Convicted serial killer Richard Cottingham confesses to 1965 N.J. cold case murder, police say
By Vanessa Murdock
A convicted serial killer recently confessed to a 60-year-old New Jersey cold case murder, police said.
Alys Eberhardt, an 18-year-old nursing student, was brutally murdered in her Fair Lawn home on Sept. 24, 1965. Now, her family finally has some answers about her death.
Cold case reopened after prompting from victim’s old classmate
Early attempts to find Eberhardt’s killer failed and her case went cold for 55 years.
Then, in 2021, Fair Lawn Police Det. Brian Rypkema got a phone call from a classmate of Eberhardt’s, who asked him to start looking into it again.
The case was reopened that spring with Rypkema and Sgt. Eric Eleshewich.
“The first thing that we’re doing is we got a case here from 1965, so we’re looking at everything,” Eleshewich said.
Then, a man named Richard Cottingham, also known as the “Torso Killer,” started making local headlines.
“He was on no one’s radar back then,” Eleshewich said.
While imprisoned, serving three life sentences for other murders, Cottingham confessed to the 1974 murders of Bergen County teens Loraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor.
Eleshewich said they realized Cottingham lived in the area at the time of Eberhardt’s murder and decided to go visit him at Trenton State Prison.
“This is definitely our guy”
“We said we were detectives from the Fair Lawn Police Department, and right away, he was intrigued by that. He said, ‘Ah, Fair Lawn,'” Rypkema said.
Rypkema and Eleshewich spent five hours building rapport with Cottingham.
In conversations with Fair Lawn Police, Cottingham claimed he had murdered at least 80 people. In 2022, he confessed to murdering six Long Island women.
During their second visit, Rypkema and Eleshewich brought up Eberhardt.
“Just little ways he reacted to questions, things of that nature, we were like, this is definitely our guy,” Eleshewich said.
One specific question that came up left them with zero doubt Cottingham murdered Eberhardt.
“I asked him about how he entered the house, and he corrected me and told me the perpetrator did it a different way,” Eleshewich said.
“Our family has waited since 1965 for the truth”
Rypkema and Eleshewich said they visited Cottingham in prison more than five times, finally securing a confession on Dec. 22, 2025.
“It was a huge sense of relief,” Eleshewich said.
An agreement between the Bergen County prosecutor and Fair Lawn Police means no criminal charges will be filed against Cottingham for Eberhardt’s murder.
“He’s going to spending the rest of life in prison [for other murders],” Eleshewich said.
Eleshewich added, “To be able to finally make that call [to Eberhardt’s family] on the 23rd, that’s what it’s all about.”
In a statement, Eberhardt’s nephew Michael Smith wrote, “Our family has waited since 1965 for the truth … to be able to tell my mother, Alys’s sister, that we finally have answers — was a moment I never thought would come.”
Cottingham’s entire confession was recorded on video. CBS News New York asked the Fair Lawn Police Department when it will be made public and learned no timeline is set.
Cottingham has been incarcerated with the New Jersey Department of Corrections since 1981 and remains imprisoned at South Woods State Prison.
Serial killer confesses in 1965 murder of 18-year-old Alys Eberhardt of Fair Lawn, NJ
Anthony Johnson reports on the murder confession.
FAIR LAWN, New Jersey (WABC) — The murder of an 18-year-old woman back in 1965 has been solved after nearly six decades.
The Fair Lawn Police Department says at long last, they have closed their only unsolved homicide case.
They say convicted serial killer Richard Cottingham confessed to the 1965 murder of 18-year-old Alys Eberhardt, a nursing student, who was found stabbed and bludgeoned in her family’s home.
The case was reopened in 2021 under then-Chief Glen Cauwels. Detectives Eric Eleshewich and Brian Rypkema led the renewed investigation, eventually linking Cottingham, who is already serving multiple life sentences for other killings, to the crime.
Cottingham, incarcerated since 1981, admitted to the murder during interviews late last year as his health declined.
Detectives say he provided details about the home and crime scene that were never made public.
“He would give us little clues, things of that nature, and where he would react to certain questions and it was just constant communication with him over the years,” Det. Eleshewich said.
Cottingham first spotted Eberhardt when she attended nursing school at Hackensack Hospital. Two weeks later she was stabbed and bludgeoned to death.
Cottingham became a killer with a long track record of murder. He became known as the “torso killer” back in 2022, when he admitted to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick on Long Island, and family members let the aging convict know their pain. During that hearing, Cottingham confessed to four other murders of young women on Long Island.
Now for the Eberhardt family, the long wait for justice is over.
“Closing Fair Lawn’s sole outstanding unsolved homicide is a tremendous accomplishment,” said Chief Joseph Dawicki. “While we cannot bring Alys back, I am hopeful her family can find some peace knowing her killer confessed and is behind bars.”
“They were relieved because I mean, 60 years of not knowing, you know, who killed their family, they were relieved and grateful for us, for our persistence to continue looking into this case,” Det. Rypkema said.
For Eberhardt’s family, the confession brings long-awaited closure. “Our family has waited since 1965 for the truth,” said Michael Smith, her nephew. “To receive this news during the holidays, and to be able to tell my mother, Alys’s sister, that we finally have answers was a moment I never thought would come.”
Cottingham remains in South Woods State Prison serving three life sentences and faces additional murder detainers. Authorities say no new charges will be filed.
Killer confesses to NJ teen’s murder 60 years later: Police
by: Emily Rahhal
FAIRLAWN, N.J. (PIX11) – A serial killer has confessed to a New Jersey murder that’s been a mystery since 1965, the Fair Lawn Police Department announced Tuesday.
Richard Cottingham, known as the “torso killer,” confessed to the murder of Alys Eberhardt, an 18-year-old nurse killed in 1965 in Fair Lawn, police said.More Local News
Eberhardt was stabbed and beaten in her family home. In confessing, Cottingham provided new details about the case, police said.
Eberhardt’s family said the confession is a huge moment to honor the young woman’s memory.
“Our family has waited since 1965 for the truth. To receive this news during the holidays — and to be able to tell my mother, Alys’s sister, that we finally have answers — was a moment I never thought would come,” said Michael Smith, Eberhardt’s nephew.
Cottingham has been tied to many murders in New York and New Jersey. Most recently, in 2022, the “torso killer” admitted to five murders on Long Island in the 1960s and ’70s. The name comes from killings in Times Square in 1979 that inspired a docuseries titled “Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer.”
Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter who has covered New York City since 2023 after reporting in Los Angeles for years. She joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter here.
