Denise Didn't Come Home | 5. The Broken Road

Summary

The Binge Cases: Denise Didn't Come Home

Episode 5: The Broken Road
Release Date: October 29, 2024
Host/Author: Sony Music Entertainment
Transcript Analysis by: [Your Name]

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1. Introduction to the Case and Karen's Search

Karen Falaska's Quest:
Karen Falaska's relentless pursuit to find her sister Denise's killer began nearly five decades ago. On July 14, 1969, Karen last saw her 15-year-old sister Denise, who tragically did not return home. The following day, Denise's body was discovered strangled near a cemetery, marking the onset of Karen's decades-long search for justice.

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2. The 2017 Police Call and Richard Cottingham’s Confession

A. The Unexpected Call ([01:00] - [02:55]):
In the summer of 2017, while Karen was working in her Boulder, Colorado office, she received an urgent call from the University of Colorado Police Department. Despite her initial reluctance, feeling overwhelmed and emotionally drained, Karen felt compelled to attend the meeting, driven by her deep-seated intuition that a significant development in Denise's case was imminent.

B. Detective Rob Anzolotti's Revelation ([02:09] - [03:30]):
At the police department, Karen was met by Detective Rob Anzolotti of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. Anzolotti conveyed that Richard Cottingham had confessed to Denise's murder.

Rob Anzolotti ([02:19]): "I had made her a promise that I would never stop the pursuit of finding out who killed her sister Denise."

Karen was emotionally devastated upon hearing the confession, expressing her grief and confusion:

Karen Falaska ([02:39]): "I just finally fell apart, and I cried. It was startling how heavy the grief was."

However, Karen's doubts were palpable:

Karen Falaska ([03:09]): "And he said, do you have doubts, Karen? And I said, yeah, I do. ... don't we need any kind of evidence that could corroborate his confession?"

Anzolotti admitted the lack of tangible evidence supporting Cottingham's confession, revealing that due to a plea deal, Cottingham would not face charges. He also requested Karen to keep the confession confidential to prevent Cottingham from retracting his statement.

Rob Anzolotti ([03:30]): "I'm beyond the shadow of a doubt sure that he killed Denise."

C. Karen's Growing Doubts ([03:51] - [04:26]):
Karen left the meeting feeling uneasy about the sudden closure of a case that had haunted her for decades without substantial evidence.

Karen Falaska ([03:51]): "Seem like such an easy solution for such a terrible, terrible crime that stumped everyone for decades."

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3. Anthony Scalia’s Involvement and Investigation

A. Initial Contact ([04:26] - [07:21]):
Shortly after the police meeting, Karen received an unexpected call from Anthony Scalia, who would become her partner in uncovering the truth. Their collaboration began with Karen's skepticism about the confession, leading to a deeper investigation into Richard Cottingham's background.

B. Anzalotti's Follow-Up ([06:01] - [07:21]):
Detector Anzolotti returned to Karen with the actual confession document, adding more weight to the revelation.

Rob Anzolotti ([06:17]): "What I knew about Cottingham was that he was this torso killer, killing prostitutes and easy prey."

Chapter Five: The Broken Road ([07:21]):
This segment delves into Cottingham's history as a serial killer, highlighting his modus operandi and previous crimes, adding context to his confession.

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4. Analysis of Cottingham’s Confession

A. Detailed Confession Transcript ([09:53] - [14:33]):
Karen and Anthony scrutinized the confession transcript, finding several inconsistencies and vague details. Cottingham recounted picking up a young woman in the summer of 1969, leading to Denise's murder. However, discrepancies arose regarding the time of day and the brutality of the crime.

Karen Falaska ([15:09]): "I know that when we left the house it was light out. ... Either my timeline is off or you."

B. Inconsistencies Highlighted ([12:49] - [14:33]):
Cottingham's vague recollection of the murder methods and the time of day contradicted Karen's memories. Denise was found with a bloody handprint, which Cottingham could not clearly account for, sparking further doubt.

Rob Anzolotti ([14:55]): "But I do . . . we would like to think not, but we certainly know that it happens."

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5. Karen's Continued Doubts and Guilt

A. Emotional Turmoil ([16:07] - [18:21]):
Karen grappled with accepting the confession, feeling both a sense of surrender and lingering doubt. Her memories conflicting with the confession exacerbated her internal struggle.

