Joel Rifkin, and I am dating Joel Rifkin, laments Elaine, whose coworkers have gotten wind of the creepy coincidence. He used the next one on Lorraine Orvieto, a 28-year-old manic-depressive who tried to control her mood swings with cocaine. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. Rifkin was eventually sentenced to 203 years in prison for his horrific string of murders. Garden of Graves. He was easy to make fun of.. ", 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. He specifically killed women who were less visible insociety. Later, he recalled the act as very automatic. Evens had been the daughter of a civil court judge and had once attended Sarah Lawrence College. Jenny Soto, a victim of serial killer Joel Rifkin. "You know, I first learned he was accused of being a serial killer while I was on the Long Island Expressway," he recalled. Stephanie Nolasco covers entertainment at Foxnews.com. They let him go with a warning. Aside from books and magazines (no more than 10 per isolation cell), Rifkin had lawsuits to amuse himself. both were veterans, but Teasle was ruler of his own little fiefdom and wanted to keep it. On December 14, 2001, Rifkin lost his latest appeal of his conviction. 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. The cocaine in her system prompted detectives to brand her a drug mule, killed accidentally by the rupture of drug-filled condoms in her stomach. Rifkin consigned her remains to the waters surrounding Manhattan. Rambo hasnt died and he hasnt found some sort of peace in his life that means hes going to stop fighting. Rifkin!" In 2000, a state appellate court determined that prison officials had not violated Rifkin's constitutional rights by housing him in isolation. Instead, he was a rather meek, unassuming child. "You think of people as things.". Joel Rifkin, 34, is transferred to District Court 29 June, 1993 in Farmingdale, NY after police said he confessed to killing as many as 17 women. It was a life far removed from her affluent Long Island home where shed been a high school cheerleader. Mladinich said he and Rifkin, now 62, wrote to each other regularly until they saw each other again in the fall of 1999. Birthday: January 20, 1959 How Old - Age: 64 Recently Passed Away Celebrities and Famous People. The 23-year-oldwas wearing only a T-shirt. He was later acquitted. Rifkin then asked for paper, a pen, a map and a calendar, and wrote out a list of 17 victims, how he killed them and where he left them. While psychologists have theorized the emotional distance from his father and the bullying may have contributed to his transformation into bloodthirsty killer, Reiter emphasizes in the special, "In every high school, there's the kid that'sthe last to get picked. Although Rifkin often hired prostitutes in Brooklyn and Manhattan, he lived in East Meadow, a suburban town on Long Island. 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. Rifkin believed his victim would never be found, but he had been careless. Two floaters in as many days suggested a serial killer at large, but New York police had their hands full with 2,000 murders a year in those days, and junkie prostitutes were never high priority. You dont even use a name, its just initials. The case was open-and-shut but it was far from simple. She hailed from Metairie, Louisiana, and had been drawn to New York by dreams of acting or dancing. He described all 17 murders in the absence of counsel, writing out the names he remembered, sketching maps to help police find those victims still missing. Barbara Jacobs was the next to die, a 31-year-old addict with arrests on her record for auto theft and prostitution. 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.. Lauren Marquez: Marquez, 28, was found dead in Westhampton. In fact, quite the opposite. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. WebRon Rifkin was born on October 31, 1939 in New York City, New York, USA. The habit was expensive and she tricked to keep herself supplied. He was born on January 20, 1959, the son of unwed college students who were not prepared to start a family. On the September night he picked up 31-year-old Yun Lee, a Korean native he had been with before, she was his second prostitute in an hour. 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. At about nine the next morning, Rifkin recalled completely bugging out, beating Blackbird with a heavy table leg before he strangled her. At this time he became increasingly obsessed with violence, murder, and prostitution. It was the smell of death, and it would linger long after the source had been removed. Still, it would take years for authorities to formally identify her, as "Susie" wasn't her real name. But his eventual capture was a total accident as the serial killer wasn't even on police's radar. 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. "She did not come home this Christmas, so we knew something was wrong.". ", GARY HEIDNIKS ATTORNEY TALKS INSANE HOUSE OF HORRORS KILLER IN DOC: THERE WAS A METHOD TO HIS MADNESS', Jenny Soto's family. Rifkin had no time to move the corpse, but his mother never knew. There was no regret or wanting to bring the victims back. Success breeds repetition. There was another oil drum victim, Joel insists, although he doesnt know her name and cant recall exactly when he dropped her body in the Harlem River. "There were no cameras on every block. 