Welcome to Arrest Stories. Notorious serial killer Richard Cottingham, known as the Torso Killer, has confessed to the nineteen sixty-five murder of eighteen-year-old nursing student Alys Eberhardt in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Here's what may have happened.
The seventy-nine-year-old Cottingham made his confession through countless interviews over several years with investigators who reopened the cold case in twenty twenty-one. Eberhardt was found dead in her family's home in Fair Lawn on September twenty-fifth, nineteen sixty-five.
Cottingham earned his notorious nickname for the way he carved up some of his victims, including a horrific incident at the Travel Inn Motor Hotel where firefighters responding to a blaze found two women's bodies with their heads and hands cut off. His killing spree was eventually stopped when a maid at a Times Square area motel heard a woman screaming inside his room and called police. Officers found the victim alive but handcuffed, with knife wounds and bite marks on her breasts.
At the time of his original arrest, Cottingham was married with three children and working as a computer programmer for a health insurance company in New York. His confession to the Eberhardt murder included details that were never publicly known, lending credibility to his admission.
Officials expressed both relief and sadness at the resolution of the decades-old case. One stated, "Alys was a vibrant young nursing student who was taken from our community far too soon. While we can never bring her back, I am hopeful that her family can find some peace knowing the person responsible has confessed and can no longer harm anyone else."
Another official emphasized the persistence of law enforcement, saying "This case is a testament to the dedication of our officers and to the fact that law enforcement never gives up in the pursuit of justice."
Cottingham will not face additional charges as the department closes the case.
All suspects presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Do not take this report as factual, always verify facts. Thanks for watching Arrest Stories.