Karen Falaska ([18:29]): "I still have a doubt in my mind as to whether he killed her. I still don't really have any real confirmation."

B. Guilt and Second-Guessing ([25:05] - [26:31]):
Karen revisited memories of the night Denise disappeared, recalling being stalked herself. She pondered whether the stalker was Cottingham, deepening her guilt and unresolved emotions.

Karen Falaska ([26:18]): "I see now that it so easily could have been me. I did think in the early times of her death that it should have been me."

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6. Anthony Scalia’s Increasing Conviction

A. Proximity Findings ([22:23] - [23:26]):
Anthony discovered that Cottingham had lived near Karen's hometown on Vreeland Street, mere blocks from Denise's murder site and another victim, Irene Blase. This geographical closeness reinforced his belief in Cottingham's guilt.

Anthony Scalia ([22:26]): "At one point, Cottingham lived right in my hometown of Lodi. ... It was right there. Like, ridiculously, ridiculously, ridiculously close."

B. Confirming Patterns ([23:16] - [23:46]):
Scalia's research into Cottingham's previous crimes and their proximity to Denise's murder site strengthened the case against Cottingham, despite Karen's lingering doubts.

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7. Conclusion – Ongoing Doubts and the Quest for Truth

A. Karen's Reluctant Acceptance ([18:29] - [25:05]):
Despite the mounting evidence, Karen remains haunted by inconsistencies and personal memories that challenge the validity of Cottingham's confession. Her quest for closure is marred by the fear of being wrong and the emotional baggage of the past.

Karen Falaska ([18:29]): "I feel like I have to accept it. There's something's wrong in it. And I'm sure that I'm always going to be stuck with this doubt."

B. The Unfinished Journey ([27:23] - [28:42]):
Determined to confront the source directly, Karen decides to engage with Cottingham through the prison email system, aiming to obtain firsthand answers. Anthony expresses concern over the reliability of Cottingham's admissions, given his history of deception.

Karen Falaska ([27:46]): "If I really want to know what happened that night, I should just ask him."

The episode concludes with an open-ended promise to delve deeper into Karen's interaction with Cottingham, leaving listeners anticipating the next installment in this gripping true crime saga.

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Key Takeaways:

• Emotional Struggle: Karen's journey is a testament to the enduring pain and complexity of seeking justice for a loved one lost to violence.

• Questioning Confessions: The episode highlights the challenges in relying solely on confessions without corroborative evidence, especially when dealing with notorious figures like Richard Cottingham.

• Investigative Depth: Anthony Scalia's investigative efforts uncover critical connections that bolster the case against Cottingham, illustrating the importance of geographical and behavioral patterns in true crime investigations.

• Unresolved Doubts: Despite advancements in the case, Karen's unresolved doubts underscore the emotional intricacies involved in true crime narratives.

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Notable Quotes:

• Karen Falaska ([03:51]): "Seem like such an easy solution for such a terrible, terrible crime that stumped everyone for decades."

• Rob Anzolotti ([06:17]): "What I knew about Cottingham was that he was this torso killer, killing prostitutes and easy prey."

• Karen Falaska ([18:29]): "I still have a doubt in my mind as to whether he killed her. I still don't really have any real confirmation."

• Anthony Scalia ([22:26]): "At one point, Cottingham lived right in my hometown of Lodi. ... It was right there. Like, ridiculously, ridiculously, ridiculously close."

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Conclusion:

"Denise Didn't Come Home" masterfully blends personal anguish with investigative rigor, offering listeners an immersive exploration into a cold case that remains shrouded in uncertainty. Karen Falaska's unwavering determination, juxtaposed with her emotional vulnerabilities, paints a poignant picture of the human side of true crime. As Anthony Scalia uncovers more connections, the narrative promises to delve deeper into the shadows of Bergen County, seeking the elusive truth behind Denise's tragic fate.

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For those intrigued by this case, subscribing to The Binge Cases on Apple Podcasts will grant access to all episodes ad-free, providing an uninterrupted journey through some of the most compelling true crime stories.

Transcript

[Anthony Scalia]

Indra.

