Now, hes claiming that he once didnt believe he could kill. 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. MADHATTERDESIGN@GMAIL.COM, Like old school VHS Covers? He drifted in and out of jobs, mostly living at home, enjoying one brief relationship with a girl who recalls him as sweet, but always depressed. Joel Rifkin murdered17 women, making him New York's deadliest serial killer. But that all change in 1993 after Rifkin said he made a "25 cent mistake. She was a prostitute, he told the officers. It also left Rifkin with a new problem. At some point in the litany, Rifkin asked DeLuca if she wanted to die, and she allegedly said yes. He has been married to Iva Rifkin since August 28, 1966. 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.". O.J.! Because Kramer has no ID on him, the box office employee has to use the public address system. A formal suppression hearing was scheduled for November, but Rifkin had other plans. Rifkin planned to offer a defense in Suffolk that being adopted made him what he was, but ultimately he ended the case with the first of numerous guilty pleas to his crimes. He researched past crimes for details. The prison van carried him past the high school where he had graduated 16 years before. By the time he got home, she was swaddled in tarp and concealed in the trunk. They can disappear for months, hetold CBS New Yorkin 2011. Later, he recalled the act as very automatic. Over the years, he was also bullied at school, which left him angry and isolated as he desperately sought his fathers approval. He was eventually acquitted. There, Rifkin testified himself in a pretrial hearing to contest that his confession was voluntary. Check out what's clicking today in entertainment. It is also packed with unusual trivia, exclusive interviews with the both killers and experts in the field and more information that any other resource available to date. Leah Evans: 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. DNA tests confirmed her identity. Lawrence said he paid an enormous toll, starting with the day of the conviction. Mary Catherine Williams, 31, was linked to Rifkin after some of her credit cards were found among Rifkins belongings, according to a, She had pieces of skin under her fingernails, her sister Margarita Gonzales told, in 1993. Rifkin!" We know Blackbirds fate today only from Rifkins confession, and from her diary stashed in his bedroom. Lawrence said preparing for hearings and the trial with Rifkin was bizarre. ", Joel Rifkin is currently serving a life sentence. This is the best deal on the site. Its part of Serial Killer Week, a nine-day event on Oxygen diving into the most fearsome and fascinating criminals of all time. State and local detectives found Balch's aunt in New York, who identified her picture this month. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Family (1) Spouse Iva Rifkin ( 28 August 1966 - present) Trivia (10) Joels parents gave him a car that year, and he used it to troll for prostitutes, first in nearby Hempstead, later in Manhattan. In the trunk was the decaying body of his last victim. Next to him is his attorney, John Lawrence of Mineola. Pulitzer, Lisa, and Joan Swirsky. O.J.! According to Robert Mladinich in From the Mouth of the Monster, Joels fantasies included some bondage and some rape, plus a gladiator type thing with two girls that would fight to the death. In some daydreams he raped and stabbed women, but his fantasy victims were silent, just passive about it. After a 1972 viewing of Alfred Hitchcocks Frenzy, loosely based on Londons Jack the Ripper homicides of 1964-65, he fixated on strangling prostitutes. Fred Klein, shown in his office at Hofstra Universityon June 13, was the lead Nassau County prosecutor in the Joel Rifkincase. Some were on land. And Rifkin told WCBS-TV in 2011 that his victim count would have likely been much higher if he hadnt been arrested in 1993. 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. Orvieto, 28, disappeared in Dec. 1991. Barbara Jacobs: Jacobs was killed on July 14, 1991. Decomposition made it impossible to determine a cause of death, and she was buried nameless, unidentified until June 1993. When police later searched his mothers home, they found a treasure trove of mementos that Rifkin had saved from his victims,including drivers licenses, their underwear, jewelry, and other trophies, according to a 2018Newsdayarticle. She fought him, resisting strangulation until he snapped her neck. It seemed like the only people who noticed him were his childhood tormenters,he thought. Joel left his parents several times, renting small apartments, but he was never gone long, always moving home again when his latest job fell through. An odor in Rifkin's truck led to the discovery of a body. Whats in a name? Somewhere along the way, he moved from abstract study of the killers into emulation of their brutal crimes. Next, he drove to a recycling plant in Westbury, where he had once worked part-time, and helped himself to a 55-gallon oil drum. 