He struggled with confidence and lacked natural athletic ability, a trait that frustrated his father endlessly, according to "Rifkin on Rifkin.". ", JOHN WALSHS SON CALLAHAN EXPLAINS HOW HIS BROTHER ADAM'S MURDER MADE HIM DETERMINED TO CATCH BAD GUYS, Jenny Soto, a victim of serial killer Joel Rifkin. Corcoran had troopers take Rifkin to Troop L, located then on the grounds of Republic Airport in East Farmingdale where Rifkin was headed that night to bury that body. Something about Joel Rifkin set him apart, an undefined quality that made him an immediate outsider, natural prey to all manner of bullies. He was living with his mother and sister at the time of his arrest. Sometimes he would take his victims back to East Meadow, to the house where he lived with his sister and elderly mother. 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. I was breathing heavily. alaw enforcement source told The New York Daily News at the time. Market data provided by Factset. Orval was killed by John Rambo after he went into the mountains with his bloodhounds, which he went to use to hunt Rambo down. Even the parents of his victims didnt seem to miss Rifkins prey. Several months later, the football star was charged with murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Abandoned by the father of her two children, Evens found solace in drugs and worked the streets to keep herself well. Rifkin found her tricking on February 27, 1993, stopping for sex in an abandoned parking lot. "Back in the late 80s and early 90s, it really was not hard to get away with such crimes," said Mladinich. Below we countdown to Joel Rifkin upcoming birthday. And in a moment that really tested the "too soon?" Scattering the remains throughout New York also made it less likely for authorities to notice a pattern. Joel waited more than a year to claim his second victim. Rifkin could not recall the name of number six, murdered a few days shy of Christmas 1991. Evens had been the daughter of a civil court judge and had once attended Sarah Lawrence College. Featuring specials about fearsome and fascinating serial killers, its a cant-miss event for true crime fans. Aside from books and magazines (no more than 10 per isolation cell), Rifkin had lawsuits to amuse himself. Many of the victims were never even reported missing, and so police were unaware of the scope of the killing spree. He had an I.Q. "Joel was a bit of an eccentric," said Mladinich. (It was still there, waiting for detectives, at the time of Joels arrest.) State and local detectives found Balch's aunt in New York, who identified her picture this month. 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. His employer at a local music store described Joel as a total piece of work. According to the outlet, Rifkin admitted to the other slayings during questioning. They enjoy helping others and are good companions until someone close crosses them, then look out! It was a half-hearted effort at best. The murder, detectives gathered, was not his first. Decomposition made it impossible to determine a cause of death, and she was buried nameless, unidentified until June 1993. His fantasies about strangling women became more frequent. Very few people start out life thinking, 'Oh gee, my goal in life is to wind up in Attica. Theyre never disturbed by the sounds of murdering, just stereo. At some point in the litany, Rifkin asked DeLuca if she wanted to die, and she allegedly said yes. In case there is such a thing as reincarnation, I want you to spend your second life in prison.. Back in East Meadow, Jeanne Rifkin found officers circling her house by mid-morning. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Jane Doe #2: A second unidentified woman was killed some time during 1991. (Robert Mladinich), "I wanted to reach out to him right away after the arrest," Mladinich told Fox News. Out of the 17 women Rifkin said he murdered, two have yet to be identified. They cite physical evidence and Rifkin's statements in linking Balch's killing to him. The case was open-and-shut but it was far from simple. She appeared to have been dead for several days. Whats in a name? Success breeds repetition. 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.". If he were to receive any money, it would be subject to state laws that earmark most of the award for the families of his victims. Upon waking, he dragged Susie down to the basement, draped her body across the washer and dryer, then used that makeshift operating table to dismember her corpse with an X-acto knife. Her torso surfaced in the Hudson River, wrapped in black plastic, while her arms and legs were found in a discarded suitcase. Joel couldnt wait to play the deadly game again. With Joel Rifkin, Julian Attaway, Robert Mladinich, Sean Ruane. 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. He has been married to Iva Rifkin since August 28, 1966. There was no emotion whatsoever. 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. If you are interested in joining our team, contact us at Rifkin was eventually sentenced to 203 years in prison for his horrific string of murders. 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. Featuring specials about fearsome and fascinating serial killers, its a cant-miss event for true crime fans. A forensic anthropologist was hired to reconstruct the victims face, but Rifkin confessed before the model was finished. Her body was discovered in Cornwall in October 1991, a month after she had been reported missing by her family. Sale waived application for bond, knowing it was hopeless, but won a two-week postponement of formal arraignment. Heidi Balch was identified in 2013. When the troopers used their siren, he appeared oblivious; likewise when Ruane got on the loudspeaker and ordered him to stop. The only 80s action star that would prove victorious against a 21st-century assassin is not a man but a machine. Barbara Jacobs: Jacobs was killed on July 14, 1991. or redistributed. (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. O.J.! Rifkin told authorities he had taken the lives of another 16 women, revealingexactly where he placed the bodies and how he actually had killed them, Ruane said. He had picked up a sex workernamed Susie, according to a 2013The Associated Pressarticle. 