They let him go with a warning. 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.". 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. The drivers license identified him as 34-year-old Joel David Rifkin, residing on Garden Street in East Meadow, Long Island. (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Archive Photos/Getty Images). This is the best deal on the site. He kept the pills, along with Orvietos jewelry and ID, as souvenirs of the kill. The rest would be revealed to her on television, hours later, when detectives laid the outline of their case before the media. 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. WebLearn about Joel Rifkin Net Worth, Biography, Age, Birthday, Height, Early Life, Family, Dating, Partner, Wiki and Facts. Despite his history of morbid fantasy, Rifkin would later claim he had to plan the murder of his first victim, in March 1989. 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. Legal Statement. This guy couldnt even count to 10. In his down time, idling between jobs and classes, Rifkin dreamed of becoming a famous writer, churning out fragments of bleak poetry. Unlike Orvieto, Holloman was identified from dental records and returned to her family for burial. Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? Even before he was sentenced, on May 9, 1994, Rifkin was transferred to Suffolk County, pending trial for the Evens and Marquez slayings. 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. His landscaping business had folded by then, his landlord clamoring for $700 in overdue rent. 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. According to the outlet, Rifkin admitted to the other slayings during questioning. Tune in on Oxygen April 10 to April 18. For the key players in the case, contact with Rifkin was life altering. Its part of Serial Killer Week, a nine-day event on Oxygen diving into the most fearsome and fascinating criminals of all time. Rambo earned his Airborne Ranger Wings in May of 1966. There was no emotion whatsoever. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. One week after he killed Lorraine Orvieto, on January 2, 1992, Rifkin went hunting again. Theyre intelligent, always seeking more knowledge, and exclusive. They initiated a traffic stopand a high-speed chase ensues, said Eugene Corcoran, then the State Policelieutenant who supervised the investigation. I just struggled to come to grips that this same person was a serial killer capable of such barbarism. They also sought to suppress his initial admission of Brescianis murder, made at the time of his arrest, while claiming that police had lacked sufficient probable cause for a legal search of Rifkins truck. Before Rifkin left for college, he drove to New York City where he picked up a sex worker for the first time. That may explain his failure to perform as Lee went to work. Rifkin initially told investigators that he'd driven to New York City in 1989 to pick up a prostitute named Susie, according to a 2013The Associated Pressarticle. There was none of that. Joel Rifkin is a member of Criminal Does Joel Rifkin Dead or Alive? 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. Back at the landscaping lot, Rifkin stuffed her into an oil drum, drove her body to Brooklyn and dropped it into Coney Island Creek. He was on his way to dump the body near Republic Airport, he explained, when he was spotted by Ruane and Spaargaren. Evens had been the daughter of a civil court judge and had once attended Sarah Lawrence College. Currently, Joel Rifkin is 64 years, 1 months and 12 days old. Long Island psychiatrist Barbara Kirwin deemed Rifkins psychological test results the most pathological she had seen in 20 years of practice. Most killers stick to one method of disposing the bodies, but his mixturemade it easier for him to go undetected, according to the special. He was charged with killing his ex-wife and her friend. After Rifkin was convicted in Nassau, he was sent to Suffolk where he faced two murder charges. Back in East Meadow, Jeanne Rifkin found officers circling her house by mid-morning. Following a traffic stop that led to a car chase by police, authorities noticed a. . Is there more than one? She had been the mother of two children. 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. The case was open-and-shut but it was far from simple. The Joel Rifkin reference certainly grounds Seinfeld 's episode in its own time, but its the idea that O.J. Below we countdown to Joel Rifkin upcoming birthday. Doubling back from there, he returned to Manhattan, pitching the arms and torso into the East River. Joel dismembered her body into the East River. Joel Rifkin is now serving 203 years to life in the Clinton, N.Y. correctional facility. Rifkins father was chronically ill. A heavy smoker, already afflicted with emphysema, Bernard was diagnosed with prostate cancer in fall 1986. Relieved of his little anxiety attack, Joel moved Bresciani into the cluttered garage, leaving her body in a wheelbarrow. Mary Catherine Williams, 10 years older than ONeill, had been a high school homecoming queen and college cheerleader in her native North Carolina. He enjoyed the photography club but turned in his usual lackluster academic performance over the next two years, before dropping out in 1980. I had sex with her, and then I killed 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. According to wikipedia latest update, he is still alive. Confidential (1997) and The Sum of All Fears (2002). They never kill the neighbor. If theres a serial killer loose in your neighborhood, it seems like the safest thing is to be the neighbor, he says. "They would suspect a serial killer was on the loose and his car would have easily been spotted by cameras.". Serial killer Joel Rifkin Rifkin didn't display the typical signs of a budding murderer. Rifkin, who is the focus of Oxygen's upcoming special,"RifkinonRifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer" airing Saturday, April 10 at 7/6conOxygenas part ofSerial Killer Week,often targeted sex workers,who he was able to kill without calling much too much attention to their disappearances. Jenny Soto is one of Joel Rifkin's victims. 