 --> 00:44:06,126
He was called the
'Torso Killer'.

779
00:44:06,418 --> 00:44:10,335
♪

780
00:44:10,460 --> 00:44:13,210
After two months,
someone from New Jersey

781
00:44:13,293 --> 00:44:15,668
recognized the
clothing of one person

782
00:44:15,751 --> 00:44:18,376
from the Midtown Torso case.

783
00:44:18,501 --> 00:44:21,543
♪

784
00:44:21,626 --> 00:44:23,835
That resulted in the
positive identification

785
00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:26,585
of Deedeh Goodarzi.

786
00:44:26,751 --> 00:44:28,501
She was a prostitute.

787
00:44:28,626 --> 00:44:30,210
♪

788
00:44:30,376 --> 00:44:32,210
[News] Miss Goodarzi was
born in Kuwait and

789
00:44:32,335 --> 00:44:34,626
came to the US
when she was 14.

790
00:44:34,751 --> 00:44:36,585
Her family lives
in Trenton, NJ.

791
00:44:36,710 --> 00:44:38,543
Police are still looking for
information about the

792
00:44:38,626 --> 00:44:41,376
other victim, last seen
wearing these clothes.

793
00:44:41,501 --> 00:44:43,876
♪

794
00:44:44,001 --> 00:44:46,376
Unfortunately, the second
victim- to this day-

795
00:44:46,460 --> 00:44:47,501
remains a Jane Doe.

796
00:44:47,626 --> 00:44:49,335
The investigators, despite
their best efforts,

797
00:44:49,418 --> 00:44:51,543
have never been able
to identify her.

798
00:44:51,668 --> 00:44:53,251
♪

799
00:44:53,418 --> 00:44:55,585
Four months later, the body
of yet another prostitute is

800
00:44:55,710 --> 00:44:59,543
found murdered at the Hotel
Seville in Times Square.

801
00:44:59,626 --> 00:45:03,585
When the body was recovered,
there were no clothes.

802
00:45:03,710 --> 00:45:05,460
He had taken the clothes.

803
00:45:05,585 --> 00:45:08,626
[Sirens continue]

804
00:45:13,668 --> 00:45:16,001
Firefighters were called
to the Hotel Seville,

805
00:45:16,126 --> 00:45:19,251
which is at 29th Street
and Madison Avenue.

806
00:45:19,418 --> 00:45:22,543
Once again, a hotel
room was on fire.

807
00:45:22,668 --> 00:45:26,710
Inside the hotel room was
a nude body of a victim.

808
00:45:26,835 --> 00:45:30,543
♪

809
00:45:30,668 --> 00:45:32,335
The body had been burned

810
00:45:32,418 --> 00:45:35,418
with the same type
of torture marks

811
00:45:35,585 --> 00:45:38,710
that were on the girls
at the Midtown Torso case.

812
00:45:38,835 --> 00:45:42,376
♪

813
00:45:42,460 --> 00:45:45,835
And this time, the offender
had defeminized the victim,

814
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:48,418
removing both of her breasts.

815
00:45:48,585 --> 00:45:50,710
And that was pretty shocking
because the breasts

816
00:45:50,876 --> 00:45:52,460
were then put on
the headboard,

817
00:45:52,585 --> 00:45:54,710
presented by the offender
to the authorities.

818
00:45:54,876 --> 00:45:58,710
♪

819
00:45:58,793 --> 00:46:00,876
That was a hotel
room from hell.

820
00:46:01,043 --> 00:46:03,001
Only Satan could tell you
what went on in there.

821
00:46:23,210 --> 00:46:24,710
The victim at the
Hotel Seville

822
00:46:24,793 --> 00:46:26,293
was another prostitute.

823
00:46:26,418 --> 00:46:28,501
She was identified
as Jean Ann Reyner.

824
00:46:28,626 --> 00:46:33,210
♪

825
00:46:33,335 --> 00:46:35,460
As I researched the cases
that Cottingham had been

826
00:46:35,585 --> 00:46:38,876
convicted of, they were
all so brutal in nature.

827
00:46:39,043 --> 00:46:41,793
Decapitation,
defeminizing.

828
00:46:41,918 --> 00:46:45,543
And, those were very
different than

829
00:46:45,626 --> 00:46:47,460
the 12 cold cases of these
young women in

830
00:46:47,585 --> 00:46:50,543
Bergen County that I
was investigating.

831
00:46:50,668 --> 00:46:52,043
So, at times I questioned:

832
00:46:52,126 --> 00:46:53,960
Am I wasting my time
with Cottingham?

833
00:46:54,085 --> 00:46:56,418
Is he even responsible
for any of these?

834
00:46:56,585 --> 00:46:59,001
But, as the interviews
went on and on

835
00:46:59,085 --> 00:47:00,501
over the months and years,

836
00:47:00,626 --> 00:47:02,876
Cottingham would constantly
explain to me that

837
00:47:03,043 --> 00:47:05,376
he always
changed up his MO.

838
00:47:05,501 --> 00:47:07,418
So, he didn't want the
police to think

839
00:47:07,585 --> 00:47:09,585
any of these killings
were related.

840
00:47:14,585 --> 00:47:16,085
It didn't take the New York
authorities less than a

841
00:47:16,251 --> 00:47:18,835
New York minute to
connect these cases.

842
00:47:18,918 --> 00:47:20,001
And that's when New York
communicated

843
00:47:20,126 --> 00:47:22,501
with Bergen County.

844
00:47:22,585 --> 00:47:25,043
A New York detective
saw the paper, and said,

845
00:47:25,168 --> 00:47:29,043
"Listen, this
might be our case."

846
00:47:29,210 --> 00:47:32,501
The New York City
Homicide Task Force

847
00:47:32,585 --> 00:47:36,376
wanted to come over and
view our evidence

848
00:47:36,543 --> 00:47:39,126
to see if there was a
connection to three of

849
00:47:39,251 --> 00:47:42,918
their open homicides
that occurred

850
00:47:43,043 --> 00:47:47,085
within months of
Cottingham's arrest.

851
00:47:47,210 --> 00:47:49,751
They had executed
a search warrant

852
00:47:49,918 --> 00:47:51,835
at his house in
Lodi, New Jersey.

853
00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:53,585
They came upon
a room that

854
00:47:53,751 --> 00:47:56,710
even Cottingham's wife
was not allowed in.

855
00:47:56,793 --> 00:47:59,085
His trophy room.

856
00:47:59,251 --> 00:48:01,626
Serial killers,
they collect

857
00:48:01,751 --> 00:48:03,501
trophies of their victims.

858
00:48:03,585 --> 00:48:05,043
Kind of like a
hunting trophy,

859
00:48:05,210 --> 00:48:07,543
proof of the kill.

860
00:48:07,626 --> 00:48:09,710
That's how the cases
were linked to New York,

861
00:48:09,835 --> 00:48:11,626
with the trophy room.

862
00:48:11,751 --> 00:48:12,960
So, this was big.

863
00:48:13,085 --> 00:48:14,710
Our evidence was
in New Jersey.

864
00:48:14,876 --> 00:48:16,543
♪

865
00:48:24,585 --> 00:48:26,460
After Cottingham's arrest,

866
00:48:26,585 --> 00:48:28,835
a search of his
residence finds

867
00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:33,876
a necklace that ultimately
is tied back to Jean Reyner.

868
00:48:34,001 --> 00:48:38,210
♪

869
00:48:38,335 --> 00:48:40,168
Jean Ann Reyner
had been arrested

870
00:48:40,251 --> 00:48:42,626
a few days prior
to the homicide,

871
00:48:42,751 --> 00:48:46,960
and in the BCI picture is
the necklace on her neck.

872
00:48:47,085 --> 00:48:48,793
It's an exact match.

