The Nassau County District Attorney on Richard Cottingham's Guilty Plea and Five Long Island Murders, 2022

Name: The Nassau County District Attorney on Richard Cottingham's Guilty Plea and Five Long Island Murders, 2022
Uploaded: 2022-12-05T00:00:00Z
Duration: 40 min 40 s
Description: Hours after Richard Cottingham pleaded guilty to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick, Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly set out the five Long Island murders he admitted, and relatives of three of the women spoke.

Hours after Richard Cottingham pleaded guilty to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick, Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly set out the five Long Island murders he admitted, and relatives of three of the women spoke.

Subject: Richard Cottingham
Recorded: December 5, 2022
Runtime: 40:40

Content warning: Concerns the murders of five young women between 1968 and 1973, including strangulation, a bludgeoning described with injury detail, and a reference to sexual assault.

The Interview

This is not an interview with Richard Cottingham, and his voice is not heard. It is the 40-minute press conference that Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly held on December 5, 2022, hours after Cottingham pleaded guilty to the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick, as posted on her office's YouTube channel. Donnelly sets out what investigators learned about five murders of young women on Long Island between 1968 and 1973. Three relatives of the victims then speak: Jeanne Heinz, the sister of Mary Beth Heinz; John Moye, the son of Laverne Moye; and Randi Childs, the daughter of Sheila Heiman. The video ends with questions from reporters, answered by Donnelly and Detective Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick of the Nassau County Police Department's Homicide Squad.

Historical Context

Richard Cottingham, a computer operator from New Jersey, was arrested in 1980 and convicted between 1981 and 1984 of murders in New Jersey and New York City. Several of the New York City killings involved mutilation, and the press called him the "Torso Killer" and the "Times Square Killer". Decades later, while serving life terms in New Jersey, he began admitting older killings. In 2021 he pleaded guilty to the 1974 murders of two teenagers in Montvale, New Jersey. On February 15, 1968, Diane Cusick, a 23-year-old dance teacher from New Hyde Park and the mother of a young daughter, was strangled in her car outside the Green Acres Mall. The case went cold.

Circumstances of the Recording

According to Donnelly, a tip from Suffolk County in July 2021 led Nassau County police to reopen unsolved killings of women. Advances in DNA testing then produced a profile from Diane Cusick's clothing that matched Cottingham in early 2022. He was indicted in June 2022 for her murder, which the District Attorney's Office described as possibly the oldest DNA prosecution in the United States. On the morning of December 5, 2022, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years to life, consecutive to his other sentences. In the same hearing he admitted the murders of Mary Beth Heinz, Laverne Moye, Sheila Heiman and Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves. The press conference followed later that day.

What the Interview Covers

Donnelly takes the cases in order: - **Mary Beth Heinz, 21,** of Mineola. She disappeared on her way home on May 5, 1972, and was found strangled in a stream in Rockville Centre five days later. - **Laverne Moye, 23,** of St. Albans, Queens, a mother of two. She was found in the same stream on July 20, 1972. - **Sheila Heiman, 33,** a mother of three. She was beaten to death in her North Woodmere home on July 20, 1973. Donnelly says Heiman's husband, Leon, had lived under suspicion until his death in 2004, and declares, "Mr. Heiman, you are exonerated." - **Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves, 18,** who had recently come to New York from Puerto Rico. She was found strangled at Jones Beach on December 27, 1973. Donnelly appeals for help in finding her family.

Donnelly says investigators interviewed Cottingham for more than a dozen hours with his attorney present. They held back details of the cases, and he described facts that she says only the killer would know. She reports his claim that he had not planned the killings and killed a woman if she became a threat to identify him. She says the statute of limitations prevented a charge for the sexual assault of Diane Cusick. She also rejects the idea that he killed only sex workers.

The three relatives thank the detectives and prosecutors and speak about their losses. Randi Childs answers the long suspicion of her father: "my poor dad lived with that until the day he died." In the questions, asked about Cottingham's claim of more than 100 victims, the answer from the podium (probably Donnelly's) calls it "his claim". Captain Fitzpatrick describes him in the interviews as "cagey" and working on a "give me something before I give you something" basis.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The press conference is the prosecutor's own public account of the five Nassau County cases, including how Cottingham's admissions were tested against details kept back from him. It also records the moment the District Attorney publicly cleared Leon Heiman, and the response of his daughter. It is the office's first-hand record of what it said that day.

