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Richard Francis Cottingham (born November 25, 1946) is an American serial killer who operated in New York City between 1967 and 1980. He was also known as the Butcher of Times Square, the New York Ripper, and the Times Square Ripper, due to his modus operandi of dismembering his victims and leaving only their torsos behind. His victims were exclusively female, with most of them being prostitutes. He would usually take them to hotel rooms where they would have sex, after which he would brutally murder them and cut up their bodies. On several occasions he lit the bodies on fire, with one such occasion nearly burning down a hotel.
Cottingham is officially known to have killed six people, but he claims to be responsible for 85 to 100 murders. On May 22, 1980, Cottingham picked up eighteen-year-old Leslie Ann O'Dell, who was soliciting on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 25th Street. At some point she agreed to have sex with him for $100. Around dawn, they checked into the same Hasbrouck Heights motel where he had left his last mutilated victim. He then raped her at knifepoint and began to torture her, nearly biting off one of her nipples. O'Dell's screams were heard by the hotel staff, who called the police, who apprehended Cottingham upon arriving.
A strong case was built against Cottingham due to the testimony of three surviving victims. He was found guilty of murder drawing a sentence of 173 to 197 years in prison. In two following trials he was found guilty of four second degree murders. He is currently incarcerated in New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, New Jersey.