[Karen Falaska]

I'm Indra Varma. And in the latest season of the Spy who, we open the file on Daphne park, the spy who killed a prime minister. As the Belgian Congo gains its independence, Officer park sets out to build a spy network. Together. They're about to go to new extremes to keep Congo free of communists. Follow the spy who now wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Anthony Scalia]

The Bench. Hey, everyone, just a quick heads up before we get started. This episode contains descriptions of violence and sexual assault, so please take extra care when listening. Karen Falaska told me that in the summer of 2017, she was working in her office in Boulder, Colorado, and she got a call from the University of Colorado Police Department.

[Karen Falaska]

I was at my desk just a parking lot away from the police department, and they were wanting me to come over there. I already knew in my heart that something was going on with Denise's case.

[Anthony Scalia]

Karen was nervous. She'd spent almost 50 years hunting for the man who murdered her sister, and she sensed the truth might have finally arrived. But now it seemed like all she wanted to do was get away from it.

[Karen Falaska]

And I kept saying, you know what? I can't come out today. I'm just. My back's up against the wall, and I have deadlines. And then they kind of broke down and said, you've got to come. Bergen county is flying here to tell you something that you want to hear. And I was like, oh, geez, I got to go smoke a cigarette. I've got to go smoke, like, three cigarettes. I was just, like, walking around the parking structure. I started trembling, like, really trembling, like an alcoholic that needs a drink, not knowing, you know, what they were coming here to tell me. I didn't want to get my hopes up, you know.

[Anthony Scalia]

Finally, Karen made her way over to the police department, where she was greeted by a familiar face. Detective Rob Anzilotti of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.

[Rob Anzilotti]

I had made her a promise that I would never stop the pursuit of finding out who killed her sister Denise. And I thought she deserved the respect of me personally being there. It was important to me to personally look her in the eye and tell her that we had solved it.

[Anthony Scalia]

Anzolatti told Karen that Richard Cottingham had finally confessed to murdering Denise.

[Karen Falaska]

I just finally fell apart, and I cried. It was startling how heavy the grief was. I didn't know how to make sense of this or grieve it.

[Rob Anzilotti]

I think it was extraordinarily emotional for Karen. I kind of knew that she was gonna have some doubt just because I knew who she was, you know, I knew the person Karen was, and she anything short of DNA evidence, she was absolutely going to question the validity of it.

[Karen Falaska]

And he said, do you have doubts, Karen? And I said, yeah, I do. I really do. And he was like, well, I'm telling you, for surely, for surely Cottingham did this. And I said, yeah, but don't we need any kind of evidence that could corroborate his confession? And he was like, well, I'm beyond the shadow of a doubt sure that he killed Denise.

[Anthony Scalia]

Karen told me that Anzilotti had come empty handed. No copy of the confession, no official report, just his word that Cottingham did it. He told her that because of his deal with Cottingham, there wouldn't be any charges. He asked her not to tell anyone about the confession because he was afraid that Cottingham would stop talking.

[Karen Falaska]

I told them, okay, all right. And I walked out of there. As each day goes from that meeting, I accept it less and less. Seems like such an easy solution for such a terrible, terrible crime that stumped everyone for decades. To suddenly be quietly solved and put away after getting no exposure whatsoever and then swearing me to silence. It's not right.

[Anthony Scalia]

Not long after that, Karen got a phone call out of the blue from this dumb kid from New Jersey who'd heard about Denise's murder, who was interested enough in what happened to reach out, who didn't really seem to know what he was reaching out for.

[Karen Falaska]

Hello.

[Anthony Scalia]

Hi, Karen. Hi, me. If you feel comfortable, I'm ready to start recording.

[Karen Falaska]

Okay, I'm ready.

[Anthony Scalia]

And that brings us back to the beginning of this story, to when I started talking to Karen first. I guess it's just like a little bit of background of like, who you are.

[Karen Falaska]

Sure. I'm Karen, Alaska. And Denise is my older sister.

[Anthony Scalia]

I had no idea that I'd stumbled into Karen's life at this pivotal moment. That to Karen, my timing was almost too perfect, maybe even a little suspicious.

[Karen Falaska]

It has run through my mind that maybe someone asked you to do this.

[Anthony Scalia]

No, no, no.

