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♪

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♪

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[Anzilotti]
In the year 2000,

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I was assigned a series
of 12 unsolved murders.

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There were a
number of girls

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that were either last
seen hitchhiking,

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or had been picked up
by a stranger...

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in and around
Bergen County.

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I am born and raised
in Bergen County.

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This is my home, and
this is my community.

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And these cases hit home.

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It absolutely became
my mission to

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try and solve these cases,

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and bring some justice
and some closure

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to the people that
were left behind.

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♪

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By 2004,
I zeroed in on

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convicted serial killer
Richard Cottingham,

19
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known as 'The Torso Killer'.

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It would take me
six more years,

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but I finally got him to
confess to killing

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married mother-of-two,
Nancy Vogel.

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In the middle of the
court proceeding,

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the judge just goes
off on Cottingham.

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All that work and grind...

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was just gone in an instant.

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Someone hurt your feelings?
You're kidding me?

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My mother was murdered.
He should feel like a freak.

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He just completely
shut down on me.

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And I'm just like,
this is so [bleep] bad.

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I know this guy's
responsible for

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more of these killings.

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How am I gonna get
him to talk again?

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♪

35
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You could take all the serial
killers that's ever been.

36
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And there's not
been one like me.

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♪

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Richard Cottingham
is a control freak and

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a master manipulator.

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♪

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After he went to
court in 2010,

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I made a point to kind
of let him just...

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percolate and
sit in prison...

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and leave him alone.

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♪

46
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This was the
cat-and-mouse game that

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we played for
many, many years.

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♪

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And,
three weeks later,

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boom,
it gets even worse.

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I went to such lengths to

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keep the court
appearance quiet.

53
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But somehow the media
found out about it,

54
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and there was a
newspaper article.

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I was so [bleep] pissed.

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♪

57
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And, he somehow found
out about that and,

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in typical Richard Cottingham
fashion, he's like,

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"There's no scenario I'm
going back to court."

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He didn't want his
kids to know the real,

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true monster
that he was.

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I don't know if after this,

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this guy's ever gonna
talk to me again.

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♪

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I invested so many years
trying to solve these cases.

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And I'm like, I can't give up
now because then he wins.

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And all I could
think about is,

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how do I bring justice
for these other girls?

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♪

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I dropped him a letter.

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He went off on me in
his letter in response:

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"You and your bosses
have had

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your day of glory
at my expense.

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Did you really believe
I wouldn't learn about

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my name being splattered
all over the media?"

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He claimed that
one of his kids,

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I believe his daughter,
wrote him a letter saying,

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"How could you
do this to us?"

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"For us to continue
will be difficult.

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First, a way will have to be
found to guarantee,

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not 90%, not 95%,
not even 99%,

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but 100% that nothing will
ever be made public

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to the media
or the public."

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♪

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He's Richard being
Richard, which is...

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making an excuse on why
I needed to do more...

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to get something from him.

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But he left the window
open just enough...

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that I knew I was
going to get him again.

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Anzilotti stayed vigilant.

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He's always watching for,
"Where's the opening?

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And how can I use that to
potentially get information?"

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♪

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I'm stuck with a killer
who's refusing to

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ever be in a
courtroom again.

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So, there's only
one choice left...

97
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and that's what we call
'Exceptional Clearance'.

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That is, as long as
the confession

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is corroborated by
the evidence,

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and the witness statements,

101
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and we felt it was a
credible confession,

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that we would simply tell
the family what we learned,

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what happened to
their loved one,

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and close the case without
any public fanfare and

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without a courtroom.

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It's a gamble.

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You're making a
deal with the devil.

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Because it's a
tough balancing act.

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And the right for the
public to know, versus

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the integrity of future
investigations, potentially.

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I have no idea if Richard
was gonna go for it.

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And while he agreed that
he was willing to have

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discussions with me,
it is not as if

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he suddenly became an open
book and gave me everything.

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♪

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In Richard's mind,

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he thought he had
the upper hand.

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So, he of course, was
making demands on me,

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whether it be
food packages,

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the TV Guide subscription.

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Stupid stuff to you and I,
but things that are...

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hard to come by in prison.

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♪

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Eventually, we went
down to New Jersey State Prision

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in Trenton to pick him up.

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We would bring him up from
New Jersey State Prison,

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and we would keep him
for overnight or

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maybe for the weekend.

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♪

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Jim McMorrow transferred
to the Bergen County

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prosecutor's office
from the

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Hackensack
Police Department.

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He's a strong,
tough Irish cop and,

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I always knew that
Jimmy had my back,

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and he was a hell
of a detective.

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So, that started Jimmy on a
journey to always be with me

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when I would talk
to Cottingham.

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♪

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The car ride up from
New Jersey State Prison

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was important because
during that time

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was really when
we tried to

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just kind of smooth him out.

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I'm six years into this
strange relationship

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with a serial killer,

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and I still have 11 of
these cases unsolved.

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I'm convinced that
Richard's good for more,

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but was conscious not to
go too hard, too fast.

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♪

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During my time
with Richard,

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I learned what was working.

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And that was me making him
feel like a human being.

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And, as disgusting as
that was to make this

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sadistic killer feel good
about himself,

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it was necessary to
get him to open up.

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This became like a game.

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But we didn't want to
offend him at this point.

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You have to remember that at
any given time, if he gets...

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annoyed, he's going
to shut down on us.

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And we're starting
from square one.

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Anzilotti would allow
Cottingham to drift...

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but then he'd
pull him back in.

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"No, we're here for this."

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♪

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So, in 2010, Rob and I
were bringing him

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back to New Jersey
State prison.

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Jim McMorrow was driving and
I'm in the passenger seat.

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And, we're just
getting him to

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talk about total nonsense.

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I'm telling him, "Hey Rich,
it's been, been a while now.

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You haven't really given
much of substance."

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And he'd be like, "Well,
I didn't tell you that

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we're going to talk about
another case."

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And I'm like, "Well, let's
just say hypothetically

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we're going to talk about
another case, you know.

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Which, which...
which file should I pull?"

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And obviously,
at this point

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he's much more comfortable,
and he started to talk.

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He goes, "Well, you know,
there was this one case."

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And he goes, "I really
remember this girl.

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And I remember her because
I watched this TV show

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in my cell,
called Roswell.

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And there's this actress,
Shiri Appleby."

183
00:10:03,251 --> 00:10:04,126
And he's like,

184
00:10:04,251 --> 00:10:05,710
"I've never been able to
forget this homicide

185
00:10:05,835 --> 00:10:09,876
because this actress
reminds me of her so much."

186
00:10:10,001 --> 00:10:13,126
He also said that he had
picked her up at

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a bus stop in Hackensack.

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♪

189
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As he's saying it,

190
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I'm furiously typing notes
on my Blackberry.

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♪

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00:10:23,668 --> 00:10:25,376
I have no idea who she is.

193
00:10:25,460 --> 00:10:28,085
I don't spell it right,
of course.

194
00:10:28,251 --> 00:10:30,376
It's a little crumb that
he's thrown my way

195
00:10:30,543 --> 00:10:32,710
without even realizing
he's throwing it.

196
00:10:32,835 --> 00:10:35,085
And he's like, "Let's just
leave it alone for now."

197
00:10:35,251 --> 00:10:39,293
♪

198
00:10:39,418 --> 00:10:43,001
Jimmy and I couldn't get back
up the turnpike fast enough.

199
00:10:43,085 --> 00:10:45,585
And sure enough, when I
got back to the office,

200
00:10:45,751 --> 00:10:48,210
I went on the internet,
Googled Shiri Appleby,

201
00:10:48,376 --> 00:10:50,168
the show,
and sure enough...

202
00:10:50,251 --> 00:10:52,085
Bam.

203
00:10:52,251 --> 00:10:55,085
She bore a striking
resemblance to Irene Blase.

204
00:10:55,251 --> 00:10:59,460
♪

205
00:10:59,585 --> 00:11:03,918
Irene Blase was murdered
in April of 1969.

206
00:11:04,043 --> 00:11:05,543
That's nearly
two years after

207
00:11:05,668 --> 00:11:07,210
the killing of Nancy Vogel.

208
00:11:07,376 --> 00:11:09,043
This was huge.

209
00:11:09,126 --> 00:11:11,251
This is the second female
from the 60s that

210
00:11:11,418 --> 00:11:14,043
I'm thinking Cottingham
may be responsible for.

211
00:11:14,210 --> 00:11:17,585
♪

212
00:11:17,751 --> 00:11:18,960
We need detail,
we need detail that

213
00:11:19,085 --> 00:11:20,335
only the killer's
gonna know.

214
00:11:43,460 --> 00:11:48,626
♪

215
00:11:48,751 --> 00:11:50,168
Anything that Richard
Cottingham gave us,

216
00:11:50,293 --> 00:11:52,376
we had to be able to
support it by evidence.

217
00:11:52,501 --> 00:11:54,210
And, the detectives
interviewed

218
00:11:54,376 --> 00:11:55,626
hundreds of people.

219
00:11:55,751 --> 00:11:58,210
So, we had to go through
each of these interviews,

220
00:11:58,293 --> 00:12:00,460
their notes, to see if
there was anything

221
00:12:00,585 --> 00:12:04,626
that we could match up with
what he would give us.

222
00:12:04,751 --> 00:12:06,626
Irene Blase was an
18-year-old girl

223
00:12:06,751 --> 00:12:09,710
when she went missing
in April of 1969.

224
00:12:09,876 --> 00:12:13,335
And, she was last seen
at a bus stop

225
00:12:13,460 --> 00:12:15,210
in Hackensack,
New Jersey.

226
00:12:15,335 --> 00:12:18,085
♪

227
00:12:18,210 --> 00:12:20,668
She was found the next
day in the Saddle River,

228
00:12:20,751 --> 00:12:23,418
which is in Bergen County.

229
00:12:23,585 --> 00:12:25,376
She has a stab
wound in her back.

230
00:12:25,501 --> 00:12:27,460
♪

231
00:12:27,585 --> 00:12:29,668
She had been strangled...

232
00:12:29,751 --> 00:12:33,501
and she had been raped.

233
00:12:33,626 --> 00:12:37,210
As I reviewed the case file,
one of the primary suspects

234
00:12:37,376 --> 00:12:39,376
from the beginning was
her boyfriend at the time,

235
00:12:39,501 --> 00:12:41,710
Richard Guadagno.

236
00:12:41,876 --> 00:12:44,710
And I'm like, holy [bleep],

237
00:12:44,835 --> 00:12:48,418
I've known this
person my entire life.

238
00:12:48,585 --> 00:12:50,835
Richard Guadagno...

239
00:12:50,918 --> 00:12:52,460
is my cousin.

240
00:12:59,501 --> 00:13:05,335
♪

241
00:13:05,460 --> 00:13:07,751
This is Irene.

242
00:13:07,918 --> 00:13:10,251
That was in 1968,

243
00:13:10,418 --> 00:13:13,668
about a year before
she was killed.

244
00:13:13,793 --> 00:13:17,251
And I kept this
all these years.

245
00:13:17,376 --> 00:13:20,710
I truly loved her
a lot, a real lot.

246
00:13:20,793 --> 00:13:23,501
♪

247
00:13:23,585 --> 00:13:27,210
She loved life,
you know?

248
00:13:27,293 --> 00:13:31,543
She was 16 when I first
started going out with her.

249
00:13:31,668 --> 00:13:33,710
I'm a motorcycle guy, and...

250
00:13:33,793 --> 00:13:36,085
we used to go
everywhere together.

251
00:13:36,376 --> 00:13:42,210
♪

252
00:13:42,335 --> 00:13:46,543
The last time I saw Irene
was on a Saturday night.

253
00:13:46,710 --> 00:13:49,585
We went to a
club in the city.

254
00:13:49,751 --> 00:13:51,876
I had an argument
with her at the club.

255
00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:54,460
I don't remember why, but...

256
00:13:54,585 --> 00:13:58,251
I got mad,
and I went home.

257
00:13:58,376 --> 00:14:00,543
And then...

258
00:14:00,668 --> 00:14:02,668
I didn't hear nothing until...

259
00:14:02,751 --> 00:14:04,668
late Monday.

260
00:14:04,793 --> 00:14:06,376
♪

261
00:14:06,543 --> 00:14:08,668
I was leaving work...

262
00:14:08,751 --> 00:14:12,251
and two cop cars
cut in front of me.

263
00:14:12,376 --> 00:14:14,376
Richard had already
a checkered past.

264
00:14:14,460 --> 00:14:16,501
So, of course, the police
right away latched on to the

265
00:14:16,585 --> 00:14:19,168
idea that he was already
somewhat of a bad guy,

266
00:14:19,293 --> 00:14:21,626
and now his
girlfriend's dead.

267
00:14:21,751 --> 00:14:24,335
So, of course,
they look hard at him.

