(Photo by Andrew Savulich/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images). New York State's most prolific serial killer might not have been discovered on a hot summer night 25 years ago if the license plate on his pickup truck had not fallen off, authorities say. All rights reserved. Determined not to bungle the disposal this time, Rifkin went out to purchase cement and a large mortar pan. Iris Sanchez: Sanchez, 25, was reportedly killed on Mothers Day weekend in 1992. He concealed this arrest from his family. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he did it.. They trade suggestions for a possible new name, and of course, they cant come close to agreeing. Credit: AP/Pool Photo/ Bill Turnbull. The appointment was an honor, and it had an unexpected bonus. During the course of the episode, Rifkin underwent a brain scan to see if abnormal brain chemistry could have possibly made him more likely to commit murder. Unlike Orvieto, Holloman was identified from dental records and returned to her family for burial. It didnt fully come home to me what was happening until later., Things went from bad to worse at East Meadow High School. 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. WebSusie was still alive, however, and she fought back when he tried to move her, biting one of Rifkins fingers deeply before he strangled her to death. Back in East Meadow, Jeanne Rifkin found officers circling her house by mid-morning. Rifkin had apparently forgotten the date of his fathers death and told police he murdered Barbara Jacobs in August 1991, although her body had been found in July. "He always seemed like he was slower or a step behind," Fred Reiter, who lived next door to Rifkin in East Meadow, New Yorkgrowing up, recalls in the special. On December 14, 2001, Rifkin lost his latest appeal of his conviction. All rights reserved. Troopers detected an odor from the back of the truck. He was still so tense when he got out of his car that he said he sprained his back.
Simpson Murder Joke Aged Horribly WebRon Rifkin was born on October 31, 1939 in New York City, New York, USA. By unanimous decision, a New York appellate court refused to lift the lockdown in June 2000. In 1965, the family settled in East Meadow, New York, where Rifkin would spend most of his remaining years. 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. Through newly revealed interviews from Attica Correctional Facility, New York's most prolific serial killer, Joel Rifkin, reveals exclusive insights into the mind of a monster. 202.3.109.12 Fred Klein, shown in his office at Hofstra Universityon June 13, was the lead Nassau County prosecutor in the Joel Rifkincase. All rights reserved. Within weeks, Rifkin faced murder charges not only in Nassau but in the numerous other counties where he had dumped other victims. Somewhere along the way, he moved from abstract study of the killers into emulation of their brutal crimes. He researched past crimes for details. WebPrison officials decided in 1996 that Rifkin was so notorious that his presence in the general prison population could be disruptive. Rifkin found her on May 25, 1992, Memorial Day, working Atlantic Avenue in Queens, and retired to a nearby residential street for sex. Motorist Joel Rifkin, now in handcuffs, helped identify the corpse as 22-year-old Tiffany Bresciani. Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans. A childless couple from Upstate New York, Bernard and Jeanne Rifkin, adopted him on Valentines Day and named him Joel David. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,
Rifkin found Orvieto on December 26, 1991, in Bayshore, Long Island. Oh! In interviews this month, investigators and lawyers shared their memories of the case that stunned Long Island 25 years ago, and the effects it had on their lives. Birthday: January 20, 1959 How Old - Age: 64 Recently Passed Away Celebrities and Famous People. 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. I had sex with her, then things went bad and I strangled her. Credit: Jessica Rotkiewicz. When they signaled for him to pull over, Rifkin kept driving. Over the next four years, he killed 16 more prostitutes. "Back in the late 80s and early 90s, it really was not hard to get away with such crimes," said Mladinich. The whole city is talking about this monster Joel Rifkin, and I am dating Joel Rifkin, laments Elaine, whose coworkers have gotten wind of the creepy coincidence. Yun Lee: Authorities believe Lee, 31, was strangled to death on September 23, 1991, Thought Co. reports. Every issue of Serial of Serial Killer Magazine we sell. 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. 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. 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. Jenny Soto was the last victim of 1992, a 23-year-old addict whose many trips to detox never turned her life around. The severed head was found in 1989 in Hopewell, a town north of Trenton. Lockdown. Lees ex-husband identified the body, sparing her from an unmarked grave. He kind of leaned back and said, One or 100, whats the difference? Eugene Corcoran, the state police lieutenant who supervised the investigation, recalled, according to Newsday. Rifkin consigned her remains to the waters surrounding Manhattan. Growing up, he struggled with confidence and lacked a natural athletic ability, which frustrated his father. Afterward, he drove Evens to the far eastern end of Long Island and buried her in the woods, the only one of his victims who rated a shallow grave. 