He had an I.Q. Rambo, one of Sylvester Stallones signature characters, now understands Spanish and somehow raised a Mexican-American girl, Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal) whose father abandoned her and mom died of a terminal illness. Joel Rifkin referred to his propensity to kill as "almost an addiction," something forensic psychologist N.G. With Joels confession in hand, police descended on Jeanne Rifkins home, scouring the premises for evidence. WebJoel Rifkin was born in in January 20, 1959. Even the parents of his victims didnt seem to miss Rifkins prey. He kept her credit cards and a wicker handbag filled with costume jewelry--so much, in fact, that the amount would briefly cause detectives to inflate his body count. Several months later, the football star was charged with murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Rifkin went back to school in spring of 1992, taking uncredited classes at SUNY Farmingdale. She was found on October 1, nude except for a brassiere, without ID. It didnt fully come home to me what was happening until later., Things went from bad to worse at East Meadow High School. Despite a tested IQ of 128, Joel did poorly in school, at least part of his problem traceable to the merciless teasing of class-mates. Jenny Soto is one of Joel Rifkin's victims. Fred Klein,the major offense prosecutor on call, drove to the scene. 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. 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. Troopers detected an odor from the back of the truck. 2 men found drugged after leaving NYC gay bars were killed, medical examiner says. Family: He was living with his mother and sister at the time of his arrest. Mary Ellen DeLuca: DeLuca, 22, lost her life on Sept. 1, 1991 after she allegedly complained about having sex with Rifkin after he had bought her cocaine, according to ThoughtCo. I wouldn't sleep with my back to him if I were you, cracks a colleague. He picked Sanchez up in broad daylight, driving her to a Manhattan housing project down by where Macys has the fireworks. After strangling Sanchez during sex, he drove her corpse across the Brooklyn Bridge, seeking a drop-off point. In every high school, theres a kid that doesnt get girls,but they dont go ahead and murder 17 women.". One drivers license belonged to Mary DeLuca, found dead in Cornwall, New York, in October 1991. alaw enforcement source told The New York Daily News at the time. Rifkin wedged Lee into the same trunk hed used for Mary DeLuca and dropped her in the East River. It was nearly 8 p.m. when authorities presented Jeanne Rifkin with a search warrant, scouring her two-story house for evidence against the man who appeared to be New Yorks most prolific serial killer. Rifkin launched into great detail about each of the 17 women he killed, even drawing maps of where the bodies were. 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. He is now in Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, near the Canadian border. All rights reserved. Seven years after he was sentenced to life in prison, an old college friend of Rifkin, unable to understand how a decent-seeming person hid such a twisted side,went to visit him at Attica Correctional Facility. Rifkin started his own landscaping business in April 1991, renting space at a local nursery to store his equipment. Yun Lee: Authorities believe Lee, 31, was strangled to death on September 23, 1991, Thought Co. reports. Oxygen's new documentary on Joel Rifkin is part of their 'Serial Killer Week" line-up. I just struggled to come to grips that this same person was a serial killer capable of such barbarism. She fought him, resisting strangulation until he snapped her neck. Mladinich, Robert. Rifkin's downfall came about simply because of a "25 cent mistake," as he told the New York Daily News. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. She woke up fighting for her life, kicking the gear-shift hard enough to snap it off before Joel smothered her. the New York Daily News reported at the time. I want to show these girls, these prostitutes, have families who care. During the course of the episode, Rifkin underwent a brain scan to see if abnormal brain chemistry could have possibly made him more likely to commit murder. By the time he got home, she was swaddled in tarp and concealed in the trunk. (Robert Mladinich), "I wanted to reach out to him right away after the arrest," Mladinich told Fox News. He was later acquitted. Although Rifkin often hired prostitutes in Brooklyn and Manhattan, he lived in East Meadow, a suburban town on Long Island. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he did it.. Known as Joel the Ripper, he murdered and dismembered at least nine women in New York. He used the next one on Lorraine Orvieto, a 28-year-old manic-depressive who tried to control her mood swings with cocaine. 