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. 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. 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. Credit: AP/Pool Photo/ Bill Turnbull. Joel Rifkin Death Fact Check Joel is alive and kicking and is currently 64 years old. The next to die, Lauren Marquez, was a 28-year-old addict and prostitute, hooked on drugs before she left her native Tennessee for New York City. The special also features interviews with Rifkins childhood friends, investigators on the case, as well as those closest to his victims. 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 arrested for soliciting a prostitute on August 22, 1987 in Hempstead, Long Island. Of course, many of the victims had concerned loved ones who were desperately looking for them after they vanished however, many of the bodies weren't recovered until after his capture, so police weren't making a connection in the cases. Soto also had a past record for prostitution, but her family insisted she had been getting her life together before she was killed. He found Iris Sanchez, a 25-year-old crack addict, working First Avenue on Mothers Day weekend. In 1965, the family settled in East Meadow, where Joel would spend most of his remaining years. Legal Statement. She liked dressing up.. She was found by a fisherman on July 11, 1992, two months before her family filed a missing persons report. 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 body was later found in an oil drum in Coney Island Creek, according to ThoughtCo. 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. On March 5, 1989, a member of the Hopewell Valley Golf Club sliced his ball into the woods along the seventh green and found the can containing Susies head. After the Giant game, he says, I realized that this this problem isn't going away.. Theyre intelligent, always seeking more knowledge, and exclusive. I just lost control, he said later. Neighbors recalled strange odors emanating from Rifkins garage, but they had assumed he stored insecticides there, for use in his garden and landscaping business. They drove to a point near the Manhattan Bridge, Rifkin clutching at her throat without the usual preliminaries. All rights reserved. He dismembered the corpse as before, placing the head, arms and legs in buckets weighted with concrete; the torso filled a milk crate by itself. 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. I was just in complete shock that someone like him could be arrested for these crimes. A peek inside the tarp revealed a womans decomposing body. 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. or redistributed. He would be eligible for parole only in 2197, at the age of 238. Wexner gave Rifkin 25 years to life for murder, plus two and one-third to seven years on the lesser charge. From the Mouth of the Monster. 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. Days later, Rifkin was transferred from Attica to the Clinton Correctional Facility at Dannemora--long known as the Siberia of New York prisons, isolated in the Adirondack Mountains, 350 miles north of Manhattan. 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. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Oh please, please, please change your name to O.J.! In early 1994, it was reported that Rifkin had engaged in a jailhouse scuffle with mass murderer Colin Ferguson. Right?, Oh, he was kind of quiet. I love these neighbors, he continues. I couldn't function in the real world then. Would Joel Rifkin report to the stadium office? They cite physical evidence and Rifkin's statements in linking Balch's killing to him. 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. Joel Rifkin will celebrate 65rd birthday on a Saturday 20th of January 2024. For the key players in the case, contact with Rifkin was life altering. In 2002, New Yorks Supreme Court rejected Rifkins appeal of his convictions for the murder of nine women. 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. Compatible with Rabbit or Goat. These girls think, I cant be touched, Rifkin explained. Jane Doe #1: Rifkin killed an unidentified woman in December 1991 by strangling her to death during sex. She loved the clubs. The appointment was an honor, and it had an unexpected bonus. 