Archival Importance

The Cusick case was solved through DNA 54 years after the murder. The video preserves the office's statement of the facts of all five cases, the names and ages of the women, and the appeal for relatives of Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves. It also preserves what the families said in their own words.

Important Caveats

- Cottingham is not heard. Everything attributed to him here, including why he killed and how he chose his victims, is the District Attorney's or a detective's account of his statements. - He was convicted only of Diane Cusick's murder at this hearing. The other four were admitted in open court, but he was not charged with them. - The totals of his victims given in the questions ("10 or 11", "17", "more than 100") are rough estimates, a figure called out off-microphone, and his own claim. None is a verified count. - Some of the questions and answers near the end were spoken away from the microphone, and who is speaking is not always clear.

Anne T. Donnelly: Good morning, everyone. I'd like to begin by acknowledging some important people who are here. The family members of the victims of Richard Cottingham: Darlene Altman, Jeanne Heinz, John Moye and Kim Tinsley, the Heiman family, Todd, Bruce, and Randi. Chief of Detectives Christopher Ferro; commanding officer of the Homicide Squad, Captain Detective Stephen Fitzpatrick; the Nassau County District Attorney's Office Homicide Bureau Chief Jared Rosenblatt; Detective Daniel Finn and Detective Gina Salerno. Good morning, and thank you to everyone for being here.

Anne T. Donnelly: This morning, serial killer Richard Cottingham pleaded guilty to 23-year-old Diane Cusick's murder in February of 1968. Judge Caryn Fink then sentenced the defendant to 25 years to life in prison, consecutive to the prison terms he's already serving. Cottingham also admitted in open court to the murders of Mary Beth Heinz, Laverne Moye, Sheila Heiman, and Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves.

Anne T. Donnelly: Today is one of the most emotional days we've ever had in the Nassau County District Attorney's Office. In the case of Diane Cusick, her family has waited nearly 55 years for someone to be held accountable for her death. Mary Beth was only 21 years of age in 1972. Laverne, a mother of two, just 23. Sheila, a mother of three children, was 33 years old. And Maria, a young woman who had recently moved to New York from Puerto Rico, was only 18 years old. This defendant has caused irreparable harm to so many people and so many families. There's almost nothing I can say to give comfort to anyone.

Anne T. Donnelly: Remember, as families gather during this holiday season, it's important to remember these families and those that they lost. These families have spent every Thanksgiving for the last 50 years without their mom, without their sister, wondering what happened and why their family had to endure this terrible tragedy. Today, I'm going to discuss some of the information we've learned about Richard Cottingham's activities here on Long Island.

Anne T. Donnelly: As most of you know, this past June, we announced the indictment of Cottingham for the murder of Diane Cusick. We believe it is one of, if not the oldest DNA prosecutions in the United States. Ms. Cusick was 23 years of age and a mother of one. She worked as a dance instructor with little children. The first time I met her daughter, I commented on the beautiful necklace she had on with a pair of ballet slippers, and she told me that they were her mother's, and she wore them here so her mother could see her killer admit to killing her.

Anne T. Donnelly: On the evening of Thursday, February 15th, 1968, Ms. Cusick wrapped up her last class at 7 p.m. The New Hyde Park woman told her parents she was going to stop by Green Acres Shopping Mall to pick up a pair of dance shoes before she came home. But Ms. Cusick never came home that night. Her concerned parents went to Green Acres late that evening, and her father Bernard found his daughter strangled in the back of Diane's Plymouth Valiant. The police department worked on the case for months and years, but eventually it went cold.

Anne T. Donnelly: In 2003, Ms. Cusick's clothing was tested for DNA. The profile that was generated at that time did not meet the criteria for being entered into the national database. In July of 2021, we were fortunate to get a tip from our partners in Suffolk County that an inmate in New Jersey may be responsible for additional homicides here on Long Island. The Nassau County Police Department generated a list of potential unsolved homicides, and working with our forensic science cold case prosecution team, we requested that certain evidence be re-examined.

Anne T. Donnelly: In early 2022, due to advancements in DNA technology, a DNA profile was generated, and we received a notification that it matched Richard Cottingham, a known serial killer with convictions in both New York City and New Jersey for murder. Based on the evidence we gathered, we presented the case to the grand jury, and they returned an indictment charging Richard Cottingham with murder in the second degree. Today he pleaded guilty, guilty for murdering Diane, and received the maximum sentence under New York State law of 25 years to life, consecutive to his other sentences.

