Notorious ‘Torso Killer’ confesses to 1965 cold case killing of 18-year-old NJ nursing student
Notorious “Torso Killer” Richard Cottingham confessed to the 1965 murder of nursing student Alys Eberhardt. Fair Lawn Police Department
Convicted serial killer Richard Cottingham has been linked to another long-unsolved homicide after confessing to the 1965 murder of an 18-year-old New Jersey nursing student, authorities announced this week.
Cottingham, 79, who is serving a life sentence for multiple killings, admitted responsibility for the death of Alys Eberhardt, who was found slain in Fair Lawn on Sept. 25, 1965, according to Fair Lawn Police Chief Joseph Dawicki. The confession was disclosed in a statement posted Tuesday.
“Alys was a vibrant young nursing student whose life was cut tragically short,” Dawicki said. “While nothing can undo this loss, we hope her family can find some measure of peace knowing the person responsible has acknowledged his crime and will never be free to harm anyone again.”
At the time of Eberhardt’s death, Cottingham was living a seemingly ordinary life. He was married, had three children, and later worked as a computer programmer for a New York-based health insurance company.
Cottingham was arrested in 1980 after police responded to a call from a hotel employee in Manhattan who reported hearing a woman screaming from his room. Officers found the victim alive and rescued her, leading to Cottingham’s arrest and the unraveling of his criminal history.
Further investigation tied him to several other murders, including the killing of two women whose remains were discovered at a Manhattan hotel in December 1979. The case drew national attention and later became the subject of the Netflix documentary series Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer, released in 2021.
Originally convicted of six murders committed between 1977 and 1980 in New York City and New Jersey, Cottingham was sentenced to life in prison. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to five additional murders of women killed on Long Island between 1968 and 1973.
Authorities have now connected Cottingham to at least 18 murders, though investigators believe the true number of his victims may be significantly higher. The confession in the Eberhardt case marks the latest development in decades-long efforts by law enforcement to resolve cold cases tied to him.
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