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. Rifkin started his own landscaping business in April 1991, renting space at a local nursery to store his equipment. The next time Rifkin made headlines, in April 1998, the news involved sale of his artwork at the New York State legislatures office building in Albany as part of a program to compensate crime victims. 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. Arraigned for the Bresciani homicide on July 15, 1993, Rifkin repeated his plea of not guilty. It worked. Appearing for the state, Dr. Park Dietz--earlier a prosecution witness against Arthur Shawcross, Jeffrey Dahmer and John Hinckley--found Rifkin sick but not insane. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. Weary of the pain by February 1987, he took a massive dose of barbiturates and died after four days in a coma. His employer at a local music store described Joel as a total piece of work. After strangling Lopez in his car, Rifkin drove through the night to Brewster, in Putnam County, and dumped her corpse along I-84. During his trial, Rifkin was represented by Mineola-based attorney John Lawrence. I just struggled to come to grips that this same person was a serial killer capable of such barbarism. What I found the most interesting was when he said they could also learn how to protect themselves from people like me. He described himself as a wolf in sheeps clothing.
The Seinfeld Episode Inspired By A NASHVILLE TV PRODUCER VERONICA BOZZAS MURDER EXPLORED IN TRUE CRIME DOC: THE WHOLE THING WAS SENSELESS, O.J. The victim was prostitute Julie Blackbird, selected for her pseudo-Madonna look. Rifkin drove her home to East Meadow when his mother was again out of town, and they spent the night together. In 1994, Rifkin was sentenced to life in prison. Known as Joel the Ripper, he murdered and dismembered at least nine women in New York. He never relishedtalking about these horrible crimes. The murders spanned four years, and all the victims were described as prostitutes by Rifkin, though surviving relatives of several vocally dispute his claim. The Orvieto family sued him first, on a civil count for Lorraines wrongful death, and Rifkin responded with a snide handwritten brief, branding his victim an AIDS carrier who may be responsible for the eventual deaths of numerous individuals, crediting her relatives for shared responsibility in what might have been. Next, in November 1997, it was Rifkins turn to sue prison officials and the New York Daily News for branding him HIV-positive. "Joel was very calm about it," Mladinich continued. He was living with his mother and sister at the time of his arrest. This is a savings of over $100! Instead of keeping him away from prostitutes, the incident made him more devious. The drivers license identified him as 34-year-old Joel David Rifkin, residing on Garden Street in East Meadow, Long Island. Tiffany Bresciani: Rifkins final victim, Tiffany Bresciani, 22, hadmoved to New York from her home in Louisiana to pursue her dream of becoming an actress or singer. And police weren't aware that one man was specifically targeting sex workers in the area. His lawyer argued that his statements to the police at the time of his arrest should be suppressed because he had not been informed of his rights. While Jan and Jeanne stayed mostly silent during the court proceedings, even as reporters staked out their now-infamous home, his sister did speak to New York Post reporter Andrea Peyser. [Sex workers are]easy because they travel a lot. Ahearn saidRifkins lack of concern for his victims haunted him for years and still does. Rifkin acknowledged that his violent mental images were a little more intense than regular at that time. As before, Joel cut most of his classes, focused for the most part on repairing his truck, renting video porn and trolling for prey. According to Joel Rifkin, it was a '25-cent mistake' that finally led to his capture. While his mother was out of town, Rifkin and Balch returned to his childhood home, where they stayed for the night but Rifkin soon took out his rage on Balch, bashing her in the head with a Howtizer artillery shell and strangling her to death, as recounted on "Rifkin on Rifkin.". Nonetheless, after Ben Rifkin died by suicide in 1987, one year after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, Joel chose to remember his father as a loving parent when he was delivering his eulogy. Rifkin was found guilty of nine murders in 1994 and sentenced to 203 years to life. Joel Rifkin, New York's most prolific serial killer, is the subject of a new true-crime documentary on Oxygen. In 1965, the family settled in East Meadow, where Joel would spend most of his remaining years. He didn't wet the bed or torture animals or start fires. She had pieces of skin under her fingernails, her sister Margarita Gonzales told The Associated Press in 1993. Rifkin had dated Williams twice and enjoyed a great time before the final pickup on October 2, 1992. Currently, Joel Rifkin is 64 years, 1 months and 12 days old. ", JONBENET RAMSEYS HALF BROTHER STILL WANTS TO FIND HER KILLER: THIS CASE CAN BE SOLVED, 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. Rifkin initially claimed he had blacked out, but soon admitted that Bresciani had not been his only victim. Stephanie Nolasco covers entertainment at Foxnews.com. He struggled