268
00:14:24,418 --> 00:14:27,710
They took me to the Teaneck,
New Jersey Police Department.

269
00:14:27,835 --> 00:14:29,710
♪

270
00:14:29,835 --> 00:14:33,751
The piece of garbage police
turned polaroids around and

271
00:14:33,876 --> 00:14:37,918
slid them over to me and
showed me her dead body.

272
00:14:38,043 --> 00:14:39,668
You know, she was
just dragged

273
00:14:39,751 --> 00:14:42,543
out of the
Saddle Brook River.

274
00:14:42,626 --> 00:14:45,460
♪

275
00:14:45,585 --> 00:14:47,751
And I cried.

276
00:14:47,876 --> 00:14:50,293
♪

277
00:14:50,418 --> 00:14:52,876
They kept asking me,
"Why'd you choke her?

278
00:14:53,001 --> 00:14:54,668
Did you want sex from her,

279
00:14:54,793 --> 00:14:55,876
and she wouldn't
give it to you?

280
00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,751
So, you beat it out of her?"

281
00:14:59,876 --> 00:15:01,876
I knew I didn't do it.

282
00:15:02,001 --> 00:15:04,710
But people always had it
in the back of their head,

283
00:15:04,876 --> 00:15:06,960
"Was it Richie?"

284
00:15:07,085 --> 00:15:10,085
Oh, her mother,
she thought it was me.

285
00:15:10,210 --> 00:15:13,460
"He's not comin'
to the funeral."

286
00:15:13,585 --> 00:15:17,543
And, I couldn't go.

287
00:15:17,710 --> 00:15:20,710
That hurt.
I loved her so much.

288
00:15:20,793 --> 00:15:25,626
♪

289
00:15:25,751 --> 00:15:27,835
For nearly 50 years,

290
00:15:27,918 --> 00:15:31,210
my cousin was suspected
in this killing.

291
00:15:31,293 --> 00:15:32,876
But I needed a lot more
evidence than just

292
00:15:33,043 --> 00:15:36,293
Richard Cottingham's passing
comment in the car about

293
00:15:36,418 --> 00:15:38,793
an actress that reminds him
of a girl he killed.

294
00:15:38,918 --> 00:15:42,626
♪

295
00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:02,835
One of the really more
challenging aspects of

296
00:16:02,918 --> 00:16:05,043
getting confessions
from Cottingham,

297
00:16:05,210 --> 00:16:07,751
where decades have
gone by, is, you know,

298
00:16:07,876 --> 00:16:09,418
that he doesn't know
the person's name.

299
00:16:09,585 --> 00:16:12,501
He doesn't have immediate
recollection of

300
00:16:12,585 --> 00:16:13,710
all of the facts.

301
00:16:13,835 --> 00:16:15,376
And, at the same time,

302
00:16:15,460 --> 00:16:16,960
you can't feed
anything to them and

303
00:16:17,085 --> 00:16:18,376
put thoughts
in their head.

304
00:16:18,501 --> 00:16:20,335
So, you know, you kind of
have to just

305
00:16:20,418 --> 00:16:22,001
bring them back
in time without...

306
00:16:22,126 --> 00:16:23,668
feeding them the
answers, right?

307
00:16:53,251 --> 00:16:55,001
One of the things that
really stood out to me,

308
00:16:55,085 --> 00:16:57,418
in the case file I had read
that there was

309
00:16:57,543 --> 00:17:00,876
a witness account of the
man that was seen

310
00:17:01,001 --> 00:17:03,043
with Irene Blase at
that bus stop...

311
00:17:03,168 --> 00:17:05,043
seemed to have
a twitch where

312
00:17:05,168 --> 00:17:06,543
he was pulling
on his ear lobe.

313
00:17:15,001 --> 00:17:19,543
And sure enough,
he admitted to that.

314
00:17:19,626 --> 00:17:23,501
That's what we needed
to know that he did it.

315
00:17:23,585 --> 00:17:25,751
Those little bits
counted because

316
00:17:25,918 --> 00:17:27,668
you need those details,

317
00:17:27,793 --> 00:17:30,626
you need the specifics,
and you get enough,

318
00:17:30,751 --> 00:17:33,710
you have what's called the
totality of circumstances.

319
00:17:33,793 --> 00:17:34,960
It's like a tipping point-

320
00:17:35,085 --> 00:17:37,043
you have enough
to make a case.

321
00:17:48,251 --> 00:17:50,585
But Richard being Richard,
he wants something

322
00:17:50,710 --> 00:17:52,210
or he's not going to
give you something.

323
00:18:09,710 --> 00:18:11,543
And then he would throw another
obstacle in front of me

324
00:18:11,710 --> 00:18:13,585
on why he wouldn't
go on record with it,

325
00:18:13,710 --> 00:18:15,585
why I couldn't turn
the recorder on and

326
00:18:15,710 --> 00:18:16,710
take a confession.

327
00:18:24,626 --> 00:18:26,626
Listen, enough.
Enough bull-[bleep].

328
00:18:26,751 --> 00:18:28,001
It's now back on you.

329
00:18:28,085 --> 00:18:29,585
I've done everything
that you've asked of me.

330
00:18:29,710 --> 00:18:31,210
I've told you that we're
gonna keep this quiet.

331
00:18:31,293 --> 00:18:32,710
We're just gonna
talk to the family.

332
00:18:32,876 --> 00:18:33,668
[Talking over each other]

333
00:18:36,751 --> 00:18:39,543
And, just finally overcame him,
the resistance.

334
00:18:39,710 --> 00:18:41,876
♪ [Suspenseful] ♪

335
00:18:42,043 --> 00:18:44,210
♪

336
00:18:44,335 --> 00:18:47,043
And he decided to let me
turn the tape recorder on,

337
00:18:47,210 --> 00:18:49,751
and give me the detail of
the Irene Blase murder.

338
00:19:05,751 --> 00:19:09,168
♪

339
00:19:49,376 --> 00:19:52,793
Ultimately, he notices that
she walks to a bus stop.

340
00:19:52,918 --> 00:19:55,043
♪

341
00:19:55,126 --> 00:19:56,668
And she is last seen
by witnesses

342
00:19:56,751 --> 00:19:59,585
talking to an
unknown white male.

343
00:19:59,710 --> 00:20:01,751
And he starts pulling
on his ear lobe.

344
00:20:26,085 --> 00:20:27,543
When Cottingham mentions

345
00:20:27,668 --> 00:20:29,543
taking Irene Blase
to Little Ferry,

346
00:20:29,668 --> 00:20:31,876
a light bulb goes
off in my head.

347
00:20:32,043 --> 00:20:34,168
In 1967,
some two years earlier,

348
00:20:34,251 --> 00:20:35,876
that's exactly where he met
Nancy Vogel and

349
00:20:36,001 --> 00:20:37,710
abducted her from.

350
00:20:37,835 --> 00:20:40,585
♪

351
00:20:40,751 --> 00:20:43,043
Now, he's feeling that
some of the people in the

352
00:20:43,126 --> 00:20:44,960
restaurant might
recognize him because

353
00:20:45,085 --> 00:20:46,626
he's been there before.

354
00:20:46,751 --> 00:20:48,668
So, he wants to get
her out of there.

355
00:21:37,793 --> 00:21:40,168
Richard is out for
his own satisfaction.

356
00:21:40,293 --> 00:21:42,585
And, when he attacked her,

357
00:21:42,751 --> 00:21:44,876
his plan was to rape
Irene Blase.

358
00:21:45,043 --> 00:21:47,376
He takes the scarf that
she purchased at Sears,

359
00:21:47,460 --> 00:21:49,376
and he ties it around her
hands to prevent her

360
00:21:49,460 --> 00:21:51,043
from trying to get
out of the car.

361
00:22:30,751 --> 00:22:33,335
He liked to do what
we call Piquerism,

362
00:22:33,418 --> 00:22:35,001
which is a
paraphilia where

363
00:22:35,126 --> 00:22:40,210
you stick the knife in,
in very shallow ways.

364
00:22:40,335 --> 00:22:42,710
He talks himself into,

365
00:22:42,793 --> 00:22:46,376
"Oh, I wasn't forcing them
to do anything."

366
00:22:46,543 --> 00:22:48,376
Well, you have a
knife in your hand,

367
00:22:48,543 --> 00:22:50,251
and you're sticking
them with it.

368
00:22:50,376 --> 00:22:52,376
And you're tying them up,

369
00:22:52,501 --> 00:22:55,085
and you're keeping them
for hours and hours.

370
00:22:55,210 --> 00:22:58,001
That's forcing!
You did rape them.

371
00:23:22,293 --> 00:23:23,793
His demeanor when
he's confessing is

372
00:23:23,918 --> 00:23:26,335
just pure lack of empathy,
lack of caring,

373
00:23:26,418 --> 00:23:28,460
as if, as if he was just
as matter of fact

374
00:23:28,585 --> 00:23:29,960
as you could be.

375
00:23:30,085 --> 00:23:31,418
It's just disgusting.

376
00:24:15,460 --> 00:24:18,960
♪ [Somber instrumental] ♪

377
00:24:19,085 --> 00:24:21,710
He just leaves her there.

378
00:24:21,876 --> 00:24:24,043
And that's ultimately
how she's found.

379
00:24:24,210 --> 00:24:26,210
♪

380
00:24:26,335 --> 00:24:27,793
There's no mistake about it,

381
00:24:27,918 --> 00:24:30,168
Richard Cottingham is a
stone-cold sociopath.

382
00:24:30,293 --> 00:24:33,876
♪

383
00:24:34,043 --> 00:24:35,918
When Richard finally
confessed to the murder of

384
00:24:36,085 --> 00:24:39,210
Irene Blase, this is now the
second confession I was able

385
00:24:39,376 --> 00:24:40,960
to get out of him,
out of this original

386
00:24:41,085 --> 00:24:44,543
12 cold case homicides that
I'd been investigating.

387
00:24:44,626 --> 00:24:47,751
It was literally ten years
since the start of this

388
00:24:47,918 --> 00:24:49,460
endeavor to get
Richard Cottingham to

389
00:24:49,585 --> 00:24:51,918
speak about the murders
that he committed.

390
00:24:52,085 --> 00:24:55,001
♪

391
00:24:55,126 --> 00:24:58,543
We very quickly went
and notified the family.

392
00:24:58,626 --> 00:25:00,460
We gave them the details
of the confession,

393
00:25:00,585 --> 00:25:02,835
as painful as it was.

394
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:05,043
And then we had the
difficult conversation of

395
00:25:05,210 --> 00:25:07,876
asking them to,
of course,

396
00:25:08,001 --> 00:25:09,918
share it with any loved ones
that they felt appropriate,

397
00:25:10,043 --> 00:25:13,960
but to keep it as tight a
circle as possible because

398
00:25:14,085 --> 00:25:16,001
if it leaked out to the
press in any way,

399
00:25:16,126 --> 00:25:18,001
it might be the last
confession we ever get

400
00:25:18,085 --> 00:25:19,085
out of Cottingham.

401
00:25:19,251 --> 00:25:21,293
♪

402
00:25:21,418 --> 00:25:24,126
They knew that there were all
these other unsolved homicides

403
00:25:24,251 --> 00:25:26,251
of teenage girls
just like Irene.

404
00:25:26,418 --> 00:25:31,626
♪

405
00:25:31,751 --> 00:25:34,960
A few days before
Christmas, my cousin Rob...

406
00:25:35,085 --> 00:25:38,960
called me and invited me to a
Christmas party at his house.

407
00:25:39,085 --> 00:25:41,376
And, he said,

408
00:25:41,460 --> 00:25:44,376
"I know who killed
Irene Blase."

409
00:25:44,501 --> 00:25:45,751
I said,
"How do you know?"

410
00:25:45,918 --> 00:25:49,085
He goes, "Because the guy
that we thought might have

411
00:25:49,210 --> 00:25:53,293
done it finally confessed to
me that he did do it."

412
00:25:53,418 --> 00:25:55,126
He was genuinely stunned.

413
00:25:55,251 --> 00:25:57,001
And that was really the first
time I heard him tell me

414
00:25:57,126 --> 00:26:00,043
about how affected he
was as a young man

415
00:26:00,126 --> 00:26:02,960
of being accused of murder
by the police.

416
00:26:03,085 --> 00:26:07,210
That was like 50 years
before I found out,

417
00:26:07,335 --> 00:26:09,376
but that's 50 years
too late.

418
00:26:09,460 --> 00:26:14,335
♪

419
00:26:14,418 --> 00:26:16,210
I always think what
could have been.

420
00:26:16,376 --> 00:26:17,460
You know?

421
00:26:17,585 --> 00:26:20,001
Had a stupid argument
and now she's dead.

422
00:26:20,126 --> 00:26:22,126
♪

423
00:26:22,251 --> 00:26:23,876
Closure, to me, is me

424
00:26:24,001 --> 00:26:26,585
getting my hands
on him for five minutes.

