Fifty percent of the proceeds from sales were earmarked for New Yorks Crime Victims Board, with inmate artists retaining the rest. [2] Early life [ edit] Rifkin's birth parents were both young college students and his biological father was an Army veteran. "As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably would've been others. The remains were never found. After Rifkin was convicted in Nassau, he was sent to Suffolk where he faced two murder charges. Rifkin didn't display the typical signs of a budding murderer. They let him go with a warning. 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. According to the outlet, Rifkin admitted to the other slayings during questioning. Stephen Urbanski says Balch worked as a prostitute in New York City and used numerous aliases. "Oh! He then dismembered Susies body and her remains were scattered throughout New Jersey. He was born on January 20, 1959, the son of unwed college students who were not prepared to start a family. A peek inside the tarp revealed a womans decomposing body. Family: He was living with his mother and sister at the time of his arrest. Each giant issue is perfect bound and chock full of true crime articles, artwork, letters, documents and more. "Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer,". Rifkin just didn't excel in academia or sports, and so he struggled with feeling like a disappointment to his dad. He remembered her tattoos, a pickup in Manhattan, and the way she fought for life when he began to strangle her. After sex, he reportedly bludgeoned her with a Howtizer artillery shell and strangled her to death. His landscaping business had folded by then, his landlord clamoring for $700 in overdue rent. With this information, they were able to identify even more of his victims, the New York Times reported. 2 Cant Beat: The Terminator (Terminator Franchise) This one is pretty simple. Other times he killed them in his car. 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. State Police Sgt. A woman whose severed head was found on a New Jersey golf course more than 20 years ago has been identified, and police say the trail leads to a notorious serial killer. Mary Catherine Williams, 10 years older than ONeill, had been a high school homecoming queen and college cheerleader in her native North Carolina. According to the documentary, Rifkin picked up hundreds of sex workersand he eventually left college before finishing. Rifkin! she says, inspired by the name O.J. A 9 a.m. media report cleared up the mystery, and Jeanne phoned her lawyer, who referred her to criminal attorney Robert Sale. Her body was thrown into the East River. His upstairs bedroom yielded 75 pieces of womens jewelry, photographs Rifkin had taken of several unidentified women, various items of feminine clothing, makeup cases, a womans curling iron, wallets and pocketbooks, plus a mixed bag of ID cards. Still, Rifkin liked to vary his technique from time to time. Rifkin didnt stop after his first murder. 202.3.109.12 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. (It was still there, waiting for detectives, at the time of Joels arrest.) To learn more about Rifkin's killing spree tune in to Oxygen's "RifkinonRifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer" airing Saturday, April 10 at 7/6conOxygenas part ofSerial Killer Week. 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. 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. Joel David Rifkin: New York's Most Prolific Serial Killer. But Susie has never been identified. Joel Rifkin referred to his propensity to kill as "almost an addiction," something forensic psychologist N.G. It didn't help matters that he was constantly seeking his father's approval, too. 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. 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. Eugene Corcoran, shown onJune 18, was one of the lead investigators in the Joel Rifkin case. 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. she suggested, inspired by O.J. 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. By Becca van Sambeck & Oxygen Staff From 1989 to 1993, a Several months later, the football star was charged with murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Confidential (1997) and The Sum of All Fears (2002). She was a prostitute, he told the officers. ", VIRGINIAS HORRIFYING COLONIAL PARKWAY MURDERS CAN STILL BE SOLVED DECADES LATER WITH NEW LEADS, DOC REVEALS, According to Joel Rifkin, it was a '25-cent mistake' that finally led to his capture. Every issue of Serial Killer Magazine, every Ultimate Collection, trainscript, FBI file and more! He raged at Joel, Why cant you do anything to please me? Jeanne Rifkin shared her love of gardening and photography with Joel oblivious to his torment by peers. Despite his confessions and the overwhelming evidence against him, Rifkin pled not guilty at his murder trial. Her mother told the newspaper in 1993 that her daughter had been a happy and outspoken child, who later struggled with drug abuse and began to work as a prostitute. Thanks to its ruling planet Mars and the fact it belongs to the element of Fire (just like Leo and Sagittarius), Aries is one of the most active zodiac signs. He specifically killed women who were less visible insociety. 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. At age 33, Anna Lopez had three children by three different fathers, but she worked the streets primarily to feed her own cocaine addiction. Instead, he was a rather meek, unassuming child. 