This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. He concealed this arrest from his family. He spent more than four years in solitary confinement before being transferred to the Clinton Correctional Facility in Clinton County. The Seinfeld Episode Inspired By A WebJoel Rifkin murdered 17 women, making him New York's deadliest serial killer. Legal Statement. He wanted to know why he lacked that empathy and humanity. Even the parents of his victims didnt seem to miss Rifkins prey. or redistributed. Rifkin could not recall the name of number six, murdered a few days shy of Christmas 1991. A high-speed chase ended in Mineola, where he crashed into a utility pole which was located directly in front of the courthouse in which he would eventually stand trial. Jurors agreed with Dietz, deliberating briefly on May 9 before they convicted Rifkin of murder and reckless endangerment (for leading police on the wild car chase). Evens had been the daughter of a civil court judge and had once attended Sarah Lawrence College. Rifkin launched into great detail about each of the 17 women he killed, even drawing maps of where the bodies were. "RifkinonRifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer". Rambo earned his Airborne Ranger Wings in May of 1966. By the time he got home, she was swaddled in tarp and concealed in the trunk. He is referenced in a "Seinfeld" episode in which Elaine, played by Julia Louis Dreyfus, is embarrassed to be dating a man who shares a serial killer's name. The victims who have been identified, from past Newsday coverage: Privacy Policy |Terms of service |Subscription terms |Your ad choices |Cookie Settings |California Privacy Rights |About Us |Contact Newsday |Reprints & permissions |Advertise with Newsday |Help. Sale waived application for bond, knowing it was hopeless, but won a two-week postponement of formal arraignment. When asked about the body, Rifkin said, She was a prostitute. According to the documentary, Rifkin picked up hundreds of sex workersand he eventually left college before finishing. He raged at Joel, Why cant you do anything to please me? Jeanne Rifkin shared her love of gardening and photography with Joel oblivious to his torment by peers. (Photo by Rick Maiman/Sygma via Getty Images), "If these crimes were happening today, I think the police would have made the connection quickly," he shared. The only 80s action star that would prove victorious against a 21st-century assassin is not a man but a machine. It was really unnerving., Marie Alonso, left,mother of Joel Rifkin victim Anna Lopez, shares an emotional moment with Margarita Gonzales,mother of victim Jenny Soto, outside of Nassau County Court in Mineolaon July 7, 1993. Legal Statement. Oxygen's new documentary on Joel Rifkin is part of their 'Serial Killer Week" line-up. It's like my own little nightmare scenarios.". He told investigators he dismembered her body, put it into various buckets filled with concrete, and dropped the buckets into the East River and Brooklyn canal. Within weeks, Rifkin faced murder charges not only in Nassau but in the numerous other counties where he had dumped other victims. But Susie has never been identified. Determined not to bungle the disposal this time, Rifkin went out to purchase cement and a large mortar pan. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. The couple was so happy with their son that they repeated the procedure, with a daughter, three years later. The other parts went into garbage bags and then into his mothers car. How did Rifkin become such a vicious murderer? Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a2a73bfae92a8aa His memory was far from perfect. He was living with his mother and sister at the time of his arrest. Brescianis body was found in the back of Rifkins pickup truck after he was stopped by the state police for a traffic violation, The New York Times reported. Joel Rifkin Thats well over 30 ebooks in one package. Prosecutor Fred Klein described Rifkin as a killing machine who acted in deliberate, premediated and methodical ways to carry out his gruesome murders, The New York Times reported in 1994. Elaines boyfriend had resisted her earlier suggestion to change his name, but now hes ready to make a switch. Joel It was a trick for handling corpses, to avoid their stench, portrayed by Hollywood two years earlier in the Oscar-winning Silence of the Lambs. Prison was an exaggerated replay of high school, with constant threats and taunts from other convicts. Eftimiades, Maria. Some were on land. Instead, he was a rather meek, unassuming child. I had sex with her, and then I killed her. (Photo by Neil Schneider/New York Post Archives /(c) NYP Holdings, Inc. via Getty Images), "When we first