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. Whats in a name? Three years later they moved to East Meadow, Long Island, and Joel entered first grade at Prospect Avenue Elementary School. 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. He is now the district executive for the federal courts in the Eastern District of New York. Thats well over 30 ebooks in one package. Script writer Peter Mehlman had clearly read reports about how the serial killer was captured. "Everybody has some kind of fantasy life, whether it's negative or positive. Five months later, Seinfeld mined his crimes for material. 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. All of our Serial Killer books are massive, 8.5" x 11" perfect bound editions. 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. 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. New York. Sale called the state police at 3:30 p.m. and ordered them to cease interrogation of his client, but the questioning continued in Sales absence for at least another hour, until Rifkin completed his grim recital of death. In retrospect, a shockingly prophetic moment happens when Elaine comes up with a suggestion after reading a sports magazine. I had sex with her, and then I killed her. Strangled in Joels pickup after sex, she proved the toughest one to kill, he said, breaking all 10 fingernails as she clawed Rifkins face and neck. He gave names when he knew them, dates, where he picked them up and, crucially, where he had dumped the bodies. On August 22, 1987, Rifkin was arrested in Hempstead, Long Island, for soliciting a prostitute. "Joel was very calm about it," Mladinich continued. Is The New York Review the same as the New York Review of Books? In 2010, Rifkin was interviewed by ABC's Martin Bashir as part of the Nightline Prime mini-series, Secrets of Your Mind. Three months later, he killed Leah Evens and left her in rural Northampton, where her skeleton was found on Mothers Day. Joel Rifkin was an unemployed New York landscaper living a darkdouble life as a prolific serial killer claiming the lives of 17 women, a staggering total. Black-painted Bowie clip-point with 14 or 12 saw teeth, 1 Stick Around (Rambo: Last Blood / 2019), 2 Take A Bow (Rambo: First Blood, Part II / 1985), 7 The Grenade With A Real Kick (Rambo III / 1988), 8 Hammer Smashed Face(s) (Rambo: Last Blood / 2019). The special also features interviews with Rifkins childhood friends, investigators on the case, as well as those closest to his victims. Oh please, please, please change your name to O.J.! WebWhen a letter arrives from the army, telling Rory that Dawson is missing in action and presumed dead, her world is shattered. Rifkin could not recall the name of number six, murdered a few days shy of Christmas 1991. ", "There was always a fascination with strangulations. That explained Rifkins use of Noxema. His employer at a local music store described Joel as a total piece of work. 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. They called him The Turtle, mimicking his slouched posture and slow footsteps, seldom missing a chance to make him the butt of cruel jokes. He was born on January 20, 1959, the son of unwed college students who were not prepared to start a family. 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. 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. The wild chase was on. This addictioncrippled him, as he had to to leavecollege before finishing and was unable to ever really hold down a job. Rifkin But his eventual capture was a total accident as the serial killer wasn't even on police's radar. 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. Type of Villain John James Rambo is the main protagonist of the 1972 novel First Blood and its 1982 film adaptation. 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. According to astrologers, the presence of Aries always marks the beginning of something energetic and turbulent. Instead, he picked up a souvenir howitzer shell and beat her furiously. Besides a broken neck, Marquez had fractured ribs, though Rifkin claimed he could not remember hitting her. By Becca van Sambeck & Oxygen Staff From 1989 to 1993, a Some were in water. Rifkin!" 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 pickup truck Joel Rifkin was driving when he was caught sits at New York State Police Headquarters in Farmingdale on June 28, 1993. Credit: Newsday/Jim Peppler. Instead, she wound up hooked on heroin, performing for strangers in strip clubs and cars. Long Island psychiatrist Barbara Kirwin deemed Rifkins psychological test results the most pathological she had seen in 20 years of practice. "As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably would've been others. Credit: Newsday/K. The rest would be revealed to her on television, hours later, when detectives laid the outline of their case before the media. This guy seems like the real deal.". 