Back in February, Netflix’s Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel took the world by storm, being watched by 45 million households in its first four weeks.

And now, from the same filmmakers comes an equally grisly new true crime series: The Times Square Killer.

This second season of the Crime Scene series is described as looking at the danger and depravity of the titular part of New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s and how that made it possible for one man to torture and murder sex workers in that area.

The man in question, serial killer Richard Cottingham, murdered at least 11 people in New York and New Jersey over 13 years, but claims to have committed between 85 and 100 murders. And now the series will attempt to uncover some of the mystery surrounding the crimes of the so-called “New York Ripper” and  the social and systemic forces that allowed what he did to go unnoticed or uncared about for so long.

What is the true story behind Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer?

Richard Cottingham’s first known murder was the 1967 killing of Nancy Vogel, a 29-year-old married mother of two who was found in her car in New Jersey.

In December 1979, the bodies of Deedeh Goodarzi and another unidentified woman were found at a hotel near Times Square.

In May 1980, police found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street in a Quality Inn motel in New Jersey. Near the same hotel, the body of Maryann Carr, 26, was also found, but police could not positively link the crimes until after Cottingham’s arrest. In May of the same year, the body of Jean Reyner was found in the historic Seville Hotel.

Cottingham was known to have had a working knowledge of forensics, and in the 13-year period during which he is known to have committed 11 murders, only one fingerprint belonging to him was recovered. Cottingham was finally arrested in May 1980 and was given a sentence of 173 to 197 years in prison.

Later in 2014, he admitted to killing an additional three women in the late 1960s.

In 2021, Cottingham also confessed to the unsolved 1974 double-abduction, rape and murder of teenagers Lorraine Marie Kelly and Mary Ann Pryor in Montvale, New Jersey, raising the total number of victims attributed to Cottingham to 11. However, Cottingham himself claims to be responsible for between 85-100 killings.

Is there a trailer for Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer?

Netflix is yet to release a full-length trailer for the upcoming series, the streamer has shared a short teaser on Twitter teasing the documentary, featuring some ominous music, neon lights and blaring police sirens.

Watch it below:

When will Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer be available to watch?

The new series will arrive on Netflix on Wednesday 29th December. Until then, you can catch up on our picks of Netflix’s best true crimes here.

Images: Getty/Netflix