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. Orvieto, 28, disappeared in Dec. 1991. The oil drum worked so well for Rifkin that he purchased several more for use as makeshift coffins. Mary Catherine Williams, 10 years older than ONeill, had been a high school homecoming queen and college cheerleader in her native North Carolina. It did change me personally, he said. Simpson. Here is a list of Rifkins victims: Heidi Balch: Authorities believe Heidi Balch was Rifkins first victim but it would take decades before she would ever be properly identified. Joel Rifkin is a serial killer who went on a string of murders in New York in the 1990s. Lorraine Orvieto: Orvieto, 28, disappeared in Dec. 1991. Next to him is his attorney, John Lawrence of Mineola. (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Archive Photos/Getty Images). Script writer Peter Mehlman had clearly read reports about how the serial killer was captured. Her body was later found in an oil drum in Coney Island Creek, according to ThoughtCo. In an exclusive 2011 interview with CBS-2's Mary Calvi, Rifkin talked about his killing spree. ", First published on March 27, 2013 / 3:17 PM. The driver wasnt speeding, but the absence of a tag was in itself a minor violation, and they turned the flashers on, prepared to write a quick citation. Joel Rifkin referred to his propensity to kill as "almost an addiction," something forensic psychologist N.G. She had pieces of skin under her fingernails, her sister Margarita Gonzales told The Associated Press in 1993. Market data provided by Factset. 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. But other times, Lawrence said his client made him uncomfortable. Orval was killed by John Rambo after he went into the mountains with his bloodhounds, which he went to use to hunt Rambo down. Joel 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. Joels poor grades embarrassed his father, a member of the East Meadow School Board. That left him absolutely devastated, in his mothers words, but there were other compensations. From the Mouth of the Monster. He said he sat in his car outside his home for an hour and a half, listening to Frank Sinatra. Joel Rafkin is still alive. Wexner gave Rifkin 25 years to life for murder, plus two and one-third to seven years on the lesser charge. They had destroyed themselves through their lifestyle. Joel Rifkin, meanwhile, killed 17 people a staggering amount of victims that makes him New Yorks most prolific serial killer. 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. Julie Blackbird: Rifkin killed again about 16 months later, after picking up Julie Blackbird in 1990 and bringing her back to his home. 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. And I didnt want to infringe on the investigation. And Rifkin told WCBS-TV in 2011 that his victim count would have likely been much higher if he hadnt been arrested in 1993. I just struggled to come to grips that this same person was a serial killer capable of such barbarism. As per our current Database, Joel Rifkin is still alive (as per Wikipedia, Last update: May 10, 2020). Rambo would go on to receive extensive survival and combat training, later becoming a Green Beret in September of 1969. After sex, he reportedly bludgeoned her with a Howtizer artillery shell and strangled her to death. 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. The body of Evans, a 28-year-old mother of two, was discovered in May 1992 by a family hunting for dandelions off County Road 51 in Southampton, according to Newsday. During questioning, Rifkin described her death in clinical detail, but his emotional detachment was not the worst part of the confession. However, a drug problem resulted in sex work to feed her addiction, Newsday reported. The severed head was found in 1989 in Hopewell, a town north of Trenton. So who were the women who lost their lives to this disturbingkiller? Rifkin committed his first murder in 1989, killing a prostitute, dismembering her body and tossing it into the East River. The couple was so happy with their son that they repeated the procedure, with a daughter, three years later. ", "If I didnt kill them, they would have died anyhow. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. They could learn life skills, like write a check, parenting skills just how to livetheir lives in a safe way. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. 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. The only 80s action star that would prove victorious against a 21st-century assassin is not a man but a machine. Very few people start out life thinking, 'Oh gee, my goal in life is to wind up in Attica. Please ignore rumors and hoaxes. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. His guide enabled police all over the metropolitan area to find bodies they didnt know existed or to explain how and why bodies had been found earlier. WebJoel Rifkin was born on January 20, 1959 and is 64 years old now. 