425
00:26:26,751 --> 00:26:29,210
And I was told not
to say that to you.

426
00:26:29,335 --> 00:26:31,293
♪

427
00:26:31,418 --> 00:26:33,043
But I don't
care who knows.

428
00:26:33,168 --> 00:26:37,251
Given the opportunity...

429
00:26:37,418 --> 00:26:41,501
He would get
what he gave.

430
00:26:41,626 --> 00:26:46,043
She was just a little,
petite girl.

431
00:26:46,210 --> 00:26:50,085
Tough guy...
You know?

432
00:26:50,251 --> 00:26:52,043
Tough guy.

433
00:26:52,210 --> 00:26:58,001
♪

434
00:27:14,168 --> 00:27:17,210
After Cottingham confessed to
the killing of Irene Blase,

435
00:27:17,376 --> 00:27:20,168
I began talking to him about
the 15-year-old girl

436
00:27:20,251 --> 00:27:22,710
who was last seen walking in
Westwood, New Jersey,

437
00:27:22,793 --> 00:27:25,168
just months after
Irene Blase's body's found.

438
00:27:46,418 --> 00:27:49,585
The following morning,
on July 15th of 1969,

439
00:27:49,751 --> 00:27:52,543
a man that was out walking
his dog finds the body

440
00:27:52,668 --> 00:27:54,126
five or six feet
off the road,

441
00:27:54,251 --> 00:27:56,960
just behind a cemetery in
Saddle Brook, New Jersey.

442
00:27:57,210 --> 00:28:00,501
♪

443
00:28:00,626 --> 00:28:02,043
The medical examiner
determined that

444
00:28:02,210 --> 00:28:04,001
she had been strangled
with a ligature,

445
00:28:04,126 --> 00:28:07,376
possibly with the actual
crucifix and chain

446
00:28:07,543 --> 00:28:10,085
that was around her
neck at the time.

447
00:28:10,251 --> 00:28:13,335
And her body was found
not far from where

448
00:28:13,460 --> 00:28:16,418
Irene Blase's body
had been found.

449
00:28:16,585 --> 00:28:18,335
It's Denise Falasca.

450
00:28:18,460 --> 00:28:21,251
♪

451
00:28:26,585 --> 00:28:28,251
♪

452
00:28:28,376 --> 00:28:30,418
Denise Falasca was very
similar in appearance

453
00:28:30,585 --> 00:28:33,460
to Irene Blase.

454
00:28:33,585 --> 00:28:35,668
Good-looking,
typical teenage girl,

455
00:28:35,751 --> 00:28:38,626
slender, brunette.

456
00:28:38,751 --> 00:28:40,251
So, the victimology,

457
00:28:40,376 --> 00:28:42,835
the looks of the two
victims, and...

458
00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:46,168
the proximity and time of
when these murders occurred

459
00:28:46,293 --> 00:28:48,543
made me feel like it
was the same killer.

460
00:28:48,668 --> 00:28:51,626
♪

461
00:28:51,751 --> 00:28:53,710
Denise was going into her
sophomore year at

462
00:28:53,835 --> 00:28:57,043
Northern Valley Regional
High School in Demarest.

463
00:28:57,126 --> 00:28:58,835
And she was an active girl.

464
00:28:58,918 --> 00:29:01,376
She played field hockey,
basketball.

465
00:29:01,501 --> 00:29:03,543
♪

466
00:29:03,668 --> 00:29:05,210
Denise was headed out
that summer night

467
00:29:05,335 --> 00:29:07,210
to meet her boyfriend.

468
00:29:07,376 --> 00:29:09,418
And then the next thing
you know, she was gone.

469
00:29:27,210 --> 00:29:30,168
Getting confessions out of
Richard Cottingham is, is...

470
00:29:30,251 --> 00:29:32,793
grinding, time after
time after time.

471
00:30:05,543 --> 00:30:07,168
At that point in
the interview,

472
00:30:07,251 --> 00:30:08,251
he didn't want to
go any further.

473
00:30:08,418 --> 00:30:12,168
And, that was the
hardest part for us.

474
00:30:12,251 --> 00:30:13,710
Then if communication
shut down,

475
00:30:13,835 --> 00:30:15,251
then it shut down.

476
00:30:15,418 --> 00:30:17,293
And it could
shut down for years.

477
00:30:17,418 --> 00:30:26,210
♪

478
00:30:26,335 --> 00:30:28,251
My relationship with
Richard Cottingham

479
00:30:28,376 --> 00:30:30,335
has ebbed and flowed
over the years.

480
00:30:30,460 --> 00:30:32,126
There are times when we
get mad at each other.

481
00:30:32,251 --> 00:30:33,710
There's times when
he gets stubborn and

482
00:30:33,835 --> 00:30:35,876
doesn't want to talk.

483
00:30:36,001 --> 00:30:38,293
And then I had
everyday life in between.

484
00:30:38,418 --> 00:30:40,835
♪

485
00:30:40,918 --> 00:30:43,710
I had an obsession
for these cases, and...

486
00:30:43,835 --> 00:30:47,210
that certainly impacted
my home life.

487
00:30:47,335 --> 00:30:49,710
I would talk to Cottingham
for hours and hours

488
00:30:49,835 --> 00:30:51,293
and days and days
sometimes,

489
00:30:51,418 --> 00:30:55,210
and, as focused as I was,
and as obsessed as I was,

490
00:30:55,335 --> 00:30:57,668
I have three beautiful
children and a family at home

491
00:30:57,751 --> 00:31:01,210
to, to worry about
and care for.

492
00:31:01,335 --> 00:31:02,751
I think I was probably
overly more overprotective

493
00:31:02,876 --> 00:31:04,626
than most
parents would be.

494
00:31:04,751 --> 00:31:06,376
♪

495
00:31:06,460 --> 00:31:08,710
It made it a little extra
special to get a hug,

496
00:31:08,835 --> 00:31:11,210
or a kiss from my
daughters and my son,

497
00:31:11,335 --> 00:31:15,376
just knowing what
can happen, right?

498
00:31:15,501 --> 00:31:18,793
♪

499
00:31:18,918 --> 00:31:21,668
And I think that really
drove my resolve

500
00:31:21,751 --> 00:31:23,376
to get this done.

501
00:31:23,501 --> 00:31:26,293
Because the more I spoke to
Richard, the more I'm like,

502
00:31:26,418 --> 00:31:28,376
I'm not letting this
guy get away with it.

503
00:31:28,501 --> 00:31:34,251
♪

504
00:31:34,418 --> 00:31:38,293
Shortly after I got him
to confess to Irene Blase,

505
00:31:38,418 --> 00:31:40,251
I was promoted to
the rank of captain,

506
00:31:40,418 --> 00:31:43,376
overseeing the operations of
all our investigative squads.

507
00:31:43,501 --> 00:31:47,168
♪

508
00:31:47,251 --> 00:31:49,668
There was still no
cold case unit, per se,

509
00:31:49,751 --> 00:31:52,043
that I could pass
Cottingham off to.

510
00:31:52,126 --> 00:31:55,835
So, I needed to make sure I
continued this relationship.

511
00:31:55,918 --> 00:31:57,835
I never wanted to forget
these unsolved murders

512
00:31:57,918 --> 00:31:59,335
of these young women.

513
00:31:59,418 --> 00:32:01,168
I never wanted to
give up on them.

514
00:32:01,418 --> 00:32:04,210
♪

515
00:32:04,335 --> 00:32:06,543
So, we're writing
each other letters.

516
00:32:06,668 --> 00:32:08,043
Every time I got promoted,

517
00:32:08,126 --> 00:32:10,543
he would write me a letter
congratulating me.

518
00:32:10,626 --> 00:32:14,543
He just started to get this
very weird attachment to me.

519
00:32:14,668 --> 00:32:18,793
♪

520
00:32:18,918 --> 00:32:22,626
So, by 2017,
I, by now,

521
00:32:22,751 --> 00:32:23,876
was the
chief of detectives.

522
00:32:24,001 --> 00:32:26,210
And I literally said to him,

523
00:32:26,376 --> 00:32:28,501
"The only person that
ever believed..."

524
00:32:28,585 --> 00:32:31,460
Ah, ah, excuse me.

525
00:32:31,585 --> 00:32:33,376
"The only person that
ever believed that

526
00:32:33,460 --> 00:32:35,543
I'd be the chief was
my grandfather."

527
00:32:35,710 --> 00:32:37,960
He was dead by the time
it happened, but...

528
00:32:38,085 --> 00:32:39,543
Pop used to say to me
all the time,

529
00:32:39,710 --> 00:32:40,876
"You know what, Robert,

530
00:32:41,001 --> 00:32:42,710
you're going to run that
place one day."

531
00:32:42,835 --> 00:32:46,001
♪

532
00:32:46,085 --> 00:32:48,001
And, I told Richard,
and he's like,

533
00:32:48,085 --> 00:32:50,751
'You're wrong,
you're wrong.

534
00:32:50,918 --> 00:32:53,043
I told you you were going
to run this place one day."

535
00:32:53,210 --> 00:32:55,793
And he said it with this
weird fatherly like pride

536
00:32:55,918 --> 00:32:57,710
that was a little creepy.

537
00:32:57,835 --> 00:33:00,418
♪

538
00:33:00,585 --> 00:33:02,460
It's not really a
father-son thing.

539
00:33:02,585 --> 00:33:06,585
It's, "Without me, you'd be
an ordinary detective.

540
00:33:06,710 --> 00:33:08,793
And now, you've got a
little bit of immortality

541
00:33:08,918 --> 00:33:10,501
thanks to me."

542
00:33:10,626 --> 00:33:13,710
So, Cottingham wants
to keep the game going.

543
00:33:13,793 --> 00:33:16,626
And that means he's gonna have
to give up another case.

544
00:33:16,751 --> 00:33:19,376
♪

545
00:33:19,501 --> 00:33:21,626
It's now three years since
the last confession that

546
00:33:21,751 --> 00:33:23,668
I've gotten from
Richard, and...

547
00:33:23,751 --> 00:33:26,710
I was getting tired of the
cat-and-mouse game

548
00:33:26,793 --> 00:33:28,543
that we continually play.

549
00:33:28,668 --> 00:33:31,543
So, on this particular day,
I'm interviewing Richard,

550
00:33:31,668 --> 00:33:34,626
and I said, "Let's stop
bull-[bleep] each other.

551
00:33:34,751 --> 00:33:36,418
Let's talk about
a real case."

552
00:33:36,543 --> 00:33:39,335
And, he would
ultimately confess to

553
00:33:39,418 --> 00:33:41,543
the murder and rape
of Denise Falasca,

554
00:33:41,626 --> 00:33:43,876
a 15-year-old girl that he
picked up on Old Hook Road

555
00:33:44,001 --> 00:33:45,543
in Westwood, New Jersey.

556
00:33:53,251 --> 00:33:55,001
And this time around,
although the tape recorder

557
00:33:55,085 --> 00:33:57,710
was flowing, Richard
seemed more at ease.

558
00:34:22,501 --> 00:34:24,668
Remember,
we're talking late 1960s,

559
00:34:24,751 --> 00:34:27,043
hitchhiking and young girls,
young teenage girls

560
00:34:27,210 --> 00:34:29,460
thought nothing of jumping
in a car with a stranger.

561
00:34:43,210 --> 00:34:47,126
Richard used a car like
a vessel for killing.

562
00:34:47,251 --> 00:34:50,668
Once he had them
in the car...

563
00:34:50,793 --> 00:34:53,460
they were his.

564
00:34:53,585 --> 00:34:57,043
And he ultimately takes her
down to St. Andrew's School.

565
00:34:57,168 --> 00:34:59,210
And St. Andrew's School is
important because

566
00:34:59,335 --> 00:35:01,668
that's where Mr. Cottingham
went to school.

567
00:35:01,751 --> 00:35:03,085
So, he knows this area.

568
00:35:13,710 --> 00:35:15,543
When I pushed him hard
for some detail

569
00:35:15,668 --> 00:35:17,918
about the rape,
itself, he said

570
00:35:18,043 --> 00:35:20,710
he forced her to
commit oral sex on him.

571
00:35:20,835 --> 00:35:23,043
And he just kind of sat
back for a minute...

572
00:35:23,168 --> 00:35:24,543
and casually looked at me,
and he goes,

573
00:35:24,668 --> 00:35:27,626
"Well... she wasn't
very good at it."

574
00:35:35,210 --> 00:35:38,501
And it took every ounce of
energy in my body to not

575
00:35:38,585 --> 00:35:40,501
leap across that table
and be like,

576
00:35:40,626 --> 00:35:42,668
"She's 15 [bleep]
years old, [bleep]!"

577
00:35:55,710 --> 00:35:57,626
It was very difficult
to listen to.

578
00:35:57,751 --> 00:36:00,126
You know, I always had
an endgame in mind.