Anne T. Donnelly: All right. Darlene, I am so sorry that this happened to you and your family. My heart breaks for the pain you and your family has had to endure.

Anne T. Donnelly: Members of the Nassau County Police Department Homicide Squad and the head of my Homicide Bureau met with Richard Cottingham multiple times for more than a dozen hours in New Jersey, where he is presently incarcerated. Mr. Cottingham was interviewed with his attorney present. We were able to learn certain facts about Nassau County murders in 1972 and 1973, and I will provide details about these cases in the order in which they happened.

Anne T. Donnelly: As some of you may know, Cottingham lived in New Jersey and worked east of Times Square in Manhattan. Importantly, we learned why Cottingham was on Long Island in the first place. The defendant had an uncle in the Massapequa area, and his wife's family lived in the Queens Village area near the county line. He would routinely cross the county line and was very familiar with the Sunrise Highway corridor. In fact, four of the five murders happened in close proximity to Sunrise Highway.

Anne T. Donnelly: On Friday, May 5th, 1972, Mary Beth Heinz went missing. The 21-year-old grew up in Mineola and worked as a live-in maid at a home in Bellmore. Mary Beth had been diagnosed with epilepsy, which was very much misunderstood at the time, and was unable to drive a car because of her condition. Mary Beth relied on public transportation, and on Friday nights she came home to her parents in Mineola. Mary Beth was expected at her parents' home that Friday night, but she never arrived.

Anne T. Donnelly: Her body was discovered five days later, at approximately 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, May 10th. She was found face down in the mud in a stream on Main Avenue, approximately 200 feet or so west of Peninsula Boulevard. A resident of Rockville Centre who regularly passed the area found the young woman. Mary Beth was asphyxiated due to strangulation and suffered contusions and abrasions on her face and neck. Today Richard Cottingham admitted to murdering Mary Beth.

Anne T. Donnelly: Jeanne, when I met you, you told me about being a big, about Mary Beth being your big sister. And ironically, today, December 5th, is my little sister's birthday. She's 10 years younger than I am, and we shared a room for most of our lives, and I don't know what she would have done if anything happened to one of her siblings. I'm sorry you had to endure this.

Anne T. Donnelly: Just a few months later, on July 20th, 1972, an 11-year-old boy was playing in the vicinity of that same stream I just spoke about and discovered the body of Laverne Moye. Laverne was a 23-year-old woman who lived in St. Albans and was recently separated from her husband. She was the mother of two young children. Her son John and his family are with us today. She too was strangled, and her body was thrown over the same bridge on Main Avenue. Today Mr. Cottingham admitted to murdering Laverne. John, you grew up without your mother, but let me tell you, you've turned out to be a fine young man, and she would be very proud of you. Sorry.

Anne T. Donnelly: Exactly one year after Laverne Moye's body was found in Rockville Centre, on July 20th, 1973, Sheila Heiman was found bludgeoned to death in her North Woodmere home. Sheila was a 33-year-old woman and was found by her husband. She had suffered multiple lacerations to her skull, a fractured jaw and a lacerated jugular vein. Sheila and her husband Leon typically took Fridays off in the summer. Their children were away at summer camp, and that morning Sheila's husband went to a department store to buy a tennis racket and toys for their children. When he returned home, the family dog was outside, and there was no evidence of a forced entry. Leon entered the home, discovered Sheila in a pool of blood and tried to render aid to his wife. He called 911, but it was too late.

Anne T. Donnelly: For the remainder of his life, Leon lived with a cloud above him, with some accusing him of murdering his wife and law enforcement viewing him as a person of interest. Unfortunately, Mr. Heiman passed away in 2004. But today we can loudly and clearly state, for his children and everyone else to hear, that he did not murder his wife. Richard Cottingham murdered Sheila Heiman. Mr. Heiman, you are exonerated.

Anne T. Donnelly: Sheila's three adult children are here: Todd, Bruce, and Randi. I can't truly understand the pain you lived under for all these years, but I hope that statement gives you a little feeling of relief. I wish your father and your grandparents were all alive to learn what you just recently learned, that Richard Cottingham is responsible for your horrific loss.