[Karen Falaska]

I just wanted to make sure that nobody sent you to try to get me on tape saying things about her case that I've sworn I wouldn't say.

[Anthony Scalia]

Eventually, she broke that promise. She told me about the confession that according to bergen county, this 50 year old murder had finally been solved. And she told me that she wasn't buying it.

[Karen Falaska]

Their story is a great story, but it's a story just like my story. And I just can't know what all of their interviews involved. I wish I could sit and view that confession.

[Anthony Scalia]

It didn't take long for Karen's wish to come true. A few weeks later, Anzalotti flew back to Colorado to meet with Karen at her home. And this time, he brought something with him that Karen had been asking for.

[Karen Falaska]

I would like to see his confession.

[Rob Anzilotti]

Yeah, well, I brought his confession.

[Anthony Scalia]

My name is Anthony Scalia from Truth Media and Sony Music Entertainment. This is. Denise didn't come home.

[Rob Anzilotti]

What I knew about Cottingham was that he was this torso killer, killing prostitutes and easy prey.

[Karen Falaska]

His murders were gruesome and brutal. Death and desecration and torture and dismemberment. Why would you think that he did this?

[Rob Anzilotti]

So what was the thrill? Was it more rape control?

[Richard Cottingham]

It was getting away with it. It was the game to stalking.

[Rob Anzilotti]

We're still taking the word of a convicted serial killer. I trusted him when I could verify what he had to say. You recall abducting a girl from Altar Road?

[Richard Cottingham]

I definitely took a girl from Old Hook Road.

[Rob Anzilotti]

There's only one unsolved homicide of a girl that we last saw on Old Hook Road, and it's Denise Velasquez.

[Anthony Scalia]

Chapter five, the Broken Road.

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[Rob Anzilotti]

He had a ski mask in his possession and a knife.

[Richard Cottingham]

She was familiar enough with them and.

[Anthony Scalia]

Trusted them enough that she turned her back on him.

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[Karen Falaska]

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[Anthony Scalia]

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[Karen Falaska]

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[Anthony Scalia]

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[Karen Falaska]

How does his legacy hold up today? Follow Legacy now wherever you get your.

[Anthony Scalia]

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[Anthony Scalia]

Bag.

[Rob Anzilotti]

And then stuff Gets reboxed and the bag gets a hole in it. Who knows?

[Karen Falaska]

Are you going to go out on the town in Denver? Town?

[Richard Cottingham]

Yeah.

[Rob Anzilotti]

We have an early flight tomorrow morning, so we're going to go back to Denver so we're closer to the airport.

[Anthony Scalia]

On January 30, 2018, Karen secretly recorded this conversation with Detective Rob Anzilotti and his partner. Anzilotti is here to let Karen read a copy of Richard Cottingham's confession to the murder of her sister Denise, because it's overdue.

[Rob Anzilotti]

And again, I apologize because I told you months ago that we were going to get out here to do this.

[Karen Falaska]

Thank you.

[Rob Anzilotti]

You're welcome.

[Karen Falaska]

I can guarantee you that I'm ready to see the truth of what he said and I'm ready to see her.

[Anthony Scalia]

Karen only got to read a transcript of the confession, but a few years later, I was able to get this recording of the confession itself.

[Rob Anzilotti]

Today's date is Wednesday, March 1, 2017. And seated to my left is Mr. Richard Cottingham. Do you swear the statement you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth shall help you God?

[Richard Cottingham]

Yes.

[Rob Anzilotti]

Can you tell me, to the best of your recollection, when did this homicide occur?

[Richard Cottingham]

The summer of 69.

[Rob Anzilotti]

The summer of 1969?

[Richard Cottingham]

Yes. I remember it to be a hot day. And it was before I got married. May of 70. It was a summer night. I was on my way to work and I seen a young lady walking on the side of a road in the opposite direction. Went a couple more blocks and I made a U turn. I asked the girl if she needed a ride or something to that effect, and she said okay, and she got in my car. I pulled up in front of the pizza shop that was right on the corner. I asked her if she wanted slice of pizza. She said okay, but she said, I have to go meet my friends in a few minutes. I think she was just trying to be nice to me because I gave her a ride. I had to talk her to get back in the car and I told her I'd help to look for her friends.