with confidence and lacked natural athletic ability, a trait that frustrated his father endlessly, according to "Rifkin on Rifkin.". It was nearly 8 p.m. when authorities presented Jeanne Rifkin with a search warrant, scouring her two-story house for evidence against the man who appeared to be New Yorks most prolific serial killer. Rifkin was booked at Hempstead, where homicide detectives launched a marathon interrogation. The confession and the evidence collected from Rifkins bedroom left him boxed in as his first trial approached in Nassau. Elaines boyfriend had resisted her earlier suggestion to change his name, but now hes ready to make a switch. After a struggle to get the car started and moving, Rifkin drove Williams to Yorktown, a Westchester suburb, where she was found on December 21, 1992. It was a life far removed from her affluent Long Island home where shed been a high school cheerleader. When told his truck had no rear license plate, Rifkin assured the officers it had been present when he left his home, some 40 minutes earlier. In 1989, he killed his first woman. "And a lot of them are dangerous people. Five months after Rifkin was caught, "Seinfeld" released an episode titled "The Masseuse" in which Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is dating a man named Joel Rifkin (Anthony Cistaro) at the same time the murderer was drawing headlines. (Photo by Rick Maiman/Sygma via Getty Images), (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Archive Photos/Getty Images). Rifkin told Dietz in detail how he planned his killings, how he avoided detection, how he got sexual gratification from both the killings and the victims personal effects much to Lawrences dismay. Flexing his ego, he fired Sale and retained two new lawyers: former Nassau County assistant district attorney Michael Soshnick and his partner, John Lawrence. 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. Instead, he picked up a souvenir howitzer shell and beat her furiously. (In fact, the latter name is spelled Aholah.) Rifkin called his plan a way of paying back a debt, I guess, and while the idea drew praise from some quarters --including prosecutor Fred Klein-- most objected to Rifkins inclusion of a Motivation Room where residents would be scared straight with photos of hookers murdered on the job. After exchanging letters, the former cop, who served the NYPD from 1983 until 2003 when he retired with the rank of Detective Second Grade, decided to visit Rifkin at Attica Correctional Facility. The rest would be revealed to her on television, hours later, when detectives laid the outline of their case before the media. The argument over whose killings were better reportedly ended when Ferguson punched Rifkin in the mouth. But other times, Lawrence said his client made him uncomfortable. The Terminator could easily take out John Wick and he wouldnt even see it coming. Ten minutes later, with a call for reinforcements on the air, their quarry missed a turn and crashed into a lamp post at a Mineola intersection. In an exclusive 2011 interview with CBS-2's Mary Calvi, Rifkin talked about his killing spree. New York: Pocket Books, 2001. Rifkin didnt stop after his first murder. That first murder gave way to many more; he killed 16 more sex workers, often dismembering their bodies and disposing of themin the New York area. There were times he would come up with things about the afterlife, or an energy flow he detected leaving his victims, Lawrence said. He dismembered their bodies and disposed theirremains in the New York area. In many ways, it was almost like a tsunami.. He said he had demanded an attorney 20 times. He spent more than four years in solitary confinement I dont care what someone did. 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. Joel delivered a eulogy at his fathers funeral, moving the mourners to tears, and his depression deepened. Prosecutor Fred Klein described Rifkin as a killing machine who acted in deliberate, premediated and methodical ways to carry out his gruesome murders. Rifkins first two victims have never been found or identified. A peek inside the tarp revealed a womans decomposing body. Why do people try to quit smoking for their entire lives?" One girl duped him twice, using the same ruse both times to flee with his cash before sex. Rambos escape made him look bad and so he had to eliminate that insult to his own overblown ego. He remembered her tattoos, a pickup in Manhattan, and the way she fought for life when he began to strangle her. Briefly distracted by a man who passed the car walking a dog, he almost let Marquez escape. As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably wouldve been others,Joel Rifkin said of the likelihood he would have continued to kill if he hadnt been caught in 1993. A pair of womens panties lay on the floor, near a stockpile of rope and tarp. "You think of people as things.". ", First published on March 27, 2013 / 3:17 PM. Joel Rifkin was born in in January 20, 1959. Thats well over 30 ebooks in one package. The obsession with murder had consumed his life and he began using the rented job site as a way station for corpses in transit. From the Mouth of the Monster. Even before he was sentenced, on May 9, 1994, Rifkin was transferred to Suffolk County, pending trial for the Evens and Marquez slayings. With no money, Rifkin attempted to hold down a job, but that also became another unsuccessful moment in his life.