Anne T. Donnelly: The final case is the murder of Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves, and I'm appealing to all of you today. We need your help. The Nassau County Police Department, despite their best efforts, has not located any family members of the deceased, and we hope that the coverage of today's court proceeding will help connect us to her family.

Anne T. Donnelly: At approximately 3 p.m. on December 27, 1973, at Jones Beach, a state employee discovered the body of Ms. Nieves. The workers were in the area pruning trees. The 18-year-old woman was strangled to death, found in a weeded area on the north side of Ocean Parkway, a bus loading area just across from the East Bathhouse at Jones Beach. Her hands were tied behind the knees, and her body was encased in plastic bags and wrapped in a gray blanket. The cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation, and it was ruled a homicide. In fact, her neck had rope marks around it. The medical examiner noted that she had been dead for approximately 24 hours. It is possible she was murdered on Christmas Day.

Anne T. Donnelly: Ms. Nieves grew up in Puerto Rico, and it took several weeks to identify her body. She was buried in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where some of her family resided at the time. Our investigation has revealed that in 1973, Ms. Nieves's mother lived in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. A week before her death, Ms. Nieves had sent her mother money for the holiday season. Despite the police department's best efforts, they have not found any of Ms. Nieves's family members in Puerto Rico or Massachusetts yet. We are looking, and we hope to give them the same closure some of the other families have received.

Anne T. Donnelly: As we announced in June, we began a systematic examination of all cold case homicides involving women during the years that Cottingham was active, from 1967 to 1980. Based on those reviews, we identified approximately 12 to 13 unsolved murders of young women. We diligently questioned Mr. Cottingham about his activities here on Long Island, and during those interviews, we did not reveal specific facts about the case. We held back information. We did not want a scenario where a serial killer would claim credit for a murder he did not commit.

Anne T. Donnelly: In the cases of Mary Beth, Laverne, Sheila, and Maria, the defendant knew specific information about the crime scenes and the crime that only the murderer would know. We also know that Mary Beth, Laverne, and Maria were all murdered elsewhere, and their bodies moved after their murders. Today, Cottingham is in poor health, and these murders happened in the '60s and '70s. Based on our current investigation and the records we reviewed, we are confident that he killed all five of these women.

Anne T. Donnelly: Additionally, Richard Cottingham is a known sexual predator. Due to New York State law and the statute of limitations, we were unable to charge Cottingham with the sexual assault of Ms. Cusick. When the team sat down with Cottingham, they asked him, why did he choose to kill these five women? Cottingham stated he did not plan on killing them. During his interactions with the women, if a victim became a threat to identify him or his actions, he ended that woman's life.

Anne T. Donnelly: During the last 40 years, Cottingham received some notoriety for three sex work, three sex workers in the Times Square area and their murders. Let me be clear. It is a misperception that Richard Cottingham only targeted and killed sex workers. Richard Cottingham killed who he wanted, when he wanted, because he's a serial killer. That is what he is. We cannot tell you today how Richard Cottingham first met or came across any of these women. In law enforcement, it's very difficult to solve a person's murder, and it's exceptionally difficult to solve five murders that happened decades ago.

Anne T. Donnelly: There are a lot of people whose hard work brought us to today. We must thank the police officers, the detectives, the prosecutors, and members of the medical examiner's office for their diligent work in 1960 and 1970s, and those who continue their work 50 years later. When we began examining the murder of Ms. Cusick, we were fortunate to find one of the first responding officers to that tragedy. Retired police officer Jerry Miranda is here today. He was just a rookie when he responded to the scene that day at Green Acres, and more than 50 years later, he walked in with his original memo book. Thank you, Officer Miranda. He told me earlier this morning that this brought some closure for him too, because this was the case he carried for 50 years.

Anne T. Donnelly: Sadly, in some jurisdictions, these files may have been lost or destroyed by now. It is a testament to the Nassau County Police Department that the records were kept and preserved. Thank you, Detective Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick. Thank you. Thank you, Daniel Finn. Danny. Thank you, Detective Gina Salerno. And my bureau chief of the Homicide Bureau, Jared Rosenblatt, [unclear: "sorry"], for bringing this defendant to justice. I'm trying very hard not to cry for this. Uh, it is because of their hard work and the questioning of Richard Cottingham that we are here today.