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. Prison was an exaggerated replay of high school, with constant threats and taunts from other convicts. In case there is such a thing as reincarnation, I want you to spend your second life in prison.. There was none of that. Rifkin was eventually sentenced to 203 years in prison for his horrific string of murders. Her body was discovered in Cornwall in October 1991, a month after she had been reported missing by her family, The New York Timessaidin 1993. On May 25, 1992, he strangled crack addict Anna Lopez, dumping her corpse in some woods off Interstate 84, in Brewster. The only thing that makes me feel a little better is to think that perhaps she didnt die in pain.. Rambos escape made him look bad and so he had to eliminate that insult to his own overblown ego. Heidi Balch was identified in 2013. The prison van carried him past the high school where he had graduated 16 years before. They had destroyed themselves through their lifestyle. Rifkin responded to the news by firing Soshnick on the spot, leaving Lawrence, a lawyer with no criminal experience, to wage the battle alone. 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. Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans. He rolled Soto into the Harlem River, near the spot where Yun Lee had been found 14 months earlier. According to astrologers, the presence of Aries always marks the beginning of something energetic and turbulent. ", First published on March 27, 2013 / 3:17 PM. 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. There was no emotion whatsoever. He didnt speed up, either, but he kept on driving. "You think of people as things.". Rifkins last victim, Tiffany Bresciani, was another southern girl. After the pair spent the night, once again at his mothers home, Rifkin beat her with a table leg and strangled her to death, according to Biography. Police just noticed him because his vehicle was missing a license plate. With Joels confession in hand, police descended on Jeanne Rifkins home, scouring the premises for evidence. She fought him, resisting strangulation until he snapped her neck. These are more like giant, professionally produced graphic novels. 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. Rambo: The Franchises 10 Most Brutal Kills. 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. 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 was bullied throughout his school years, an experience that left him feeling angry and isolated. With Rifkins detailed confession, investigators got to work. I was breathing heavily. She was identified through DNA testing on August 20, 1993. On the side, he began collecting books and press clippings on serial killers of whores, including the unidentified Green River Killer and New Yorks own Arthur Shawcross. I dont think I could now. Throughout the 1980s, Rifkin worked a series of odd jobs around Long Island, seldom staying long at any. Credit: AP/Pool Photo/ Bill Turnbull. Brescianis body was found in the back of Rifkins pickup truck after he was stopped by the state police for a traffic violation, The New York Times reported. Rifkin graduated from high school in 1977, but he could never quite cut in college, despite sporadic attempts over the next twelve years. Some he hid in oil drums, others in blocks of concrete. He has been married to Iva Rifkin since August 28, 1966. Rifkin initially claimed he had blacked out, but soon admitted that Bresciani had not been his only victim. He recalls killing one hooker in 1989 and another in 1990, dismembering their bodies and dropping the pieces into Manhattan canals, but the butcher work repulsed him, and he didnt really hit his stride until 1991. "They would suspect a serial killer was on the loose and his car would have easily been spotted by cameras.". It also left Rifkin with a new problem. Three were in oil drums. Joel found himself strongly attracted to one of the other interns, a pretty blond, but while he shadowed her at every opportunity, he never found the nerve to ask her out. 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 could learn life skills, like write a check, parenting skills just how to livetheir lives in a safe way. I stopped when I got tired.. Her mother, Doris Williams, described her daughter to the news outlet as a struggling actress and former high school homecoming queen who had moved to New York City from her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Oxygen). In the trunk was the decaying body of his last victim. He used the next one on Lorraine Orvieto, a 28-year-old manic-depressive who tried to control her mood swings with cocaine. Rifkin wedged the body underneath a rotting mattress, first relieving Sanchez of her watch and other jewelry. He wanted to know why he lacked that empathy and humanity. O.J.! Prosecutor Fred Klein described Rifkin as a killing machine who acted in deliberate, premediated and methodical ways to carry out his gruesome murders. In retrospect, a shockingly prophetic moment happens when Elaine comes up with a suggestion after reading a sports magazine. Hikers found her on May 9 after they spied a withered hand protruding from the ground. Rifkins first two victims have never been found or identified. (In fact, the latter name is spelled Aholah.) Rifkin called his plan a way of paying back a debt, I guess, and while the idea drew praise from some quarters --including prosecutor Fred Klein-- most objected to Rifkins inclusion of a Motivation Room where residents would be scared straight with photos of hookers murdered on the job. In February 1987, Rifkins father killed himself to end the pain of cancer, and Joel delivered the eulogy at his funeral. 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. Infamous New York mass murderer Joel Rifkin was caught in June 1993. "The only difference is that within 20 minutes, we started talking about murder and mayhem. Good works notwithstanding, Rifkin had no luck in his bids to escape solitary confinement. Rifkin was arrested for soliciting a prostitute on August 22, 1987 in Hempstead, Long Island. 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. Somewhere along the way, he moved from abstract study of the killers into emulation of their brutal crimes. 