is joel rifkin still alive is joel rifkin still alive

They had destroyed themselves through their lifestyle. She was found on September 23--eight days before DeLuca--floating past Randalls Island, at the Harlem Rivers mouth. The night he was arrested, Rifkin told troopers where he had picked up the woman found in his truck, Tiffany Bresciani, 22, of Louisiana, and how he had killed her, but troopers wondered if hed done this before, Corcoran said. He picked her up on West 46th Street in Manhattan and strangled her in his car during oral sex, describing the event as very quick. Afterward, he drove back to Long Island with the body slumped beside him, concealing her under a tarp at his rented workplace. Joel Rifkin is now serving 203 years to life in the Clinton, N.Y. correctional facility. From the motel, he drove upstate to Orange County and left DeLucas body at a rest stop outside Cornwall, near West Point. He dismembered their bodies and disposed theirremains in the New York area. Still, it would take years for authorities to formally identify her, as "Susie" wasn't her real name. She was found hours later by firefighters on a training exercise, but this time Rifkin reported, It didnt even faze me.. Rifkin just didn't excel in academia or sports, and so he struggled with feeling like a disappointment to his dad. "He was very matter of fact about it. Joel Rifkin was born in in January 20, 1959. 2 men found drugged after leaving NYC gay bars were killed, medical examiner says. Throughout the 1980s, Rifkin worked a series of odd jobs around Long Island, seldom staying long at any. ", GARY HEIDNIKS ATTORNEY TALKS INSANE HOUSE OF HORRORS KILLER IN DOC: THERE WAS A METHOD TO HIS MADNESS', Jenny Soto's family. Still, Rifkin liked to vary his technique from time to time. Rifkin initially told investigators that he'd driven to New York City in 1989 to pick up a prostitute named Susie, according to a 2013, 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.". Iris Sanchez: Sanchez, 25, was reportedly killed on Mothers Day weekend in 1992. 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. A peek inside the tarp revealed a womans decomposing body. Eftimiades, Maria. Joel would not strike again for 15 weeks, and when he did, he would take better care to hide his tracks. After a struggle to get the car started and moving, Rifkin drove Williams to Yorktown, a Westchester suburb, where she was found on December 21, 1992. Joel Rifkin Confronting them, she was first told that Joel had been detained after a traffic accident, then that he was jailed for a crime which the officers refused to describe. Lockdown. As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably wouldve been others, he admitted. Serial Killer Joel Rifkin 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. / CBS/AP. Prison was an exaggerated replay of high school, with constant threats and taunts from other convicts. both were veterans, but Teasle was ruler of his own little fiefdom and wanted to keep it. Oxygen's new documentary on Joel Rifkin is part of their 'Serial Killer Week" line-up. Stephanie Nolasco covers entertainment at Foxnews.com. With 25-year-old Iris Sanchez, strangled in April 1992, he simply drove to JFK Airport and left her body in a vacant lot, beneath a mattress. 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. Oh! It's like my own little nightmare scenarios.". "Water is harder to investigate than land because it washes everything," he said. My daughter was a very beautiful girl, Victoria ONeill said. 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. While Jan and Jeanne stayed mostly silent during the court proceedings, even as reporters staked out their now-infamous home, his sister did speak to New York Post reporter Andrea Peyser. ", 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. Scattering the remains throughout New York also made it less likely for authorities to notice a pattern. He maintained his interest in photography and horticulture, but failed to make either a paying proposition. Credit: Newsday/K. 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. He was generally unkempt, and a thick layer of Noxema was smeared across his mustache. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Every issue of Serial Killer Magazine, every Ultimate Collection, trainscript, FBI file and more! Credit: Randee Daddona. Rifkin went back to school in spring of 1992, taking uncredited classes at SUNY Farmingdale. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! He didn't wet the bed or torture animals or start fires. I was just in complete shock that someone like him could be arrested for these crimes. WebRon Rifkin was born on October 31, 1939 in New York City, New York, USA. I think its a wake-up call that there could be lots of Joel Rifkin'swalking around.". Joel Rifkin telephone. The crowd stops cheering and squirm, while Elaine does damage control. He enjoyed the photography club but turned in his usual lackluster academic performance over the next two years, before dropping out in 1980. 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. Even the parents of his victims didnt seem to miss Rifkins prey. 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. 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. Over the years, he was also bullied at school, which left him angry and isolated as he desperately sought his fathers approval. Three years later they moved to East Meadow, Long Island, and Joel entered first grade at Prospect Avenue Elementary School. Rifkin had reached the detonation point. I had sex with her, and then I killed her. 