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. Despite his confessions and the overwhelming evidence against him, Rifkin pled not guilty at his murder trial. or redistributed. assessed at 128, but struggled academically in school due to severe dyslexia. With this information, they were able to identify even more of his victims, the New York Times reported. 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. 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. BOB STRONG/AFP/Getty Images Trending News 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. The other parts went into garbage bags and then into his mothers car. We used him, to be blunt about it, one of them recalled, years later. Joel Rifkin is a serial killer who went on a string of murders in New York in the 1990s. Orval was killed by John Rambo after he went into the mountains with his bloodhounds, which he went to use to hunt Rambo down. 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. 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. Known as Joel the Ripper, he murdered and dismembered at least nine women in New York. He found Iris Sanchez, a 25-year-old crack addict, working First Avenue on Mothers Day weekend. Pulitzer, Lisa, and Joan Swirsky. 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. Credit: AP/Pool Photo/ Bill Turnbull. According to Joel Rifkin, it was a '25-cent mistake' that finally led to his capture. An anonymous caller reported Hollomans floating remains to police on July 9, 1992, two days before Orvietos corpse was found. Joel Rifkin had killed 17 women, and now he was driving around with one in the back of his truck. A Jane Doe victim, thus entombed, was dredged from Newtown Creek, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, on May 13, 1992. "Three were dismembered. Yun Lee: Authorities believe Lee, 31, was strangled to death on September 23, 1991, Thought Co. reports. He didn't wet the bed or torture animals or start fires. 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. WebJoel Rifkin is now serving 203 years to life in the Clinton, N.Y. correctional facility. Rifkin responded to the news by firing Soshnick on the spot, leaving Lawrence, a lawyer with no criminal experience, to wage the battle alone. After strangling Lopez in his car, Rifkin drove through the night to Brewster, in Putnam County, and dumped her corpse along I-84. Fred Klein, shown in his office at Hofstra Universityon June 13, was the lead Nassau County prosecutor in the Joel Rifkincase. He was confined to his cell at the Attica Correctional Facility for 23 hours per day. When its Joel Rifkin, the name of a notorious New York serial killer whose brutal four-year murder spree ended when he was caught in June 1993, it was grim grist for an episode of the hit NBC sitcom Seinfeld that premiered just five months after his arrest. She was missing one earring, later found in Rifkins bedroom stash. From the Mouth of the Monster. 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. In Rifkins cluttered garage, detectives followed their noses to a reeking wheelbarrow, extracting three ounces of human blood. Rifkin's downfall came about simply because of a "25 cent mistake," as he told the New York Daily News. Confidential (1997) and The Sum of All Fears (2002). Rifkin committed his first murder in 1989, killing a prostitute, dismembering her body and tossing it into the East River. 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. In 1994, Rifkin was sentenced to life in prison. It is also packed with unusual trivia, exclusive interviews and much more. Rifkin did not respond to a request sent to him at Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate Dannemora for comment for this story. Joel Rifkin is a member of Criminal Does Joel Rifkin Dead or Alive? State and local detectives found Balch's aunt in New York, who identified her picture this month. On February 20, 1989, Joel Rifkin perpetrated his first homicide by killing Heidi Balch in her home in East Meadow. Her body was later found in an oil drum in Coney Island Creek, according to ThoughtCo. 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. I just lost control, he said later. March 27, 2013 / 3:17 PM With Joel Rifkin, Julian Attaway, Robert Mladinich, Sean Ruane. This includes ebooks of every book and magazine on the site. 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. This is the best deal on the site. Rifkin's lawsuit seeks $50,000 for each of his 1,540 days in solitary confinement (totaling $77 million). "They would suspect a serial killer was on the loose and his car would have easily been spotted by cameras.". "When I heard his name on the radio, I pulled over. 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. He would be eligible for parole only in 2197, at the age of 238. "And he kept saying things like, 'I killed that one. State Police Sgt. 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. Good works notwithstanding, Rifkin had no luck in his bids to escape solitary confinement. Credit: Newsday/K. Rifkin later claimed that he asked for a lawyer at least 20 times and was always refused, investigators telling him he couldnt speak with counsel until you give us one more homicide. The written transcript of his interview, presumably reconstructed from memory, suggests that Rifkin was offered a lawyer and declined. And Rifkin told WCBS-TV in 2011 that his victim count would have likely been much higher if he hadnt been arrested in 1993. As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably wouldve been others, he admitted. Joel Rifkin Death Fact Check Joel is alive and kicking and is currently 64 years old. Michael Ahearn, then the chief of the Suffolk district attorneys Homicide Bureau, recalled how Rifkin continually corrected him during cross-examination. The New York Times Next Up Episode 5: Oak Beach He was very interested in horticulture and interned at the Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park. Joel Rifkin murdered17 women, making him New York's deadliest serial killer. 