A serial killer who once claimed to have killed about 100 women has confessed to another murder – the 1965 slaying of an 18-year-old New Jersey nursing student.
Richard Cottingham, 79, also known as the “Torso Killer,” has admitted to murdering Alys Eberhardt inside her family’s home more than 60 years ago, ending one of the town’s oldest unsolved cases, the Fair Lawn Police Department announced Tuesday.
Cottingham has been imprisoned since 1980, when he was arrested after a motel maid heard a woman screaming inside his room. His nickname – the “Torso Killer” – came from the brutal dismemberment of several victims, whose limbs and heads were severed.
In Eberhardt’s case, police say she was stabbed and beaten in her Fair Lawn home. In his confession, Cottingham provided details about the crime that had never been publicly released, investigators said.
The latest admission follows a renewed investigative push after the case was reopened in 2021. Fair Lawn detectives revisited evidence, conducted extensive interviews, and pursued leads over several years before Cottingham ultimately provided a full confession.
Chief Joseph Dawicki said the case underscores both the loss suffered by the community and the persistence of investigators.
“Alys was a vibrant young nursing student who was taken from our community far too soon,” Dawicki said.
“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. 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, who was convicted in 1980 of killing three women in New Jersey and two women at a Times Square hotel, is currently serving multiple life sentences.
At the time of his arrest, Cottingham was a married father of three living in Bergen County, New Jersey, working as a computer operator in Midtown Manhattan for Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
In recent years, while behind bars, Cottingham has confessed to multiple murders.
In 2021, he admitted to picking up two New Jersey girls on their way to a mall in 1974, torturing them for days before drowning them in a hotel bathtub. In 2022, he confessed to five cold-case murders in Nassau County, New York, including the sexual assault and strangulation of young mother Diane Cusick, whose body was found in the back seat of her car after she went shopping at Green Acres Mall.
But despite the confessions, investigators believe the full scope of his crimes may never be known.
Authorities said no additional charges will be filed in the Eberhardt case in order to provide closure to the family.
“Alys was just 18 years old when her life was tragically taken in her family home in 1965,” police said in a statement.
“For nearly six decades, her family lived without answers. While nothing can undo this loss, we hope that today finally brings some measure of peace to those who have carried this pain for so long.”
For Eberhardt’s family, the admission brought long-awaited answers and their own form of closure.
“Our family has waited since 1965 for the truth,” said Michael Smith, Eberhardt’s nephew.
“To receive this news during the holidays – and to be able to tell my mother, Alys’s sister, that we finally have answers – was a moment I never thought would come.”
