Maryann Carr was 26 and working as a medical technician and radiologist when she was abducted and murdered in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, in December 1977. She was last seen on December 15 in the parking lot of the Ledgewood Terrace Apartments, where witnesses placed her speaking with a man later identified as Richard Cottingham, who had previously lived in the complex. Carr’s body was found the morning of December 16 in the parking lot of the Quality Inn, between a van and a chain-link fence. She was still wearing her white nurse’s uniform but was missing her shoes.

Examination revealed extensive injuries: numerous cuts and bite marks, bruising on wrists and ankles consistent with handcuffs, and tape residue on her mouth. Investigators later connected Cottingham to her death; he was arrested at the Quality Inn in May 1980 after a housekeeper reported screams, and evidence including a fingerprint on handcuffs at another motel scene linked him to Carr’s murder. Cottingham was convicted in October 1982.