873
00:48:48,918 --> 00:48:51,543
♪

874
00:48:51,626 --> 00:48:54,293
There's still a very sick,
sick killer on the loose.

875
00:48:54,418 --> 00:48:56,585
The man who cut off the,
the heads and hands

876
00:48:56,751 --> 00:48:58,876
of two women in a
Manhattan hotel room.

877
00:48:59,001 --> 00:49:02,126
Now, the police have a lot
more questions than answers.

878
00:49:02,251 --> 00:49:03,710
It was three days ago that
News Center 4 told you

879
00:49:03,793 --> 00:49:06,043
police in New Jersey believe
they had a suspect in

880
00:49:06,126 --> 00:49:08,085
the brutal killings of
several prostitutes.

881
00:49:08,251 --> 00:49:09,460
That report was
confirmed today,

882
00:49:09,585 --> 00:49:11,043
with the arrest of a
man by the name of

883
00:49:11,126 --> 00:49:12,710
Richard Cottingham.

884
00:49:31,835 --> 00:49:35,001
[Laughing]

885
00:49:35,085 --> 00:49:37,043
We never offered him a deal.

886
00:49:37,168 --> 00:49:40,626
♪

887
00:49:40,751 --> 00:49:44,001
We laid all of this out
before the grand jury,

888
00:49:44,126 --> 00:49:46,293
and the grand jury
returned an indictment

889
00:49:46,418 --> 00:49:49,168
for the crimes of assault
and kidnapping

890
00:49:49,251 --> 00:49:51,126
against Leslie Ann O'Dell,

891
00:49:51,251 --> 00:49:55,085
with crime of murder
against Valerie Ann Street.

892
00:49:55,210 --> 00:49:57,626
♪

893
00:49:57,751 --> 00:50:00,210
But it was entirely
circumstantial against

894
00:50:00,293 --> 00:50:03,085
Maryann Carr, but her murder
was also included

895
00:50:03,251 --> 00:50:04,876
in the same indictment.

896
00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:07,251
♪

897
00:50:07,376 --> 00:50:09,668
He pled not guilty and
took every case to trial.

898
00:50:09,793 --> 00:50:11,876
Would not cooperate,
would not...

899
00:50:11,960 --> 00:50:13,876
admit his guilt in any of it.

900
00:50:14,001 --> 00:50:16,126
♪

901
00:50:16,251 --> 00:50:18,710
The thing that put him at
the scene of the

902
00:50:18,876 --> 00:50:22,168
Valerie Ann Street case
was the fingerprint

903
00:50:22,251 --> 00:50:24,835
that had been taken off
of the handcuffs

904
00:50:24,918 --> 00:50:27,751
that were on her body.

905
00:50:27,876 --> 00:50:30,376
♪

906
00:50:30,460 --> 00:50:33,293
We brought in
Leslie Ann O'Dell.

907
00:50:33,418 --> 00:50:35,710
She was very reluctant
to come to testify,

908
00:50:35,835 --> 00:50:37,710
but she was cooperative.

909
00:50:37,835 --> 00:50:42,168
She was very matter of fact,
she remembered everything.

910
00:50:42,251 --> 00:50:45,001
She got on the stand
and just levelled him.

911
00:50:45,085 --> 00:50:46,751
"He drugged me,
raped me.

912
00:50:46,918 --> 00:50:50,710
He, he cut my breasts."

913
00:50:50,793 --> 00:50:53,960
And he just sat
there stone-faced.

914
00:50:54,085 --> 00:50:57,126
But it didn't
seem to faze him.

915
00:50:57,251 --> 00:50:59,293
He thought,
"Ain't gonna matter.

916
00:50:59,418 --> 00:51:03,293
I'm going to testify, and
I'll explain all of this."

917
00:51:03,418 --> 00:51:05,793
He was running the show,
it was his show.

918
00:51:05,918 --> 00:51:08,835
♪

919
00:51:08,918 --> 00:51:11,251
So, he did take the stand.

920
00:51:11,376 --> 00:51:14,751
His demeanor was very calm.

921
00:51:14,876 --> 00:51:17,335
Mr. Cottingham thought
somehow that

922
00:51:17,460 --> 00:51:19,210
he was going to
beat the wrap.

923
00:51:19,293 --> 00:51:21,585
♪

924
00:51:21,710 --> 00:51:24,335
He admitted that
he engaged in

925
00:51:24,460 --> 00:51:28,751
sadomasochistic
sexual activity.

926
00:51:28,918 --> 00:51:33,043
He claimed it was
all consensual...

927
00:51:33,126 --> 00:51:35,085
that this was all a game.

928
00:51:35,210 --> 00:51:37,793
♪

929
00:51:37,918 --> 00:51:40,876
He had lives within
lives within lives.

930
00:51:41,001 --> 00:51:43,210
♪

931
00:51:43,293 --> 00:51:44,793
His mother came in every day.

932
00:51:44,918 --> 00:51:48,043
And his sister,
which was even worse,

933
00:51:48,126 --> 00:51:51,210
because they still
believed in him.

934
00:51:51,376 --> 00:51:53,210
And I'd say,
"Mrs. Cottingham,

935
00:51:53,335 --> 00:51:55,168
this is not good."

936
00:51:55,251 --> 00:51:57,210
"Oh, oh, no, no,
no, he's innocent,

937
00:51:57,293 --> 00:51:59,960
he's innocent."
"Okay..."

938
00:52:00,085 --> 00:52:02,876
♪

939
00:52:03,001 --> 00:52:06,751
If Cottingham's
mother dismissed...

940
00:52:06,876 --> 00:52:10,043
the things she's
learning that he did,

941
00:52:10,168 --> 00:52:12,251
she is already the
role model for

942
00:52:12,418 --> 00:52:15,460
his minimization
at what he did.

943
00:52:15,585 --> 00:52:18,876
If it doesn't matter to her,
and that's the woman

944
00:52:19,001 --> 00:52:24,293
who raised him, it certainly
does not matter to him.

945
00:52:24,418 --> 00:52:26,210
If convicted on all counts,

946
00:52:26,335 --> 00:52:28,001
Cottingham faces
a maximum of

947
00:52:28,126 --> 00:52:32,126
274 years in prison,
plus life.

948
00:52:32,251 --> 00:52:35,876
And he still faces trial in
New York City for the murders

949
00:52:36,001 --> 00:52:38,876
and mutilations of two
Midtown prostitutes.

950
00:52:39,001 --> 00:52:43,168
That trial comes after
this one's finished.

951
00:52:43,251 --> 00:52:45,126
The jury was not
out very long,

952
00:52:45,251 --> 00:52:47,293
about a day and a half.

953
00:52:47,418 --> 00:52:49,793
The sentence he received
really ensured

954
00:52:49,918 --> 00:52:53,793
that he would never
see the light of day.

955
00:52:53,918 --> 00:52:57,210
After that, he was
taken over to New York,

956
00:52:57,376 --> 00:52:58,876
where he was tried for
the homicides that

957
00:52:59,001 --> 00:53:01,043
he had committed in
New York City.

958
00:53:01,168 --> 00:53:06,460
♪

959
00:53:06,585 --> 00:53:09,543
By 1984,
Richard Cottingham is

960
00:53:09,626 --> 00:53:11,335
sentenced to
five life sentences

961
00:53:11,460 --> 00:53:13,126
between New York
and New Jersey.

962
00:53:13,251 --> 00:53:15,501
♪

963
00:53:15,585 --> 00:53:18,210
Effectively put away for
the remainder of his days.

964
00:53:18,293 --> 00:53:22,710
♪

965
00:53:23,001 --> 00:53:27,918
♪

966
00:53:28,043 --> 00:53:30,418
Fast forward to 2004.

967
00:53:30,543 --> 00:53:32,668
I spent hundreds of hours
with him at the prison.

