Notorious N.J. ‘Torso Killer’ pleads guilty to 2 murders from 1974
Updated 5:14 PM;
Richard Cottingham, the notorious serial killer dubbed the “Torso Killer” for his gruesome modus operandi, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two murders from 1974, authorities announced.
Cottingham, 74, who is currently serving a life sentence in New Jersey State Prison after admitting to six killings in New York and New Jersey, pleaded guilty to killing Mary Ann Pryor, 17, and Lorraine Kelly, 16, back in August 1974, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said in a statement.
Early January 2020, it was discovered that Cottingham had previously confessed to the murders of three Bergen County teenagers in the late 1960s - each a cold case for over 50 years. Although he was not charged with the teens’ murders, the prosecutor’s office said the cases were “exceptionally cleared.”