S13 Ep3: The Torso Killer
Blood Ties Podcast
Peter Shevlin
4.4 • 668 Ratings
🗓️ 8 September 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This is the shocking true crime story of Richard Cottingham: The Torso Killer. One of America’s most sadistic serial killers, he brutally murdered women across New York and New Jersey, earning the nickname The Times Square Ripper.
While Bundy, Dahmer, and Gacy became infamous, Cottingham stayed in the shadows. A husband, father, and insurance worker by day — a sadistic murderer by night. He drugged, tortured, mutilated, and killed, boasting of up to 100 victims.
So why have you never heard of him? Because so many of his victims were sex workers, ignored and forgotten. Now, with new Netflix documentaries and fresh confessions, the world is finally waking up to the horrifying scale of Cottingham’s crimes.
This episode pulls no punches. Prepare for the terrifying double life of America’s forgotten monster: The Torso Killer.
CREDITS:
Presenters: Geoffrey and Molly Wansell
Producer: Peter Shevlin https://pod60.com/
Artwork: George Leigh
Music: Dan Wansell
CONTACT:
Twitter: @BloodTies_Pod
Instagram: bloodties_pod
Email: bloodties.podcast@gmail.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bloodtiespodcast
Support: patreon.com/bloodtiespodcast
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A perfectly normal chap. |
| 0:07.0 | Malevolent attitude to... |
| 0:10.0 | And of course he's got endless pieces of equipment with him. |
| 0:15.0 | He's got... |
| 0:17.0 | Two female bodies, one on each bed. |
| 0:22.5 | Neither of them were there. |
| 0:27.6 | Hi, I'm Molly Wonsall. |
| 0:33.8 | And I'm Geoffrey Wonsall. |
| 0:35.1 | We're a father and daughter, as those of you who listened to blood tiesies in the past will remember, and we meet every week and often our conversation has turned to murder, which is why we originally launched Blood Ties and why we've now decided to bring it back in its new fresher form. |
| 0:50.9 | We're really excited to be back and we would love it if you could also check out our Patreon. |
| 0:56.0 | Just search Blood Ties on Patreon. |
| 0:58.0 | Thanks so much. |
| 0:58.8 | Thank you. |
| 1:03.9 | Hi everyone. |
| 1:04.9 | Welcome back to the Blood Ties podcast. |
| 1:06.7 | I'm Molly Wansall and I'm here with my father, Jeffrey Wansall. |
| 1:09.5 | Hello everyone. |
| 1:10.2 | Welcome back to Blood Ties 2.0. Yes. You're loving that. Wonderful. Were you just complaining about the BAFTAs? Yes, I was. I was saying that the BAFTA awards were... The TV BAFTAs is. I'm not sure when this will come out. How can one put it politely? Less than encouraging. Less than encouraging. Yes. I thought all the wrong people won. It was another one of those. I'm sitting there thinking, oh no. But never mind. Never mind. There you go. That's BAFTA for you. What have you watched recently that you've liked? Now, two things I've been watching. |
| 1:45.1 | One is a magnificent series on the Vietnam War on Netflix. |
| 1:49.4 | Oh yeah, I think you mentioned that to me. |
| 1:50.9 | It's absolutely terrific. |
| 1:52.0 | And I've now started watching the same production company, Luminant, the same director, |
... |
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