'Torso Killer' Confesses To 1974 Murder Of 2 North Bergen Teens

NORTH BERGEN, NJ — Serial killer Richard Cottingham has admitted to two more murders while behind bars in New Jersey State Prison.

Cottingham, known as the "torso killer," admitted to the 1974 murders of Mary Ann Pryor and Lorraine Kelly in a sworn statement to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Chief of Detectives Robert Anzilotti.

He was charged with two counts of murder, but waived his right to prosecutor by indictment, and agreed to plead guilty. Cottingham admitted to kidnapping and raping the teenagers before their murder in a court appearance Tuesday.

"This is a somber day as we revisit the horrific acts and terror this man brought upon Bergen County nearly 50 years ago," said Prosecutor Mark Musella.

"It is my fervent hope that this arrest and conviction bring some semblance of closure to the friends and family of Mary Ann and Lorraine and a measure of justice to members of our communities, who have long feared this unknown actor."

August 1974

On the afternoon of Aug. 9, 1974, Pryor and Kelly, both of North Bergen, New Jersey, left their homes and were last seen walking together on Broad Avenue in Ridgefield, New Jersey, the Prosecutor's Office said.

They had told several people they were attempting to get to a Paramus shopping mall, according to the prosecutor. Witnesses told police at the time that the two were hitchhiking and got into a vehicle driven by an unknown white male.

Kelly and Pryor were reported missing to the North Bergen Police Department after they didn't return home that night. Five days later, on Aug. 14, the bodies of the two missing girls were located in a wooded area of Montvale, New Jersey, the prosecutor said.

The Prosecutor’s Office, North Bergen Police Department, and Montvale Police Department conducted "an extensive investigation and exhausted all leads" at the time.

While Cottingham was arrested and charged in 1980 on the sexual assault and murder of multiple young women in Bergen County and New York City, detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office were not able to prove that he had murdered Pryor and Kelly until the April 14 recording.

"Torso Killer"

Cottingham has been incarcerated in New Jersey State Prison since July 1981 after being convicted of six murders in New Jersey and New York.

According to a Patch report, he was dubbed the "Torso Killer" because he often dismembered the bodies of his victims after their death.

This isn't the first time in recent years Cottingham has admitted to additional murders.

Cottingham admitted to the homicides of Jacalyn Harp, Irene Blase, and Denise Falasco in January 2020, according to a Patch report. Each of the teenagers were strangled to death. Read more: 'Torso Killer' Confesses To Murdering 3 Bergen Teens In The 1960s

Keep up to date with what's happening in your community by subscribing to your local Patch newsletter here.