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. Graduating near the bottom of his class in 1977, Joel Rifkin looked forward to college and adulthood. The coroner blamed her death on a drug overdose, and Jacobs was buried in Potters Field cemetery, unidentified until Rifkin confessed her murder two years later. He then dismembered Susies body and her remains were scattered throughout New Jersey. Winded from the battle, Rifkin claimed her bra and panties, earrings, ID cards and drug syringe as trophies for his cache. Jenny Soto: Jenny Soto'sbody later washed up along the rocks of the Harlem River in November of 1992. Click to reveal 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. Rifkin went back to school in spring of 1992, taking uncredited classes at SUNY Farmingdale. 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. Throughout the 1980s, Rifkin worked a series of odd jobs around Long Island, seldom staying long at any. By unanimous decision, a New York appellate court refused to lift the lockdown in June 2000. Rifkins last victim, Tiffany Bresciani, was another southern girl. Rifkin acknowledged that his violent mental images were a little more intense than regular at that time. They didn't realizeone man was targeting sex workers in New York City. The drivers license identified him as 34-year-old Joel David Rifkin, residing on Garden Street in East Meadow, Long Island. ", RetiredSuffolk prosecutor Michael Ahearn, shown at home on June 13, was chief of the Homicide Bureau for the Suffolk District Attorney's Office. Joel Rifkin, New York's most prolific serial killer, is the subject of a new true-crime documentary on Oxygen. 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. 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. Sotos grim fight for life gave Rifkin pause. I couldn't function in the real world then. 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. 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 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. Called The Masseuse, the episode first aired on November 18, 1993. They drove to a point near the Manhattan Bridge, Rifkin clutching at her throat without the usual preliminaries. Rifkin was bullied throughout his school years, an experience that left him feeling angry and isolated. He was also an academic failure, suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia despite a tested IQ of 128. I function better in prison. Police learned their mistake a year later, when Rifkin confessed to her slaying, but number nine remains anonymous, the last Jane Doe. Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? Hes not evil. In 1988 Rifkin enrolled in a two-year horticulture-study program at the State College of Technology in Farmingdale, New York. Afraid to drag the corpse out in broad daylight, he drew inspiration from Hitchcocks Frenzy and went out to purchase a cheap steamer trunk, squeezing DeLuca inside it. 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. 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. Theyre intelligent, always seeking more knowledge, and exclusive. Rifkin transferred to the state university at Brockport, a Rochester suburb, in fall 1978. 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. 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. As the hearing dragged on, Rifkins lawyers alienated Judge Wexner by Soshnick repeatedly arriving late for court and unprepared and Lawrence missing whole days. Every issue of Serial of Serial Killer Magazine we sell. WebJoel Rifkin murdered 17 women, making him New York's deadliest serial killer. Mladinich hopes the documentary will show people to be wary of who they choose to associate with. The special revealed that while his mother was out of town, he brought her back home. Rifkin drove her to the same parking lot where he had taken Yun Lee and strangled her during fellatio. He had an I.Q. An addiction to drugs would derail that dreamand influence herto enter the world of sex workand begin topless dancing, according to Newsday. Rifkin was ultimately sentenced to 203 years in prison, where he remains to this day. ", Evidence In The Case Of Serial Killer Joel Rifkin, Explored, 'If I Didn't Kill Them, They Would Have Died Anyhow': How Joel Rifkin Evaded Capture For Years. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Lauren Marquez: Marquez, 28, was found dead in Westhampton. The site he chose was an illegal dump, 200 feet off Rockaway Boulevard, within sight of JFK International Airport. By January 1996, Rifkin was scheduled to serve at least 183 years for seven slayings, with 10 counts outstanding. Rifkin found her on Jamaica Avenue in Queens and drove her around New York until sunrise, shelling out $150 for drugs at various stops. Rambo earned his Airborne Ranger Wings in May of 1966. Rifkin's prison life In early 1994, it was reported that Rifkin had engaged in a jailhouse scuffle with mass murderer Colin Ferguson. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Before Rifkin left for college, hedrove to New York City and picked up a sex workerfor the first time. That may explain his failure to perform as Lee went to work. He spent more than four years in solitary confinement I dont care what someone did.