started talking, it was kind of awkward," said Mladinich. On August 22, 1987, Rifkin was arrested in Hempstead, Long Island, for soliciting a prostitute. A Jane Doe victim, thus entombed, was dredged from Newtown Creek, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, on May 13, 1992. Is Joel Rifkin still alive A forensic anthropologist was hired to reconstruct the victims face, but Rifkin confessed before the model was finished. Rifkins first two victims have never been found or identified. "In an effort to show there was some grain of decency in him, he wrote this manifesto, a proposal really, to establish a facility where wayward women that had been living on the streets could go be safe. Hes not the murderer, she reassures. Revenge, jealousy usually theres some human connection [in a murder]. She was a prostitute, he told the officers. Rifkin graduated from high school in 1977, but he could never quite cut in college, despite sporadic attempts over the next twelve years. Somewhere along the way, he moved from abstract study of the killers into emulation of their brutal crimes. One high school date was scuttled after fellow track team members trapped him in the gym and pelted him with eggs, forcing Joel to call his father for help. Simpson Murder Joke Aged Horribly Seventeen women in total were murdered by this shadowy figure but police at the time weren't even aware he existed. Joel Rifkin, and I am dating Joel Rifkin, laments Elaine, whose coworkers have gotten wind of the creepy coincidence. The chase covered about 20 miles through Nassau before Rifkin, a landscaper living with his mother and sister in East Meadow,hit a utility pole on Old Country Road in Mineola. Joel Rifkin In 2010, Rifkin was interviewed by ABC's Martin Bashir as part of the Nightline Prime mini-series, Secrets of Your Mind. Over the years, he was also bullied at school, which left him angry and isolated as he desperately sought his fathers approval. Even before he was sentenced, on May 9, 1994, Rifkin was transferred to Suffolk County, pending trial for the Evens and Marquez slayings. Yourself, New Yorks Deadliest Serial "We were trying to catch up from the previous 20 years. Confronting them, she was first told that Joel had been detained after a traffic accident, then that he was jailed for a crime which the officers refused to describe. Is Joel Rifkin Still Alive I was just in complete shock that someone like him could be arrested for these crimes. Discovered the following day, Soto was identified from fingerprint records of her last arrest, police initially suspecting her ex-con ex-boyfriend of the murder. Below we countdown to Joel Rifkin upcoming birthday. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. Ruane and Spaargaren called for backup as they pursued their quarry at nearly 90 miles an hour. That may explain his failure to perform as Lee went to work. Welcome to November, the month when, according to some studies, serial killers and mass murderers are most likely to be born. In his mind, the grim task was reduced to biology class. To foil identification, Rifkin severed Susies fingertips and pulled her teeth with pliers, then jammed her severed head into an old paint can. It is chock full of artwork, rare documents, FBI files and in depth articles regarding serial murder. ", "There was always a fascination with strangulations. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Rifkins selection process was erratic, sparing most of the hookers he patronized on a near nightly basis, prompting him to kill others on a whim. Table ranking Historys Most Deadly Events: Influenza pandemic (1918-19) 20-40 million deaths; black death/plague (1348-50), 20-25 million deaths, AIDS pandemic (through 2000) 21.8 million deaths, World War II (1937-45), 15.9 million deaths, and World War I (1914-18) 9.2 million deaths. She woke up fighting for her life, kicking the gear-shift hard enough to snap it off before Joel smothered her. "Joel was very calm about it," Mladinich continued. She was found on September 23--eight days before DeLuca--floating past Randalls Island, at the Harlem Rivers mouth. He had an I.Q. