Convicted serial killer Richard Cottingham admitted in court to killing five Long Island women in the 1960s and 70s.
Cottingham has been in a New Jersey prison since 1981 after he was convicted of his first murders. Since then, he has pleaded guilty to more than a dozen murders — including an additional five women in Long Island. He admitted to a reporter that he committed between 80 and 100 “perfect murders.”
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly, granted Cottingham immunity from four of the Long Island killings in exchange for his guilty plea in the murder of Diane Cusick, a New Hyde Park woman found raped and strangled in the backseat of her car.
For Cusick’s murder, a judge added another 25 years to Cottingham’s current multiple life sentences. With Cottingham’s help, Nassau County police were able to identify his four other Long Island victims.