968
00:53:32,918 --> 00:53:38,210
♪

969
00:53:38,335 --> 00:53:40,043
I had these 12 cold cases.

970
00:53:40,126 --> 00:53:42,251
I thought he could be
good for some of them.

971
00:53:42,418 --> 00:53:44,918
And yet, I was just
making no progress.

972
00:53:45,043 --> 00:53:48,251
I tried everything
I could think of.

973
00:53:48,418 --> 00:53:50,543
Cottingham went to
Catholic grammar school.

974
00:53:50,710 --> 00:53:53,543
I've tried to play the
religious theme on him

975
00:53:53,668 --> 00:53:55,460
as well, knowing that he
had that background.

976
00:53:55,585 --> 00:53:57,960
Told him to cleanse his soul.

977
00:53:58,085 --> 00:54:00,210
This is another way
that he can...

978
00:54:00,376 --> 00:54:02,001
kind of make peace with God.

979
00:54:29,168 --> 00:54:32,876
I've played that theme
over and over and over.

980
00:54:32,960 --> 00:54:35,043
Trying to draw an ounce of
empathy out of him

981
00:54:35,126 --> 00:54:37,043
for the victims' families.

982
00:54:37,126 --> 00:54:38,543
♪

983
00:54:38,626 --> 00:54:39,960
The family members
have a tremendous

984
00:54:40,085 --> 00:54:42,251
thirst for information.
It just never goes away.

985
00:54:42,418 --> 00:54:45,293
They want to know
what happened.

986
00:54:45,418 --> 00:54:46,960
Over the years
he would say,

987
00:54:47,085 --> 00:54:48,668
"Why would I do that if it's
going to hurt me?"

988
00:55:10,293 --> 00:55:15,085
♪

989
00:55:15,210 --> 00:55:17,543
The three children were
obviously adults now.

990
00:55:17,668 --> 00:55:20,501
He claimed that he had
a sensitivity towards

991
00:55:20,585 --> 00:55:23,210
his children reading about
him in the newspaper.

992
00:55:45,585 --> 00:55:46,501
Every time you think
you're making progress

993
00:55:46,626 --> 00:55:48,043
with this guy he throws
another excuse on

994
00:55:48,168 --> 00:55:52,501
why he's not willing to give
you what you need.

995
00:55:52,626 --> 00:55:54,626
Eventually he complained...

996
00:55:54,751 --> 00:55:56,543
he didn't like when I
visited him at the prison

997
00:55:56,626 --> 00:55:59,126
because the other
inmates knew that

998
00:55:59,251 --> 00:56:00,460
he was getting pulled out.

999
00:56:00,585 --> 00:56:02,585
♪

1000
00:56:02,751 --> 00:56:04,251
It looks like he's a rat.

1001
00:56:19,210 --> 00:56:22,210
I thought for sure
at any given moment,

1002
00:56:22,293 --> 00:56:25,293
he's going to completely
tank on me and stop it.

1003
00:56:35,835 --> 00:56:38,543
♪

1004
00:56:38,710 --> 00:56:40,001
Early on, Richard was
complaining that

1005
00:56:40,085 --> 00:56:42,793
I was visiting him
at the prison.

1006
00:56:42,918 --> 00:56:45,751
There's a process
in a prison, right.

1007
00:56:45,876 --> 00:56:48,001
Just because I'm a detective,
I didn't just get to walk in

1008
00:56:48,126 --> 00:56:49,668
the prison and go up to
his cell and be like,

1009
00:56:49,751 --> 00:56:50,876
"Hey, Richard,
how are you?"

1010
00:56:51,001 --> 00:56:53,585
They'd have to get guards
to bring him down so,

1011
00:56:53,751 --> 00:56:57,043
he would walk past
the prison population.

1012
00:56:57,126 --> 00:56:58,793
You know, it doesn't go
over well with the

1013
00:56:58,918 --> 00:57:00,918
prison population, he's
cooperating with the police.

1014
00:57:01,043 --> 00:57:03,918
Even if all he's
telling on is himself.

1015
00:57:04,043 --> 00:57:05,751
He would have to
walk past The Iceman,

1016
00:57:05,876 --> 00:57:07,710
and The Iceman would
quietly chuckle to himself.

1017
00:57:07,876 --> 00:57:09,335
He knew exactly
where he was going.

1018
00:57:20,918 --> 00:57:22,710
He wanted me to get him
out of the prison and say,

1019
00:57:22,835 --> 00:57:24,543
you know, "Bring me up
to Bergen County

1020
00:57:24,626 --> 00:57:26,751
where these guys don't
see what I'm doing."

1021
00:57:26,876 --> 00:57:31,501
♪

1022
00:57:31,585 --> 00:57:34,501
It gave me an excuse to
bring him onto my home turf,

1023
00:57:34,626 --> 00:57:37,043
where I can control
the visit better.

1024
00:57:37,126 --> 00:57:39,335
♪

1025
00:57:39,460 --> 00:57:40,835
Just me and a partner
would go down, pick him up,

1026
00:57:40,960 --> 00:57:42,751
drive him up to
Bergen County,

1027
00:57:42,876 --> 00:57:45,043
talk to him for hours,
drive him back.

1028
00:57:45,126 --> 00:57:48,918
♪

1029
00:57:49,043 --> 00:57:50,918
I would keep him overnight.

1030
00:57:51,043 --> 00:57:53,501
We put him in our
own cellblock.

1031
00:57:53,626 --> 00:57:55,043
♪

1032
00:57:55,168 --> 00:57:57,043
The next morning, pull him
out and start all over again.

1033
00:57:57,168 --> 00:57:58,835
Feed him an egg sandwich,
a cup of coffee,

1034
00:57:58,918 --> 00:58:02,376
and we'd go at it again.

1035
00:58:02,501 --> 00:58:05,418
It was just a total cat and
mouse game that we would play.

1036
00:58:05,543 --> 00:58:07,793
♪

1037
00:58:07,918 --> 00:58:10,710
Each of us was trying
to play the other.

1038
00:58:42,918 --> 00:58:44,585
There was no way to
talk about murders

1039
00:58:44,710 --> 00:58:46,543
all day long and...

1040
00:58:46,710 --> 00:58:48,710
think I would get
anywhere with him.

1041
00:58:48,835 --> 00:58:50,543
If I was really going to
build trust with this guy,

1042
00:58:50,668 --> 00:58:52,751
there had to be times where
he felt like, you know,

1043
00:58:52,876 --> 00:58:54,710
I was just being his friend...

1044
00:58:54,835 --> 00:58:57,043
as despicable and
disgusting as that is.

1045
00:58:57,126 --> 00:59:00,710
♪

1046
00:59:00,835 --> 00:59:04,043
We'd have him up and,
sometimes just play cards.

1047
00:59:04,126 --> 00:59:06,626
♪

1048
00:59:06,751 --> 00:59:07,793
I'd have six detectives
in my office,

1049
00:59:07,918 --> 00:59:09,710
and we'd sit around
and play poker,

1050
00:59:09,835 --> 00:59:12,043
after we were done
interrogating him for a day.

1051
00:59:12,126 --> 00:59:14,710
♪

1052
00:59:14,835 --> 00:59:18,168
Even though he's treating
him like a human...

1053
00:59:18,251 --> 00:59:21,001
he's an animal.

1054
00:59:21,126 --> 00:59:22,918
It's hard to sit down
with the devil and

1055
00:59:23,043 --> 00:59:25,335
make believe
you're the same.

1056
00:59:25,626 --> 00:59:27,085
♪

1057
00:59:27,210 --> 00:59:29,168
He just kept putting obstacle
after obstacle in front of me

1058
00:59:29,293 --> 00:59:31,918
on why he wouldn't talk
about another case.

