They opened the truck and found Bresciani. For the first time in his life, he made straight As for two consecutive semesters, rewarded by selection for an internship at the prestigious Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, New York. Mary Catherine Williams: Mary Catherine Williams, 31, was linked to Rifkin after some of her credit cards were found among Rifkins belongings, according to a Newsday article from 1993. ", "Even when we first spoke at the correctional facility, it was like we had been friends the previous 20 years," he shared. 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. Her severed head was found on a golf course and her legs were found in Jefferson Township, the Times of Trenton reported. Graduating near the bottom of his class in 1977, Joel Rifkin looked forward to college and adulthood. "Where I am right now today, I know this is the best placefor me," he says. After sex, he reportedly bludgeoned her with a Howtizer artillery shell and strangled her to death. 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. They drove to a point near the Manhattan Bridge, Rifkin clutching at her throat without the usual preliminaries. Undeterred, he slaved to put the senior yearbook out, but he was excluded from the year-end wrap party. He was charged with killing his ex-wife and her friend. 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. 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. Faced with pistols now, the solemn driver gave his license up and stepped out of the car. Known as Joel the Ripper, he murdered and dismembered at least nine women in New York. At about nine the next morning, Rifkin recalled completely bugging out, beating Blackbird with a heavy table leg before he strangled her. I just struggled to come to grips that this same person was a serial killer capable of such barbarism. Rifkin was never on authorities' radar. Every issue of Serial Killer Magazine, every Ultimate Collection, trainscript, FBI file and more! They never kill the neighbor. I want to show these girls, these prostitutes, have families who care. A cemetery posted a personal ad for a goose whose mate died. Welcome to November, the month when, according to some studies, serial killers and mass murderers are most likely to be born. A forensic anthropologist was hired to reconstruct the victims face, but Rifkin confessed before the model was finished. ", Joel Rifkin is currently serving a life sentence. Relieved of his little anxiety attack, Joel moved Bresciani into the cluttered garage, leaving her body in a wheelbarrow. EXCLUSIVE: In late 1998, Robert Mladinich wrote to his "old college pal" Joel Rifkin New Yorks most prolific serial killer. Joels poor grades embarrassed his father, a member of the East Meadow School Board. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Hewent to painstaking efforts to try to conceal the bodies, often dismembering the victims, placing their bodies in oil drums, or throwing them into bodies of water, he would later tell WCBS-TVin 2011. The rest would be revealed to her on television, hours later, when detectives laid the outline of their case before the media. He held down various odd jobs, spending much of the little money he made on prostitutes. Rifkin just didn't excel in academia or sports, and so he struggled with feeling like a disappointment to his dad. Joel Rifkin is a member of Criminal Does Joel Rifkin Dead or Alive? Oh please, please, please change your name to O.J.! As his mother was out of town, he brought her back home. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Its like my own little nightmare scenarios, he said. BOB STRONG/AFP/Getty Images Trending News They are continuously looking for dynamic, speed and competition, always being the first in everything - from work to social gatherings. Before Rifkin left for college, hedrove to New York City and picked up a sex workerfor the first time. Rifkin was arrested for soliciting a prostitute on August 22, 1987 in Hempstead, Long Island. or redistributed. Joel Rifkin referred to his propensity to kill as "almost an addiction," something forensic psychologist N.G. He rolled Soto into the Harlem River, near the spot where Yun Lee had been found 14 months earlier. ipl.org Rambo earned his Airborne Ranger Wings in May of 1966. 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. Rifkin initially claimed he had blacked out, but soon admitted that Bresciani had not been his only victim. I thought of him as a loner, she subsequently told reporters. 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. "They would suspect a serial killer was on the loose and his car would have easily been spotted by cameras.". Next to him is his attorney, John Lawrence of Mineola. (Robert Mladinich), "I wanted to reach out to him right away after the arrest," Mladinich told Fox News. Rifkins last victim, Tiffany Bresciani, was another southern girl. So if a body was found in The Bronx, detectives in Brooklyn might not hear about that for weeks, days, even months sometimes never. Tragedy plus time equals comedy, so its been said. The drivers license identified him as 34-year-old Joel David Rifkin, residing on Garden Street in East Meadow, Long Island. Rifkin found Orvieto on December 26, 1991, in Bayshore, Long Island. "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. Rifkin told Dietz in detail how he planned his killings, how he avoided detection, how he got sexual gratification from both the killings and the victims personal effects much to Lawrences dismay. Ahearn saidRifkins lack of concern for his victims haunted him for years and still does. 