579
00:36:00,251 --> 00:36:02,918
Everything he's ever done,
I want him to spit out.

580
00:36:03,085 --> 00:36:05,418
So, I wasn't about to
blow that endgame

581
00:36:05,585 --> 00:36:07,293
by, by losing my
cool with him.

582
00:36:18,710 --> 00:36:20,585
He drives her down
to Saddle Brook...

583
00:36:20,710 --> 00:36:23,043
to an area that, again,
he's familiar with.

584
00:36:23,168 --> 00:36:24,751
And, he pulls over to
the side of the road,

585
00:36:24,918 --> 00:36:26,293
by the cemetery.

586
00:36:41,668 --> 00:36:43,710
He dragged her body
out of the car,

587
00:36:43,835 --> 00:36:46,210
and just disposed of her
body like it was nothing.

588
00:37:02,376 --> 00:37:04,668
His confession of
Denise Falasca was

589
00:37:04,793 --> 00:37:07,835
tough to get over,
to be honest with you.

590
00:37:07,918 --> 00:37:10,793
I've seen a lot, but all I
could envision was somebody

591
00:37:10,918 --> 00:37:14,001
knocking on my door and
having to tell me, as a dad,

592
00:37:14,085 --> 00:37:18,251
that my daughter
was found like that.

593
00:37:18,376 --> 00:37:20,085
Denise Falasca was now
the third confession that

594
00:37:20,210 --> 00:37:21,793
I obtained from
Richard Cottingham,

595
00:37:21,918 --> 00:37:24,210
with all three of these
murders occurring in a

596
00:37:24,293 --> 00:37:27,793
two-year timeframe between
October of 1967 and

597
00:37:27,918 --> 00:37:29,751
July of 1969.

598
00:37:29,918 --> 00:37:33,085
♪

599
00:37:33,210 --> 00:37:35,918
I'm beginning to see
a pattern emerge

600
00:37:36,043 --> 00:37:38,543
in Cottingham's victimology.

601
00:37:38,835 --> 00:37:40,876
♪

602
00:37:41,043 --> 00:37:42,210
The killings were
very different

603
00:37:42,335 --> 00:37:45,751
than what he
became known for.

604
00:37:45,876 --> 00:37:48,793
Remember, this is more than
a decade before

605
00:37:48,918 --> 00:37:51,210
Richard becomes
known as 'The Torso Killer'

606
00:37:51,335 --> 00:37:54,751
for mutilating and
decapitating prostitutes.

607
00:37:54,876 --> 00:38:03,251
♪

608
00:38:03,418 --> 00:38:05,126
In June of 2017,

609
00:38:05,251 --> 00:38:07,126
We went down to
New Jersey State prison

610
00:38:07,251 --> 00:38:08,376
picked him up,

611
00:38:08,543 --> 00:38:09,918
And I had him back up at the
prosecutor's office to now

612
00:38:10,085 --> 00:38:12,710
see who else he might be
responsible for out of these

613
00:38:12,793 --> 00:38:15,751
unsolved killings
that I'm looking at.

614
00:38:15,918 --> 00:38:19,126
I got him to say that he'd
be willing to look at

615
00:38:19,251 --> 00:38:23,376
some pictures of
different victims.

616
00:38:23,543 --> 00:38:27,126
And, he pointed to one
of the pictures and said,

617
00:38:27,251 --> 00:38:30,376
"It's, that's not her, but
kind of that same haircut."

618
00:38:45,335 --> 00:38:47,126
Sure enough,
who wasn't pictured

619
00:38:47,251 --> 00:38:49,210
in that newspaper article,

620
00:38:49,376 --> 00:38:52,793
but who had a very, very
short, boyish haircut...

621
00:38:52,918 --> 00:38:54,793
was Jacalyn Harp.

622
00:39:05,835 --> 00:39:07,460
Of all the cold case
homicides I've investigated

623
00:39:07,585 --> 00:39:08,710
over the years,

624
00:39:08,835 --> 00:39:10,793
Jacalyn Harp was by
far the youngest,

625
00:39:10,918 --> 00:39:14,876
just 13 years' old
when she was murdered.

626
00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:16,043
♪

627
00:39:16,168 --> 00:39:18,585
In 1968,

628
00:39:18,710 --> 00:39:21,876
someone assaulted her
and strangled her.

629
00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:25,710
♪

630
00:39:25,876 --> 00:39:27,335
I was blown away that
Richard Cottingham

631
00:39:27,460 --> 00:39:29,376
could be responsible for
Jackie Harp's murder,

632
00:39:29,501 --> 00:39:30,876
for a number of reasons.

633
00:39:31,043 --> 00:39:34,251
One, she didn't fit the
victimology of the other ones.

634
00:39:34,376 --> 00:39:38,210
The tall, very feminine,
long brown hair.

635
00:39:38,293 --> 00:39:40,835
Jackie Harp was
a very tomboyish,

636
00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:44,376
like short blonde hair,
and very young.

637
00:39:44,501 --> 00:39:46,710
There was no mistaking
Jackie Harp for anything

638
00:39:46,793 --> 00:39:49,876
other than a 12 or
13-year-old child.

639
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:52,376
And also, it occurred in
Midland Park, New Jersey,

640
00:39:52,460 --> 00:39:54,501
which is not
the usual areas

641
00:39:54,585 --> 00:39:56,210
that he talked
about...

642
00:39:56,293 --> 00:39:58,876
hunting
for victims.

643
00:39:59,001 --> 00:40:01,085
But this was in 1968,

644
00:40:01,210 --> 00:40:03,626
and it's at the beginning of
his killing curve.

645
00:40:03,876 --> 00:40:09,376
♪

646
00:40:09,460 --> 00:40:11,710
Jackie Harp had just
finished band practice

647
00:40:11,793 --> 00:40:13,668
with the local
school band.

648
00:40:14,001 --> 00:40:15,376
♪

649
00:40:15,501 --> 00:40:18,043
And, she was
the flag holder.

650
00:40:18,168 --> 00:40:21,168
♪

651
00:40:21,251 --> 00:40:24,918
This is the harness she had
worn during band practice.

652
00:40:25,043 --> 00:40:27,501
So, it wraps around your
body, I guess, kinda-

653
00:40:27,626 --> 00:40:28,876
and around your
shoulder and then, the,

654
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:32,293
the actual flag goes-
is held in here.

655
00:40:32,418 --> 00:40:34,210
They must've been
individually assigned

656
00:40:34,376 --> 00:40:37,210
because it has the
name "J. Harp."

657
00:40:37,293 --> 00:40:40,210
♪

658
00:40:40,335 --> 00:40:44,251
And, as she was
walking home, she was...

659
00:40:44,376 --> 00:40:46,126
dragged into an alleyway...

660
00:40:46,251 --> 00:40:48,043
and murdered.

661
00:40:48,168 --> 00:40:57,876
♪

662
00:40:58,001 --> 00:41:00,085
I remember I went
out that night,

663
00:41:00,251 --> 00:41:03,376
looking for my
sister, Jackie.

664
00:41:03,501 --> 00:41:06,043
Calling out her name.

665
00:41:06,168 --> 00:41:09,751
And we did go right on
past where she was found.

666
00:41:10,043 --> 00:41:12,085
♪

667
00:41:12,251 --> 00:41:16,210
This picture is of Jackie
in her uniform, obviously,

668
00:41:16,293 --> 00:41:18,876
going to a practise
or to a meet.

669
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:23,085
So, it was the Imperial
Knights Drum and Bugle Corp.

670
00:41:23,251 --> 00:41:26,251
She was very proud of it.

671
00:41:26,418 --> 00:41:28,210
Of course,
being the youngest,

672
00:41:28,293 --> 00:41:29,876
she had four big sisters and

673
00:41:30,001 --> 00:41:33,376
always wanted to be
around all of us.

674
00:41:33,460 --> 00:41:35,501
We were all close.

675
00:41:35,585 --> 00:41:38,543
It was all about family.

676
00:41:38,668 --> 00:41:41,376
Jackie was just walking
home that night,

677
00:41:41,501 --> 00:41:43,501
she was just
headed home.

678
00:42:13,085 --> 00:42:15,376
That's when the hair on the
back of my neck stood up,

679
00:42:15,501 --> 00:42:19,460
and I recognized
that this is Jackie.

680
00:42:19,585 --> 00:42:21,293
She was wearing moccasins.

681
00:42:21,418 --> 00:42:23,876
♪

682
00:42:24,043 --> 00:42:27,168
So, once we got him to
line up those details,

683
00:42:27,293 --> 00:42:28,376
and he was
comfortable with it,

684
00:42:28,501 --> 00:42:30,210
we took his statement
of the murder.

685
00:42:30,293 --> 00:42:33,960
♪

686
00:42:48,293 --> 00:42:51,210
♪

687
00:42:51,293 --> 00:42:53,960
It was November, 'cause
it was my birthday.

688
00:42:54,085 --> 00:42:55,460
The message was that
they would like to

689
00:42:55,585 --> 00:42:58,210
come to the house
and speak to me.

690
00:42:58,335 --> 00:43:00,960
Your heart does start
pounding and you do think,

691
00:43:01,085 --> 00:43:02,835
oh, my God.

692
00:43:03,168 --> 00:43:04,710
♪

693
00:43:04,793 --> 00:43:06,293
In a cold case homicide,
these folks have been

694
00:43:06,418 --> 00:43:08,543
living with this forever.

695
00:43:08,626 --> 00:43:12,168
So, you don't know how
they're going to take it.

696
00:43:12,251 --> 00:43:15,126
We sat in the kitchen
at the kitchen table,

697
00:43:15,251 --> 00:43:18,960
and Rob and James returned
my sister's possessions that

698
00:43:19,085 --> 00:43:22,543
was, what was on her,
when she was found.

699
00:43:22,668 --> 00:43:26,335
And this is a box.
It was my mother's.

700
00:43:26,418 --> 00:43:27,876
And when my mother died,

701
00:43:28,001 --> 00:43:30,210
I put Jackie's belongings
in this box.

702
00:43:30,335 --> 00:43:33,501
♪

703
00:43:33,585 --> 00:43:36,585
I haven't opened this
box in a long time.

704
00:43:36,710 --> 00:43:40,293
Her glasses
that she had on.

705
00:43:40,418 --> 00:43:42,376
A medal from the
Imperial Knights.

706
00:43:42,501 --> 00:43:46,710
♪

707
00:43:46,876 --> 00:43:49,376
And then, Rob told us that
Richard Cottingham

708
00:43:49,543 --> 00:43:52,626
confessed to
killing my sister.

709
00:44:14,460 --> 00:44:16,293
[Suzan]
He offered her a ride and

710
00:44:16,418 --> 00:44:18,418
she said no, and
turned around,

711
00:44:18,543 --> 00:44:21,168
started walking back into
town and she had thought that

712
00:44:21,251 --> 00:44:23,168
he had just drove off.

713
00:44:23,251 --> 00:44:30,168
♪ [Sinister] ♪

714
00:44:53,585 --> 00:44:54,543
[Suzan] I just kind
of was like,

715
00:44:54,668 --> 00:44:58,460
"Oh, my God,"
you know...

716
00:44:58,585 --> 00:45:02,085
I walked that path
many times, myself.

717
00:45:12,585 --> 00:45:14,460
She's screaming
at that point.

718
00:45:14,585 --> 00:45:17,043
♪

719
00:45:17,210 --> 00:45:20,251
He sees lights on in the
houses around the area.

720
00:45:20,376 --> 00:45:21,710
So, he gets nervous.

721
00:45:32,085 --> 00:45:33,543
Now, remember,
this is 1968.

722
00:45:33,668 --> 00:45:35,335
This is a young
Richard Cottingham.

723
00:45:35,460 --> 00:45:36,668
So, panic would set in.

724
00:45:36,751 --> 00:45:38,751
He hasn't really
honed his craft yet.

725
00:45:54,251 --> 00:45:57,293
Jackie Harp was wearing
her parade belt

726
00:45:57,418 --> 00:46:01,543
that held the flag.

727
00:46:01,626 --> 00:46:04,335
This was found wrapped
around her neck.

728
00:46:04,460 --> 00:46:05,668
It sickens me.

729
00:46:05,793 --> 00:46:07,543
It really does,
it sickens me.

730
00:46:07,626 --> 00:46:14,293
♪

731
00:46:14,418 --> 00:46:17,210
Any kind of asphyxiation
or strangulation

732
00:46:17,376 --> 00:46:19,210
requires up close.

733
00:46:19,376 --> 00:46:20,376
It's very intimate.

734
00:46:20,501 --> 00:46:24,543
It's really about being
pretty much close to the

735
00:46:24,710 --> 00:46:28,626
individual, so you
can watch them die.

736
00:46:28,751 --> 00:46:32,501
I know he says he
didn't enjoy killing.

737
00:46:32,626 --> 00:46:34,251
I think he did.

