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Friday, December 9, 2022
Vol. 71, No. 49
N E W H Y D E PA R K
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
STATE CALLS TO DOWLING RANKED NIX SOME MASCOTS MOST INFLUENTIAL
PAGES 23-38
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Major crime in Nassau up 38% from 2021 Surpasses 12-month total as of October 10 BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z Major crimes in Nassau County as of Oct. 10 had already surpassed 2021’s 12-month total of 5,230, according to statistics reported by police. The Nassau County Police Department said on its website that 5,542 major crimes occurred from Jan. 1-Oct. 10 this year, an increase of 38% from last year. The county is on pace to report approximately 1,850 more crimes this year, which would bring Nassau’s annual total to nearly 7,400, a projection by Blank Slate Media showed. The list of major crimes includes
murder, rape, criminal sexual acts, sexual abuse, grand larceny, commercial robberies, other robberies, assault felonies, residential burglaries, other burglaries and stolen vehicles. The 2021 year-end major crime statistics were obtained by Blank Slate Media under a Freedom of Information Law request submitted to the Nassau County Police Department. The 2022 major crime statistics on the department websites were the most up-to-date figures published as of Friday. Nassau has reported six murders, nine sexual abuse incidents, two criminal sexual acts and seven rapes so far this year. By comparison a total
of 10 murders, 11 sexual abuse attacks, 10 criminal sexual acts and 19 rapes were reported in 2021, according to the statistics. The violent crime categories of murders, rapes, criminal sexual acts and sexual abuse were the only four categories with decreased reports in 2022. Murders decreased by 14%, rape decreased by 59%, criminal sexual acts decreased by 75% and sexual abuse instances decreased by 18%. The largest increase in major crimes was an 87% rise in stolen vehicles, with 796 reported so far this year. Commercial robberies also increased by more than 51% this year, Continued on Page 50
‘Torso Killer’ admits to murdering NHP woman NHP’s Diane Cusick strangled to death in 1968 BY B R A N D ON D U FF Y PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SEWANHAKA CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT
New Hyde Park Memorial High School hosted Pink October throughout the month of October to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer. See story on page 59.
A New Jersey man known as the “Torso Killer” pleaded guilty to a 1968 cold case murder of a New Hyde Park woman who he strangled in the parking lot of the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, the Nassau
County DA announced Monday. Richard Cottingham, 75, of the South Woods Estate Prison in Bridgeton, N.J., also admitted to killing four additional women in Nassau County in the 1970s, according to District Attorney Anne Donnelly. Cottingham, also known as
the “Times Square Killer” will not be charged for the four additional homicides he admitted to in court Monday. The serial killer is serving multiple life sentences for previous murder convictions in New York and Continued on Page 51
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