On May 5, 1980, a housekeeper at the Quality Inn in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, found the body of 19-year-old Valerie Ann Street tucked beneath a motel bed. Investigators determined she had been asphyxiated and that signs at the scene indicated a violent struggle.

The murderer was later identified as Richard Cottingham. He was charged in connection with Valerie Street’s death and, in May 1981, convicted and sentenced to 173 to 197 years in prison for her murder.