The Times Square Killer: The Messed Up Truth

May 2024 ยท 2 minute read

In May 1980, Richard Cottingham attacked four women with terrible barbarity, killing three of them. The first victim was 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street, whose body was found naked and bloodied in a Hasbrouck Heights motel on May 4 (via Radford University). Second was Pamela Weisenfeld, who Cottingham dumped in a parking lot after drugging, beating, and biting her on May 12. She survived the attack. Third was 25-year-old Jean Reyner, whose body was found stabbed and strangled on May 15. Lastly, the body of Leslie O'Dell, an 18-year-old sex worker, was found tortured on May 22. 

Leslie O'Dell was Cottingham's final victim. According to "Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters," he had seduced her with drinks and a steak dinner, treating her with sympathy and generosity (via Murderpedia). She agreed to have sex with Cottingham for $100, so he brazenly checked in to the Hasbrouck Heights motel, where he had murdered Valerie Ann Street just weeks before. There, he attacked O'Dell for some four hours. Fortunately, her screams were heard by fellow guests, who called the police. 

Cottingham attempted to flee but was promptly apprehended. According to "Hunting Humans: An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers" (via Murderpedia), Cottingham was sentenced to over 200 years in prison after separate trials in 1981, 1982, and 1984. 

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