738
00:46:34,376 --> 00:46:37,668
♪

739
00:46:37,751 --> 00:46:39,418
By this point,
I had gotten Richard

740
00:46:39,543 --> 00:46:40,960
to confess to four murders,

741
00:46:41,085 --> 00:46:43,876
three of which we closed
through exceptional clearance.

742
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:46,418
The Blase family,
the Falasca family,

743
00:46:46,543 --> 00:46:47,710
and the family
of Jacalyn Harp,

744
00:46:47,835 --> 00:46:49,710
all agreed to
keep this quiet.

745
00:46:49,793 --> 00:46:52,376
♪

746
00:46:52,501 --> 00:46:55,210
Suzan understood the
longer-term mission ahead.

747
00:46:55,376 --> 00:46:57,543
And, it was never
disclosed to the press

748
00:46:57,626 --> 00:46:59,293
or to the community.

749
00:46:59,418 --> 00:47:00,543
I agreed to that.

750
00:47:00,710 --> 00:47:04,710
You do have to
accept a deal...

751
00:47:04,793 --> 00:47:08,293
and, and go on
with your life.

752
00:47:08,418 --> 00:47:10,376
I wasn't even filling in
the local police in the

753
00:47:10,460 --> 00:47:12,710
jurisdictions where
these crimes occurred.

754
00:47:12,793 --> 00:47:14,335
It was just us as the
prosecutor's office

755
00:47:14,418 --> 00:47:15,710
dealing with these cases.

756
00:47:15,793 --> 00:47:17,918
And this, if it
ever came out,

757
00:47:18,043 --> 00:47:22,376
would surely cause all
sorts of hell for me.

758
00:47:22,460 --> 00:47:25,335
But imagine the angst and
the anxiety of the community

759
00:47:25,418 --> 00:47:26,835
of Bergen County.

760
00:47:26,918 --> 00:47:30,251
We have all of these
killings of young women.

761
00:47:30,376 --> 00:47:32,876
These are big deals in
our county's history and

762
00:47:33,043 --> 00:47:35,460
folklore, in our
crime folklore.

763
00:47:35,585 --> 00:47:39,876
♪

764
00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:42,710
In 1968, when I was
15 years old,

765
00:47:42,835 --> 00:47:47,543
I lived around the corner
from Jacalyn Harp.

766
00:47:47,626 --> 00:47:50,835
And after Jacalyn Harp's
murder...

767
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:53,543
there's this fear that
went through everybody.

768
00:47:53,626 --> 00:47:58,418
♪

769
00:47:58,543 --> 00:48:00,793
This went on and on.

770
00:48:00,918 --> 00:48:03,710
And when it got to
the 50th anniversary,

771
00:48:03,876 --> 00:48:05,793
it was on Facebook.

772
00:48:05,918 --> 00:48:08,460
Everybody was just
discussing this again,

773
00:48:08,585 --> 00:48:10,043
and saying how,

774
00:48:10,126 --> 00:48:14,001
"Remember how it changed
everything in town?"

775
00:48:14,085 --> 00:48:16,376
And then there was
another posting.

776
00:48:16,460 --> 00:48:20,418
And, it was from an author
of serial killer books.

777
00:48:20,585 --> 00:48:24,210
♪

778
00:48:24,335 --> 00:48:26,418
[Anzilotti] I always knew
that it was a gamble,

779
00:48:26,585 --> 00:48:29,543
keeping these cases to myself
and closed from the community.

780
00:48:29,668 --> 00:48:31,751
♪

781
00:48:31,876 --> 00:48:34,376
And, sure enough,
one day...

782
00:48:34,543 --> 00:48:36,710
[News] And a serial killer
confessing to three more

783
00:48:36,835 --> 00:48:39,668
murders after more
than 50 years.

784
00:48:39,793 --> 00:48:42,460
All of a sudden,
it all blew up.

785
00:48:50,126 --> 00:48:53,543
In an odd twist of events,
Richard Cottingham

786
00:48:53,668 --> 00:48:55,126
was befriended by an author,

787
00:48:55,251 --> 00:48:58,335
and they began cooperating
in this author

788
00:48:58,418 --> 00:49:01,210
writing a book
about his life.

789
00:49:01,376 --> 00:49:03,626
Richard had told him that
he had confessed

790
00:49:03,751 --> 00:49:05,376
to these cases to me.

791
00:49:05,543 --> 00:49:07,460
♪

792
00:49:07,585 --> 00:49:08,501
I was thinking more about,

793
00:49:08,585 --> 00:49:11,543
how am I going to get
closure for my town...

794
00:49:11,710 --> 00:49:13,293
because he's writing a book.

795
00:49:13,418 --> 00:49:15,376
I got in touch
with him, I said,

796
00:49:15,460 --> 00:49:18,751
"How about a public meeting?
I'll put it on Facebook.

797
00:49:18,918 --> 00:49:20,376
I'll make it known."

798
00:49:20,460 --> 00:49:21,710
And so, that's how
the meeting in

799
00:49:21,835 --> 00:49:25,710
December of 2019
came about.

800
00:49:25,793 --> 00:49:29,543
In 2018, I learned that

801
00:49:29,668 --> 00:49:33,043
three of the cases have
been actually closed

802
00:49:33,126 --> 00:49:36,751
by the Bergen County
prosecutor's office.

803
00:49:36,918 --> 00:49:40,543
Jackie Harp,
Irene Blase...

804
00:49:40,668 --> 00:49:44,043
and Denise Falasca.

805
00:49:44,126 --> 00:49:46,043
He announced it,
in public, you know,

806
00:49:46,168 --> 00:49:48,460
to an audience of people
at the public library.

807
00:49:48,585 --> 00:49:50,585
And that quickly
made the newspaper.

808
00:49:50,751 --> 00:49:52,876
[News] And a serial killer
confessing to three more

809
00:49:53,001 --> 00:49:56,668
murders after more
than fifty years.

810
00:49:56,793 --> 00:49:58,543
Of course,
once it was public,

811
00:49:58,668 --> 00:50:03,501
we obviously confirmed that
these cases had been cleared.

812
00:50:03,626 --> 00:50:05,793
There were a lot of people
that criticized the fact that

813
00:50:05,918 --> 00:50:07,585
we kept it quiet.

814
00:50:07,710 --> 00:50:12,376
And all that criticism
was squarely at my feet.

815
00:50:12,501 --> 00:50:15,626
I understand where
they're coming from.

816
00:50:15,751 --> 00:50:17,418
I could see why,
you know,

817
00:50:17,585 --> 00:50:19,126
the communities want
to know about it.

818
00:50:19,251 --> 00:50:21,751
But, I was looking at
this more globally.

819
00:50:21,918 --> 00:50:26,793
♪

820
00:50:26,918 --> 00:50:32,710
It's a strange thing to learn
that a serial killer did it.

821
00:50:32,793 --> 00:50:34,918
A lot of people did not
want to believe that

822
00:50:35,085 --> 00:50:36,501
it was that simple.

823
00:50:36,626 --> 00:50:39,543
So, they, they were very,
very shocked at that.

824
00:50:39,668 --> 00:50:47,043
♪

825
00:50:47,126 --> 00:50:49,418
The blow to me with
the whole thing was,

826
00:50:49,543 --> 00:50:53,043
for all these years that he
used the potential publicity

827
00:50:53,210 --> 00:50:55,918
as a roadblock for me to
get confessions out of him,

828
00:50:56,085 --> 00:50:59,543
here he is now letting
it out to everybody.

829
00:50:59,668 --> 00:51:01,835
I was pretty pissed off.

830
00:51:01,918 --> 00:51:04,001
I was like, "This is
all on you, man.

831
00:51:04,085 --> 00:51:05,543
You're the one cooperating
on this book, and,

832
00:51:05,668 --> 00:51:08,376
and your boy is
who let this out."

833
00:51:08,501 --> 00:51:10,376
It was a bit of a betrayal.

834
00:51:10,626 --> 00:51:12,460
♪

835
00:51:12,585 --> 00:51:16,418
Fast forward to 2020,
and the pandemic hits.

836
00:51:16,585 --> 00:51:18,543
And then, we just weren't
able to see each other.

837
00:51:18,710 --> 00:51:21,043
♪

838
00:51:21,210 --> 00:51:23,710
I wrote him a few
letters here and there.

839
00:51:23,835 --> 00:51:28,210
Then,
in March of 2021...

840
00:51:28,335 --> 00:51:31,918
I made the rather difficult
decision to retire,

841
00:51:32,043 --> 00:51:33,876
effective May 1st.

842
00:51:34,001 --> 00:51:37,751
♪

843
00:51:37,876 --> 00:51:39,751
It wasn't easy for me because
I really loved the job,

844
00:51:39,876 --> 00:51:41,626
loved the place.

845
00:51:41,751 --> 00:51:45,543
But I had completed nearly
30 years in law enforcement.

846
00:51:45,668 --> 00:51:50,001
And, I just felt in my heart
it was time to move on.

847
00:51:50,085 --> 00:51:51,585
But once I put
that in motion,

848
00:51:51,751 --> 00:51:53,876
I decided there was
one last thing that

849
00:51:53,960 --> 00:51:57,168
I really wanted to
do before I left.

850
00:51:57,251 --> 00:51:59,043
I had made a very
conscious decision that

851
00:51:59,168 --> 00:52:02,626
I was going to use my
retirement as leverage

852
00:52:02,751 --> 00:52:06,210
to get Richard to
cooperate one last time.

853
00:52:06,335 --> 00:52:08,043
[News] The bodies of
Mary Ann Pryor and

854
00:52:08,210 --> 00:52:10,668
Lorraine Marie Kelly were here,
in a wooded area

855
00:52:10,793 --> 00:52:13,001
near the Ridgemont
Apartments in Montvale.

856
00:52:13,126 --> 00:52:16,626
♪

857
00:52:16,751 --> 00:52:18,668
The Lorraine Kelly,
Mary Ann Pryor case

858
00:52:18,751 --> 00:52:20,543
in August of 1974

859
00:52:20,710 --> 00:52:23,210
was really one of
our most gruesome...

860
00:52:23,335 --> 00:52:27,210
and haunting cases
in Bergen County.

861
00:52:27,376 --> 00:52:29,668
They're found nude.

862
00:52:29,751 --> 00:52:31,210
They're face down.

863
00:52:31,293 --> 00:52:33,168
And they've been
sexually assaulted.

864
00:52:37,918 --> 00:52:39,210
[Reporter] Where?

865
00:52:42,876 --> 00:52:44,668
It was clear that they
had been tortured,

866
00:52:44,751 --> 00:52:46,960
and then just tossed
away like trash.

867
00:52:47,085 --> 00:52:51,668
♪

868
00:52:51,793 --> 00:52:53,585
Everybody loved Mary Ann.

869
00:52:53,751 --> 00:52:54,918
Everybody loved her.

870
00:52:55,085 --> 00:52:56,960
She had a lot of friends.

871
00:52:57,085 --> 00:53:00,668
She had such a kind heart.

872
00:53:00,751 --> 00:53:04,126
I was the last person to
see Mary Ann that day.

873
00:53:04,251 --> 00:53:07,126
She wanted to go to Macy's
to buy a new swimsuit

874
00:53:07,251 --> 00:53:09,793
for her trip to the shore.

875
00:53:09,918 --> 00:53:12,751
She said, "I'm going to
the mall with Lorraine.

876
00:53:12,876 --> 00:53:15,918
And I'll see you later."
I'm like, "Okay, have fun."

877
00:53:16,085 --> 00:53:19,001
♪

878
00:53:19,126 --> 00:53:20,710
Lorraine Kelly and
Mary Ann Pryor

879
00:53:20,835 --> 00:53:23,835
were two best friends,
16 and 17 years' old.

880
00:53:23,960 --> 00:53:27,043
They left their respective
houses to take a bus

881
00:53:27,126 --> 00:53:30,085
up to a mall in
Bergen County.

882
00:53:30,251 --> 00:53:32,001
But they never
returned home.

883
00:53:32,126 --> 00:53:37,710
♪

884
00:53:37,835 --> 00:53:38,960
One of the big points
that Richard

885
00:53:39,085 --> 00:53:40,710
always made to me was...

886
00:53:40,835 --> 00:53:42,335
how, in his mind,

887
00:53:42,418 --> 00:53:45,793
he was the smartest killer
that ever walked the earth.

888
00:53:51,626 --> 00:53:53,168
"I always killed
differently.

889
00:53:53,293 --> 00:53:55,085
I always mixed things up,
that's why the police

890
00:53:55,251 --> 00:53:56,876
never figured me out."

891
00:53:57,001 --> 00:53:58,751
And he bragged about it.

892
00:54:15,835 --> 00:54:18,293
So, I challenged him:
"Convince me,

893
00:54:18,418 --> 00:54:20,960
convince me that you were
so smart back in the day."