1059
00:59:48,585 --> 00:59:54,626
He's the type of offender
who trusts in language.

1060
00:59:54,751 --> 00:59:57,126
He thinks that if he
puts things into his

1061
00:59:57,251 --> 01:00:01,668
own narrative,
he will control reality,

1062
01:00:01,751 --> 01:00:06,126
he will control what
his crimes mean.

1063
01:00:06,251 --> 01:00:10,126
You're dealing with a clever,
malignant narcissist.

1064
01:00:10,251 --> 01:00:12,876
Richard Cottingham is
playing a game for,

1065
01:00:13,043 --> 01:00:15,001
"What can I get
out of this?"

1066
01:00:15,126 --> 01:00:16,710
So, he wanted
something back.

1067
01:00:16,793 --> 01:00:20,918
"What are you going
to do for me?"

1068
01:00:21,043 --> 01:00:23,293
There were a few staples
that Richard always wanted,

1069
01:00:23,418 --> 01:00:24,835
and that kept him happy.

1070
01:00:24,918 --> 01:00:26,001
And they were
relatively simple,

1071
01:00:26,085 --> 01:00:28,085
so why not give
them to him?

1072
01:00:28,210 --> 01:00:30,876
♪

1073
01:00:30,960 --> 01:00:33,210
He loved pizza from a
certain pizza place.

1074
01:00:33,293 --> 01:00:35,793
I'd send detectives go
pick up a couple of pies.

1075
01:00:35,918 --> 01:00:37,960
He loved sausage and
extra cheese pizza.

1076
01:00:38,085 --> 01:00:39,876
♪

1077
01:00:39,960 --> 01:00:43,543
He liked donuts
from Dunkin' Donuts.

1078
01:00:43,626 --> 01:00:47,043
There were times he'd
ask for cheeseburgers.

1079
01:00:47,126 --> 01:00:50,543
If it starts with a deck
of cards, or a pizza,

1080
01:00:50,668 --> 01:00:53,876
it's almost like a trading,
a horse trading going on.

1081
01:00:55,918 --> 01:00:59,918
After I met his demands...

1082
01:01:00,085 --> 01:01:02,876
he began to
cooperate with me.

1083
01:01:37,876 --> 01:01:40,293
He began to open up
about the past.

1084
01:01:40,418 --> 01:01:43,001
This is where I would sense
the opening to be like,

1085
01:01:43,085 --> 01:01:45,918
let me try and get
something from him.

1086
01:01:46,043 --> 01:01:48,335
We did one day get
to the point of

1087
01:01:48,418 --> 01:01:50,543
doing what we call like a
'queen for a day',

1088
01:01:50,668 --> 01:01:53,126
which is a proffer
agreement where we say,

1089
01:01:53,251 --> 01:01:55,043
"You're going to come in,
whatever you tell us today

1090
01:01:55,126 --> 01:01:56,710
is not going to be
used against you

1091
01:01:56,835 --> 01:01:58,918
in a court of law."

1092
01:01:59,043 --> 01:02:00,710
During that
proffer session,

1093
01:02:00,835 --> 01:02:03,960
he gave a little
bit of detail...

1094
01:02:04,085 --> 01:02:08,918
that he killed a housewife
in October of 1967.

1095
01:02:09,043 --> 01:02:10,960
He said that he believed
that she had children.

1096
01:02:37,585 --> 01:02:39,751
This was the break
I'd been waiting for.

1097
01:02:39,918 --> 01:02:42,210
♪

1098
01:02:42,376 --> 01:02:44,251
We're finally here.
We're finally at this moment.

1099
01:03:00,668 --> 01:03:07,501
♪

1100
01:03:07,626 --> 01:03:10,001
Of all the unsolved
homicides that

1101
01:03:10,126 --> 01:03:13,501
I had been looking at
involving young women...

1102
01:03:13,585 --> 01:03:18,001
Nancy Vogel was really the
only one that had children.

1103
01:03:18,126 --> 01:03:20,918
So, it was just that little
tidbit that made me then

1104
01:03:21,043 --> 01:03:22,835
go get the file,
look at it and

1105
01:03:22,960 --> 01:03:26,668
really start studying the
Vogel homicide.

1106
01:03:26,793 --> 01:03:28,043
Nancy Vogel was
a 29-year-old

1107
01:03:28,168 --> 01:03:30,501
married mother of two.

1108
01:03:30,626 --> 01:03:32,876
Her children were nine
and five years old.

1109
01:03:33,001 --> 01:03:36,043
♪

1110
01:03:36,126 --> 01:03:38,751
1967 was a, was a
different, different world.

1111
01:03:38,876 --> 01:03:46,043
♪

1112
01:03:46,126 --> 01:03:48,168
In Little Ferry,
we had a...

1113
01:03:48,251 --> 01:03:51,168
a typical Italian setup-
the two-family house

1114
01:03:51,293 --> 01:03:53,626
with the finished basement
where everyone ate and my

1115
01:03:53,751 --> 01:03:55,918
grandmother lived upstairs,
we lived in the middle.

1116
01:03:56,043 --> 01:03:58,585
♪

1117
01:03:58,710 --> 01:03:59,876
She was always happy,

1118
01:03:59,960 --> 01:04:01,001
she was always
doing things for us.

1119
01:04:01,085 --> 01:04:05,126
She always- you know,
she's the perfect mom.

1120
01:04:05,251 --> 01:04:07,085
We used to, every year,
go to Wildwood and

1121
01:04:07,210 --> 01:04:08,793
having fun on the beach.

1122
01:04:08,918 --> 01:04:11,335
Always laughing.

1123
01:04:11,668 --> 01:04:14,210
♪

1124
01:04:14,293 --> 01:04:17,751
And then, it was a day
or two before Halloween.

1125
01:04:17,918 --> 01:04:21,543
My life would change.

1126
01:04:21,668 --> 01:04:24,960
My sister went to my father
about 2, 3 o'clock

1127
01:04:25,085 --> 01:04:27,876
in the morning and said,
"Mommy's not home."

1128
01:04:27,960 --> 01:04:32,376
♪

1129
01:04:32,543 --> 01:04:34,126
By the time I woke up,
it was, you know,

1130
01:04:34,251 --> 01:04:36,793
8, 9 o'clock
in the morning.

1131
01:04:36,918 --> 01:04:39,876
People were at the house,
and it was frantic, chaos.

1132
01:04:40,001 --> 01:04:42,501
♪

1133
01:04:42,626 --> 01:04:44,751
My father and my uncle-
which is my mother's brother-

1134
01:04:44,918 --> 01:04:45,793
went to the
police department.

1135
01:04:45,918 --> 01:04:47,668
They were driving around
town looking for her,

1136
01:04:47,751 --> 01:04:52,210
calling friends and relatives
that she might have been with.

1137
01:04:52,293 --> 01:04:54,710
She was missing
for a day or two.

1138
01:04:54,835 --> 01:05:01,710
♪

1139
01:05:01,835 --> 01:05:05,043
I was in 6th grade,
and I came home

1140
01:05:05,126 --> 01:05:07,376
from Catholic school
with my friend.

1141
01:05:07,501 --> 01:05:10,751
And there was a car over here
that did not look familiar.

1142
01:05:10,876 --> 01:05:13,960
And, we looked into the car,
and we saw something

1143
01:05:14,085 --> 01:05:17,001
that looked like
a mannequin.

1144
01:05:17,085 --> 01:05:18,710
It was indeed
not a mannequin,

1145
01:05:18,876 --> 01:05:21,043
and it was a woman.

1146
01:05:21,126 --> 01:05:23,043
♪

1147
01:05:23,126 --> 01:05:24,626
She was wedged between the

1148
01:05:24,751 --> 01:05:27,710
back of the front seat
and on the floor.

