Justice for sister's killer brings joy at Rockville Centre bridge where victim was found 

Jeanne Heinz returned to the Rockville Centre bridge Tuesday night where her sister was found strangled and lying in a creek 50 years ago. 

The photo of Mary Beth Heinz hung on the wall of the Maine Avenue bridge, decorated with Christmas wreaths beside a photo of another woman, Laverne Moye, whose body was found in the same stream, two months later, July 20, 1972. They were found in the shallow creek with marks on their necks. 

Both Long Island women were victims of Richard Cottingham, known as the "Torso Killer," who is already serving multiple life sentences and admitted in court last week to killing five women in the late 60s and 70s.

Jeanne Heinz, who grew up with her sister in Mineola and now lives in St. James, said it was the first time in 50 years that she could celebrate the holidays in peace. 

“I have received the greatest gift I could have ever hoped for. In learning what happened to my sister, and seeing the person who did this to her, admit it in court, I now have received justice for her death. I feel joy, joy in knowing that the case has been resolved,” Heinz said. “When I learned where my sister's body was placed after she died, I came here. And I've come here many times over the past years, to talk to her, to pray to her and to wish her peace.”

Cottingham, 76, has taken responsibility for at least 17 killings, including the murder of five women in Nassau County, officials said. He was already serving multiple life sentences for killings in New Jersey and Manhattan when he was charged this year through DNA evidence connecting him to the 1968 killing of Diane Cusick, 23 of New Hyde Park outside the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream.

He pleaded guilty to Cusick’s murder Dec. 5 and was sentenced to an additional consecutive sentence of 25 years to life. He was granted immunity for additional charges after he agreed to take responsibility for the killings of Heinz, 21 of Mineola, Moye, 23, of St. Albans, Queens, Sheila Heiman, 33, of North Woodmere, and Maria Emerita Rosado Nieves, 18, of Manhattan, whose body was found wrapped in plastic on Jones Beach.

Heinz said news this week that Cottingham took responsibility for the death was totally unexpected. “There were no leads, there were no suspects, there was no ongoing investigation for the past 48 years,” she said.

Heinz was 12 years old when her sister disappeared and she never expected the case to be resolved. 

She didn’t meet Moye’s son, John, until last week in the courtroom when Cottingham pleaded guilty. “I realized then that people really needed a sense of saying goodbye to her other than a cemetery grave. After leaving court on Monday, and Cottingham making his statements, I recognize that the other families were going through that same unbelievable grief and joy,” Heinz said. 

“And we needed to come here," she said of herself and John Moye. "At that moment, we both realized that this was now going to be a very sacred place for both of us... I haven't had a happy Christmas in a long time. And now that can change. We've got some answers. We've got justice.”