894
00:54:21,085 --> 00:54:24,626
And he's like, "I can give
you details about a murder

895
00:54:24,751 --> 00:54:26,876
that even fooled the
medical examiner."

896
00:54:27,043 --> 00:54:29,251
♪

897
00:54:29,418 --> 00:54:30,710
And he said, "You're
never gonna be able to

898
00:54:30,835 --> 00:54:31,835
guess how I did it."

899
00:54:46,751 --> 00:54:50,668
He's like, "Well, because
they were left outside

900
00:54:50,793 --> 00:54:53,043
in the hot summer
for a few days,

901
00:54:53,210 --> 00:54:56,418
the medical examiner didn't
find water in their lungs."

902
00:55:17,293 --> 00:55:19,168
Cottingham doesn't say
who these girls are,

903
00:55:19,251 --> 00:55:22,376
but he is dumb enough
to use the plural.

904
00:55:22,501 --> 00:55:25,293
And, I only had one
double homicide

905
00:55:25,418 --> 00:55:27,085
that I was looking at.

906
00:55:27,251 --> 00:55:28,710
♪

907
00:55:28,835 --> 00:55:30,168
And sure enough,
the autopsy showed

908
00:55:30,293 --> 00:55:34,876
both girls had congestion
in their lungs.

909
00:55:34,960 --> 00:55:38,376
We consulted with our
medical examiners.

910
00:55:38,501 --> 00:55:40,960
Would something like that
in the bodies of these girls

911
00:55:41,085 --> 00:55:43,876
lead us to believe that
they were in fact drowned?

912
00:55:43,960 --> 00:55:46,460
And he agreed that,
that we would.

913
00:55:46,585 --> 00:55:50,126
And it was at that moment
that I first realize

914
00:55:50,251 --> 00:55:52,168
he was the killer of
Lorraine Kelly and

915
00:55:52,251 --> 00:55:53,876
Mary Anne Pryor.

916
00:56:01,085 --> 00:56:02,251
Over the years, I,
of course,

917
00:56:02,376 --> 00:56:04,793
would try and prod him
for more information.

918
00:56:04,918 --> 00:56:07,876
And he'd shut down
because he told me,

919
00:56:08,001 --> 00:56:09,251
"You'll never be able
to keep it quiet.

920
00:56:09,376 --> 00:56:11,168
That case is too
famous around here."

921
00:56:11,293 --> 00:56:13,501
♪

922
00:56:13,585 --> 00:56:15,918
So, after I put in
my retirement papers,

923
00:56:16,085 --> 00:56:19,501
I only had about six weeks to
put this idea I had in motion

924
00:56:19,626 --> 00:56:22,710
to get Richard to confess to
the murders of

925
00:56:22,835 --> 00:56:25,376
Lorraine Kelly and
Mary Anne Pryor.

926
00:56:25,501 --> 00:56:27,210
The clock was
definitely ticking.

927
00:56:27,335 --> 00:56:29,085
And I was on a mission
to get this done.

928
00:56:35,918 --> 00:56:39,751
Richard never agreed to
anything until it was time to

929
00:56:39,876 --> 00:56:44,085
actually cross the line
and get that confession.

930
00:56:44,251 --> 00:56:46,168
So, I sat with him
by myself and

931
00:56:46,251 --> 00:56:48,168
told him that I was leaving.

932
00:56:48,251 --> 00:56:51,085
And he was
stunned and...

933
00:56:51,210 --> 00:56:53,876
tried to talk me
out of retiring.

934
00:56:54,043 --> 00:56:55,876
Think of the irony of
a serial killer

935
00:56:56,001 --> 00:56:57,918
trying to talk a cop
out of leaving.

936
00:56:58,043 --> 00:56:59,751
I told him I was adamant,
I was insistent.

937
00:56:59,876 --> 00:57:01,876
I wanted to go out
on a high.

938
00:57:01,960 --> 00:57:04,168
I watched too many
chiefs stay too long.

939
00:57:04,251 --> 00:57:05,251
And then hit him with like,

940
00:57:05,376 --> 00:57:07,751
"There's one thing left,
Richard."

941
00:57:07,876 --> 00:57:10,335
"I'm asking you
to do this for me.

942
00:57:10,460 --> 00:57:12,293
Confess to the murders of

943
00:57:12,418 --> 00:57:14,210
Lorraine Kelly and
Mary Ann Pryor."

944
00:57:25,085 --> 00:57:26,543
He was hesitant.

945
00:57:26,626 --> 00:57:28,501
And I just put the tape
recorder down, and I said,

946
00:57:28,585 --> 00:57:31,876
'Stop [bleep] around
and let's do this."

947
00:57:32,043 --> 00:57:34,418
And, in the end,
almost like, you know,

948
00:57:34,585 --> 00:57:36,251
a retirement gift
to me, he said,

949
00:57:36,418 --> 00:57:38,251
"I want to do this."

950
00:57:38,418 --> 00:57:40,168
And that's how the
confession started.

951
00:58:07,043 --> 00:58:08,710
[Thunder]

952
00:58:08,793 --> 00:58:12,001
On this particular
day in 1974,

953
00:58:12,126 --> 00:58:15,251
he claims that he
drove them to the mall.

954
00:58:15,376 --> 00:58:17,210
And it was pouring rain.

955
00:58:27,126 --> 00:58:29,293
He decided that he was
going to kidnap them and

956
00:58:29,418 --> 00:58:31,043
take them for
his own pleasure.

957
00:58:31,168 --> 00:58:40,043
♪

958
00:58:40,126 --> 00:58:42,210
So, he drove to an
area motel that

959
00:58:42,335 --> 00:58:44,335
he had used before
to rape women.

960
00:59:10,460 --> 00:59:15,668
♪ [Sinister] ♪

961
00:59:42,043 --> 00:59:44,376
When Richard
claimed that...

962
00:59:44,501 --> 00:59:45,668
the girls were laughing and

963
00:59:45,751 --> 00:59:47,210
he was joking
around with them,

964
00:59:47,293 --> 00:59:49,876
I was just flat-out disgusted
by what he was saying

965
00:59:50,043 --> 00:59:51,626
because I knew
it was not true.

966
00:59:59,210 --> 01:00:01,210
In typical Richard
Cottingham fashion,

967
01:00:01,335 --> 01:00:04,293
he was minimizing the
brutality of his crime.

968
01:00:09,210 --> 01:00:12,168
I didn't get home
until about 10 PM.

969
01:00:12,251 --> 01:00:14,543
And my mother said,
"Where's your sister?"

970
01:00:14,710 --> 01:00:18,460
I'm like, "I don't know,
I just got in."

971
01:00:18,585 --> 01:00:21,668
So, then we
started panicking.

972
01:00:21,793 --> 01:00:24,460
We started calling
Lorraine's family.

973
01:00:24,585 --> 01:00:26,376
They hadn't heard
from Lorraine.

974
01:00:26,543 --> 01:00:29,960
♪

975
01:00:30,085 --> 01:00:31,585
We called the
police department,

976
01:00:31,710 --> 01:00:34,168
and they said, "Oh,
they're just runaways."

977
01:00:34,293 --> 01:00:36,710
♪

978
01:00:36,876 --> 01:00:41,001
I stayed up all night,
driving around, searching.

979
01:00:41,085 --> 01:00:44,251
Yelling, "Mary Ann,
Mary Ann!"

980
01:00:44,418 --> 01:00:49,085
Of course, we're imagining
all kinds of different things.

981
01:01:13,251 --> 01:01:15,835
They were hogtied, right,
hogtied while

982
01:01:15,918 --> 01:01:18,043
he was sleeping, so they
wouldn't go anywhere.

983
01:01:18,168 --> 01:01:20,210
And according to him,
they never cried,

984
01:01:20,376 --> 01:01:21,918
they weren't afraid.

985
01:01:22,043 --> 01:01:24,251
That's, that's
the twisted mind.

986
01:01:30,585 --> 01:01:35,043
♪

987
01:01:35,126 --> 01:01:40,710
This became a huge
story in the area.

988
01:01:40,835 --> 01:01:43,418
My mother was
pleading on camera:

989
01:01:43,585 --> 01:01:46,168
"Mary Ann, if you're out there
and you can hear this,

990
01:01:46,293 --> 01:01:49,335
please come home."

991
01:01:49,418 --> 01:01:52,501
For all the days that
Mary Ann was missing,

992
01:01:52,585 --> 01:01:56,210
we had the radio on,
for the news.

993
01:01:56,335 --> 01:01:59,543
And then, I can remember we
were sitting in the kitchen,

994
01:01:59,668 --> 01:02:02,210
and they interrupted the
broadcast to say,

995
01:02:02,293 --> 01:02:06,210
"Two girls were found in
Montvale, New Jersey."

996
01:02:06,376 --> 01:02:09,835
♪

997
01:02:09,918 --> 01:02:12,376
And right away, we all
looked at each other, like,

998
01:02:12,501 --> 01:02:16,543
disbelief that,
could it be?

999
01:02:16,626 --> 01:02:18,168
A couple seconds later,

1000
01:02:18,251 --> 01:02:20,293
there were knocks
on the door...

1001
01:02:20,418 --> 01:02:23,210
and it was the detectives
coming to tell us.

1002
01:02:23,376 --> 01:02:26,585
♪

1003
01:02:26,751 --> 01:02:29,085
My mother passed out.

1004
01:02:29,210 --> 01:02:32,376
She held her heart and
she just kind of, like,

1005
01:02:32,501 --> 01:02:34,251
passed out on the floor.

1006
01:02:46,543 --> 01:02:49,460
This is the magnitude of the
monster that Cottingham is.

1007
01:03:10,418 --> 01:03:12,126
♪ [Sinister] ♪

1008
01:03:12,251 --> 01:03:14,543
After keeping the girls
for nearly three days,

1009
01:03:14,710 --> 01:03:16,501
he decided that he
had to kill them.

1010
01:03:53,751 --> 01:03:55,543
The haunting
things that I'll,

1011
01:03:55,668 --> 01:03:59,210
I'll never get out of my
head is just the cavalier and

1012
01:03:59,293 --> 01:04:01,376
callous way that
he talks about...

1013
01:04:01,501 --> 01:04:04,751
drowning one while the
other girl is still alive.

1014
01:04:04,918 --> 01:04:08,668
I said to him, "Could you
imagine the fear that,

1015
01:04:08,751 --> 01:04:11,085
you know, the one
left there had?"

1016
01:04:11,376 --> 01:04:12,876
♪

1017
01:04:12,960 --> 01:04:15,376
But he has a way of
minimizing the brutality

1018
01:04:15,460 --> 01:04:18,376
that he inflicted on
all of his victims.

1019
01:04:36,168 --> 01:04:39,335
That's a highly sadistic act

1020
01:04:39,418 --> 01:04:43,293
that would make him
feel very powerful.

1021
01:04:43,418 --> 01:04:47,335
He wanted to experience
their deaths at his hands.

1022
01:04:47,460 --> 01:04:49,751
♪

1023
01:04:49,918 --> 01:04:52,835
[Nancy] She would have
fought for her life.

1024
01:04:52,960 --> 01:04:54,876
She would have bit,
kicked, punched,

1025
01:04:55,043 --> 01:04:58,918
grabbed for hair,
anything.

1026
01:04:59,085 --> 01:05:03,626
I'm sure she was calling for
my mother, my father, me.

1027
01:05:03,751 --> 01:05:06,126
And fighting 'til the end.

1028
01:05:06,418 --> 01:05:13,585
♪

1029
01:05:13,751 --> 01:05:15,335
And that's when those bodies
are dumped a short distance

1030
01:05:15,418 --> 01:05:17,543
from the hotel,
into the woods.

1031
01:05:17,710 --> 01:05:21,668
♪

1032
01:05:21,793 --> 01:05:22,918
This particular confession was

1033
01:05:23,085 --> 01:05:24,876
one of the worst
I've ever heard.

1034
01:05:25,043 --> 01:05:26,543
I can't wait to go home
and take a shower and

1035
01:05:26,668 --> 01:05:28,376
wash the stink of his...

1036
01:05:28,543 --> 01:05:30,710
sins off my body,
from listening to it.

1037
01:05:30,835 --> 01:05:33,376
♪

1038
01:05:33,460 --> 01:05:35,585
After we got the
confession from Cottingham,

1039
01:05:35,751 --> 01:05:39,710
I was trying to leverage my
retirement as a means to

1040
01:05:39,876 --> 01:05:41,876
try and get Richard
to go to court

1041
01:05:42,043 --> 01:05:46,876
the way we did with Vogel,
ten years prior.

1042
01:05:47,043 --> 01:05:48,710
He was afraid that our
relationship was

1043
01:05:48,876 --> 01:05:51,918
going to be over because
of my retirement.

1044
01:05:52,085 --> 01:05:56,418
And I promised him
that it would not be.

1045
01:05:56,585 --> 01:06:00,335
And in the end, I convinced
him to go to court.