1149
01:05:27,835 --> 01:05:30,543
Her arms were tied,
and she was naked.

1150
01:05:30,835 --> 01:05:32,376
♪

1151
01:05:32,501 --> 01:05:35,626
So, we ran in the house
to call the police.

1152
01:05:35,751 --> 01:05:36,751
They're like,
"A dead body?"

1153
01:05:36,876 --> 01:05:38,168
I'm like, "Yes, I think
there's a dead body

1154
01:05:38,251 --> 01:05:40,710
in the car in front
of my house."

1155
01:05:40,835 --> 01:05:42,668
They came immediately.

1156
01:05:42,751 --> 01:05:45,793
They dusted the
door for prints.

1157
01:05:45,918 --> 01:05:48,710
And, news people came, and
they were taking pictures.

1158
01:05:48,835 --> 01:05:51,793
♪

1159
01:05:51,918 --> 01:05:53,876
Neighbors from all over
the place were down,

1160
01:05:53,960 --> 01:05:56,876
asking questions.
Nothing happened here, ever.

1161
01:05:56,960 --> 01:05:58,918
So, it was huge.

1162
01:05:59,043 --> 01:06:02,210
♪

1163
01:06:02,376 --> 01:06:04,793
So my grandmother
was making us lunch.

1164
01:06:04,918 --> 01:06:07,918
♪

1165
01:06:08,085 --> 01:06:09,126
And my sister
opens the door,

1166
01:06:09,251 --> 01:06:10,876
and it was the
newspaper, saying,

1167
01:06:11,001 --> 01:06:13,835
"Now that you found out
that your mother's dead,

1168
01:06:13,918 --> 01:06:15,918
how do you feel about it?"

1169
01:06:16,085 --> 01:06:17,751
And my sister was
like, shocked.

1170
01:06:17,918 --> 01:06:19,376
And then, they came
into the house,

1171
01:06:19,543 --> 01:06:22,001
and they talked to my
grandmother, my nanny.

1172
01:06:22,126 --> 01:06:23,293
And, in Italian,

1173
01:06:23,418 --> 01:06:25,751
she sent them to hell and
cursed them out.

1174
01:06:25,876 --> 01:06:27,876
♪

1175
01:06:28,001 --> 01:06:29,960
It was bad.

1176
01:06:30,085 --> 01:06:33,960
I just remember just watching
everybody yelling and crying

1177
01:06:34,085 --> 01:06:37,376
and not really
understanding it.

1178
01:06:37,460 --> 01:06:39,960
So, that's how we found out.

1179
01:06:40,085 --> 01:06:45,668
♪

1180
01:06:45,793 --> 01:06:47,918
The cops, you know,
worked diligently

1181
01:06:48,043 --> 01:06:50,376
on the case
back in 1967.

1182
01:06:50,501 --> 01:06:52,085
Documentation of
what was done

1183
01:06:52,251 --> 01:06:54,043
wasn't up to
today's standards.

1184
01:06:54,126 --> 01:06:56,418
And we find this a lot of
times in our cold case files,

1185
01:06:56,543 --> 01:06:58,960
that there's just not a lot
of information about

1186
01:06:59,085 --> 01:07:00,210
what was done,
and what,

1187
01:07:00,335 --> 01:07:02,210
what wasn't done.
you know,

1188
01:07:02,335 --> 01:07:06,043
♪

1189
01:07:06,168 --> 01:07:07,335
She left her house,

1190
01:07:07,418 --> 01:07:08,793
telling her family
she was going to

1191
01:07:08,918 --> 01:07:13,251
the shopping center in
Little Ferry, New Jersey.

1192
01:07:13,376 --> 01:07:14,710
Three days later,
her body was found

1193
01:07:14,835 --> 01:07:17,001
in the back seat
of her car...

1194
01:07:17,085 --> 01:07:20,376
on a side street in
Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.

1195
01:07:20,501 --> 01:07:22,918
Raped, beaten,
and strangled.

1196
01:07:26,126 --> 01:07:29,168
In this case, we saw who
they were going after.

1197
01:07:29,251 --> 01:07:32,418
There was nothing obvious.

1198
01:07:32,585 --> 01:07:34,043
It was a big story
at the time,

1199
01:07:34,168 --> 01:07:38,168
and it also grew over time.

1200
01:07:38,293 --> 01:07:40,376
Cottingham was never
considered a suspect

1201
01:07:40,501 --> 01:07:42,085
in the murder of
Nancy Vogel,

1202
01:07:42,210 --> 01:07:46,876
until he directed me
to that case.

1203
01:07:47,043 --> 01:07:49,876
When you solve a cold case,
you don't just simply

1204
01:07:50,001 --> 01:07:53,168
take a person's
word that, "I did it."

1205
01:07:53,251 --> 01:07:56,210
There were quite a
few more details.

1206
01:07:56,293 --> 01:07:57,751
♪

1207
01:07:57,876 --> 01:08:00,335
She was acquainted with
Richard Cottingham.

1208
01:08:00,418 --> 01:08:03,043
Cottingham lived in
Little Ferry at the time.

1209
01:08:22,085 --> 01:08:25,210
In her own Rambler vehicle,
there were brown

1210
01:08:25,376 --> 01:08:27,293
shopping bags in the
back of the vehicle.

1211
01:08:27,418 --> 01:08:31,251
♪

1212
01:08:31,376 --> 01:08:35,210
There were relatively recent
purchases at the Valley Fair.

1213
01:08:35,335 --> 01:08:38,168
♪

1214
01:08:38,251 --> 01:08:40,210
We knew that there was a

1215
01:08:40,376 --> 01:08:43,210
sexual overtone
to the crime,

1216
01:08:43,335 --> 01:08:45,085
that she had been strangled.

1217
01:09:13,960 --> 01:09:17,210
Here was that
independent proof,

1218
01:09:17,335 --> 01:09:20,043
along with other things.

1219
01:09:20,126 --> 01:09:22,876
Despite the fact that he
pointed me in the direction

1220
01:09:23,043 --> 01:09:27,126
of the Nancy Vogel case and
gave me some details that...

1221
01:09:27,251 --> 01:09:29,960
convinced me he was
responsible for that murder,

1222
01:09:30,085 --> 01:09:33,335
he refused to give
the full confession.

1223
01:09:33,418 --> 01:09:35,501
It was such a game
of trying to be like,

1224
01:09:35,585 --> 01:09:38,293
who is in control of this
relationship that we have?

1225
01:09:38,418 --> 01:09:41,001
He did not want to
give this confession.

1226
01:09:57,626 --> 01:09:59,335
Every time I thought we
were going to get there,

1227
01:09:59,460 --> 01:10:00,543
he would say,

1228
01:10:00,668 --> 01:10:02,335
"Well, you didn't come
through with this for me.

1229
01:10:02,460 --> 01:10:04,001
What about the Attorney
General's office?

1230
01:10:04,085 --> 01:10:05,210
How do I know that
they won't step in?

1231
01:10:05,293 --> 01:10:06,543
What if...

1232
01:10:06,626 --> 01:10:07,585
What if your boss leaves and
there's a new boss and

1233
01:10:07,751 --> 01:10:10,043
he says, 'No, I want
to charge the guy'?"

1234
01:10:10,168 --> 01:10:11,585
And, "How are you going
to prove to me that

1235
01:10:11,751 --> 01:10:14,168
you're going to keep it
out of the media?

1236
01:10:14,293 --> 01:10:15,251
What about the
family members,

1237
01:10:15,376 --> 01:10:16,293
when you tell the family?

1238
01:10:16,418 --> 01:10:18,293
What if they go
to the press?"