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. Joels parents gave him a car that year, and he used it to troll for prostitutes, first in nearby Hempstead, later in Manhattan. Arraigned for the Bresciani homicide on July 15, 1993, Rifkin repeated his plea of not guilty. Infamous New York mass murderer Joel Rifkin was caught in June 1993. The murderous rampage of notorious Long Island serial killer Rifkin came to an end. Below we countdown to Joel Rifkin upcoming birthday. Get the best of Fox News' entertainment coverage, right in your inbox. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. At least 10 dead after winter storm slams South, Midwest, The Saturday Six: Dental device controversy, scientist's bug find and more, Indonesia fuel depot fire kills 18; more than a dozen missing, Biden had cancerous skin lesion removed last month, doctor says, Tom Sizemore, actor known for "Saving Private Ryan" and "Heat," dies at 61, Defense lawyers in Idaho killings case want gag order kept, Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison for murders of wife and son. When they left, six hours later, the searchers carried off at least 228 items (one report claimed there were more than 1,000) linked to Rifkins four-year murder spree. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. June 27, 1993. The special revealed that while his mother was out of town, he brought her back home. (Glass Entertainment Group). (Photo by Neil Schneider/New York Post Archives /(c) NYP Holdings, Inc. via Getty Images). Joel Rifkin is currently serving a life sentence. Later, he recalled the act as very automatic. Why not? At the time, she was pursuing her dreams of becoming a singer and actress. The only 80s action star that would prove victorious against a 21st-century assassin is not a man but a machine. 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. A peek inside the tarp revealed a womans decomposing body. Joel Rifkin 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. Joel Rifkin is now serving 203 years to life in the Clinton, N.Y. correctional facility. 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. Rifkins first victim of 1993 was Leah Evens, a 28-year-old who lived with her mother in Brooklyn. 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. Real-life romance eluded Rifkin, for the most part. (Photo by Rick Maiman/Sygma via Getty Images), (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Archive Photos/Getty Images). "And a lot of them are dangerous people. March 27, 2013 / 3:17 PM There, Rifkin testified himself in a pretrial hearing to contest that his confession was voluntary. 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. His reign of terror came to an end on June 28, 1993 after he was pulled overfor a routine traffic stop by New York State Police, who discovered the decomposingbody of 22-year-old Tiffany Bresciani in the back of his pickup truck. "Three were dismembered. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. The habit was expensive and she tricked to keep herself supplied. He also pleaded guilty to two murders in neighboring Suffolk County. Sheriff Teasle hated Rambo because he represented a threat to his own power base. June 29, 1993. In fact, quite the opposite. By January 1996, Rifkin was scheduled to serve at least 183 years for seven slayings, with 10 counts outstanding. Rifkin was transferred at once to the Nassau County Correctional Facility in East Meadow. "But I was still an active police officer at the time. disposed of the bodies all over New York state, from a Brooklyn creek to an Orange County town. On the far right is Gonzales'daughter, also named Margarita Gonzales. trends.embed.renderExploreWidget("TIMESERIES", {"comparisonItem":[{"keyword":" Joel Rifkin ","geo":"","time":"today 12-m"}],"category":0,"property":""}, {"exploreQuery":"q=Joel Rifkin&date=today 12-m","guestPath":"https://trends.google.com:443/trends/embed/"}); Joel Rifkin net worth and salary: Joel Rifkin is a Criminal who has a net worth of $100 Million. I just lost control, he said later. "Joel never expressed any remorse whatsoever to me," said Mladinich. 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. The only thing that makes me feel a little better is to think that perhaps she didnt die in pain.. Seventeen women in total were murdered by this shadowy figure but police at the time weren't even aware he existed. 