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! For more on Rifkin, watch Oxygen's special Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer, airing Saturday, April 10 at 9/8c on Oxygen. Oh please, please, please change your name to O.J.! They talked about trial strategy and how to present his case. In Joels room, they struck pay dirt, recovering dozens of ID cards, drivers licenses and credit cards, photographs, articles of jewelry, and piles of womens clothing taken from his victims. From the Mouth of the Monster. The special also features interviews with Rifkins childhood friends, investigators on the case, as well as those closest to his victims. Rifkin was booked at Hempstead, where homicide detectives launched a marathon interrogation. ", GARY HEIDNIKS ATTORNEY TALKS INSANE HOUSE OF HORRORS KILLER IN DOC: THERE WAS A METHOD TO HIS MADNESS', Jenny Soto's family. I remember I wrote about a boxing match for one of our assignments as journalism students and he photographed the event. Simpson. Chainsaws, people screaming, fine. The neighbor always survives to do the interview afterwards. Her body was never recovered. The Seinfeld team wasted no time trying to churn laughs out of one of New Yorks most horrible mass murderers Rifkin is believed to have killed up to 17 women and is the subject of Oxygens upcoming special, Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer,, The whole city is talking about this monster. Credit: AP/Pool Photo/ Bill Turnbull. Instead of fighting back, Rifkin invited them to watch TV and drink beer at his house. While he was portrayed as a more heroic character in the film, the novel portrays him as a ruthless, psychotic murderer and unlike the movie counterpart, this version of Rambo slaughters innocent people. He would be eligible for parole only in 2197, at the age of 238. She appeared to have been dead for several days. It didnt fully come home to me what was happening until later., Things went from bad to worse at East Meadow High School. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson. On the early morning hours ofJune 28, 1993, three days after he had killed Bresciani, Rifkin stashed her body in his car's trunk and headed down the Southern State Parkway to dispose of her, the New York Daily News reported at the time. He shared his mothers enthusiasm for photography and handicrafts, a brainy child who never quite fit in with other kids his age. Another 31-year-old victim, Korean hooker Yun Lee, was fished out of the East River on September 23, her body folded inside a steamer trunk. In its year in review, Newsday described 1993 as Long Islands own annus horribilis the year that violence, abuse, bloody mayhem and sexual perversion tore at the fabric of Nassau and Suffolk Counties suburban life.. On July 14 of that year, 31-year-old Barbara Jacobs was found, strangled and rotting, in the Hudson River; her body had been wedged inside a plastic bag, then forced into a cardboard box. At the time, there was no more thought than stomping on a bug or a cockroach. On the side, he began collecting books and press clippings on serial killers of whores, including the unidentified Green River Killer and New Yorks own Arthur Shawcross. It was a half-hearted effort at best. (It was still there, waiting for detectives, at the time of Joels arrest.) He placed her body into a 55-gallon oil drum and dumped it into the East River. Arraigned for the Bresciani homicide on July 15, 1993, Rifkin repeated his plea of not guilty. Family (1) Spouse Iva Rifkin ( 28 August 1966 - present) Trivia (10) Know About Serial Killer Joel Rifkin's Childhood Rifkin didnt stop after his first murder. New York State Police escort Joel Rifkin, 34, a landscaper from East Meadow, to a holding cell after charging him with second-degree murder in East Farmingdale, L.I. Oholah, Rifkin explained, was both the Hebrew word for sanctuary and the name of a prostitute whose violent death is described in Ezekiel 23:3-10. You just wonder about how someone could do what he did and not have any feeling for it, Ahearn said. So who were the women who lost their lives to this disturbingkiller? Soto also had a past record for prostitution, but her family insisted she had been getting her life together before she was killed. Its like my own little nightmare scenarios, he said. Her mother, Florence Orvieto,told The New York Times that she had been saving her Christmas presents for two years until she learned in 1993 that her daughters body had been discovered in a 55-gallon oil drum in Coney Island Creek in Brooklyn. Joel waited more than a year to claim his second victim. He was later acquitted. Serial Killer Joel Rifkin Details Sotos grim fight for life gave Rifkin pause. Neighbors had noted a foul odor emanating from the Rifkin garage, where corpses were occasionally stored before disposal, but the stench was attributed to fertilizer and insecticide Joel used on his landscaping job. State Troopers who chased down his pickup truck for a routine traffic violation said they found a woman's decomposing body in the back and a driver who confessed to killing 17 women. Three were in oil drums. The whole focus of my life, he later said, was on the streets. Even there he proved inept, robbed by hookers or their pimps at least a dozen times. The prison van carried