1239
01:10:18,418 --> 01:10:21,043
It was constantly
this back and forth

1240
01:10:21,210 --> 01:10:23,626
like bickering between the
two of us over what the

1241
01:10:23,751 --> 01:10:26,210
"conditions" would
be of this confession.

1242
01:10:47,335 --> 01:10:50,376
I came through on my end
with all of his asks,

1243
01:10:50,501 --> 01:10:52,293
and it built up such a
level of trust,

1244
01:10:52,418 --> 01:10:53,501
and then finally
I was like,

1245
01:10:53,585 --> 01:10:55,085
"I'm not doing another
----ing thing for you

1246
01:10:55,210 --> 01:10:58,460
until we get one."

1247
01:10:58,585 --> 01:11:02,043
And then finally,
back in 2010, one visit,

1248
01:11:02,168 --> 01:11:06,043
I just broke him down
and he agreed to confess.

1249
01:11:06,168 --> 01:11:08,376
♪

1250
01:11:08,460 --> 01:11:09,585
We're going on
the record.

1251
01:11:09,710 --> 01:11:12,293
I was literally...

1252
01:11:12,418 --> 01:11:14,376
----ing in my pants.

1253
01:11:14,460 --> 01:11:17,335
♪

1254
01:11:17,418 --> 01:11:20,293
It's time to pay the piper.

1255
01:11:20,418 --> 01:11:24,043
I'm finally going to learn
how he killed this person,

1256
01:11:24,168 --> 01:11:25,626
in his own words.

1257
01:11:46,585 --> 01:11:48,376
It's now 2010.

1258
01:11:48,501 --> 01:11:50,876
I've spent the
last six years

1259
01:11:51,043 --> 01:11:52,918
grinding away with this guy,

1260
01:11:53,043 --> 01:11:55,543
trying to solve at
least one of these

1261
01:11:55,668 --> 01:11:58,085
12 cold cases that I have.

1262
01:11:58,251 --> 01:11:59,876
He balked and
balked and balked,

1263
01:12:00,043 --> 01:12:01,043
and then finally
I would say,

1264
01:12:01,210 --> 01:12:03,501
"We're doing it now.
We're doing it right now."

1265
01:12:03,585 --> 01:12:05,501
And I would flip the switch,
and be like,

1266
01:12:05,626 --> 01:12:07,210
"I've had enough,
let's go."

1267
01:12:46,793 --> 01:12:48,376
When I put the tape
recorder on the table,

1268
01:12:48,501 --> 01:12:51,210
he actually like, pushed his
chair back and began to sweat.

1269
01:12:51,293 --> 01:12:52,876
♪

1270
01:12:53,043 --> 01:12:55,251
It was a visceral
reaction on his part...

1271
01:12:55,418 --> 01:12:58,251
once we started going.

1272
01:12:58,376 --> 01:12:59,043
He looks like he's going to

1273
01:12:59,126 --> 01:13:01,126
back down from
confessing to it.

1274
01:13:01,251 --> 01:13:04,376
He's shying away
from the recorder.

1275
01:13:04,543 --> 01:13:06,376
It's six years in the making.

1276
01:13:06,501 --> 01:13:08,835
And now, you know,
I'm praying that

1277
01:13:08,960 --> 01:13:11,710
he doesn't panic so much
that he shuts down.

1278
01:13:29,793 --> 01:13:31,251
I kind of had to bring him
back on track to

1279
01:13:31,376 --> 01:13:33,376
make sure that he didn't
kind of, you know,

1280
01:13:33,501 --> 01:13:35,418
---- the bed on me and say,
"I don't want to do this."

1281
01:14:16,876 --> 01:14:19,168
He's very calm and
matter of fact,

1282
01:14:19,293 --> 01:14:22,210
and it's as if he has no
feelings about it whatsoever.

1283
01:14:22,376 --> 01:14:23,793
He doesn't seem to
have any remorse.

1284
01:14:23,918 --> 01:14:25,876
He doesn't seem
to have empathy.

1285
01:15:01,751 --> 01:15:03,710
So, to sit across
from somebody,

1286
01:15:03,835 --> 01:15:05,418
and hear them tell...

1287
01:15:05,585 --> 01:15:08,210
the story of a brutal rape
and murder as if it's

1288
01:15:08,376 --> 01:15:10,210
an everyday occurrence
in their life,

1289
01:15:10,335 --> 01:15:11,668
as if it's the same as me
telling you a story about

1290
01:15:11,751 --> 01:15:13,710
going to the grocery store
and buying a gallon of milk,

1291
01:15:13,793 --> 01:15:15,668
is, is disturbing.

1292
01:15:15,793 --> 01:15:20,501
♪

1293
01:15:52,543 --> 01:15:56,668
I didn't get him to confess
to that case until 2010.

1294
01:15:56,751 --> 01:16:00,251
Six frigging years later.

1295
01:16:00,418 --> 01:16:02,668
And in between there
was hundreds of hours.

1296
01:16:02,751 --> 01:16:05,710
And that's how obstinate the
guy could be and how stubborn.

1297
01:16:05,835 --> 01:16:10,210
♪

1298
01:16:10,335 --> 01:16:13,710
We talked to the family
after the confession.

1299
01:16:13,793 --> 01:16:16,543
I had Bill and
his sister Karen,

1300
01:16:16,668 --> 01:16:17,751
and some other
family members

1301
01:16:17,876 --> 01:16:20,668
come into the
prosecutor's office.

1302
01:16:20,793 --> 01:16:23,168
We wanted the family
to hear it first.

1303
01:16:23,293 --> 01:16:26,710
Never, ever, ever have them
read it in a newspaper.

1304
01:16:26,835 --> 01:16:28,251
And because of
this type of a case,

1305
01:16:28,376 --> 01:16:32,043
we wanted to meet
them personally.

1306
01:16:32,168 --> 01:16:35,626
I didn't know who Richard
Cottingham was or anything.

1307
01:16:35,751 --> 01:16:38,043
Rob reaches over,
he goes, "Bill,

1308
01:16:38,168 --> 01:16:40,751
don't go home and Google
Richard Cottingham.

1309
01:16:40,918 --> 01:16:44,418
Don't do that yet.
It's not the same thing."

1310
01:16:44,543 --> 01:16:46,376
♪

1311
01:16:46,543 --> 01:16:48,835
You're now able to answer
a lot of questions.

1312
01:16:48,918 --> 01:16:50,710
And sometimes I wonder...

1313
01:16:50,793 --> 01:16:54,376
Is it better sometimes to
have the questions unanswered?

1314
01:16:54,543 --> 01:16:56,501
Or to get the answers,
even though the

1315
01:16:56,585 --> 01:17:01,751
answers themselves may
cause you more pain?

1316
01:17:01,876 --> 01:17:04,876
My mom was always
watching out over me.

1317
01:17:05,001 --> 01:17:07,710
And that's my biggest thing,
I really feel that

1318
01:17:07,835 --> 01:17:11,085
she was taken
before her time.

1319
01:17:11,251 --> 01:17:12,751
And throughout the whole
thing, they just kept saying,

1320
01:17:12,876 --> 01:17:14,835
"You have to keep it quiet,
you have to keep it quiet.

1321
01:17:14,960 --> 01:17:16,751
You can't tell anybody."
And I agreed.

1322
01:17:16,918 --> 01:17:19,876
♪

1323
01:17:20,001 --> 01:17:22,835
Keeping quiet is a-
was hard.

1324
01:17:22,918 --> 01:17:24,710
Very, very hard.

1325
01:17:24,835 --> 01:17:26,335
♪

1326
01:17:26,418 --> 01:17:28,293
One of the reasons
why we want to

1327
01:17:28,418 --> 01:17:31,335
honor Cottingham's request,
as much as we don't

1328
01:17:31,460 --> 01:17:33,876
want to honor anything
the man has to say,

1329
01:17:33,960 --> 01:17:36,960
is we want to do this
for the next family,

1330
01:17:37,085 --> 01:17:39,460
for the next father,
for the next mother,

1331
01:17:39,585 --> 01:17:40,585
for the next sibling.