Joel Rifkin What it gave me was that he liked to be in control. "The only difference is that within 20 minutes, we started talking about murder and mayhem. Out in the garage, they found a wheelbarrow and a chainsaw stained with human gore. The break came in 2013 when investigators discovered that Balch, who had been reported missing by her aunt in 2001, had also used the name Susan Spencer. They were able to successfully match her to the remains, according to the AP. He was very interested in horticulture and interned at the Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park. 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, airingSaturday, April 10 at 7/6c on Oxygen. They enjoy helping others and are good companions until someone close crosses them, then look out! . He expressed a similar view in an interview with the New York Daily News in 2010: "No family "They can be gone six or eight months, and no one is looking," he said. Barbara Jacobs: Jacobs was killed on July 14, 1991. There was none of that. Decomposition made it impossible to determine a cause of death, and she was buried nameless, unidentified until June 1993. He is now the district executive for the federal courts in the Eastern District of New York. Hikers found her on May 9 after they spied a withered hand protruding from the ground. Good works notwithstanding, Rifkin had no luck in his bids to escape solitary confinement. How did Rifkin become such a vicious murderer? His mother chose that month to travel out of state, leaving Joel alone in the East Meadow house. I was completely numb. Her torso surfaced in the Hudson River, wrapped in black plastic, while her arms and legs were found in a discarded suitcase. Her mother, Victoria ONeill, told the newspaper she had last seen her daughter on July 16, 1992. The murderous rampage of notorious Long Island serial killer Rifkin came to an end. Rifkin suffered a major anxiety attack after learning that Susie was HIV positive, following the case as police prepared artists renderings of the victim in life and checked them against a list of 700 missing women. 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. Family members of his victims either could not be reached or declined to comment. ", JOHN WAYNE GACY LIKED THE POWER OF DEATH, RETIRED DETECTIVE REVEALS IN DOC: IT MADE HIM FEEL LIKE A GOD, Oxygen's new documentary on Joel Rifkin is part of their 'Serial Killer Week" line-up. The neighbor always survives to do the interview afterwards. Scattering the remains throughout New York also made it less likely for authorities to notice a pattern. Although Rifkin often hired prostitutes in Brooklyn and Manhattan, he lived in East Meadow, a suburban town on Long Island. Lorraine Orvieto, age twenty-eight, was strangled by Rifkin a few days before Christmas, jammed in a 55-gallon oil drum and dropped into Coney Island Creek, where her body would remain undiscovered for over six months. If Ahearn got the location wrong of where he picked up a victim, he said Rifkin became indignant . He picked her up on West 46th Street in Manhattan and strangled her in his car during oral sex, describing the event as very quick. Afterward, he drove back to Long Island with the body slumped beside him, concealing her under a tarp at his rented workplace. He is now in Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, near the Canadian border.