[Anthony Scalia]

When Karen read that part of Cottingham's confession, it made sense to her.

[Karen Falaska]

The girl he's describing is Denise. Like, I bet she was uncomfortable and trying to get away, but trying not to be rude or. I think she was scared. She really knew she was in trouble.

[Richard Cottingham]

When she got back in the car. I drove over to St. Andrews Elementary School, and I went down into the yard area, which was deserted at that time.

[Rob Anzilotti]

What did you have in mind? What was the purpose of bringing her there?

[Richard Cottingham]

To mess around with her, have sex with her.

[Rob Anzilotti]

Did you force her to do this?

[Richard Cottingham]

I didn't physically force her, no. But I let her know that she had no choice. I told her to do it, she did it. She wouldn't have done it unless I told her to do it. I made the decision that she was dangerous to me, that she seen my face and that she definitely would tell people. So I decided that I would have to get rid of her. So I pulled on the side of the road, pushed her over the seat. I climbed over the seat. That's where I killed her.

[Anthony Scalia]

At that point in the confession, Cottingham started to get really vague about the crucial details.

[Rob Anzilotti]

Can you explain to me how you killed her?

[Richard Cottingham]

It's hazy. I would almost definitely say that I strangled her.

[Rob Anzilotti]

When you say strangled, would it be manual strangulation with your hands, or could you have used a ligature? Could you have used something?

[Richard Cottingham]

Usually I used something.

[Rob Anzilotti]

Okay. Do you have any recollection of what you used?

[Richard Cottingham]

Not specifically.

[Anthony Scalia]

Denise was found badly beaten, and Anzalotti wanted an explanation for that.

[Rob Anzilotti]

At any time, did you have to assault her in some way where? You know, where she would have gotten started? Bleeding?

[Richard Cottingham]

Not that I recall.

[Rob Anzilotti]

Okay. Is it possible?

[Richard Cottingham]

It's possible that she struggled for a bit and, you know, she may have got injured, but I don't recall.

[Anthony Scalia]

Denise was found with a bloody handprint on her leg. Anzalati wanted to know where that came from.

[Richard Cottingham]

I got out of the car and I pulled her out.

[Rob Anzilotti]

When you dragged her out from the car, would it have been from the top or from her feet?

[Richard Cottingham]

I don't recall. It would probably by a leg.

[Rob Anzilotti]

Do you remember what side of the road you dumped her on?

[Richard Cottingham]

I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure it was on the right hand side.

[Rob Anzilotti]

Do you remember actually what town you were in on Westminster Road?

[Richard Cottingham]

No, I have no idea.

[Rob Anzilotti]

Okay. After removing her body from the car and leaving it on the side at Westminster Road, what did you do next?

[Richard Cottingham]

Believe I drove into the city. I think I just went in and had something to eat.

[Karen Falaska]

I think he's really not wholly convincing. I mean, if that makes you certain. That interview there, he doesn't remember as.

[Rob Anzilotti]

Much detail as I would like him to. But also to his defense of some of the haziness, we're asking to remember something at this point. That was almost 50 years ago.

[Anthony Scalia]

One thing about the confession that really bothered Karen was that Cottingham said he picked Denise up at night in the dark. But Karen remembered the sun still being up and seeing Denise walk off down Old Hook Road in daylight.

[Karen Falaska]

I know that when we left the house it was light out. I mean, it was probably starting out, going to Sunset, but it was still light out. So my. Either my timeline is off or you.

[Rob Anzilotti]

Totally could be off on your time. You could be you thought you saw something, you didn't.

[Karen Falaska]

I mean, you know, I don't know, it's just odd. But anyway, I just want to make sure that we are definitely accusing the right person of doing this.

[Rob Anzilotti]

And while I would love for more detail, it just all makes a ton of sense. He has no incentive to give this stuff to us. And we certainly have no incentive to accept it from him. And we would not come tell you unless you were a thousand % certain. Without DNA evidence or fingerprint, is there ever that 1% chance where you got the wrong guy? We'd like to think not, but we certainly know that it happens. But I don't see any scenario where he duped us into this because for what? Toward what end? Because he didn't have to say it.