1332
01:17:40,751 --> 01:17:43,335
We want him to continue
to tell us things.

1333
01:17:43,460 --> 01:17:47,043
You always want to
solve these cold cases.

1334
01:17:47,168 --> 01:17:49,418
After getting that
first confession,

1335
01:17:49,543 --> 01:17:51,668
I was hoping that this
was finally the moment

1336
01:17:51,793 --> 01:17:53,793
that the dam would
break, and...

1337
01:17:53,918 --> 01:17:57,460
he would open up
about other cases.

1338
01:17:57,585 --> 01:17:59,543
To get him to go to court
was really important to me,

1339
01:17:59,626 --> 01:18:02,585
it was important to me
for the victim's family.

1340
01:18:02,710 --> 01:18:03,710
This was the first one,

1341
01:18:03,876 --> 01:18:07,668
and I just wanted that
foundation laid.

1342
01:18:07,751 --> 01:18:09,710
And that took some time
and some convincing.

1343
01:18:09,876 --> 01:18:12,751
♪

1344
01:18:12,918 --> 01:18:14,710
Richard Cottingham
was already serving

1345
01:18:14,835 --> 01:18:16,918
multiple life terms.

1346
01:18:17,043 --> 01:18:18,960
The plea deal was,

1347
01:18:19,085 --> 01:18:20,793
"You're going to get
another life term.

1348
01:18:20,918 --> 01:18:23,626
Nothing less.
A life for a life."

1349
01:18:23,751 --> 01:18:25,668
And he was
okay with that.

1350
01:18:25,793 --> 01:18:27,710
♪

1351
01:18:27,835 --> 01:18:30,668
You know, he just didn't
want to be in the public eye.

1352
01:18:30,793 --> 01:18:33,043
He didn't want his
kids to know

1353
01:18:33,210 --> 01:18:35,126
the real, true monster
that he was.

1354
01:18:58,960 --> 01:19:03,710
♪

1355
01:19:03,835 --> 01:19:05,043
I had to convince him that

1356
01:19:05,168 --> 01:19:06,376
we were not going to put
out a press release,

1357
01:19:06,501 --> 01:19:07,668
we weren't going
to make a big

1358
01:19:07,751 --> 01:19:09,543
dog and pony show about it.

1359
01:19:09,668 --> 01:19:11,210
♪

1360
01:19:11,293 --> 01:19:14,835
The actual court date
was in August of 2010.

1361
01:19:14,960 --> 01:19:17,168
♪

1362
01:19:17,293 --> 01:19:20,126
In an effort to really keep it
out of the newspapers and,

1363
01:19:20,251 --> 01:19:24,001
and quiet,
we made it late in the day.

1364
01:19:24,085 --> 01:19:25,543
We can't keep the public out

1365
01:19:25,626 --> 01:19:27,043
or we can't keep the
media out of the court,

1366
01:19:27,168 --> 01:19:29,751
but there was very, very
little likelihood that the

1367
01:19:29,918 --> 01:19:32,418
press would be lurking
around the courthouse at say,

1368
01:19:32,585 --> 01:19:36,626
4:30, 5 o'clock
in the afternoon.

1369
01:19:36,751 --> 01:19:38,876
The only people that were
really in the court was the

1370
01:19:39,043 --> 01:19:41,918
prosecutor, myself,

1371
01:19:42,043 --> 01:19:43,876
some other
homicide detectives,

1372
01:19:44,043 --> 01:19:46,043
the Vogel family...

1373
01:19:46,168 --> 01:19:48,960
Of course, Cottingham,
his defense attorney,

1374
01:19:49,085 --> 01:19:51,376
and Judge Venezia.

1375
01:19:51,668 --> 01:19:53,668
♪

1376
01:19:53,793 --> 01:19:55,710
My role was simple.

1377
01:19:55,876 --> 01:19:59,543
I was asked to take a plea.

1378
01:19:59,668 --> 01:20:01,043
And I was told,

1379
01:20:01,168 --> 01:20:05,043
"We'd like to make this
short and sweet.

1380
01:20:05,168 --> 01:20:09,501
The plea,
sentence, done."

1381
01:20:09,626 --> 01:20:11,710
And did I do that?
For the most part, I did.

1382
01:20:11,876 --> 01:20:14,418
♪

1383
01:20:14,543 --> 01:20:17,876
Ah, it didn't exactly
go as planned.

1384
01:20:18,001 --> 01:20:21,710
Your conduct and
your history

1385
01:20:21,876 --> 01:20:24,626
is beyond appalling.

1386
01:20:24,751 --> 01:20:26,668
♪

1387
01:20:26,751 --> 01:20:29,710
Judge Venezia started
really hammering him.

1388
01:20:29,835 --> 01:20:32,168
It doesn't detract from the
fact that I think you are

1389
01:20:32,251 --> 01:20:35,043
an absolutely despicable
human being,

1390
01:20:35,126 --> 01:20:37,668
and I use that
word sparingly.

1391
01:20:37,793 --> 01:20:40,668
♪

1392
01:20:40,751 --> 01:20:42,918
I thought at any given
moment he's gonna say,

1393
01:20:43,085 --> 01:20:44,626
"You know what,
Judge, I'm not guilty.

1394
01:20:44,751 --> 01:20:45,626
I didn't do this,"

1395
01:20:45,751 --> 01:20:48,543
or somehow sabotage
the confession he gave.

1396
01:20:48,710 --> 01:20:50,710
I was waiting for him
to turn to me and say,

1397
01:20:50,835 --> 01:20:51,918
"I'm not doing this."

1398
01:21:00,460 --> 01:21:06,043
♪

1399
01:21:06,168 --> 01:21:07,376
So, we bring him into court

1400
01:21:07,460 --> 01:21:09,585
in front of Judge
Donald Venezia.

1401
01:21:09,710 --> 01:21:12,376
♪

1402
01:21:12,460 --> 01:21:15,210
We explained it in no
uncertain terms that...

1403
01:21:15,376 --> 01:21:18,210
we were not looking for
fanfare in this thing.

1404
01:21:18,335 --> 01:21:21,043
We wanted to quietly give
closure to the family.

1405
01:21:21,168 --> 01:21:24,043
♪

1406
01:21:24,210 --> 01:21:27,543
We needed it just
quick and quiet.

1407
01:21:27,626 --> 01:21:29,543
♪

1408
01:21:29,626 --> 01:21:31,585
Bring him to the courtroom
at a set time that we had

1409
01:21:31,710 --> 01:21:35,168
made arrangements for,
sentence him right there.

1410
01:21:35,293 --> 01:21:39,210
Everything was perfect.

1411
01:21:39,376 --> 01:21:41,668
They want to get it
over with, I get it.

1412
01:21:41,751 --> 01:21:46,626
And I was told, "We'd like to
make this short and sweet."

1413
01:21:46,751 --> 01:21:51,460
♪

1414
01:21:51,585 --> 01:21:53,460
For the first time, I see
Richard Cottingham

1415
01:21:53,585 --> 01:21:55,376
walking down the hallway.

1416
01:21:55,501 --> 01:21:56,918
♪

1417
01:21:57,085 --> 01:21:59,251
He looks like Santa Claus
with his long, long beard.

1418
01:21:59,376 --> 01:22:01,335
He's overweight and whatnot.

1419
01:22:01,460 --> 01:22:04,126
This is nothing
that I imagined.

1420
01:22:04,251 --> 01:22:05,335
So, you know,
as a little kid,

1421
01:22:05,418 --> 01:22:06,376
you say your mother
was murdered,

1422
01:22:06,501 --> 01:22:10,085
you think it's like
a big monster, bad...