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. Driving into Manhattan, he consigned Blackbirds head and torso to the East River, then dropped her weighted arms and legs into a Brooklyn barge canal. 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. A chainsaw found in the garage was stained with blood and bits of human flesh. O.J. As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably wouldve been others, he admitted. It also includes the best true crime artwork from around the world. He gave names when he knew them, dates, where he picked them up and, crucially, where he had dumped the bodies. Distinctive for its long balletic action sequences, 77 people are killed onscreen in the first John Wick, a massive 128 in John Wick: Chapter 2 and a slightly more sensible 94 in John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum. Although the magazine takes this subject very seriously and in no way attempts to glorify the crimes describe in it, it also provides a unique collection of rare treats (including mini biographical comics, crossword puzzles and trivia quizzes). Infamous New York mass murderer Joel Rifkin was caught in June 1993. During questioning, Rifkin described her death in clinical detail, but his emotional detachment was not the worst part of the confession. He said he sat in his car outside his home for an hour and a half, listening to Frank Sinatra. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Still, it would take years for authorities to formally identify her, as "Susie" wasn't her real name. Rifkin wedged Lee into the same trunk hed used for Mary DeLuca and dropped her in the East River. Rifkins first victim of 1993 was Leah Evens, a 28-year-old who lived with her mother in Brooklyn. 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. Rifkin responded to the news by firing Soshnick on the spot, leaving Lawrence, a lawyer with no criminal experience, to wage the battle alone. It was a life far removed from her affluent Long Island home where shed been a high school cheerleader. He is an actor, known for Alias (2001), L.A. 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. What it gave me was that he liked to be in control. That left him absolutely devastated, in his mothers words, but there were other compensations. Rifkin was found guilty of nine murders in 1994 and sentenced to 203 years to life. Lauren Marquez: Marquez, 28, was found dead in Westhampton. Joel Rafkin is still alive. In many ways, it was almost like a tsunami.. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! assessed at 128, but struggled academically in school due to severe dyslexia. There was none of that. "There are a lot of damaged people out there," he said. All rights reserved. They questioned him for eight hours, but for some reason never recorded the sessions. He was easy to make fun of.. Her mother told the newspaper in 1993 that her daughter had been a happy and outspoken child, who later struggled with drug abuse and began to work as a prostitute. Instead, she wound up hooked on heroin, performing for strangers in strip clubs and cars. WebJoel Rifkin was born on January 20, 1959 and is 64 years old now. WebJoel Rifkin was born in in January 20, 1959. The main story plot concerned Elaine (Julie Louis-Dreyfus) going out with a likable guy named Joel Rifkin (Anthony Cistaro) at the same time serial Joel Rifkins gruesome exploits were all over the news. Elaine told her new beau he should change his name. Crossing the Line. That one was easy.' Jenny Soto: Jenny Soto'sbody later washed up along the rocks of the Harlem River in November of 1992. Bored and restless, he cut classes habitually, completing only one course in the 1977-78 academic year. She woke up fighting for her life, kicking the gear-shift hard enough to snap it off before Joel smothered her. 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. So altogether that makes 299 kills by one man so far, and theres still two more films to come. Joel picked her up on July 13, 1991, and took her home to East Meadow for sex. All of our Serial Killer books are massive, 8.5" x 11" perfect bound editions. Tragedy plus time equals comedy, so its been said. Joel Rifkins zodiac sign is Aquarius. At first he was telling us like he didnt know anything about the body in the back of the car and then he was basically saying that he knew she was there but he doesnt know what happened, former New York State Police Trooper Sean Ruane told CNN in 2018. 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. Please enter valid email address to continue. This includes ebooks of every book and magazine on the site. Police searched his mothers home and discovered a room full of evidence driver's licenses of victims, their underwear, their jewelry and other trophies Rifkin had kept. When police approached the vehicle, they noticed an absolutely overwhelming odor, according to Newsday. 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. (Photo by Andrew Savulich/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images). Most of Rifkins 20 paintings and sketches depicted wildlife or flowers, but one--titled Guardians Failure--showed a bare foot with a coroners toe tag and an angel weeping in the corner. ", Joel Rifkin is currently serving a life sentence. We used him, to be blunt about it, one of them recalled, years later. The Disturbing Truth Of Serial Killer Joel Rifkin YouTube By Tyler MacDonald / April 1, 2021 10:52 am EST For a span of four years in the early 1990s, serial killer Joel Rifkin left a string of terror across New York City as he satisfied his fixation on strangling sex workers to death. Doubling back from there, he returned to Manhattan, pitching the arms and torso into the East River. 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. 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.. In an exclusive 2011 interview with CBS-2's Mary Calvi, Rifkin talked about his killing spree. 