[Karen Falaska]

Yeah, I mean, if you guys are hanging your hat on this confession is. I don't know what to say. I mean, he's a pig. He's a piece of shit.

[Richard Cottingham]

You just gotta hope that there's a hell.

[Karen Falaska]

Yeah, there is a hell. There's a hell.

[Richard Cottingham]

I think it's a front row seat.

[Anthony Scalia]

After it was all over, Karen called me to tell me about the confession.

[Karen Falaska]

This was really far from home run, slam dunk. Some details were lost to him and then that was very clear in his confession, you know, but he doesn't remember if he strangled her. They asked him about blood and he said, well, there was maybe a little bit of blood. He's not clear about it, but there were certain things he said that gave me the feeling that he really did have her. He had her. It made sense when I read it in the confession. He said, well, you know what? She was really trying to be nice. She was really trying to blow me off in a nice way. And when he said that, I just knew it was her. We were raised to have manners, to treat people with dignity, to be kind even to the unlovable. I really see her outside of his car, really trying to nicely negotiate her way out of this person's path. I could feel her fear. Knowing that she was in a bad place with this person and really not being able to get away.

[Anthony Scalia]

That moment terrifies me. I could just picture it like I just.

[Karen Falaska]

Me too. You know, I said that's when I knew I had to kill her because she saw me and she was the kind of girl that would tell. And I thought, yeah, she was, she was smart. She was a smart girl. And she was probably trying to manipulate him as much as he was trying to manipulate her.

[Anthony Scalia]

Do you still need like a little bit more of proof that you were once looking for, or are you pretty much just really accepting this now?

[Karen Falaska]

That's a really good question. I'm. I feel like I have to accept it. There's something's wrong in it. And I'm sure that I'm always going to be stuck with this doubt. But I mean, everything I asked for, I got, everything I've struggled for just came true. And I'm sitting here going, yeah, but really, you know, I feel this sense of surrender, like this is as far as it's gonna go. And that's, that's kind of where I am. I don't know what to think. It really has been hitting me that I don't have to really search for her murderer anymore. I can just remember her and accept the fact that she's gone. She's dead, you know?

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[Anthony Scalia]

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[Karen Falaska]

And I still have a doubt in my mind as to whether he killed her. I still don't really have any real confirmation. I would be pushing it way over the limit to carry on and keep saying, I'm not satisfied. I'm not satisfied. Really. They would label me as a crazy person.

[Anthony Scalia]

I remember being a little frustrated. I mean, I could admit that the confession was hazy, and it had some holes, but by this time, I was starting to feel more and more every day that Cottingham killed Denise. And that's because I was spending all my free time researching his cases. How he used to prowl the streets of Bergen county for victims. He knew his hunting ground well. And it turns out I did, too. I came across something that was really interesting this weekend that I had no idea. I don't know if you knew this, but he lived in Lodi, right?

[Karen Falaska]

I did know. Yeah.

[Anthony Scalia]

At one point, Cottingham lived right in my hometown of Lodi. That blew my mind. And then I found out he lived on Vreeland Street, a street I'd known my entire life. It was less than two blocks from my grandma's house. Vreeland street is maybe a minute and a half drive from where Denise was found. I did the drive last night. I was with my girlfriend, and I was like, turn down this street and then turn down this street. And I looked at the time, and I saw how long it took, and it was right there. Like, ridiculously, ridiculously, ridiculously close. Not only that, but Cottingham lived close to where another victim was found. Irene Blase. She was killed just a few months before Denise. I just. I see Cottingham doing it.

[Karen Falaska]

Well, I'd say it's very, very possible that he did.

[Anthony Scalia]

My question to you is, would it ever be enough for you to say, you know what? Yeah, that is it, or do you think it's just, like, a thing?

[Karen Falaska]

Well, I know I'm never going to get that really good feeling that people think they're going to get when they get to the end of something that has been a lifelong quest almost. I know I'm never Going to feel that good.

[Anthony Scalia]

Karen was still hung up on her own memories of the night of the murder. The things she remembered that weren't in Cottingham's confession.

[Karen Falaska]

I just recall so clearly these things from the real memory and the real experience of having been there. People will say you're not remembering it right. You don't forget. You go over it and over it and over it in your mind.