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. Jurors agreed with Dietz, deliberating briefly on May 9 before they convicted Rifkin of murder and reckless endangerment (for leading police on the wild car chase). The obsession with murder had consumed his life and he began using the rented job site as a way station for corpses in transit. He will be eligible for parole in 2197. It is chock full of artwork, rare documents, FBI files and in depth articles regarding serial murder. Still, it would take years for authorities to formally identify her, as "Susie" wasn't her real name. It was, as Joel Rifkinsaid later, a 25-cent part that brought him down, but it caught the eye of two troopers patrolling the Southern State Parkway. Jenny Soto is one of Joel Rifkin's victims. Fred Klein, shown in his office at Hofstra Universityon June 13, was the lead Nassau County prosecutor in the Joel Rifkincase. ", I wanted to be normal. 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. For the key players in the case, contact with Rifkin was life altering. A failure in athletics, Rifkin joined the yearbook staff, and promptly had his camera stolen. Instead of keeping him away from prostitutes, the incident made him more devious. 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 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. He bought Williams a fix that night, then tried to choke her when she dozed off in his mothers car. From 1989 to 1993, a serial killer stalked New York City. Her family described Soto as a quiet Brooklyn girl who loved to play with her nieces and nephews but said she had a wilder side when she went into the city. If you smell anything decaying in the trunk of his car . A Jane Doe victim, thus entombed, was dredged from Newtown Creek, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, on May 13, 1992. "Joel was a bit of an eccentric," said Mladinich. Pittsburgh woman missing for 31 years found alive in Puerto Rico, School shooting survivor has emotional audition on "American Idol", exclusive 2011 interview with CBS-2's Mary Calvi. Rifkin had just arrived home when his mother demanded her car keys and embarked on a 30-minute shopping trip, with the corpse still in the trunk. He shared his mothers enthusiasm for photography and handicrafts, a brainy child who never quite fit in with other kids his age. 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.". Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Faced with pistols now, the solemn driver gave his license up and stepped out of the car. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! The neighbor always survives to do the interview afterwards. "Back in the late 80s and early 90s, it really was not hard to get away with such crimes," said Mladinich. Iris Sanchez: Sanchez, 25, was reportedly killed on Mothers Day weekend in 1992. 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. Before Rifkin left for college, he drove to New York City where he picked up a sex worker for the first time. Jenny Soto was the last victim of 1992, a 23-year-old addict whose many trips to detox never turned her life around. She was found by a fisherman on July 11, 1992, two months before her family filed a missing persons report. Orval was killed by John Rambo after he went into the mountains with his bloodhounds, which he went to use to hunt Rambo down. Julie Blackbird: Rifkin killed again about 16 months later, after picking up Julie Blackbird in 1990 and bringing her back to his home. Market data provided by Factset. 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 CNN in 2018. 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. Theyre intelligent, always seeking more knowledge, and exclusive. Featuring specials about fearsome and fascinating serial killers, its a cant-miss event for true crime fans. He was eventually acquitted. Joel dismembered her body into the East River. He said he disposed of the bodies in threes. Rifkin's downfall came about simply because of a "25 cent mistake," as he told the New York Daily News. 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. 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. Lawrence said he paid an enormous toll, starting with the day of the conviction. Rifkin refused, strangling her when she started to cry. 2 men found drugged after leaving NYC gay bars were killed, medical examiner says. (Robert Mladinich), "I wanted to reach out to him right away after the arrest," Mladinich told Fox News. The special revealed that while his mother was out of town, he brought her back home. 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. Her body was discovered in Cornwall in October 1991, a month after she had been reported missing by her family. Its part of Serial Killer Week, a nine-day event on Oxygen diving into the most fearsome and fascinating criminals of all time. Known as Joel the Ripper, he murdered and dismembered at least nine women in New York. In every high school, theres a kid that doesnt get girls,but they dont go ahead and murder 17 women.". clothing, jewelry, drivers licenses, library cards, and credit cards belonging to approximately 10 women. 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. 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. He complained to his landlord, I keep losing all my customers, and by summer he was falling behind on his rent. (Photo by Andrew Savulich/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images). Joel Rifkin is a serial killer who went on a string of murders in New York in the 1990s. ", "Even when we first spoke at the correctional facility, it was like we had been friends the previous 20 years," he shared. It's like my own little nightmare scenarios.". 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.
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