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. The site he chose was an illegal dump, 200 feet off Rockaway Boulevard, within sight of JFK International Airport. In February 1987, Rifkin's adoptive father committed suicide to end the pain of cancer, thereby increasing Rifkins depression. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a2a73bfae92a8aa I had sex with her, then things went bad and I strangled her. Joel Rifkin referred to his propensity to kill as "almost an addiction," something forensic psychologist N.G. While 2008s Rambo had John end his wandering, Last Blood sends him back out into the world. Still, it would take years for authorities to formally identify her, as "Susie" wasn't her real name. Lawrence said he paid an enormous toll, starting with the day of the conviction. Joel Rifkin The 23-year-oldwas wearing only a T-shirt. As before, Joel cut most of his classes, focused for the most part on repairing his truck, renting video porn and trolling for prey. 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. Rifkin transferred to the state university at Brockport, a Rochester suburb, in fall 1978. She followed Mary Holloman, sometime that winter, dismembered remains consigned to the last of Rifkins oil drums. Prosecutor Fred Klein described Rifkin as a killing machine who acted in deliberate, premediated and methodical ways to carry out his gruesome murders, The New York Times reported in 1994. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Infamous New York mass murderer Joel Rifkin was caught in June 1993. 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. His mother chose that month to travel out of state, leaving Joel alone in the East Meadow house. She was found on September 23--eight days before DeLuca--floating past Randalls Island, at the Harlem Rivers mouth. Evens had been the daughter of a civil court judge and had once attended Sarah Lawrence College. When asked about the body, Rifkin said, She was a prostitute. 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. A failure in athletics, Rifkin joined the yearbook staff, and promptly had his camera stolen. "And a lot of them are dangerous people. 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. A 9 a.m. media report cleared up the mystery, and Jeanne phoned her lawyer, who referred her to criminal attorney Robert Sale. Prison was an exaggerated replay of high school, with constant threats and taunts from other convicts. Rifkins first victim of 1993 was Leah Evens, a 28-year-old who lived with her mother in Brooklyn. 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. Within weeks, Rifkin faced murder charges not only in Nassau but in the numerous other counties where he had dumped other victims. After wrestling her body into a plastic trash bag, Rifkin cleaned up the blood and signs of combat in his living room, then lay down and slept for several hours as if nothing had happened. "There were no cameras on every block. As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably wouldve been others, he admitted. Your IP: And in a moment that really tested the "too soon?" "Joel never expressed any remorse whatsoever to me," said Mladinich. "Leah was not a throwaway," Evans' friend tearfully says in the special. 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. Joel would not strike again for 15 weeks, and when he did, he would take better care to hide his tracks. Instead, she wound up hooked on heroin, performing for strangers in strip clubs and cars. He struggled with confidence and lacked natural athletic ability, a trait that frustrated his father endlessly, according to "Rifkin on Rifkin.". Rifkin's other victims includeTiffanyBresciani, 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,according to a 2018 Newsday article. He is an actor, known for Alias (2001), L.A. Next to him is his attorney, John Lawrence of Mineola. He was living with his mother and sister at the time of his arrest. Rambo would go on to receive extensive survival and combat training, later becoming a Green Beret in September of 1969. Rifkin acknowledged that his violent mental images were a little more intense than regular at that time. Tune in on Oxygen April 10 to April 18. Some of the bodies already found had not been classified as homicides, Klein said. 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.". WebJoel Rifkin was born in in January 20, 1959. EXCLUSIVE: In late 1998, Robert Mladinich wrote to his "old college pal" Joel Rifkin New Yorks most prolific serial killer. In his mind, the grim task was reduced to biology class. To foil identification, Rifkin severed Susies fingertips and pulled her teeth with pliers, then jammed her severed head into an old paint can. I picked her up on Allen Street in Manhattan. His trial lawyer, John Lawrence of Mineola, planned an insanity defense, but that allowed Klein to introduce evidence of all of Rifkins murders. both were veterans, but Teasle was ruler of his own little fiefdom and wanted to keep it. The oil drum worked so well for Rifkin that he purchased several more for use as makeshift coffins. WebRifkin was found guilty of nine murders in 1994 and sentenced to 203 years to life. And she had fake nails and those were ripped off when she fought him.. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Eftimiades, Maria. Rifkin's downfall came about simply because of a "25 cent mistake," as he told the New York Daily News. 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. He specifically killed women who were less visible insociety. In the trunk was the decaying body of his last victim. In many ways, it was almost like a tsunami.. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. ", First published on March 27, 2013 / 3:17 PM. "She did not come home this Christmas, so we knew something was wrong.". He wanted to know why he lacked that empathy and humanity. June 27, 1993. 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. The neighbor always survives to do the interview afterwards. Every issue of Serial of Serial Killer Magazine we sell. Elaine told her new beau he should change his name. In this exclusive sneak peek from April 10's new Oxygen special, Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer, Joel Rifkin detailed a murder he committed. Known as Joel the Ripper, he murdered and dismembered at least nine women in New York. Her body was thrown into the East River. Officers staked out the house in East Meadow, where Rifkin lived with his sister and elderly mother. Known as Joel the Ripper, he murdered and dismembered at least nine women in New York. 