[Anthony Scalia]

I asked Karen to take me through those memories again. She said that Cottingham claimed he had picked up Denise at night in the dark.

[Karen Falaska]

People keep saying it was nighttime, it was dark, and it wasn't. It was early evening light out when we left the house.

[Anthony Scalia]

Karen remembered that she and Denise walked down the street together to catch a bus in daylight.

[Karen Falaska]

She turned around and she said, I have to go do something, and said to me very sternly, do not follow me, Karen. Do not follow me. And I said, please stay with me. I see her walking away from me in daylight, not even dusk yet. She split off from me and walked down Old Hook Road.

[Anthony Scalia]

Karen said she sat down at the bus stop and that's when she saw a man in a blue car.

[Karen Falaska]

He drove by real slow and just gave me an evil, evil look, like gawking at me. And then he made a U turn and came back towards me. And I was really scared when I saw him do that. So I just stood there. I just stood my ground. I just looked right at him, and I stepped out and acted like I was writing his license plate down on my hand. And he just took off. He just screeched away and he headed towards Old Hook Road. The person that stalked me that day, to me, was so creepy and ugly and scary, like the devil himself. If it was the same guy who stalked me that night, I always wondered if I just sent him straight to Denise.

[Anthony Scalia]

I suddenly realized why Karen couldn't let go of that moment because she felt guilty.

[Karen Falaska]

I see now that it so easily could have been me. I did think in the early times of her death that it should have been me, that people wouldn't have been so ripped up had it been me.

[Anthony Scalia]

Hmm. Yeah, I definitely want to come back to that. Of all Karen's memories, this was the memory that tortured her the most.

[Karen Falaska]

I had been stalked that night. And when I read the confession, that wasn't a part of this story at all.

[Anthony Scalia]

Do you think it could have been Cottingham in that car?

[Karen Falaska]

You know, it really could have been. It really could have been. When I look back at pictures of him when he was arrested, and when he was younger. It's hard to tell, but it could have. It could have been him.

[Anthony Scalia]

Unless we could somehow confirm that Cottingham saw Karen that night. I worried that she would never find peace. But a couple weeks later, Karen called me. She found out that anyone could message an inmate through the prison email system.

[Karen Falaska]

I feel it roaring up from deep inside of me, like, you know, it might be possible for me to speak to the person who caused all this. This whole road has been leading here. It's a broken road, and I'm trying to make it straight.

[Anthony Scalia]

No more middlemen. No more hearing about what happened secondhand or reading it from a transcript. Karen needed to go to the source.

[Karen Falaska]

The only two people that know what happened that night is Denise and Richard. If I really want to know what happened that night, I should just ask him.

[Anthony Scalia]

I was worried about Karen. On the one hand, I wanted her to get the answers she needed. On the other, I wasn't sure what she would find in the dark recesses of Cottingham's mind and whether any of it would help. If you only have a serial killer's word, how can you believe anything he says? He's gotten this far by lying. We're talking about a guy who is the master of deception.

[Karen Falaska]

I know.

[Anthony Scalia]

That's on the next episode of Denise Didn't Come Home. Unlock all episodes of Denise Didn't Come Home ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Not only will you immediately unlock all episodes of this show, but you'll get binge access to an entire network of thrilling true crime and investigative podcasts. All ad free. Plus, on the first of every month, subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series that's all episodes all at once. Unlock your listening now by clicking subscribe at the top of the Binge Cases show page on Apple Podcasts or Visit get the binge.com to get access wherever you listen. Denise Didn't Come Home is a production of Truth Media in partnership with Sony Music Entertainment. I'm your host, Anthony Scalia. The show is produced by Ryan Swigert and me. Story editing by Mark Smerling. Kevin Shepard is our associate producer. Producer Scott Curtis is our production manager from Sony. Our executive producers are Jonathan Hirsch and Catherine St. Louis. Fact checking by Dania Suleman. Kenny Cusiak did the mix. Sound design by Kenny Cusiak and Ryan Swiger. Music by Kenny Cusiak. Epidemic Sound and Marmoset. Our title track is Gimme Some by Weave. If you've been enjoying the show. We'd love to hear from you. Give us a call at 646-665-2748 and leave us a voicemail. Don't forget to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It really helps other people find the show. And thanks for listening.