‘Torso Killer’ documentary premieres on A&E

New Jersey man murdered multiple women on

BY BRANDON DUFFY

A two-part documentary focused on Richard Cottingham, a New Jersey man known as the “Torso Killer” who murdered multiple North Shore women, premiered on A&E networks Thursday night.

The 76-year-old, who is currently serving multiple life sentences at the South Woods Estate Prison in Bridgeton, N.J., for previous murder convictions in New York and New Jersey, admitted in December to killing four additional women in Nassau County in the 1970s.

“The Torso Killer Confessions” dives into the work of Detective Robert Anzilotti of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey over multiple decades as he tries to crack the cold cases linked to Cottingham’s crimes.

“The special goes behind the scenes, exploring the relationship between the two men, and how that relationship culminated in Cottingham’s recent headline-making confessions,” A&E says of the program on its website. “Through in-depth interviews with Anzilotti, never-beforeheard audio tapes of the men’s conversations, intimate exclusive footage, and multiple confessions from Cottingham, the special is a rare look into an unrelenting journey for the truth against the odds.”

Diane Cusick, a 23-year-old mother, was a resident of New Hyde Park and an instructor at an Oceanside-based dancing school when she told her family she was going to the Valley