Anne T. Donnelly: I'd like to say thank you to criminologist Dr. Peter Vronsky, who is with us here today. He has extensively researched Richard Cottingham, and his work has helped both law enforcement and the media cast a light on this man's depraved actions in the '60s, '70s, and early '80s. I thank the Nassau County Office of the Medical Examiner, the Biology Division, for the monumental task of generating a DNA profile on the evidence recovered from Diane Cusick's murder in 1968. I hope that this case is taught in clinical settings for years to come.

Anne T. Donnelly: In the past year, I have met some extraordinary family members who have had to live without their mother or sister. They lived for 50 years without answers. Darlene was deprived of her mother, Diane. Jeanne Heinz lost her best friend and big sister, Mary Beth. John Moye grew up without his mother, Laverne, and Kim Tinsley without her sister. And Laverne's mother (name withheld) is alive today at 94, without her daughter. The Heiman children were away at summer camp when their mom was murdered, and further suffered as people accused their father of being responsible for the grisly crime. [inaudible: a few seconds; the captions mark non-English speech or noise here] And again, I need your help in finding the family of Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves.

Anne T. Donnelly: As prosecutors and detectives, we sometimes talk about closing out cases. The sad truth is that this trauma will never end for the families here today and the hundreds of people impacted by Richard Cottingham's depraved actions. That harm spans decades and generations. Some of these women have grandchildren. The defendant deprived those children of even meeting their grandmother. We're going to hear briefly from some family members, and then myself, Detective Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick and Homicide Chief Jared Rosenblatt will take any questions. Jeanne.

Speaker: I don't know what I'm going to do with this.

Jeanne Heinz: Thank you, District Attorney Donnelly, ADA Rosenblatt, and Mr. Bureau Chief. On behalf of myself, my parents (names withheld), and my sister Mary Beth, along with our family and friends, I wish to extend our deepest gratitude, the biggest thank you, and our most sincere job well done to the Nassau County Homicide Squad, the District Attorney's Office, and all of the cooperating departments and individuals. Today we celebrate justice for Mary Beth, and my heart is full. Honestly, I never imagined her case would be resolved.

Jeanne Heinz: I have continually pursued bringing fresh eyes to her case, and I have not been alone these past 50 years and seven months to the day. I wish to acknowledge and thank posthumously Nassau County Homicide Detective Sergeant Tom DePola Sr., who was the first officer to listen to my story and, in 1978, look into Mary Beth's case for me. Thank you to retired homicide detective Richie Lane, who looked into Mary Beth's case again in 1995 and informed me, as DePola had, that nothing could be done.

Jeanne Heinz: I'd also like to thank my retired NYPD cousins (names withheld). One (name withheld) tried to get me answers in 2006. Another (name withheld) encouraged me to pursue my advocacy, and in 2018, a third (name withheld) helped me in contacting Captain Fitzpatrick. The then Lieutenant Fitzpatrick and I spoke for about 45 minutes, and I immediately felt like he was going to be a friend of my family. Today, I am thrilled to be here and say congratulations on your recent promotion to captain, and thank you for not forgetting me or my sister Mary Beth. I am forever grateful.

Jeanne Heinz: Dan and Gina: shocked doesn't begin to cover my feelings when I was first contacted about Mary Beth's case. I answered a call, and after confirming my identity, Detective Dan Finn of the Nassau County Homicide Squad identified himself and proceeded to tell me, "Don't worry, you're not in any trouble." He let me know he and his partner, the beautiful Detective Gina Salerno, had been investigating my sister's case, and I know now I would not be here today without them.

Jeanne Heinz: My feelings are very apparent for the officers I have come to know during this investigation. They have done an outstanding job, and they have done so dealing with some horrific cases. They have handled me and the memory of my sister with professionalism, compassion, and unwavering commitment to achieve today's outcome. And they do it all with ridiculous schedules and little to no thanks. Well, today, me, my friends, and family wish to say thank you, thank you, thank you.

Speaker: Spell your name, Jeanne?

Jeanne Heinz: J-E-A-N-N-E.

Anne T. Donnelly: Jeanne shared this beautiful book with me when she first came in to see me, which is all pictures of her sister that she wanted to preserve and wanted to give Detective Finn and give to Jared and give to me, to see what she lost. Thank you for sharing, Jeanne. John.