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. Would Joel Rifkin report to the stadium office? You dont even use a name, its just initials. "As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably would've been others. Joel waited more than a year to claim his second victim. Violet ONeill, a 21-year-old prostitute, was the first victim Rifkin had taken home to East Meadow in nearly a year. 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. Now, hes claiming that he once didnt believe he could kill. Rifkin found her on May 25, 1992, Memorial Day, working Atlantic Avenue in Queens, and retired to a nearby residential street for sex. If you are interested in joining our team, contact us at 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. 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. He was on his way to dump the corpse near Melvilles Republic Airport, some 15 miles north of his house, when Troopers Ruane and Spaargaren noted his lack of a rear license plate. Joel Rifkin She appeared to have been dead for several days. It was finally too much. Rifkin initially claimed he had blacked out, but soon admitted that Bresciani had not been his only victim. Besides a broken neck, Marquez had fractured ribs, though Rifkin claimed he could not remember hitting her. His rage and self-loathing only grew, according to the special. What is the current air quality in Salem Oregon? 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. Lawrence said preparing for hearings and the trial with Rifkin was bizarre. In February 1987, Rifkin's adoptive father committed suicide to end the pain of cancer, thereby increasing Rifkins depression. She had been the mother of two children. Some were dismembered, others were not. Joels poor grades embarrassed his father, a member of the East Meadow School Board. 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. Jane Doe #1: Rifkin killed an unidentified woman in December 1991 by strangling her to death during sex. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. Officers staked out the house in East Meadow, where Rifkin lived with his sister and elderly mother. 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. He said he sat in his car outside his home for an hour and a half, listening to Frank Sinatra. Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer Premieres Saturday, April 10th, 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, 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 2018. According to the documentary, Rifkin picked up hundreds of sex workersand he eventually left college before finishing. "Three were dismembered. Fox News Flash top entertainment and celebrity headlines are here. After exchanging letters, the former cop, who served the NYPD from 1983 until 2003 when he retired with the rank of Detective Second Grade, decided to visit Rifkin at Attica Correctional Facility. ", Joel Rifkin is currently serving a life sentence. He was living with his mother and sister at the time of his arrest. The Associated Press contributed to this report. NASHVILLE TV PRODUCER VERONICA BOZZAS MURDER EXPLORED IN TRUE CRIME DOC: THE WHOLE THING WAS SENSELESS, O.J. 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. 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. 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. MADHATTERDESIGN@GMAIL.COM, Like old school VHS Covers? Another colleague chimes in, adding Hey, Elaine, listen. Another suppression hearing failed to quash his confession, whereupon Rifkin pleaded guilty on both counts, receiving two more consecutive terms of 25 years to life in prison. Soto also had a past record for prostitution, but her family insisted she had been getting her life together before she was killed. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Mladinich hopes the documentary will show people to be wary of who they choose to associate with. Joel Rifkin is a serial killer who went on a string of murders in New York in the 1990s. Thats right. Back at the landscaping lot, Rifkin stuffed her into an oil drum, drove her body to Brooklyn and dropped it into Coney Island Creek. 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). "Back in the late 80s and early 90s, it really was not hard to get away with such crimes," said Mladinich. Several months later, the football star was charged with murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. To have the normal picket fence and three kids and a dog and a cat and get on with life. 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, Richard Ramirez (aka the Nightstalker). 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. "The only difference is that within 20 minutes, we started talking about murder and mayhem. disposed of the bodies all over New York state, from a Brooklyn creek to an Orange County town. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Is there more than one? His trial lawyer, John Lawrence of Mineola, planned an insanity defense, but that allowed Klein to introduce evidence of all of Rifkins murders. They initiated a traffic stopand a high-speed chase ensues, said Eugene Corcoran, then the State Policelieutenant who supervised the investigation. He said he had demanded an attorney 20 times. They didn't realizeone man was targeting sex workers in New York City. Heidi Balch was identified in 2013. She was identified through DNA testing on August 20, 1993. Portions of her remains were later discovered inside an oil drum in New Creek in Brooklyn, according to ThoughtCo. Rifkin found Orvieto on December 26, 1991, in Bayshore, Long Island. WebWhen a letter arrives from the army, telling Rory that Dawson is missing in action and presumed dead, her world is shattered. A shy, awkward child, he was a target for bullies. Conviction was a foregone conclusion, However, and in the absence of a death penalty statute, he received the maximum sentence of twenty-five years to life. I want to show these girls, these prostitutes, have families who care. Hes not evil. Confidential (1997) and The Sum of All Fears (2002). Rifkin had been bludgeoning or strangling women for five years, dismembering some of them. He found Iris Sanchez, a 25-year-old crack addict, working First Avenue on Mothers Day weekend. Rifkin painstakingly covered up his crimes. He was only caught because of a small mistake, and he would have kept killing, he admits. Evens started to undress, then balked, demanding greater privacy. Instead of keeping him away from prostitutes, the incident made him more devious. 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. 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. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! With no money, Rifkin attempted to hold down a job, but that also became another unsuccessful moment in his life. Because Kramer has no ID on him, the box office employee has to use the public address system. 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. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. From breaking news to special features and documentaries, the NewsdayTV team is covering the issues that matter to you. 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. In fact, quite the opposite. Instead, she wound up hooked on heroin, performing for strangers in strip clubs and cars. Rifkin wedged the body underneath a rotting mattress, first relieving Sanchez of her watch and other jewelry. Rifkin acknowledged that his violent mental images were a little more intense than regular at that time. Tiffany Bresciani: Rifkins final victim, Tiffany Bresciani, 22, hadmoved to New York from her home in Louisiana to pursue her dream of becoming an actress or singer. As before, Joel cut most of his classes, focused for the most part on repairing his truck, renting video porn and trolling for prey. A motorist stopping to relieve himself found Lopez the next day. Credit: AP/Pool Photo/ Bill Turnbull. This is a savings of over $100! Chainsaws, people screaming, fine. Script writer Peter Mehlman had clearly read reports about how the serial killer was captured. I picked her up on Allen Street in Manhattan. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa. Doubling back from there, he returned to Manhattan, pitching the arms and torso into the East River. Lorraine Orvieto: Orvieto, 28, disappeared in Dec. 1991. He drove to the Hudson River, dropping her into the water near a cement plant. In June of that year, he murdered Bresciani, a 22-year-old who left Louisiana for Los Angeles before arriving inNew York. Serial killer Joel Rifkin led cops to the skeleton of one victim at the outskirts of New York City's Kennedy International Airport. Ruane and Spaargaren called for backup as they pursued their quarry at nearly 90 miles an hour. Before Rifkin left for college, he drove to New York City where he picked up a sex worker for the first time. On May 25, 1992, he strangled crack addict Anna Lopez, dumping her corpse in some woods off Interstate 84, in Brewster. He is now the district executive for the federal courts in the Eastern District of New York. When they signaled for him to pull over, Rifkin kept driving. Something about Joel Rifkin set him apart, an undefined quality that made him an immediate outsider, natural prey to all manner of bullies. It was a life far removed from her affluent Long Island home where shed been a high school cheerleader. 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. It was a half-hearted effort at best. These are not the kind of tiny paperback novels that you are accustomed to. The Terminator could easily take out John Wick and he wouldnt even see it coming. Is Joel Rifkin Still Alive Theyre intelligent, always seeking more knowledge, and exclusive. Robert Sale met his new client for the first time at 9 a.m. on June 29, and Rifkin complained that police had taken his glasses and left him with a migraine headache, unable to function. In every high school, theres a kid that doesnt get girls,but they dont go ahead and murder 17 women.". "You know, I first learned he was accused of being a serial killer while I was on the Long Island Expressway," he recalled. Some of the bodies already found had not been classified as homicides, Klein said. He shared his mothers enthusiasm for photography and handicrafts, a brainy child who never quite fit in with other kids his age. Rambo: Last Blood is currently in theaters. Rifkin was sentenced to 203 years to life in prison and he is not eligible for parole until 2197. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Rifkin drove the body parts across the state line to New Jersey, dropping the head and legs in the woods near Hopewell. Joel These are more like giant, professionally produced graphic novels. Exclusive: Inside The Mind Of A Serial Killer - CBS New York Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions The appointment was an honor, and it had an unexpected bonus. Theyre perfectionists who enjoy finer things but are not perceived as snobs. Some were in water. Rifkin transferred to the state university at Brockport, a Rochester suburb, in fall 1978. On the far right is Gonzales'daughter, also named Margarita Gonzales. Market data provided by Factset. He didnt speed up, either, but he kept on driving. They questioned him for eight hours, but for some reason never recorded the sessions. He placed her body into a 55-gallon oil drum and dumped it into the East River. Her mother, Victoria ONeill, told the newspaper she had last seen her daughter on July 16, 1992. He gave names when he knew them, dates, where he picked them up and, crucially, where he had dumped the bodies. The 31-year-olds body was later found inside a plastic bag, stuffed into a cardboard box and thrown into the Hudson River. (Photo by Rick Maiman/Sygma via Getty Images), (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Archive Photos/Getty Images). The victim was prostitute Julie Blackbird, selected for her pseudo-Madonna look. Rifkin drove her home to East Meadow when his mother was again out of town, and they spent the night together. ", 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. A cemetery posted a personal ad for a goose whose mate died. She had pieces of skin under her fingernails, her sister Margarita Gonzales told The Associated Press in 1993. Instead, he picked up a souvenir howitzer shell and beat her furiously. After Rifkin was convicted in Nassau, he was sent to Suffolk where he faced two murder charges. Rifkin was bullied throughout his school years, an experience that left him feeling angry and isolated. Jenny Soto is one of Joel Rifkin's victims. 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. The Joel Rifkin reference certainly grounds Seinfeld 's episode in its own time, but its the idea that O.J. Serial killer Joel Rifkin arrested in (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Archive Photos/Getty Images). Rifkins ninth victim, ironically, surfaced before numbers seven and eight. The other parts went into garbage bags and then into his mothers car. (It was still there, waiting for detectives, at the time of Joels arrest.) 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. Mladinich said he and Rifkin, now 62, wrote to each other regularly until they saw each other again in the fall of 1999. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Rifkin could not recall the name of number six, murdered a few days shy of Christmas 1991. Failing that, he sought to have the various murder charges consolidated in one Nassau County trial, hoping a hometown jury would be more inclined to find Rifkin not guilty by reason of insanity. Sheriff Teasle hated Rambo because he represented a threat to his own power base. Simpson. On February 20, 1989, Joel Rifkin perpetrated his first homicide by killing Heidi Balch in her home in East Meadow. Unlike Orvieto, Holloman was identified from dental records and returned to her family for burial. It is chock full of artwork, rare documents, FBI files and in depth articles regarding serial murder. At age 33, Anna Lopez had three children by three different fathers, but she worked the streets primarily to feed her own cocaine addiction. They opened the truck and found Bresciani. Rifkin didn't display the typical signs of a budding murderer. 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. It is also packed with unusual trivia, exclusive interviews and much more. Joel Rifkin was born in the Year of the Pig. Tragedy plus time equals comedy, so its been said. They also found a blood-stained wheelbarrow and chainsaw at the residence. Rambo: The Franchises 10 Most Brutal Kills. Joels parents gave him a car that year, and he used it to troll for prostitutes, first in nearby Hempstead, later in Manhattan. ", "If I didnt kill them, they would have died anyhow. 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. Rifkin picked her up on April 2, 1993, while she was working Second Avenue. 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. 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. He was vague on the details in later confessions, unable to recall the womans name, if he had ever known it. The Seinfeld Episode Inspired By A When authorities searched Rifkin's East Meadow home, they found all the evidence they needed:clothing, jewelry, drivers licenses, library cards, and credit cards belonging to approximately 10 women. Joel Rifkin was someone who was used to being invisible. . Later, he recalled the act as very automatic. One of the bullies who harassed him later called Rifkin an abuse unit. Joel Rifkin 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. 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. 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. And police weren't aware that one man was specifically targeting sex workers in the area. By the time Rifkin found her, in the predawn hours of June 24, 1993, she was his second hooker of the night--his fourth within two days. Arraigned for the Bresciani homicide on July 15, 1993, Rifkin repeated his plea of not guilty. Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? 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. This addictioncrippled him, as he had to to leavecollege before finishing and was unable to ever really hold down a job. Curiously, though, the driver of the pickup did not stop. 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.