An unsolved murder from 1975 out of East Haven is taking new twists nearly 50 years later.
The body of Patricia Newsom was discovered by police in 1975 on Frontage Road in East Haven, but a positive identification was not determined until April of 2023 when Newsom’s body was exhumed from the State Street Cemetery in Hamden.
Newsom’s sister Maryann Collette was instrumental to the East Haven police during the time they were trying to identify the body since Collette had uploaded her DNA to a DNA database, which later helped the department to connect the sisters.
“There’s always going to be some questions, but just to have her, to know where she is, after all that time, you don’t even realize how much you’re carrying until you can put it down,” Collette said.
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Following the identification of the body in 2023, the East Haven Police Department participated in two crime-series podcasts, leading investigators to receive new possible case information.
“After taking place on the Crime Junkie podcast and Murder She Told podcast, people really reached out with great information and one of those bits of information was the possibility of serial killer Richard Cottingham being involved,” Capt. Joseph Murgo said.
Captain Joseph Murgo has been working on the cold case since 2020. He is the one who called Collette to inform her of the DNA match.
Capt. Murgo added it's the department's responsibility to check all suspects and he has been working to set up a meeting with Cottingham, who is currently serving multiple life sentences in a New Jersey state prison.
“Mr. Cottingham was active in the mid to late 60s all the way up to the time he was apprehended in New York City in 1980 so that definitely fits the timeframe in which Patricia was killed."
Collette, who has been heavily involved in her sister’s unsolved case, wrote a letter to Cottingham to find out if he was involved.
"There are enough similarities that, best way to do it is, he's still alive, why not ask him?"
While Collette shared she’s gotten some closure in her sister’s case, she said she will never stop searching for the truth.
"I don't know where my sister was from the last time I saw her till the time she ended up in that ditch, and somewhere out there, someone knew my sister when she was happy and that's what I wanna know."
Collette said Cottingham has not written back to her.