1046
01:06:00,418 --> 01:06:03,376
It was his way of keeping
the relationship going.

1047
01:06:03,460 --> 01:06:05,543
Because of the pandemic,
it was a virtual proceeding.

1048
01:06:15,960 --> 01:06:17,293
More than a decade earlier,

1049
01:06:17,418 --> 01:06:18,543
he literally looked
at me and said,

1050
01:06:18,668 --> 01:06:21,376
"You'll never get me in
a courtroom again."

1051
01:06:21,501 --> 01:06:25,043
And hearing him give details
to the judge in a courtroom

1052
01:06:25,210 --> 01:06:28,043
with the victims' families
looking on,

1053
01:06:28,126 --> 01:06:32,543
that, for me,
was a huge victory.

1054
01:06:32,626 --> 01:06:35,501
He was given another
two life sentences.

1055
01:06:35,626 --> 01:06:37,543
♪

1056
01:06:37,668 --> 01:06:41,751
I'm so grateful for Chief
Anzilotti for pursuing this.

1057
01:06:41,876 --> 01:06:44,876
He's an angel.

1058
01:06:44,960 --> 01:06:47,710
For me, it was the
culmination of nearly

1059
01:06:47,835 --> 01:06:51,668
20 years of work trying to
bring justice for these girls.

1060
01:06:51,751 --> 01:06:57,710
[Sirens]

1061
01:06:57,876 --> 01:06:59,126
♪

1062
01:06:59,251 --> 01:07:00,876
My last day...

1063
01:07:01,043 --> 01:07:04,835
[Sighing]
...was emotional.

1064
01:07:04,918 --> 01:07:07,376
It was crazy.

1065
01:07:07,543 --> 01:07:10,751
It was just an amazing
tribute to my career.

1066
01:07:10,876 --> 01:07:12,876
There were hundreds of people
waiting to clap me out.

1067
01:07:13,001 --> 01:07:15,043
[Applauding]

1068
01:07:15,126 --> 01:07:17,876
It was wild,
it was wild.

1069
01:07:18,001 --> 01:07:20,710
[Applauding]

1070
01:07:20,835 --> 01:07:23,626
I was lucky enough,
not only to work with Rob,

1071
01:07:23,751 --> 01:07:26,543
but be part of the
command staff with him.

1072
01:07:26,710 --> 01:07:28,835
He had an uncanny ability

1073
01:07:28,960 --> 01:07:32,085
to get to the bottom
of a, of a crime.

1074
01:07:32,251 --> 01:07:34,543
And he inspired
people to work harder,

1075
01:07:34,668 --> 01:07:36,710
not just because of the
threat of authority,

1076
01:07:36,835 --> 01:07:39,043
but because of who he was.

1077
01:07:39,210 --> 01:07:40,543
I never thought I'd leave as

1078
01:07:40,668 --> 01:07:42,543
the Chief of Detectives
of the county.

1079
01:07:42,626 --> 01:07:44,710
You know, I always just wanted
to be a really good cop.

1080
01:07:44,835 --> 01:07:47,585
♪

1081
01:07:47,751 --> 01:07:49,960
Six days after Cottingham
appeared in court,

1082
01:07:50,085 --> 01:07:52,543
admitting his guilt...

1083
01:07:52,626 --> 01:07:54,293
I retired.

1084
01:07:54,585 --> 01:07:57,043
♪

1085
01:07:57,168 --> 01:07:59,043
I had solved 6 out of these

1086
01:07:59,210 --> 01:08:03,876
original 12 cold case homicides.

1087
01:08:04,001 --> 01:08:07,960
That left 6 more
still to be solved.

1088
01:08:08,085 --> 01:08:10,043
And it made me wonder
whether Richard was

1089
01:08:10,168 --> 01:08:12,585
responsible for all
or any of those 6.

1090
01:08:12,751 --> 01:08:17,585
♪

1091
01:08:17,751 --> 01:08:19,626
We started emailing
each other, really,

1092
01:08:19,751 --> 01:08:21,876
almost on a weekly
basis once I first left.

1093
01:08:22,001 --> 01:08:25,710
♪

1094
01:08:25,793 --> 01:08:27,876
And to the credit of
the new administration,

1095
01:08:28,043 --> 01:08:31,543
they were adamant
that I stay involved.

1096
01:08:31,668 --> 01:08:34,876
♪

1097
01:08:35,001 --> 01:08:37,168
That is just who Rob is.

1098
01:08:37,293 --> 01:08:38,543
He's not going to let
his retirement

1099
01:08:38,710 --> 01:08:41,585
get in the way of finding
closure for a family.

1100
01:08:41,751 --> 01:08:46,543
♪

1101
01:08:46,626 --> 01:08:49,126
The case that
came to my mind

1102
01:08:49,251 --> 01:08:53,710
was Mary Ann Della Sala.

1103
01:08:53,876 --> 01:08:57,251
On January 24th of 1967,

1104
01:08:57,418 --> 01:09:00,085
she left her place
of employment

1105
01:09:00,251 --> 01:09:03,043
at the local ShopRite
in Hackensack.

1106
01:09:03,126 --> 01:09:05,376
And, she was never
seen alive again.

1107
01:09:05,668 --> 01:09:07,376
♪

1108
01:09:07,501 --> 01:09:10,001
11 weeks later, her body
was found floating in the

1109
01:09:10,126 --> 01:09:11,876
Passaic River in
Hawthorne, New Jersey.

1110
01:09:12,043 --> 01:09:16,210
♪

1111
01:09:16,335 --> 01:09:18,918
She was 18 years' old at
the time of her death.

1112
01:09:19,085 --> 01:09:21,626
Brunette, pretty girl, and...

1113
01:09:21,751 --> 01:09:23,668
knowing what I now
know about Cottingham,

1114
01:09:23,793 --> 01:09:27,626
for what he was hunting
back in those days,

1115
01:09:27,751 --> 01:09:29,085
the 60s and early 70s,

1116
01:09:29,251 --> 01:09:33,085
she fit his look to a tee.

1117
01:09:33,251 --> 01:09:35,543
Mary Ann's cause of death
was never really

1118
01:09:35,668 --> 01:09:37,918
made clear by the
medical examiner.

1119
01:09:38,043 --> 01:09:41,418
There was some speculation
that maybe she jumped off of

1120
01:09:41,585 --> 01:09:42,918
a nearby bridge and
that's how her body

1121
01:09:43,043 --> 01:09:44,835
floated up where it did.

1122
01:09:44,960 --> 01:09:45,876
♪

1123
01:09:46,001 --> 01:09:47,835
But her family insisted that

1124
01:09:47,960 --> 01:09:49,835
Mary Ann would have
never taken her own life.

1125
01:09:49,960 --> 01:09:51,710
♪

1126
01:09:51,835 --> 01:09:55,043
And, the investigators
came across a diary

1127
01:09:55,126 --> 01:09:58,043
that Mary Ann had.

1128
01:09:58,126 --> 01:10:00,668
And in that diary,
they found an entry...

1129
01:10:00,793 --> 01:10:03,626
a week or so prior to her
disappearance in which

1130
01:10:03,751 --> 01:10:07,835
she describes a white male
driving a Chevy who had

1131
01:10:07,918 --> 01:10:12,043
been stalking her from the
ShopRite at times.

1132
01:10:12,210 --> 01:10:15,085
This was a huge clue.

1133
01:10:15,210 --> 01:10:16,876
Richard had previously
told me that

1134
01:10:17,001 --> 01:10:19,918
he had a Chevy
in the late 60s.

1135
01:10:20,085 --> 01:10:22,710
And he also told me that

1136
01:10:22,835 --> 01:10:26,001
there was a girl that
was found in the river

1137
01:10:26,126 --> 01:10:29,710
that he may have
been responsible for.

1138
01:10:29,793 --> 01:10:31,960
I had always been convinced
that his first victim

1139
01:10:32,085 --> 01:10:35,085
was Nancy Vogel.

1140
01:10:35,210 --> 01:10:38,251
Now, I begin to develop
this hunch that

1141
01:10:38,376 --> 01:10:41,001
Mary Ann Della Sala may have
been his first victim.

1142
01:10:41,126 --> 01:10:44,043
♪

1143
01:10:44,126 --> 01:10:45,793
[Monitor beeping]

1144
01:11:10,085 --> 01:11:11,043
The reality is...

1145
01:11:11,168 --> 01:11:14,210
I retired, but...

1146
01:11:14,335 --> 01:11:15,960
I wasn't done with
Richard Cottingham.

1147
01:11:24,918 --> 01:11:26,293
Richard is now bedridden

1148
01:11:26,418 --> 01:11:28,335
with a lot of
health ailments.

1149
01:11:28,418 --> 01:11:30,876
He's been moved to
South Woods State Prison,

1150
01:11:30,960 --> 01:11:32,585
in a long-term infirmary.

1151
01:11:32,876 --> 01:11:34,876
♪

1152
01:11:35,001 --> 01:11:36,668
So, Sergeant Kevin Dempsey,

1153
01:11:36,793 --> 01:11:38,876
who's with the BCPO
cold case unit, and I,

1154
01:11:39,043 --> 01:11:41,543
take the ride down
there to interview Richard.

1155
01:11:41,793 --> 01:11:45,085
♪

1156
01:11:45,210 --> 01:11:47,251
Richard can't
get out of bed.

1157
01:11:47,376 --> 01:11:50,126
He needs help sitting up.

1158
01:11:50,251 --> 01:11:51,585
I was like, wow,
this guy looks like

1159
01:11:51,751 --> 01:11:53,876
he's gonna die
at any minute.

1160
01:11:53,960 --> 01:11:56,626
I really wanted to give one
last shot to see

1161
01:11:56,751 --> 01:11:58,751
if I could get a
confession out of him.

1162
01:12:09,376 --> 01:12:10,710
But he's of sound mind.

1163
01:12:10,835 --> 01:12:14,043
And, Kevin and I sat
by his bedside and...

1164
01:12:14,210 --> 01:12:15,751
interviewed him.

1165
01:12:30,418 --> 01:12:32,168
It was still our
typical back and forth,

1166
01:12:32,293 --> 01:12:35,210
him telling me why he doesn't
want to cooperate and,

1167
01:12:35,335 --> 01:12:36,793
"What have you done
for me lately?"

1168
01:12:36,918 --> 01:12:39,001
And, same old Richard
being Richard.

1169
01:13:06,001 --> 01:13:08,918
But in the end, I got him
talking about this

1170
01:13:09,085 --> 01:13:12,251
beautiful young girl that he
used to have an eye for

1171
01:13:12,418 --> 01:13:15,918
in a ShopRite
in Hackensack.

1172
01:13:16,085 --> 01:13:18,043
In January of 1967,

1173
01:13:18,168 --> 01:13:20,418
when Mary Anne Della Sala
was last seen alive,

1174
01:13:20,585 --> 01:13:23,126
Richard Cottingham
was going on 21 years' old.

1175
01:13:23,251 --> 01:13:26,210
He had just started working
at Blue Cross Blue Shield

1176
01:13:26,293 --> 01:13:27,960
in New York City.

1177
01:14:25,085 --> 01:14:27,918
He told me that on the
night of her disappearance,

1178
01:14:28,085 --> 01:14:30,501
he stalked her
leaving the store.

1179
01:14:44,001 --> 01:14:46,251
Her dad had actually
stopped in at the store,

1180
01:14:46,376 --> 01:14:47,960
and asked her,

1181
01:14:48,085 --> 01:14:49,876
"Do you want me to give you a
ride at the end of your shift?"

1182
01:14:50,043 --> 01:14:51,876
But it was an
unusually warm night,

1183
01:14:52,001 --> 01:14:54,043
and she told her dad that
she was going to walk home.

1184
01:15:30,251 --> 01:15:32,043
He wasn't certain the
exact spot that he put her

1185
01:15:32,126 --> 01:15:34,126
in the water, but he knew
it wasn't where

1186
01:15:34,251 --> 01:15:35,501
the body had been found.

1187
01:15:35,585 --> 01:15:37,543
And that would be
consistent with a body

1188
01:15:37,668 --> 01:15:39,376
being in the water for
a period of time...

1189
01:15:39,460 --> 01:15:41,210
as Mary Ann's was.

1190
01:16:07,960 --> 01:16:10,960
What Richard didn't realize,
while he was confessing

1191
01:16:11,085 --> 01:16:13,001
about the Mary Ann
Della Sala case,

1192
01:16:13,085 --> 01:16:16,335
was I was actually recording
the conversation.

1193
01:16:16,418 --> 01:16:17,710
He didn't see a
tape recorder,

1194
01:16:17,835 --> 01:16:20,043
so he thought we were just
having a conversation.

1195
01:16:20,210 --> 01:16:24,168
The reality is that was a
tape-recorded confession.

