'Torso Killer' Confesses To Murdering 3 Bergen Teens In The 1960s

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ – A serial killer known as the “Torso Killer” has confessed to murdering three teenage girls from Bergen County back in the late 1960s, bringing the unsolved cases to a close more than five decades later, according to authorities.

Richard Cottingham admitted to the homicides of Jacalyn Harp, Irene Blase, and Denise Falasco, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office said. According to Assistant Prosecutor Elizabeth Rebein, each girl was strangled to death.

Harp, a 13-year-old girl from Midland Park, was murdered on July 17, 1968 in her hometown as she was walking home from band practice, Rebein said.

Blase, an 18-year-old from Bogota, was abducted in Hackensack on April 7, 1969 and found in Saddle Brook the next day, while Denise Falasco, a 15-year-old from Closter, was abducted in Emerson on July 14, 1969 and found the following day in Saddle Brook.

Prosecutors did not say why he decided to confess after all these years.

The 73-year-old has been incarcerated in New Jersey State Prison since July 1981 after being convicted of six murders in New Jersey and New York. He is eligible for parole in five years.

Cottingham dubbed the “Torso Killer” because he was often dismember the bodies of his victims after killing them.

Rebein said, “The families of these victims were immediately and confidentially notified when the cases were solved. There were no previous public announcements so as not to imperil continuing investigations. For similar reasons, there will be no further public comment on these or other similar continuing investigations by this office."