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. Joel Rifkin telephone. The crowd stops cheering and squirm, while Elaine does damage control. According to wikipedia latest update, he is still alive. On May 25, 1992, he strangled crack addict Anna Lopez, dumping her corpse in some woods off Interstate 84, in Brewster. Credit: Newsday/K. "Everybody has some kind of fantasy life, whether it's negative or positive. So altogether that makes 299 kills by one man so far, and theres still two more films to come. He struck her on impulse, strangling her while she mouthed something about making a big mistake. It was Rifkins first murder of someone he knew beforehand, and he experienced fleeting remorse. How far is Las Vegas from the California coast? Tune in on Oxygen April 10 to April 18. (It was still there, waiting for detectives, at the time of Joels arrest.) "And he kept saying things like, 'I killed that one. 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. Oxygen's new documentary on Joel Rifkin is part of their 'Serial Killer Week" line-up. alaw enforcement source told The New York Daily News at the time. He then dismembered her body, leaving her head at a New Jersey golf course, where it was quickly found, according to the AP. SERIAL KILLER MAGAZINE is an official release of the talented artists and writers at SerialKillerCalendar.com. 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. He maintained his interest in photography and horticulture, but failed to make either a paying proposition. "Water is harder to investigate than land because it washes everything," he said. ", 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. "None of them were throwaways.". Five months later, Seinfeld mined his crimes for material. Rifkin told authorities he placed her body into a mattress and put it at an illegal dump site near the JFK Airport, according to ThoughtCo. 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. Hes not the murderer, she reassures. In 1965, the family settled in East Meadow, where Joel would spend most of his remaining years. His memory was far from perfect. A formal suppression hearing was scheduled for November, but Rifkin had other plans. The odor from the truck was immediately overwhelming, Corcoran said, and troopers peeked in the back to see what was under a tarp. He then dismembered Susies body and her remains were scattered throughout New Jersey. Scattering the remains throughout New York also made it less likely for authorities to notice a pattern. 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.". 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. She wasnt what they said she was, Gonzales said. In 2010, Rifkin was interviewed by ABC's Martin Bashir as part of the Nightline Prime mini-series, Secrets of Your Mind. Police found Evens drivers license at his home. He was vague on the details in later confessions, unable to recall the womans name, if he had ever known it. Rifkin! she says, inspired by the name O.J. 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. Click to reveal He was also an academic failure, suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia despite a tested IQ of 128. So if a body was found in The Bronx, detectives in Brooklyn might not hear about that for weeks, days, even months sometimes never. Some were on land. Oh please, please, please change your name to O.J.! Now, hes claiming that he once didnt believe he could kill. Even before he was sentenced, on May 9, 1994, Rifkin was transferred to Suffolk County, pending trial for the Evens and Marquez slayings. From the motel, he drove upstate to Orange County and left DeLucas body at a rest stop outside Cornwall, near West Point. He will be eligible for parole in 2197. 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. Known as Joel the Ripper, he murdered and dismembered at least nine women in New York. He kind of leaned back and said, One or 100, whats the difference? Corcoran said. When asked about the body, Rifkin said, She was a prostitute. A panel of seven men and five women was seated nine days later, with opening arguments begun on April 20. He picked her up in the city, strangled her after sex at his mothers house and dismembered her corpse in the bathtub. 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. And she had fake nails and those were ripped off when she fought him.. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. 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. It was, as Joel Rifkinsaid later, a 25-cent part that brought him down, but it caught the eye of two troopers patrolling the Southern State Parkway. [2] Early life [ edit] Rifkin's birth parents were both young college students and his biological father was an Army veteran. "Three were dismembered. As before, Joel cut most of his classes, focused for the most part on repairing his truck, renting video porn and trolling for prey. With this information, they were able to identify even more of his victims, the New York Times reported. He was eventually acquitted. 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. They trade suggestions for a possible new name, and of course, they cant come close to agreeing. Stephen Urbanski says Balch worked as a prostitute in New York City and used numerous aliases. Would. 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. The experience soon explodedinto a full-on addiction, as he blew through all his money picking up hundreds of sex workers. The site he chose was an illegal dump, 200 feet off Rockaway Boulevard, within sight of JFK International Airport. He didnt speed up, either, but he kept on driving. As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably wouldve been others, he admitted. Credit: Randee Daddona. (Photo by Jerry Engel/New York Post Archives /(c) NYP Holdings, Inc. via Getty Images). 