1423
01:22:10,210 --> 01:22:13,210
ugly,
terrible person.

1424
01:22:13,335 --> 01:22:15,793
And here's...
he's nothing.

1425
01:22:15,918 --> 01:22:19,376
He's a shell of a man.

1426
01:22:19,501 --> 01:22:22,293
It was, you know, kind of
both exhilarating and

1427
01:22:22,418 --> 01:22:23,668
frustrating all
at the same time.

1428
01:22:23,751 --> 01:22:25,710
It's hard to put into words.

1429
01:22:25,835 --> 01:22:28,043
The culmination of six
years' worth of work

1430
01:22:28,210 --> 01:22:31,293
coming down to this.

1431
01:22:31,418 --> 01:22:33,376
I never thought that I'd
have the opportunity there,

1432
01:22:33,460 --> 01:22:37,126
Mr. Cottingham,

1433
01:22:37,251 --> 01:22:39,501
to really witness somebody

1434
01:22:39,626 --> 01:22:43,085
who has the makeup
that you do.

1435
01:22:43,251 --> 01:22:46,460
Your conduct and
your history

1436
01:22:46,585 --> 01:22:49,210
is beyond appalling.

1437
01:22:49,293 --> 01:22:50,376
And that, very frankly,

1438
01:22:50,460 --> 01:22:52,585
when you end up
wherever you end up,

1439
01:22:52,751 --> 01:22:56,001
I suggest you dress with
light clothes 'cause it's

1440
01:22:56,126 --> 01:22:59,335
usually pretty hot where
I think you're going.

1441
01:22:59,460 --> 01:23:01,543
In the middle of the
court proceeding,

1442
01:23:01,710 --> 01:23:03,585
the judge just
begins to berate him,

1443
01:23:03,710 --> 01:23:05,335
and I'm watching it
go south.

1444
01:23:05,460 --> 01:23:08,460
And I'm just like,
this is so ----ing bad.

1445
01:23:08,585 --> 01:23:11,710
I don't think I've ever
had the ability

1446
01:23:11,793 --> 01:23:15,210
nor desire to ever, like...

1447
01:23:15,293 --> 01:23:19,126
witness the devil
in my courtroom.

1448
01:23:19,251 --> 01:23:23,710
But I think I see him
today in you.

1449
01:23:23,835 --> 01:23:27,210
You see me in the row,
right behind him,

1450
01:23:27,293 --> 01:23:28,376
and I'm like literally
slumping down

1451
01:23:28,501 --> 01:23:31,710
with the, "Oh, ----".

1452
01:23:31,793 --> 01:23:34,335
It doesn't detract from the
fact that I think you are

1453
01:23:34,418 --> 01:23:37,335
an absolutely despicable
human being and

1454
01:23:37,418 --> 01:23:40,460
I use that word sparingly.

1455
01:23:40,585 --> 01:23:42,418
Very difficult to look
people in the eye,

1456
01:23:42,543 --> 01:23:43,710
who lost a loved one,

1457
01:23:43,876 --> 01:23:46,543
because of the outrageous
deed of somebody

1458
01:23:46,668 --> 01:23:48,626
who's standing
twelve feet from you,

1459
01:23:48,751 --> 01:23:50,460
and twelve feet from them.

1460
01:23:50,585 --> 01:23:53,543
Whether you're a judge or not,
you're a human being.

1461
01:23:53,626 --> 01:23:57,543
♪

1462
01:23:57,668 --> 01:23:59,585
It wasn't, you know,
typically what you see

1463
01:23:59,751 --> 01:24:00,751
out of a judge
in a courtroom,

1464
01:24:00,876 --> 01:24:02,293
but I think in this
particular case,

1465
01:24:02,418 --> 01:24:04,543
he needed to hear that.

1466
01:24:04,668 --> 01:24:06,376
♪

1467
01:24:06,460 --> 01:24:10,543
I'm glad he did that,
I'm glad he stood up.

1468
01:24:10,626 --> 01:24:13,293
Then, the judge literally
forced him to turn around and

1469
01:24:13,418 --> 01:24:16,376
apologize to Bill Vogel
and his sister.

1470
01:24:16,543 --> 01:24:17,835
Why don't you turn
around and tell them,

1471
01:24:17,918 --> 01:24:20,210
'cause what's left of 'em are
in the audience over there.

1472
01:24:20,376 --> 01:24:22,876
Why don't you, why don't you
man up a little bit there?

1473
01:24:22,960 --> 01:24:25,543
I want you to look at them
in the eye and tell them.

1474
01:24:25,668 --> 01:24:27,668
Huh? How about that?
Why don't you do that?

1475
01:24:27,751 --> 01:24:30,543
I am very sorry for all
the pain I've caused you.

1476
01:24:30,668 --> 01:24:33,501
I really mean that.

1477
01:24:33,626 --> 01:24:36,460
His narrative is
reality to him,

1478
01:24:36,585 --> 01:24:40,460
and the judge in the
room punctures that...

1479
01:24:40,585 --> 01:24:44,585
because he was helpless.

1480
01:24:44,710 --> 01:24:46,293
♪

1481
01:24:46,418 --> 01:24:48,293
When it was all over,

1482
01:24:48,418 --> 01:24:50,460
I escorted him out.

1483
01:24:50,585 --> 01:24:53,876
Cottingham stopped,
turned to me...

1484
01:24:54,043 --> 01:24:56,710
and says, "You will never get
me to ----ing do this again."

1485
01:24:56,835 --> 01:24:59,543
♪

1486
01:24:59,668 --> 01:25:01,460
Six years of work.

1487
01:25:01,585 --> 01:25:04,293
2004 to 2010.

1488
01:25:04,418 --> 01:25:07,335
I finally get him
to confess...

1489
01:25:07,418 --> 01:25:09,710
and I just lost
this guy forever.

1490
01:25:09,835 --> 01:25:12,376
♪

1491
01:25:12,501 --> 01:25:16,001
After Cottingham confessed
to the murder of Nancy Vogel,

1492
01:25:16,085 --> 01:25:18,668
he told me that murder
was not his first.

1493
01:25:27,751 --> 01:25:29,376
It got my mind
thinking of...

1494
01:25:29,543 --> 01:25:31,168
how many could
be out there?

1495
01:25:31,293 --> 01:25:33,418
I'm convinced that he's good
for more than just

1496
01:25:33,585 --> 01:25:35,793
the one that he's
confessed to,

1497
01:25:35,918 --> 01:25:38,751
but I still have 11 of these
cases unsolved.

1498
01:25:38,876 --> 01:25:44,835
♪

1499
01:25:44,918 --> 01:25:47,710
She would have
fought for her life.

1500
01:25:47,793 --> 01:25:49,376
A rope was reportedly
tied around

1501
01:25:49,543 --> 01:25:50,876
one of the girls' necks.

1502
01:25:51,043 --> 01:25:54,001
There's this fear that
went through everybody.

1503
01:25:54,126 --> 01:25:56,543
She was just headed home.

1504
01:25:56,668 --> 01:25:58,543
Is there anything
more powerful than

1505
01:25:58,668 --> 01:26:01,543
believing you are God?

1506
01:26:01,668 --> 01:26:04,001
Once he had them in the car...

1507
01:26:04,126 --> 01:26:05,751
they were his.

1508
01:26:05,876 --> 01:26:08,376
I was not done with him.

1509
01:26:08,501 --> 01:26:10,543
I'm not letting this
guy get away with it.

1510
01:26:10,710 --> 01:26:12,460
It was the game.

1511
01:26:12,585 --> 01:26:15,210
It was like the perfect
murder every time.

1512
01:26:15,293 --> 01:26:17,960
How am I ever going
to get back on track?