John Moye: Good afternoon. My mother's name was Laverne Moye, and I'm her son, John Moye. On behalf of the Moye family, I want to thank you, District Attorney Donnelly. I want to thank Detectives Fitzpatrick, Finn, and Salerno. I want to thank my brother of another mother, Jared Rosenblatt, and (name withheld). You know, if I'm forgetting anybody, I certainly apologize. There's been some dark days behind us, but today the sun shines brightly, because justice has been served, God is good, and because of these people, these men and women who have dedicated their lives and their careers in the service of others. Didn't forget us, Jeanne. Didn't forget Mary Beth and all the other families.

John Moye: And so my mother was a person, 23 years old, taken too early, left my sister behind and my grandchildren and my grandmother and my grandfather left to holding, picking up the pieces. But I want to thank you all for your service, and thank you for solving this case and bringing some closure to our families. And God bless you all, and thank you all very much.

Speakers: Thank you. What's next? Randi? Yeah, Randi. Okay, thank you. Yeah, I'm so sorry.

Randi Childs: Good afternoon. I'm Randi Childs, Sheila Heiman's daughter, and I'm speaking on behalf of my two older brothers, Todd Heiman and Bruce Heiman. We stand here today in honor of our beautiful mother, who was brutally taken from us on July 20th, 1973. At 33 years old, she had her whole life ahead of her. At the time of her murder, my brother Todd was 13, Bruce 10, and I was 8. Her loss was devastating to our entire family, and over the last 49 years, not a day has gone by that we haven't thought about her and missed her terribly.

Randi Childs: She was a wonderful mother, wife, daughter, sister, and friend. She was the type of person that everyone wanted to be around. She was kind, generous, fun-loving, and she had a wonderful sense of humor. It breaks our hearts that she was so cruelly deprived of many of life's joys, especially the opportunity to raise her children and meet and fawn over her grandchildren. Nevertheless, in the brief time that she was with us, she made a powerful impact and taught us, by example, to be kind, compassionate, and resilient. I know that she would be extremely proud of us all today.

Randi Childs: We would also like to honor our father. I'm just going to hold up a photo of my parents. [Applause] Lee Heiman, who sadly passed away in 2004 without having the closure that we have been given today. He was a kind and generous man who loved our mother deeply and who spent too many years living in the shadow of his wife's murder. I was not going to speak about that today, but since it was addressed, I just want to say that my father, anyone who knew him, his family and his dear friends, knew that he was never capable of doing any such thing. And there was really nothing, no reason why he should have been suspected, and my poor dad lived with that until the day he died. This is my mom. Okay. Um.

Randi Childs: My brothers and I learned too early in life that the world can be a dark and dangerous place, and that there are people who can inflict harm upon us, even in the perceived safety of our own home. The three of us were away at sleepaway camp when our mom was murdered. Todd, at the age of 13, learned of our mother's murder on a portable radio during rest time in his bunk. At that time, they didn't need to notify the next of kin before it was released to the public. From that moment on, my brother Todd became our protector and made it his mission to look after Bruce and me. Bruce, at the age of 11, sorry, 10, 10, took on the responsibility of keeping things in perspective and showing us how to find happiness despite the horrific trauma we had endured. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful, wonderful brothers.

Randi Childs: For all of our friends who are listening to this now and who never knew the true story about our mother's death, please understand that it was such a painful experience and too difficult for us to share with everyone. In closing, I would like to say that we feel enormous gratitude for the unrelenting dedication and hard work of the two homicide detectives, Daniel Finn and Gina Salerno, who reopened and solved our mother's cold case while showing enormous compassion for our family. We would also like to thank the Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly, the Assistant District Attorney and Bureau Chief Jared Rosenblatt, Captain [unclear: "Fitzpatrick" / "Stephen, uh, sorry"], and everyone else involved in this case, without whose dedication to truth and justice our cathartic closure today would never have occurred.

Randi Childs: We've been living for decades without the hope of ever discovering who had murdered our mother. We cannot thank you all enough. We would also like to take a moment to express our deepest condolences to the Cusick family, the Moye family, the Heinz family, and the [unclear: "Abbs" / "Ebbs"] family. We share your grief, and we are so sorry that you too have had to endure such pain and trauma in your lives. Thank you. My name is Randi, R-A-N-D-I, and my last name is Childs, C-H-I-L-D-S. Thank you. Thank you.

Anne T. Donnelly: Do we have any questions?

