A serial killer serving life for murdering nearly a dozen women and girls in New Jersey and New York is expected to appear in court on Long Island Monday on charges he strangled a woman in a mall parking lot more than 50 years ago, authorities say.
Richard Cottingham, currently serving a life sentence in New Jersey state prison for his crimes, has claimed to be responsible for up to 100 murders over the decades. He was
. Cusick was a 23-year-old dance teacher and mother of one when she was found beaten, raped and duct-taped in her car in Valley Stream's Green Acres Mall parking lot that year.Cottingham allegedly pretended to be a security guard or police officer to get Cusick -- and others -- to go with him, Det. Captain Steven Fitzpatrick said at a news briefing in June.
Cottingham pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge in Cusick's case several months ago and was remanded. He faces another life sentence if convicted. “Diane Cusick, a 23-year-old mother, called her parents on the night of February 15, 1968, to tell them she was going to the mall to purchase shoes. She never returned home," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in announcing the June indictment."Cusick was allegedly bound and murdered by Richard Cottingham."
"It was only through advances in DNA technology that the NCDA and our partners at the Nassau County Police Department, could solve this 54-year-old cold case and identify a suspect in Ms. Cusick’s tragic death," Donnelly added."We make a promise to her surviving daughter today: we will bring her mother’s killer to justice."
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