A serial killer linked to a total of 17 murders in New Jersey and New York has allegedly admitted to killing a woman in New Jersey six decades earlier.
In December, “Torso Killer” Richard Cottingham, 79, reportedly confessed to murdering Alys Eberhardt, 18, a nursing student who was found stabbed and bludgeoned at her family’s Fair Lawn home in 1965. The Bergen Record reported that Eberhardt’s case was reopened in 2021 — and Fair Lawn police believe it is one of Cottingham’s earliest slayings.
A month before his confession, Dr. Peter Vronsky, an associate of Cottingham’s, told investigators that he would like to speak with them because his health was deteriorating. Cottingham provided authorities with a verbal and written confession which included details about the Eberhardt’s home and murder that were not known to the public, according to the Bergen Record.
NJ.com reported that Eberhardt had a skull fracture and was stabbed 61 times. Her father discovered her body.
Cottingham has been jailed since 1981 and is serving three life sentences at South Woods State Prison in New Jersey. He gained the “Torso Killer” moniker because his victims were found dismembered with their breasts, limbs, and heads removed.
By day, Cottingham worked for an insurance company and lived with his family in Bergen County. Cottingham would carry out the slayings at night, primarily targeting at-risk girls who he would kill at motels and other concealed locations.
Cottingham was convicted of nine murders. He confessed to eight more, but he did not stand trial for them due to non-prosecution agreements. While Vronsky said Cottingham has confessed to killing dozens more, investigators have been skeptical as there has been inconsistencies in Cottingham’s statements.
Fair Lawn police said they are not seeking criminal charges in this case.
“Our family has waited since 1965 for the truth. To receive this news during the holidays – and to be able to tell my mother, Alys’ sister, that we finally have answers – was a moment I never thought would come,” said Michael Smith, Eberhardt’s nephew.
“Richard Cottingham is the personification of evil, yet I am grateful that he has finally chosen to answer the questions that have haunted our family for decades. We will never know why, but at least we finally know who.”
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[Feature Photo: Bergen County police; Fair Lawn police]