Reporter: Annie, do you know now what the tally is of murders that he has been convicted of? Do we know the number?

Anne T. Donnelly: No. If I was to [unclear: "guess" / "garner"], I guess I would say 10 or 11.

Speaker: 17.

Anne T. Donnelly: 11, yeah.

Speaker: 17.

Anne T. Donnelly: Is that [unclear: "Mr. Bronx"; probably "Dr. Vronsky"]? Mm-hmm. Even better.

Reporter: In speaking with detectives, did he ever give any inkling as to his motive?

Anne T. Donnelly: Um, no. His, his motive is purely to satisfy his own rage, strength, twisted desires.

Reporter: Do you have any idea of where he approached the women that he admitted to killing today?

Anne T. Donnelly: No, the only one we know is that Diane was at the Green Acres Mall.

Reporter: He has claimed to have more than 100 victims spread across New Jersey, the metro area. Do you believe it's true, that it could be that many, potentially that many victims?

Anne T. Donnelly: Do you want to answer that? I'm not going to take a position on that. I don't know if we can ever say that. I mean, that's his claim. But I don't know if there's some twisted satisfaction he gets out of claiming that many.

Reporter: Are we looking at any other possible cases in Nassau County? I mean, today obviously he admitted to the five. Are there more that happened within the time frame of looking at that he could be connected to, possibly?

Anne T. Donnelly: As I said, originally we had 13 we were looking into. These are the five we could be sure that he committed. But the Nassau County Police Department prides itself on the fact that they never give up trying to solve murders, and they never will. So those cases will continue to be looked at, and they will continue to be brought to my office if we do find any new, uh, information to lead us to believe whoever committed those crimes.

Reporter: You mentioned that there was a corridor along Sunrise Highway between Queens and Nassau County. Were some of these victims from Queens? They were living in Queens, right? I think maybe you said St. Albans, right?

Anne T. Donnelly: St. Albans was where Laverne was living. Obviously, the Heiman family was in North Woodmere. That's where she was murdered. And we believe Mary Beth was in the New Hyde Park area, or coming, she worked in Bellmore, coming, you know, trying to come home for the weekend.

Reporter: I'm curious, in the other cases that you, I guess you had asked him about 13 cases in total, what was unclear about his responses in the other ones that didn't, you know?

Anne T. Donnelly: He did not have clear memories, as he did in these five cases, of pieces of the crime scene that the detectives and the prosecutors were able to review, that he, only he, only the murderer could ever have known about.

Reporter: Just a question: your thoughts when he refused to speak?

Anne T. Donnelly: My thought is it just goes to prove the coward that he really is.

Reporter: Captain Fitzpatrick, did you go in person to meet?

Stephen Fitzpatrick: Yes.

Reporter: [unclear: "How was your hiding room?"] What was it like to meet him? Was he cagey? Was he forthcoming? What was that like?

Stephen Fitzpatrick: Oh. He was cagey. He was, you know, he was, um, "You give me something before I give you something." Um, that's not the way we would approach this. Um, just like the DA said, it's, he has to be more forthcoming in giving us information within those files that only he would know. For us to give him any kind of a tidbit or anything to say, "Hey, do you know about this case?", it's almost we're giving him that, and then he can kind of maneuver that. So we would rather get the information coming all the way, one way.

Reporter: Captain, were there any physical artifacts recovered that linked him?

Stephen Fitzpatrick: I don't want to comment on anything as far as evidentiary in these cases, but there is artifacts somewhere in New Jersey on other cases that we're endeavoring to get access to, to see what's in that file, that room.

Reporter: Is there any way to sort of explain a little bit more about the DNA, the DNA process? I mean, I know that it's very complicated, but any sort of, I guess, layman's way of explaining when you, you know, sort of broadly say you connected via DNA, what does that mean?

Stephen Fitzpatrick: Well, the DNA process has advanced over the years to make it easier for us to put a profile together. And because law enforcement now, um, people committed, you know, of certain crimes are forced to give their DNA and have it in the DNA bank, we have a broader bank to research when we do have DNA in this, in the case. In the case of Diane Cusick, we did have DNA on her clothing that the medical examiner's [unclear: "daughter" (both sources); probably "lab" or "office"] did an incredible job in retesting 50 years later.

Speaker: One more.

Anne T. Donnelly: Thanks, folks. Thank you. ---