Police find alum football player stabbed in burning home
By MARIBEL MOREY
Assistant News Editor
As a football player at Notre Dame in the late 1940s, Richard Cotter was a hot commodity. "He was quiet and modest and according to all the women the best looking. All the Saint Mary's girls flocked him," said Terence Meany, law partner and friend since the first grade.
After graduating from Notre Dame, he led a quiet life as a pilot and then later as a law partner and father of 10.
Now 60 years later, Cotter and his friend, Mary McIntyre were found murdered in his Austin, Minnesota home Feb. 17.
Stacey Cotter, one of Cotter's adopted sons, has been charged with the killings.
"Stacey had been involved in other criminal acts," Terese Amazi, Austin chief deputy sheriff. "Family members are the ones who put us on to him from the very beginning."
Stacey currently refuses to talk to law enforcement, while the police plans to get him on for first degree murder, said Amazi.
"There are several [of the children] who've had brushes with law enforcement, but he's had the most extensive criminal record," said Amazi. "He is convicted of wrongful imprisonment [kidnapping] and he's a registered sex-offender."
Under Minnessota law, sex offenders must report all their daily activities at all times, but there might have been lapses, said Amazi. The prosecutors might be using this point in their investigations.
Mower County Sherriff Bary Simonson said both 73 year-old Cottter and his longtime friend McIntyre, 68, died of "homicidal violence." Authorities believe the fire that destroyed the home was likely set to cover up evidence.
Simonson said it appears the fire was intentionally set and might have burned for an hour or two before neighbor Tom Branden called 911 at 5:14 a.m.
Reports from medical examiners in Ramsey County indicate Cotter was stabbed to death; however, "they can't determine what caused the death because of the bad condition of her body [due to the fire]," said Amazi.
McIntire was visiting Cotter to help him with his recooperation after a hip replacement surgery in December. She was there to help him out, said Amazi.
Cotter and his ex-wife divorced years after raising five adopted children and five children of their own.
After graduation from Notre Dame in 1951, Cotter returned home to Austin, Minnesota and reunited with old friends. Meany and Cotter continued on to the military. "We started first grade and went to law school together. In the military we were briefly separated because Dick was a pilot," Meany said.
After the military, Meany and Cotter joined to form their own law firm. Cotter had been an attorney in the Austin area for 40 years, but retired four years ago. "He was still somewhat active as a personal representative for probate matters," said Meany.
Cotter was actually still working a day before he was found dead. "I saw him [in the office] the day before he was murdered. He came into the office and he was talking how well he was doing with his artificial hip he had replaced," said Meany.
But Meany stresses that Cotter was a quiet man and preferred to be at home rather than socializing and playing golf.
"While I spent a large part of my life with Dick, he was very quiet," Meany said. "He was a good friend, a good partner and he took care of his family."
In Notre Dame, Cotter was a reserve halfback/fullback who earned three monograms, one each in 1948, 1949 and 1950. He carried 16 times for 64 yards for the 1949 national championship team, said John Heisler, assistant athletic director. "He was also a four-time finalst in the Bengal Bouts."
The case is still under investigation, and Amazi stresses that it is up to Stacey whether the trial will drag on. "Right now it's up to Stacey if he wants to talk," Amazi said.
All News Stories for Wednesday, March 7, 2001
