Decades later, ‘Torso Killer’ charged in killing at NY mall
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — More than five decades after Diane Cusick’s lifeless body was discovered in the parking lot of a mall on New York’s Long Island, authorities have linked her death to the so-called “Torso Killer,” a serial killer already convicted in 11 other killings.
The suspect, Richard Cottingham — believed to be one of America’s most prolific serial killers — was arraigned Wednesday on a second-degree murder charge in connection with Cusick’s 1968 killing. From a hospital bed in New Jersey, where he’s already serving a life sentence for other killings, Cottingham pleaded not guilty.
While he has claimed he was responsible for up to 100 homicides, authorities in New York and New Jersey have officially linked him to only a dozen so far, including Cusick’s death. He has been imprisoned since 1980, when he was arrested after a motel maid heard a woman screaming inside his room. Authorities found her alive but bound with handcuffs and suffering from bite marks and knife wounds.
Cottingham asked to be arraigned Wednesday by video feed from the New Jersey hospital because he was in poor health, bedridden and not ambulatory, Judge Caryn Fink said. He needed his lawyer, Jeff Groder, to repeat the judge’s questions several times because he has difficulty hearing, Groder said.
“He is a violent predator and no matter how he looks today in a hospital bed he was not always a feeble older man,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in an interview with The Associated Press. “He was a young 22-year-old when he committed the murder of Ms. Cusick. He was strong, stronger than these women were, and he was violent.”
Authorities believe Cusick, 23, left her job at a children’s dance school and then stopped at the Green Acres Mall in Nassau County to buy a pair of...