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. It also includes the best true crime artwork from around the world. In an exclusive 2011 interview with CBS-2's Mary Calvi, Rifkin talked about his killing spree. After strangling Lopez in his car, Rifkin drove through the night to Brewster, in Putnam County, and dumped her corpse along I-84. But his eventual capture was a total accident as the serial killer wasn't even on police's radar. She vowed at the time to be present in the courtroom to let Rifkin and others know that the victims had been more than sex workers. Rifkin dumped her body in the Suffolk County pine barrens, where she lay undiscovered until his arrest. These are more like giant, professionally produced graphic novels. His employer at a local music store described Joel as a total piece of work. 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 21-year-old who was also the mother of a young son had been staying at the time with her grandmother in New York City when she disappeared. He never really displayed that. He used the next one on Lorraine Orvieto, a 28-year-old manic-depressive who tried to control her mood swings with cocaine. "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. 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. aspect of comedy, the Rifkin episode of Seinfeld aired just five months after his From breaking news to special features and documentaries, the NewsdayTV team is covering the issues that matter to you. 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. On December 14, 2001, Rifkin lost his latest appeal of his conviction. 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. She would not be found until June 1993, when Rifkin drew detectives a map. Credit: AP/Pool Photo/ Bill Turnbull. As his mother was out of town, he brought her back home. I was completely numb. , After the Giant game, he says, I realized that this this problem isn't going away.. The murders spanned four years, and all the victims were described as prostitutes by Rifkin, though surviving relatives of several vocally dispute his claim. 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. 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. Rifkin specifically chose women who wouldnt immediately draw attention if they went missing. Elaines discomfort level escalates when she and her boyfriend attend a Giants game and they leave an extra ticket at Will Call for Kramer. Whats in a name? State troopers Deborah Spaargaren and Sean Ruane were working the graveyard shift in East Meadow, Long Island, when they spotted a pickup truck with no license plate ahead of them, at 3:15 A.M. He had forgotten names of several victims and knew others only by their street names. He directed police to the remains of Lauren Marquez and Iris Sanchez, found five hours apart on June 29, but Julie Blackbird was gone forever. Rambo hasnt died and he hasnt found some sort of peace in his life that means hes going to stop fighting. 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. A formal suppression hearing was scheduled for November, but Rifkin had other plans. Rifkin drove her to the same parking lot where he had taken Yun Lee and strangled her during fellatio. This massive 8.5 x 11 perfect bound book contains over 150 pages of rare interviews, letters, documents, transcripts, art and articles about serial killer, John Wayne Gacy. Is Joel Rifkin Still Alive Or Dead? "There are a lot of damaged people out there," he said. 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. Then, as if in a fugue state, he spent the next three days working on his pickup, ignoring the summer heat and pervasive reek of decomposing flesh. A forensic anthropologist was hired to reconstruct the victims face, but Rifkin confessed before the model was finished. Its like my own little nightmare scenarios, he said. What it gave me was that he liked to be in control. Fending off pleas from her sister and husband to move on with her life, not to mention a marriage proposal from a determined suitor, Rory holds fast to what she knows in her heartDawson is still alive. Joel Rifkin There were times he would come up with things about the afterlife, or an energy flow he detected leaving his victims, Lawrence said. 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. According to the documentary, Rifkin picked up hundreds of sex workersand he eventually left college before finishing. BOB STRONG/AFP/Getty Images Trending News Curiously, though, the driver of the pickup did not stop. It is also packed with unusual trivia, exclusive interviews and much more. We have to be more aware when we see people who have been exposed to so much meanness, so much emotional brutality, physical brutality. With Joel Rifkin, Julian Attaway, Robert Mladinich, Sean Ruane. One high school date was scuttled after fellow track team members trapped him in the gym and pelted him with eggs, forcing Joel to call his father for help. Please, it would be so great!. Over the next four years, he killed 16 more prostitutes. Three were in oil drums. A chainsaw found in the garage was stained with blood and bits of human flesh. He was generally unkempt, and a thick layer of Noxema was smeared across his mustache. Joel couldnt wait to play the deadly game again. In addition to Rifkin, the episode discusses the phenomenon of serial killers in one of Jerry Seinfelds stand-up routines. Jane Doe #2: A second unidentified woman was killed some time during 1991. Mladinich said he and Rifkin, now 62, wrote to each other regularly until they saw each other again in the fall of 1999. Joel Rifkin murdered17 women, making him New York's deadliest serial killer. Real-life romance eluded Rifkin, for the most part. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. When police approached the vehicle, they noticed an absolutely overwhelming odor, according to Newsday. Joels poor grades embarrassed his father, a member of the East Meadow School Board. "Water is harder to investigate than land because it washes everything," he said. 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.