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A seventy-year-old serial killer from USASentenced to life in prison, he pleaded guilty Monday to the unsolved 1968 death of a woman, which he was charged with this year thanks to advances in DNA technology, and admitted to killing four other women.
Richard Cottingham76, who is credited with more than a dozen murders of women in the New York and New Jersey area between 1967 and 1980, pleaded guilty to raping and killing Diane Cusicka dance teacher who was 23 years old in 1968, according to a statement from the County Prosecutor’s Office Nassauin long Island (New York).
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By the death of cusickthe judge has imposed cottingham between 25 years and life imprisonment, a sentence that will be symbolic since the man was already going to spend the rest of his days behind bars for all the murders that weigh on his shoulders.
In addition, the nicknamed “Torso Killer” (“assassin of the torso”) and “murderer of Times Square”, admitted to having killed four other young women between 1972 and 1973 in the county of Nassau -Mary Beth Heinz, Laverne Moye, Sheila Heiman and Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves- as part of an agreement with the authorities, so he will not be charged for those crimes.
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The Prosecutor’s Office Nassau accused cottingham last June for the death of cusick and its main person in charge, prosecutor Anne Donnelly, said then that the accusation was the result of “advances in DNA technology”, which has helped to resolve many cases in which biological clues were preserved in recent years.
Donnelly said at the time that it was about the oldest DNA clue that has managed to trigger an accusation in the country.
According to the note from the Prosecutor’s Office, in 2021 the forensic office of Nassau retested certain tests related to the Cusick murder dated 54 years agoand in early 2022 they were finally able to obtain a DNA profile, which matched Cottingham’s.
The victim’s only daughter was present today at the murderer’s guilty plea, which was made by videoconference since he is admitted to a hospital, and thanked the authorities for continuing to seek justice for her mother over the years.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