1196
01:16:56,210 --> 01:16:58,543
When it comes to these
exceptional clearances,

1197
01:16:58,626 --> 01:17:00,001
the manner in which
we record the

1198
01:17:00,085 --> 01:17:01,585
actual confession
is irrelevant.

1199
01:17:01,710 --> 01:17:04,960
All that matters is that
it's documented properly.

1200
01:17:05,085 --> 01:17:06,376
And that it's irrefutable
that these

1201
01:17:06,460 --> 01:17:09,585
words came out of his mouth.

1202
01:17:09,751 --> 01:17:12,168
There was information
provided by Mr. Cottingham

1203
01:17:12,251 --> 01:17:15,376
that we believe were
specific enough that

1204
01:17:15,460 --> 01:17:17,126
only the killer would know.

1205
01:17:17,251 --> 01:17:19,501
And, the team felt
as though there was

1206
01:17:19,585 --> 01:17:21,876
sufficient evidence
to charge him.

1207
01:17:22,126 --> 01:17:32,085
♪

1208
01:17:36,626 --> 01:17:37,960
♪

1209
01:17:38,085 --> 01:17:39,210
I don't just like
solving cold cases,

1210
01:17:39,293 --> 01:17:41,168
I love solving cold cases.

1211
01:17:41,293 --> 01:17:44,876
♪

1212
01:17:44,960 --> 01:17:47,501
I love the
satisfaction and the

1213
01:17:47,626 --> 01:17:50,710
emotional pride
that it gives me...

1214
01:17:50,793 --> 01:17:54,543
to knock on someone's door
that hasn't had answers

1215
01:17:54,710 --> 01:17:58,043
in 30, 40, 50 years.

1216
01:17:58,168 --> 01:17:59,210
I don't think I can
put it into words,

1217
01:17:59,376 --> 01:18:00,418
to be quite honest.

1218
01:18:00,585 --> 01:18:01,585
I think you have to walk
in these shoes

1219
01:18:01,710 --> 01:18:04,001
to know what it feels like.

1220
01:18:04,126 --> 01:18:05,876
And every homicide detective
out there

1221
01:18:06,001 --> 01:18:08,210
knows exactly what
I'm talking about.

1222
01:18:08,335 --> 01:18:12,251
♪

1223
01:18:12,376 --> 01:18:14,418
Cottingham confessing to the

1224
01:18:14,585 --> 01:18:16,168
Mary Anne Della Sala homicide

1225
01:18:16,251 --> 01:18:18,543
brings his timeline of
killing even earlier.

1226
01:18:18,668 --> 01:18:21,501
♪

1227
01:18:21,585 --> 01:18:24,210
She went missing
in January of 1967,

1228
01:18:24,376 --> 01:18:27,210
so that's some ten months
before Nancy Vogel is killed.

1229
01:18:27,376 --> 01:18:29,543
And, who knows if Mary Ann
Della Sala was his first?

1230
01:18:29,668 --> 01:18:33,376
♪

1231
01:19:00,376 --> 01:19:04,835
♪

1232
01:19:04,918 --> 01:19:08,126
Then, in June of 2022,
something I had always

1233
01:19:08,251 --> 01:19:11,293
hoped would happen,
finally did.

1234
01:19:11,418 --> 01:19:12,876
[News] A woman's family
finally getting some answers

1235
01:19:13,043 --> 01:19:15,501
after she was found strangled
in the back seat of her car

1236
01:19:15,585 --> 01:19:16,835
more than 50 years ago.

1237
01:19:16,960 --> 01:19:18,710
Yeah, prosecutors say the
so-called 'Torso Killer'

1238
01:19:18,835 --> 01:19:20,376
who's been convicted
in 11 other deaths

1239
01:19:20,501 --> 01:19:21,710
is responsible.

1240
01:19:21,835 --> 01:19:23,376
Jennifer McLobin shows us
how they were able to

1241
01:19:23,501 --> 01:19:24,585
tie him to this case.

1242
01:19:24,751 --> 01:19:27,418
♪

1243
01:19:36,085 --> 01:19:38,043
During my last visit
at his bedside,

1244
01:19:38,210 --> 01:19:41,210
Richard explained to me that
Nassau County detectives

1245
01:19:41,376 --> 01:19:42,460
had come to visit him.

1246
01:20:00,960 --> 01:20:02,543
I'm like, "Well, then
cooperate with them."

1247
01:20:02,626 --> 01:20:03,543
"There's no reason not to."

1248
01:20:03,626 --> 01:20:05,376
"If you did it,
then tell them you did it."

1249
01:20:05,460 --> 01:20:06,751
"What, you know,
what, what are you...

1250
01:20:06,918 --> 01:20:09,210
holding out for?"

1251
01:20:09,293 --> 01:20:10,376
"At this point in your life,

1252
01:20:10,501 --> 01:20:12,251
look at the state of
health you're in."

1253
01:20:12,376 --> 01:20:14,793
"Don't take these cases
to the grave with you."

1254
01:20:14,918 --> 01:20:17,251
"Just... man up
and admit it."

1255
01:20:17,376 --> 01:20:20,460
♪

1256
01:20:20,585 --> 01:20:23,251
[News] Emotions spilled over for
the family of Diane Cusick.

1257
01:20:23,418 --> 01:20:26,835
A cold case breakthrough after a
chilling murder

1258
01:20:26,918 --> 01:20:28,043
more than 5 decades ago.

1259
01:20:28,210 --> 01:20:29,876
Prosecutors blame...

1260
01:20:30,001 --> 01:20:32,335
I learned through the news
media that Nassau County

1261
01:20:32,418 --> 01:20:35,460
indicted Cottingham
on DNA evidence.

1262
01:20:35,585 --> 01:20:38,126
[News] Diane Cusick, of New Hyde
Park,a dance teacher

1263
01:20:38,251 --> 01:20:39,210
left her 4 year old daughter
with her parents

1264
01:20:39,335 --> 01:20:41,460
and drove to the
Green Acres Mall

1265
01:20:41,585 --> 01:20:43,168
and never came home.

1266
01:20:43,251 --> 01:20:45,335
We believe this may
be the oldest DNA hit

1267
01:20:45,418 --> 01:20:49,710
to lead to a prosecution
in the United States.

1268
01:20:49,835 --> 01:20:52,251
♪

1269
01:20:52,418 --> 01:20:54,251
This case prompted the
Nassau District Attorney's

1270
01:20:54,418 --> 01:20:56,376
office to review all
unsolved homicides

1271
01:20:56,501 --> 01:20:59,543
involving women
from 1967 to 1980,

1272
01:20:59,710 --> 01:21:02,293
and police tell us so far
they've submitted DNA for

1273
01:21:02,418 --> 01:21:04,751
an additional five cases to
see if there's any connection.

1274
01:21:04,918 --> 01:21:12,376
♪

1275
01:21:12,501 --> 01:21:15,876
Today is one of the most
emotional days we've ever had

1276
01:21:16,043 --> 01:21:19,251
in the Nassau County
District Attorney's Office.

1277
01:21:19,418 --> 01:21:22,585
This morning, serial killer
Richard Cottingham

1278
01:21:22,710 --> 01:21:24,501
pleaded guilty to
23-year-old

1279
01:21:24,585 --> 01:21:29,793
Diane Cusick's murder
in February of 1968.

1280
01:21:29,918 --> 01:21:32,043
Cottingham also admitted
to the murders of

1281
01:21:32,126 --> 01:21:33,751
Mary Beth Heinz,

1282
01:21:33,918 --> 01:21:36,668
Laverne Moy,
Sheila Hyman,

1283
01:21:36,751 --> 01:21:39,585
and Maria Emerita
Rosado Nieves.

1284
01:21:39,751 --> 01:21:45,585
♪

1285
01:21:45,710 --> 01:21:49,251
As more jurisdictions learn
just how active he was

1286
01:21:49,418 --> 01:21:51,876
in the 60s and 70s,
in killing women,

1287
01:21:51,960 --> 01:21:54,501
I'm sure more crimes
can be connected to him.

1288
01:21:54,626 --> 01:21:57,751
♪

1289
01:21:57,918 --> 01:22:01,001
If this guy's not
arrested until 1980...

1290
01:22:01,126 --> 01:22:03,668
holy [bleep], how many
could be out there?

1291
01:22:46,335 --> 01:22:49,918
He says it could be up to
100 women that he's killed.

1292
01:22:50,085 --> 01:22:51,793
I have no idea.

1293
01:22:51,918 --> 01:22:55,418
But he went out
and hunted women,

1294
01:22:55,585 --> 01:22:59,043
from the 60s until he
was caught in 1980.

1295
01:22:59,168 --> 01:23:00,793
I've done the math.

1296
01:23:00,918 --> 01:23:03,043
Even just four or
five a year

1297
01:23:03,126 --> 01:23:06,460
adds up to an
astronomical number.

1298
01:23:06,585 --> 01:23:09,585
The reality is,
he liked to kill.

1299
01:23:40,251 --> 01:23:42,043
There are more.

1300
01:23:42,126 --> 01:23:44,918
I know there are.

1301
01:23:45,043 --> 01:23:47,210
I'm hoping...

1302
01:23:47,335 --> 01:23:50,835
as his days grow shorter
and a little darker,

1303
01:23:50,960 --> 01:23:53,376
he, himself,
realizes that...

1304
01:23:53,460 --> 01:23:56,501
his time to allow
these families to

1305
01:23:56,626 --> 01:23:59,418
close those chapters
is running out.

1306
01:23:59,668 --> 01:24:03,960
♪

1307
01:24:04,085 --> 01:24:06,543
You never stop
thinking about it.

1308
01:24:06,668 --> 01:24:09,710
All these girls
were innocent kids.

1309
01:24:09,793 --> 01:24:13,876
You know, they had a
life ahead of them.

1310
01:24:14,001 --> 01:24:16,668
"To the person who
killed my sister,

1311
01:24:16,751 --> 01:24:19,001
The depths of depravity

1312
01:24:19,085 --> 01:24:21,043
necessary for
you to plan and

1313
01:24:21,168 --> 01:24:23,751
commit a crime of
this nature

1314
01:24:23,918 --> 01:24:26,501
against helpless
teenage girls

1315
01:24:26,626 --> 01:24:29,085
is beyond the capacity
of human comprehension

1316
01:24:29,210 --> 01:24:32,710
to adequately understand.

1317
01:24:32,876 --> 01:24:34,585
Before you burn in hell,

1318
01:24:34,751 --> 01:24:37,751
I wish for you a slow,
painful death."

1319
01:24:37,918 --> 01:24:42,710
♪

1320
01:24:42,835 --> 01:24:46,376
Years later, I bumped
into Rob and his family.

1321
01:24:46,543 --> 01:24:48,710
And, I just had to go up
and say, you know,

1322
01:24:48,876 --> 01:24:50,585
I wanted to thank him
because after that point,

1323
01:24:50,710 --> 01:24:53,043
I had the closure
and I felt good.

1324
01:24:53,168 --> 01:24:55,626
And I turned to his son,
and I said,

1325
01:24:55,751 --> 01:24:57,251
"You know, your dad's
a real hero.

1326
01:24:57,418 --> 01:25:01,710
He's a good man, he helped
my family out a lot."

1327
01:25:01,793 --> 01:25:03,835
He's like an unsung hero.

1328
01:25:03,960 --> 01:25:06,793
♪

1329
01:25:06,918 --> 01:25:10,918
18 years of Richard Cottingham
and Rob Anzilotti.

1330
01:25:11,085 --> 01:25:14,543
♪

1331
01:25:14,668 --> 01:25:18,210
The toll that it took on me
was just having to

1332
01:25:18,293 --> 01:25:20,710
kind of eat my
own conscience...

1333
01:25:20,876 --> 01:25:25,210
and my own moral code to
sit and listen to this guy,

1334
01:25:25,376 --> 01:25:30,293
and take in just
how vicious he was.

1335
01:25:30,418 --> 01:25:34,501
But no matter what kind
of scars it's left for me,

1336
01:25:34,626 --> 01:25:36,876
it's been well
worth the ride,

1337
01:25:37,001 --> 01:25:38,751
you know,
for these families.

1338
01:25:38,918 --> 01:25:40,710
It really has been.

1339
01:25:40,835 --> 01:25:47,585
♪

1340
01:25:47,751 --> 01:25:51,418
It was like a game of cat and
mouse between the two of us.

1341
01:25:51,585 --> 01:25:54,043
Each of us was trying
to play the other.

1342
01:25:54,210 --> 01:25:57,460
♪

1343
01:25:57,585 --> 01:26:02,293
That was his way of keeping
the whole game going.

1344
01:26:02,418 --> 01:26:04,710
And as long as
Richard Cottingham

1345
01:26:04,835 --> 01:26:06,168
has air in his lungs,

1346
01:26:06,293 --> 01:26:09,001
he has more
confessions to give.

1347
01:26:09,085 --> 01:26:10,876
I'm convinced of that.

1348
01:26:11,001 --> 01:26:14,918
♪