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. 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. 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. A forensic anthropologist was hired to reconstruct the victims face, but Rifkin confessed before the model was finished. The obsession with murder had consumed his life and he began using the rented job site as a way station for corpses in transit. Cruising Manhattans East Village for hookers one night, at about 10 p.m., he selected a young woman remembered only as Susie. She was a hard-core drug addict, demanding several stops to purchase crack before they drove back to Long Island. Real-life romance eluded Rifkin, for the most part. In 1989, he killed his first woman. This is truly a one of a kind collectors item for anyone interested in the macabre world of true crime, prison art or the strange world of murderabelia. And police weren't aware that one man was specifically targeting sex workers in the area. Her case remained unsolved until Rifkin confessed in 1993. Within weeks, Rifkin faced murder charges not only in Nassau but in the numerous other counties where he had dumped other victims. ", RetiredSuffolk prosecutor Michael Ahearn, shown at home on June 13, was chief of the Homicide Bureau for the Suffolk District Attorney's Office. After Rifkin was convicted in Nassau, he was sent to Suffolk where he faced two murder charges. Life could only get better, he reasoned. 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. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Rifkin picked her up on April 2, 1993, while she was working Second Avenue. The only thing that makes me feel a little better is to think that perhaps she didnt die in pain.. Some were dismembered, others were not. In every high school, theres a kid that doesnt get girls,but they dont go ahead and murder 17 women.". Rifkin did not respond to a request sent to him at Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate Dannemora for comment for this story. 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. Decomposition made it impossible to determine a cause of death, and she was buried nameless, unidentified until June 1993. The neighbor always survives to do the interview afterwards. As his mother was out of town, he brought her back home. When the troopers used their siren, he appeared oblivious; likewise when Ruane got on the loudspeaker and ordered him to stop. WebJoel Rifkin, best known for being a Criminal, was born in New York, United States on Tuesday, January 20, 1959. Drawn to the pickups bed by a foul odor, troopers peeled back a blue tarp and found a womans naked, decomposing corpse. Put off by the thought of another dismemberment, Rifkin wrapped Jacobs in plastic, folded her into a cardboard box, and placed her in the back of his mothers Toyota pickup. The 31-year-olds body was later found inside a plastic bag, stuffed into a cardboard box and thrown into the Hudson River. 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. 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. Before Rifkin left for college, hedrove to New York City and picked up a sex workerfor the first time. WebLearn about Joel Rifkin Net Worth, Biography, Age, Birthday, Height, Early Life, Family, Dating, Partner, Wiki and Facts. ", "Even when we first spoke at the correctional facility, it was like we had been friends the previous 20 years," he shared. Rifkins last victim, Tiffany Bresciani, was another southern girl. 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. Rifkin was never on authorities' radar. I remember I wrote about a boxing match for one of our assignments as journalism students and he photographed the event. He drove to the Hudson River, dropping her into the water near a cement plant. It didnt fully come home to me what was happening until later., Things went from bad to worse at East Meadow High School. Joel dismembered her body into the East River. Joel Rifkin - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday Fred Klein,the major offense prosecutor on call, drove to the scene. Not much with that one. He followed the same disposal procedure as with Orvieto: back to Long Island, the oil drum and Coney Island Creek. The Rifkins also adopted a daughter, Jan, in 1962. According to the documentary, Rifkin picked up hundreds of sex workersand he eventually left college before finishing. Jenny Soto: Jenny Soto'sbody later washed up along the rocks of the Harlem River in November of 1992. Out of the 17 women Rifkin said he murdered, two have yet to be identified. WebPrison officials decided in 1996 that Rifkin was so notorious that his presence in the general prison population could be disruptive. "As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably would've been others. Another time, Rifkin made it as far as a local pizza parlor with his date, but the same bullies chased them out, pursuing the couple on foot until Joel and the girl found refuge in a public library. We are happy to say that the Serial Killer Trading Cards are back! Joel Rifkin murdered17 women, making him New York's deadliest serial killer. Joel couldnt wait to play the deadly game again. 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.