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. Relieved of his little anxiety attack, Joel moved Bresciani into the cluttered garage, leaving her body in a wheelbarrow. both were veterans, but Teasle was ruler of his own little fiefdom and wanted to keep it. Graduating near the bottom of his class in 1977, Joel Rifkin looked forward to college and adulthood. Simpson. The oil drum worked so well for Rifkin that he purchased several more for use as makeshift coffins. Please enter valid email address to continue. , After the Giant game, he says, I realized that this this problem isn't going away.. She was found on September 23--eight days before DeLuca--floating past Randalls Island, at the Harlem Rivers mouth. WebJoel Rifkin murdered 17 women, making him New York's deadliest serial killer. Sheriff Teasle hated Rambo because he represented a threat to his own power base. Simpson. So who were the women who lost their lives to this disturbingkiller? Rifkin transferred to the state university at Brockport, a Rochester suburb, in fall 1978. There was no regret or wanting to bring the victims back. He never really displayed that. Infamous New York mass murderer Joel Rifkin was caught in June 1993. On February 20, 1989, Joel Rifkin perpetrated his first homicide by killing Heidi Balch in her home in East Meadow. Rambo would go on to receive extensive survival and combat training, later becoming a Green Beret in September of 1969. Rifkin was never on authorities' radar. Is there more than one? 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.. Joel Rifkin is a member of Criminal Does Joel Rifkin Dead or Alive? He knew exactly what he was doing, and he did it.. Rifkin just didn't excel in academia or sports, and so he struggled with feeling like a disappointment to his dad. The only 80s action star that would prove victorious against a 21st-century assassin is not a man but a machine. 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. Rifkin was booked at Hempstead, where homicide detectives launched a marathon interrogation. Mary Ellen DeLuca, age twenty- two, had been missing for a month when her nude, strangled body was found in a field upstate, at Cornwall, New York. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Wiles Stabile. Police learned their mistake a year later, when Rifkin confessed to her slaying, but number nine remains anonymous, the last Jane Doe. Before the trial, Lawrence said, Rifkin established a better rapport with the prosecution psychiatrist, serial killer expert Eliot Park Dietz, than he did with his own mental health expert, forensic psychologist Barbara Kirwin of Huntington. Rifkin found Orvieto on December 26, 1991, in Bayshore, Long Island. After graduating from high school, Rifkin, who was particularly interested in horticulture and photojournalism, made several attempts at community college and attended the State University of New York at Brockport, where he worked for a time as a photographer on the school's newspaper The Stylus. 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. 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. WebRon Rifkin was born on October 31, 1939 in New York City, New York, USA. He spent more than four years in solitary confinement I dont care what someone did. Would. Rifkin refused, strangling her when she started to cry. Rifkins first victim of 1993 was Leah Evens, a 28-year-old who lived with her mother in Brooklyn. On the far right is Gonzales'daughter, also named Margarita Gonzales. Rifkin didnt stop after his first murder. Rifkins father was chronically ill. A heavy smoker, already afflicted with emphysema, Bernard was diagnosed with prostate cancer in fall 1986. Featuring specials about fearsome and fascinating serial killers, its a cant-miss event for true crime fans. He will be eligible for parole in 2197. ", "Even when we first spoke at the correctional facility, it was like we had been friends the previous 20 years," he shared. "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. "Water is harder to investigate than land because it washes everything," he said. Despite his history of morbid fantasy, Rifkin would later claim he had to plan the murder of his first victim, in March 1989. It worked. In addition to Rifkin, the episode discusses the phenomenon of serial killers in one of Jerry Seinfelds stand-up routines. Her torso surfaced in the Hudson River, wrapped in black plastic, while her arms and legs were found in a discarded suitcase. Instead of fighting back, Rifkin invited them to watch TV and drink beer at his house. "Everybody has some kind of fantasy life, whether it's negative or positive. Rifkin wedged the body underneath a rotting mattress, first relieving Sanchez of her watch and other jewelry. "There were mini clusters, little sets of three," Rifkin said. They were so decomposed that no signs of violence were visible, and medical examiners had mistakenly concluded that some had died of drug overdoses, he said.