The Fair Lawn Police Department announced on Tuesday the closure of the 1965 murder case of 18-year-old Alys Eberhardt.
"Alys was just 18 years old when her life was tragically taken in her family home in 1965. For nearly six decades, her family lived without answers. While nothing can undo this loss, we hope that today finally brings some measure of peace to those who have carried this pain for so long," the department up to 100 homicides going back to the 1960s, though authorities in New York and New Jersey have officially linked him to about a dozen of the crimes, The Associated Press reported.
Cottingham, who is widely known as the "Torso Killer" because he brutally dismembered some of his victims, has confessed to various killings over the years.
In April 2021, Cottingham admitted to committing the slayings of 17-year-old Mary Ann Pryor and 16-year-old Lorraine Marie Kelly in 1974, New York City area in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the AP reported. Cottingham was sentenced to 25 years to life for the 1968 killing of 23-year-old Diane Cusick but received immunity from prosecution on the other four killings as part of a plea deal. He was previously convicted of killing three women in New York and two in northern New Jersey.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.