him past the high school where he had graduated 16 years before. If you are interested in joining our team, contact us at Years of pent-up anger and humiliation craved release. Birthday: January 20, 1959 How Old - Age: 64 Recently Passed Away Celebrities and Famous People. Heidi Balch was identified in 2013. By the time Rifkin was done taking guilty pleas throughout the area, he had been sentenced to 203 1/3 years to life in prison. Sale called the state police at 3:30 p.m. and ordered them to cease interrogation of his client, but the questioning continued in Sales absence for at least another hour, until Rifkin completed his grim recital of death. He was born on January 20, 1959, the son of unwed college students who were not prepared to start a family. Tune in on Oxygen April 10 to April 18. Excluded from team sports and neighborhood games, Joel was the butt of every prank and sadistic joke: bullies assaulted him in school and pulled his pants down, stole his lunch and books, and harassed him constantly. "As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably would've been others. Rifkin refused, strangling her when she started to cry. There was really no coordination between police precincts. The severed head was found in 1989 in Hopewell, a town north of Trenton. I think its a wake-up call that there could be lots of Joel Rifkin'swalking around.". "There were no cameras on every block. With 25-year-old Iris Sanchez, strangled in April 1992, he simply drove to JFK Airport and left her body in a vacant lot, beneath a mattress. Just keep the music down., For more on Rifkin, watch Oxygens upcoming special Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer, airing on Saturday, April 10 at 7/6c on Oxygen. New Yorks worst serial murder case of this century began--or ended--with a routine traffic stop in the predawn hours of June 28, 1993. A chainsaw found in the garage was stained with blood and bits of human flesh. Before the day was done, Rifkin, now 59, had written out a detailed description of how he had murdered 17 women who were working as prostitutes. The experience soon explodedinto a full-on addiction, as he blew through all his money picking up hundreds of sex workers. He said he sat in his car outside his home for an hour and a half, listening to Frank Sinatra. I was completely numb. Portions of her remains were later discovered inside an oil drum in New Creek in Brooklyn, according to ThoughtCo. Next to him is his attorney, John Lawrence of Mineola. A formal suppression hearing was scheduled for November, but Rifkin had other plans. found in 1989 identified, linked to serial killer He managed to completely slip by unnoticed while committing the most vicious rampage New York had ever seen,capitalizing on his own non-threatening anonymity and pursuingvictims who tended to fall through the cracks of society. State Troopers who chased down his pickup truck for a routine traffic violation said they found a woman's decomposing body in the back and a driver who confessed to killing 17 women. His other victims included Tiffany Bresciani, Julie Blackbird, Lauren Marquez, Mary Catherine Williams, Barbara Jacobs, Yun Lee, Maryann Hollomon, Leah Evens, Violet ONeill, Mary Ellen DeLuca, Lorraine Orvieto, Iris Sanchez, Jenny Soto, and Anna Lopez, Newsday reported. Rifkin's downfall came about simply because of a "25 cent mistake," as he told the New York Daily News. They also sought to suppress his initial admission of Brescianis murder, made at the time of his arrest, while claiming that police had lacked sufficient probable cause for a legal search of Rifkins truck. Joel Rifkin Three months later, he killed Leah Evens and left her in rural Northampton, where her skeleton was found on Mothers Day. (Oxygen). Rifkin was arrested for soliciting a prostitute on August 22, 1987 in Hempstead, Long Island. As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably wouldve been others, he admitted. As his mother was out of town, he brought her back home. They drove to a point near the Manhattan Bridge, Rifkin clutching at her throat without the usual preliminaries. Before Rifkin left for college, hedrove to New York City and picked up a sex workerfor the first time. Hewent to painstaking efforts to try to conceal the bodies, often dismembering the victims, placing their bodies in oil drums, or throwing them into bodies of water, he would later tell WCBS-TVin 2011. He killed mostly prostitutes and drug addicts; he was convicted of nine murders, although he is believed to have killed many more. "You think of people as things.". In 2000, a state appellate court determined that prison officials had not violated Rifkin's constitutional rights by housing him in isolation. Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Pig are extremely nice, good-mannered and tasteful. Rifkin consigned her remains to the waters surrounding Manhattan. Wiles Stabile. Rambo would go on to receive extensive survival and combat training, later becoming a Green Beret in September of 1969. Thanks to its ruling planet Mars and the fact it belongs to the element of Fire (just like Leo and Sagittarius), Aries is one of the most active zodiac signs. O.J.! (Robert Mladinich), "I wanted to reach out to him right away after the arrest," Mladinich told Fox News. Joel Rifkin Death Fact Check Joel is alive and kicking and is currently 64 years old. Failing that, he sought to have the various murder charges consolidated in one Nassau County trial, hoping a hometown jury would be more inclined to find Rifkin not guilty by reason of insanity. The rest would be revealed to her on television, hours later, when detectives laid the outline of their case before the media. At the police station, Rifkin was asked if he had killed anybody else. Anna Lopez: Lopezs nude body was found May 25, 1992 in a wooded area off Interstate 84 in Putnam County, according to The New York Times. Despite finding that Wexner should have excluded Rifkins confession to the Bresciani murder--an argument pursued in vain for five years--the appellate court found overwhelming evidence establishing his guilt and refused to overturn any part of his sentence. Their mistake made Rifkin laugh, explaining that the clumsy cops had counted Williams twice. Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? Theyre never disturbed by the sounds of murdering, just stereo. Then, as if in a fugue state, he spent the next three days working on his pickup, ignoring the summer heat and pervasive reek of decomposing flesh. WebJoel David Rifkin (born January 20, 1959) is an American serial killer, who was sentenced to 203 years in prison for the murders of nine women between 1989 and 1993, though it is believed he had up to 17 victims. Rifkin found Orvieto on December 26, 1991, in Bayshore, Long Island. Orval was killed by John Rambo after he went into the mountains with his bloodhounds, which he went to use to hunt Rambo down. Out of the 17 women Rifkin said he murdered, two have yet to be identified. Rifkins ninth victim, ironically, surfaced before numbers seven and eight. A low-speed car case ensued for about 20 minutes, until Rifkin lost control of the car and crashed into a utility pole in Mineola, according to the paper. ", Evidence In The Case Of Serial Killer Joel Rifkin, Explored, 'If I Didn't Kill Them, They Would Have Died Anyhow': How Joel Rifkin Evaded Capture For Years. The only thing that makes me feel a little better is to think that perhaps she didnt die in pain.. He was also an academic failure, suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia despite a tested IQ of 128. With Rifkins detailed confession, investigators got to work. Actually, he later said, I thought I liked her.. In February 1987, Rifkin's adoptive father committed suicide to end the pain of cancer, thereby increasing Rifkins depression. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. "There are a lot of damaged people out there," he said. After the pair spent the night, once again at his mothers home, Rifkin beat her with a table leg and strangled her to death, according to Biography. By that time, Ruane and Spaargaren had smelled his reeking cargo, moving toward the rear bed of the truck, where something long and thick was wrapped in plastic, bound with rope. Market data provided by Factset. WebWhen a letter arrives from the army, telling Rory that Dawson is missing in action and presumed dead, her world is shattered. There was ample room for Jane Doe in the barrel, safely hidden for their ride to the South Bronx, where Rifkin found a district rife with junkyards and rolled her into the East River. It was finally too much. What actor has been killed the most in movies? By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. An odor in Rifkin's truck led to the discovery of a body. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Five more patrol cars joined the convoy, sirens wailing, before the Mazdas driver missed a turn in Mineola and crashed his truck into a telephone pole at 3:36 a.m. Joel Rifkin It came from the dead body of Tiffany Bresciani, 22, the girlfriend of Dave Rubinstein (a.k.a. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! New York: Berkley Books, 1994. Rifkin found her on Jamaica Avenue in Queens and drove her around New York until sunrise, shelling out $150 for drugs at various stops. Rifkin wedged the body underneath a rotting mattress, first relieving Sanchez of her watch and other jewelry.