Other times he killed them in his car. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. A panel of seven men and five women was seated nine days later, with opening arguments begun on April 20. He placed her body into a 55-gallon oil drum and dumped it into the East River. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Rifkin graduated from high school in 1977, but he could never quite cut in college, despite sporadic attempts over the next twelve years. 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. According to Rifkins complaint, the reports prompted a series of inmate assaults that he suffered in January and February 1996, leading to his confinement in a solitary cell for personal safety. MURDER OF MICHAEL JORDAN'S FATHER EXAMINED IN NEW DOC, RAISING QUESTIONS ABOUT SHOCKING INVESTIGATION, Joel Rifkin, New York's most prolific serial killer, is the subject of a new true-crime documentary on Oxygen. Rifkins bedroom reading material included a book on the unidentified Green River Killer and news clippings about the case of New York serial slayer Arthur Shawcross. Jane Doe #1: Rifkin killed an unidentified woman in December 1991 by strangling her to death during sex. 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. New York: St. Martins Press, 1993. 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. From 1989 to 1993, a serial killer stalked New York City. Rifkin! she says, inspired by the name O.J. That may explain his failure to perform as Lee went to work. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! But he accelerated, speeding down the next off-ramp, into the streets of Wantagh. The couple was so happy with their son that they repeated the procedure, with a daughter, three years later. "They would suspect a serial killer was on the loose and his car would have easily been spotted by cameras.". He never really displayed that. The suppression hearing convened before Judge Ira Wexner on November 8, 1993, Soshnick and Lawrence picking up where Sale left off in the effort to quash Rifkins confession. Elaines boyfriend had resisted her earlier suggestion to change his name, but now hes ready to make a switch. Theyre perfectionists who enjoy finer things but are not perceived as snobs. Instead, she wound up hooked on heroin, performing for strangers in strip clubs and cars. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! He was eventually acquitted. She was a prostitute, he told the officers. Oh please, please, please change your name to O.J.! Joel David Rifkin: New York's Most Prolific Serial Killer. Joel Rifkin was born in the Year of the Pig. You just wonder about how someone could do what he did and not have any feeling for it, Ahearn said. Williams, a former cheerleader at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, had struggled with an addiction to crack cocaine after her marriage broke up and often turned to prostitution to help support the habit, according to Newsday. Rifkin!"
Joel Rifkin ipl.org The only thing that makes me feel a little better is to think that perhaps she didnt die in pain.. They can disappear for months, hetold CBS New Yorkin 2011. Authorities say 25-year-old Heidi Balch likely was the first victim of Joel Rifkin, who is in prison in New York after admitting he killed 17 women in the early 1990s. Three months later, he killed Leah Evens and left her in rural Northampton, where her skeleton was found on Mothers Day. Rifkin just didn't excel in academia or sports, and so he struggled with feeling like a disappointment to his dad. Hopewell Police Chief George Meyer tells The Times of Trenton that New York authorities have no interest in prosecuting the case because Rifkin is already behind bars. Rifkin had reached the detonation point. In early 1994, it was reported that Rifkin had engaged in a jailhouse scuffle with mass murderer Colin Ferguson over the use of a public telephone. Years of pent-up anger and humiliation craved release. An odor in Rifkin's truck led to the discovery of a body. Aside from books and magazines (no more than 10 per isolation cell), Rifkin had lawsuits to amuse himself. 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. Her slaying capped his own frenzied acceleration period and left him with embarrassing wounds to explain. In case there is such a thing as reincarnation, I want you to spend your second life in prison.. Rifkin was never on authorities' radar. They opened the truck and found Bresciani. Some were dismembered, others were not. Her body was never recovered. Violet ONeill: ONeills dismembered body parts were found over three days in July 1992 in multiple waterways including the Harlem River, East River, and a body of water near Governors Island, according to a New York Times article. Her severed head was found in March 1989 on a New Jersey golf course, but for almost 25 years investigators were unable to positively identify the remains because Balch hadused various names and Social Security numbers. 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. 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. And if he hadn't been caught, he likely wouldn't have stopped, he admits in Oxygen's new special, "Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer," airing Saturday, April 10 at 7/6c on Oxygen. His lawyer Bob Sale sought to have Rifkins confession thrown out on grounds that police could not prove he was ever advised of his rights. His landscaping business had folded by then, his landlord clamoring for $700 in overdue rent. Why not? Instead, he was a rather meek, unassuming child. This is someone whos trying to show you to be a sadistic killer., Joel Rifkin listens to the guilty verdict against him in Nassau County Court in Mineola on May 9, 1994,in the killingof Tiffany Bresciani.
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