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. The Rifkins also adopted a daughter, Jan, in 1962. If Ahearn got the location wrong of where he picked up a victim, he said Rifkin became indignant . As he strangled her, Rifkin recalled, She did nothing, just accepted it. He remembered her murder as one of the weird ones.. I couldnt put two nickels together, Rifkin recalled of those years, and most of what he did earn went to prostitutes. Joel Rifkin murdered17 women, making him New York's deadliest serial killer. Things seemed to go downhill from there. New York. Poor hygiene, chronic absenteeism and general ineptitude blocked the road to advancement. Fred Klein described Rifkin as a sexual sadist who relished his victims suffering: He got caught red-handed, and now hes using and abusing the concept of mental illness. Lawrence called his client a paranoid schizophrenic who lived in the twilight zone, overwhelmed by violent, irresistible compulsions that took control of his life. Rifkin, for his part, snored through much of the prosecutions case, a performance Lawrence blamed on allergies to the bologna sandwiches he ate in jail. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 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. In Rifkins cluttered garage, detectives followed their noses to a reeking wheelbarrow, extracting three ounces of human blood. Their recorded conversations are the focus of a new true-crime documentary titled "Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer," which is part of Oxygen channels "Serial Killer Week.". The son of unknown parents, he was adopted by Bernard and Jeanne Rifkin when he was three weeks old. WebJoel Rifkin murdered 17 women, making him New York's deadliest serial killer. By Becca van Sambeck & Oxygen Staff From 1989 to 1993, a She liked dressing up.. She was found on September 23--eight days before DeLuca--floating past Randalls Island, at the Harlem Rivers mouth. Rifkin admitted to the 17 slayings after his May 1994 murder conviction in Nassau County. Rifkin had been bludgeoning or strangling women for five years, dismembering some of them. "There were mini clusters, little sets of three," Rifkin said. New York: St. Martins Press, 1993. Police found Evens drivers license at his home. Rifkins father was chronically ill. A heavy smoker, already afflicted with emphysema, Bernard was diagnosed with prostate cancer in fall 1986. 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 he is believed to have killed up to 17 victims in all. Back at the landscaping lot, Rifkin stuffed her into an oil drum, drove her body to Brooklyn and dropped it into Coney Island Creek. 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. So I put it on the backburner But for years, I wanted to know how somebody, who seemed like a very nice fellow, could commit such heinous crimes.". Relieved of his little anxiety attack, Joel moved Bresciani into the cluttered garage, leaving her body in a wheelbarrow. Stephen Urbanski says Balch worked as a prostitute in New York City and used numerous aliases. WebRon Rifkin was born on October 31, 1939 in New York City, New York, USA. 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. June 27, 1993. Copyright 2023 Newsday. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Type of Villain John James Rambo is the main protagonist of the 1972 novel First Blood and its 1982 film adaptation. "And he kept saying things like, 'I killed that one. Legal Statement. Rifkin graduated from high school in 1977, but he could never quite cut in college, despite sporadic attempts over the next twelve years. Rifkin was ultimately sentenced to 203 years in prison, where he remains to this day. The recordingsof their conversations are the focus of the special, as Rifkin's horrific killing spree is explored. Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for April 9, Prince Harry's 'attacks' on 'villain' Camilla led to Frogmore Cottage eviction: expert, Film industry reacts to death of 'Saving Private Ryan' star Tom Sizemore: 'You're a legend', Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves take bumpy second flight after 'CHAOS' on Lufthansa plane: 'Wish me luck', Kelsey Grammer wont apologize for the 'difference' that Jesus has made in his life, Person roaming in 'Scream' Ghostface costume prompts multiple police calls. I just struggled to come to grips that this same person was a serial killer capable of such barbarism. The oil drum was a new kink with Rifkin, used at least four times by his count. He concealed this arrest from his family. The confession and the evidence collected from Rifkins bedroom left him boxed in as his first trial approached in Nassau. In every high school, theres a kid that doesnt get girls,but they dont go ahead and murder 17 women.". Weary of the pain by February 1987, he took a massive dose of barbiturates and died after four days in a coma. Joels parents gave him a car that year, and he used it to troll for prostitutes, first in nearby Hempstead, later in Manhattan. The Associated Press contributed to this report. In February 1987, Rifkins father killed himself to end the pain of cancer, and Joel delivered the eulogy at his funeral. His mother chose that month to travel out of state, leaving Joel alone in the East Meadow house. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a2a73bfae92a8aa Today, Joel Rifkin is 60 years old and serving his life sentence at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. Eftimiades, Maria. The Joel Rifkin reference certainly grounds Seinfeld 's episode in its own time, but its the idea that O.J. Why not? Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans. Her body was discovered in Cornwall in October 1991, a month after she had been reported missing by her family, The New York Timessaidin 1993. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! June 29, 1993. Revenge, jealousy usually theres some human connection [in a murder]. He spent more than four years in solitary confinement I dont care what someone did. Rifkin was also able to hide in plain sight by switching up his modus operandi: Hedisposed of the bodies all over New York state, from a Brooklyn creek to an Orange County town, the New York Times reported in 1993. 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. Her mother told the newspaper in 1993 that her daughter had been a happy and outspoken child, who later struggled with drug abuse and began to work as a prostitute. He also pleaded guilty to two murders in neighboring Suffolk County.