Infamous 'Torso Killer' pleaded guilty to the brutal murders of FIVE MORE Long ... trends now
The infamous convicted 'Torso Killer' admitted to killing another five women in the 1970s, including the cold case death of a Long Island dance teacher.
Richard Cottingham, 75, confessed to the brutal murders of five women on Monday, but was only charged with 25 years to life for the slaying of a dance teacher after striking a deal.
The serial killer has been in prison since 1981 and is already serving a life sentence behind bars in New Jersey after admitting to the murders of six others that died between 1967 and 1980.
Cottingham wasn't charged for four of the murders he admitted to on Monday in exchange for his confession on a 1968 murder case of a dance teacher Diane Cusick, 23. He previously pleaded not guilty to her murder earlier this year, but prosecutors found his DNA at the scene.
'There are no words to describe how purely evil you are,' Nassau County Court Judge Caryn Fink told Cottingham, who appeared in court virtually.
Cottingham also pleaded guilty to killing Mary Beth Heinz, 21, Sheila Heima, 33, Laverne Moye, 23, and Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves, according to The Rolling Stone. It is unclear how he killed them.
'I hope there is some justice for all of you knowing that for the rest of this defendant’s life you will live and take every breath in a prison cell in New Jersey,' prosecutor Jared Rosenblatt told the victim's families present in the courtroom.
'[I] hope today will bring you the closure that you all sought for the last 50 years.'
The killer earned his name because he cut off the limbs of his victims and even beheaded some. He once admitted to murdering 100 women and girls, but police have only connected him to 11 cases.
Richard Cottingham, 75, confessed to the brutal murders of five women on Monday, but previously struck a plea deal to only be punished for one. Cottingham, also known as the 'Torso Killer' says he has killed over 100 women. He is currently serving a life sentence in NJ. Pictured: Cottingham appearing virtually at Monday's hearing
Diane Cusick, 23, was found in February 1968 in her car outside the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream with tape around her mouth and neck. She had been raped, beaten and suffocat
Cottingham also pleaded guilty to five murders on Monday, including the slayings of Sheila Heiman and Mary Beth Heinz (above)
Prosecutor Jared Rosenblatt told the victims' families that he hopes they can now breathe easy. He is pictured hugging Diane Cusick's daughter, Darlene Altman
Cottingham was a computer programmer who had a family when he would commit the slayings on the side.
The infamous killer previously pleaded not guilty to killing dance teacher Cusick, but police said semen evidence connects him to the case.
Officials say Cottingham dressed up as a security guard to bate Cusick the day she went to the mall to purchase shoes and never came home in 1968.
Cusick was found in her car outside the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream with adhesive tape around her mouth and neck. Police said she had been raped, beaten and suffocated.
'I'm sure she tried to fight this animal off but he was so big and she was so small,' Jim Martin, Cusick’s brother, said on Monday.
In another recent case, Cottingham previously pleaded guilty in April 2021 to the killings of 17-year-old Mary Ann Pryor and 16-year-old Lorraine Marie Kelly.
The two friends left their North Bergen homes on August 9, 1974, for a shopping trip 13 miles