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. I think its a wake-up call that there could be lots of Joel Rifkin'swalking around.". "Certain things are very hard to stop," Rifkin said. Except for his grades, Joel was the stereotypical nerd, in glasses and high-water pants with white socks. In June of that year, he murdered Bresciani, a 22-year-old who left Louisiana for Los Angeles before arriving inNew York. 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. After the Giant game, he says, I realized that this this problem isn't going away.. 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. Because Kramer has no ID on him, the box office employee has to use the public address system. 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 recordingsof their conversations are the focus of the special, as Rifkin's horrific killing spree is explored. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson. Credit: Randee Daddona. Exclusive: Inside The Mind Of A Serial Killer - CBS New York Michael Ahearn, then the chief of the Suffolk district attorneys Homicide Bureau, recalled how Rifkin continually corrected him during cross-examination. Serial killer Joel Rifkin led cops to the skeleton of one victim at the outskirts of New York City's Kennedy International Airport. And police weren't aware that one man was specifically targeting sex workers in the area. "There were mini clusters, little sets of three," Rifkin said. Elaines boyfriend had resisted her earlier suggestion to change his name, but now hes ready to make a switch. Ahearn saidRifkins lack of concern for his victims haunted him for years and still does. On December 14, 2001, Rifkin lost his latest appeal of his conviction. Garden of Graves. Joel Rafkin is still alive. Homicide detectives began interrogating Rifkin at 8:25 a.m. on June 28, 1993. Classmates dubbed him The Turtle, after his slouching posture and slow gait. EXCLUSIVE: In late 1998, Robert Mladinich wrote to his "old college pal" Joel Rifkin New Yorks most prolific serial killer. Some he hid in oil drums, others in blocks of concrete. Joel Rifkin 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). Hikers found her on May 9 after they spied a withered hand protruding from the ground. "And he kept saying things like, 'I killed that one. ", GARY HEIDNIKS ATTORNEY TALKS INSANE HOUSE OF HORRORS KILLER IN DOC: THERE WAS A METHOD TO HIS MADNESS', Jenny Soto's family. These are not the kind of tiny paperback novels that you are accustomed to. 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. Instead, he concocted an elaborate fantasy affair, frustrated beyond endurance when she failed to reciprocate his secret passion. Many of the victims were never even reported missing, and so police were unaware of the scope of the killing spree. (Photo by Jerry Engel/New York Post Archives /(c) NYP Holdings, Inc. via Getty Images). Do you think I need a lawyer?. 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. He paid a fine and managed to conceal the incident from his mother, ranging farther afield to seek hookers in Manhattan when he felt the urge. He didn't wet the bed or torture animals or start fires. She liked dressing up.. 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. ", Joel Rifkin is currently serving a life sentence. Rambo earned his Airborne Ranger Wings in May of 1966. 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. Prosecutor Fred Klein described Rifkin as a killing machine who acted in deliberate, premediated and methodical ways to carry out his gruesome murders. Well, 17 girls thought that, and now theyre dead.. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. The son of unwed teenage parents, born in 1959, Joel was adopted by Ben and Jeanne Rifkin at three weeks of age. The neighbor always survives to do the interview afterwards. Rifkin had his only real girlfriend in Brockport, but the relationship went nowhere, his paramour recalling Joel as sweet, but always depressed. Back at home with his parents, Rifkin tried Nassau Community College again, attending erratically, earning only 12 credits by the time he finally quit in 1984. 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. If he were to receive any money, it would be subject to state laws that earmark most of the award for the families of his victims. aspect of comedy, the Rifkin episode of Seinfeld aired just five months after his And she had fake nails and those were ripped off when she fought him.. Rifkin didnt stop after his first murder. At some point in the litany, Rifkin asked DeLuca if she wanted to die, and she allegedly said yes. Now, hes claiming that he once didnt believe he could kill. Rifkin's prison life In early 1994, it was reported that Rifkin had engaged in a jailhouse scuffle with mass murderer Colin Ferguson.