'Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer' ending explained - Reasons behind the perfect murders

Netflix has released Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer as a part of its anthology series Crime Scene. Directed by Joe Berlinger, the documentary delves into a prolific serial killer's life and the circumstances of one of the most harrowing times in the city's history.

The show depicts one of the most prolific killers of its time, Richard Cottingham, aka The Times Square killer. Known for brutally murdering, torturing, and decapitating the bodies of young women, mainly prostitutes, in the 1970s and 1980s.

The documentary also focuses heavily on the affairs of the city and Times Square's inherent perversion that forms the basis of the three-part series by Netflix.

However, a lot of facts were densely condensed in the final quarter of the third episode, i.e., the ending. Here is a look at all that was uncovered in the last moments of the show.

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The confession of The Times Square Killer: What was the motive?

The question that seemed to grow in all of the viewer's heads throughout the docu-series was why or what led to the divergent behavior of the killer portrayed. Of course, the city's depiction as overly obsessed with female s*xuality is portrayed well by the director, Joe Berlinger, it is still not sufficient explanation to this one particular man's excess deviance.

The ending sees the killer, Cottingham, confess for the first time about his crime since he was handed multiple life sentences owing to homicide, s*xual assault, and brutality. Nowhere did he confess his crime to the serial murders to the law or the court. He only does it at the end to a journalist.

This is also the first time his motives come to light: simple perversion and power. All Cottingham wanted was to feel like a God, to feel another person's life being dependent on him, and deviant s*xual behavior accompanying it. The Times Square Killer apparently only killed the victims when he felt his identity was at risk.

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Did perfect murders exist?

Another bothersome revelation at the end of Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer was that his actual number of victims might be far more than the number investigators had found out. Cottingham claimed he had over 80 more victims, whom he killed and disposed of with such precision that no law enforcement could discover them.

He revealed he killed on a weekly basis. These details drop in at the very last moment, and not much light is shed on them. In fact, this could have formed a more substantial base of the main story.

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Why did his killing methods differ?

A recreated crime scene of a Cottingham murder (Image via Netflix)

One of the big questions was the Times Square killer's method of killing. He left one victim in handcuffs while leaving two others headless. His simple explanation was that it was not about any method. It was simply because he was seen with the two women and he wanted to prevent identification. So he removed their heads and hands.

One of the victims remains unidentified to date, which brings the viewers to the next and last big thing.

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What was the motive of Jennifer Weiss?

Jennifer Weiss, the biological daughter of Deedeh Goodrezi, was revealed to be regularly spending time with the now aged Cottingham, the Times Square killer. She reveals her intentions are to get all the details out of him so as to help the victims' families know the truth.

She continues her pursuit and hopes to uncover the full truth about the Times Square killer and his crimes.

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Catch Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer streaming on Netflix today.