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. 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. Jury selection for Rifkins first trial, before Wexner, began on April 11, 1994. The murders spanned four years, and all the victims were described as prostitutes by Rifkin, though surviving relatives of several vocally dispute his claim. 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. Rifkin painstakingly covered up his crimes. Married to a pro football player in 1986 and divorced the following year, she had come to New York in search of an acting career, but wound up doing drugs and living on the streets. Pulitzer, Lisa, and Joan Swirsky. The site he chose was an illegal dump, 200 feet off Rockaway Boulevard, within sight of JFK International Airport. Joel Rifkin - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday 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. 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. A telephone call from police told 71-year-old Jeanne Rifkin that her son had been detained after a traffic accident. "He was very matter of fact about it. The experience quickly led toan addiction. Rifkin's lawsuit seeks $50,000 for each of his 1,540 days in solitary confinement (totaling $77 million). We know Blackbirds fate today only from Rifkins confession, and from her diary stashed in his bedroom. He dismembered their bodies and disposed theirremains in the New York area. Rambo hasnt died and he hasnt found some sort of peace in his life that means hes going to stop fighting. Joel Rifkin Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Joels parents gave him a car that year, and he used it to troll for prostitutes, first in nearby Hempstead, later in Manhattan. WebLearn about Joel Rifkin Net Worth, Biography, Age, Birthday, Height, Early Life, Family, Dating, Partner, Wiki and Facts. Rambos escape made him look bad and so he had to eliminate that insult to his own overblown ego. 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. Joel Still, it would take years for authorities to formally identify her, as "Susie" wasn't her real name. That first murder gave way to many more; he killed 16 more sex workers, often dismembering their bodies and disposing of themin the New York area. In its year in review, Newsday described 1993 as Long Islands own annus horribilis the year that violence, abuse, bloody mayhem and sexual perversion tore at the fabric of Nassau and Suffolk Counties suburban life.. State Police Sgt. Hikers found her on May 9 after they spied a withered hand protruding from the ground. Would. Most killers stick to one method of disposing the bodies, but his mixturemade it easier for him to go undetected, according to the special. At some point in the litany, Rifkin asked DeLuca if she wanted to die, and she allegedly said yes. It was hell from day one. I couldn't function in the real world then. Lorraine Orvieto: Orvieto, 28, disappeared in Dec. 1991. I had sex with her, and then I killed her. 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. Joel Rifkin In 1989, Rifkin picked up a sex worker named "Susie." Rifkin did not respond to a request sent to him at Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate Dannemora for comment for this story. Prosecutor Fred Klein described Rifkin as a killing machine who acted in deliberate, premediated and methodical ways to carry out his gruesome murders. Please, it would be so great!. When flashing red lights failed to stop the driver, they used the loudspeaker, ordering the driver to halt. If you are interested in joining our team, contact us at He was also an academic failure, suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia despite a tested IQ of 128. But that all change in 1993 after Rifkin said he made a "25 cent mistake. Some were on land. [Sex workers are]easy because they travel a lot. 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. 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. You dont even use a name, its just initials. 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. In February 1987, Rifkins father killed himself to end the pain of cancer, and Joel delivered the eulogy at his funeral. 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. Sheriff Teasle hated Rambo because he represented a threat to his own power base. (Photo by Neil Schneider/New York Post Archives /(c) NYP Holdings, Inc. via Getty Images), "When we first started talking, it was kind of awkward," said Mladinich. Featuring specials about fearsome and fascinating serial killers, its a cant-miss event for true crime fans. During his trial, Rifkin was represented by Mineola-based attorney John Lawrence. After strangling Lopez in his car, Rifkin drove through the night to Brewster, in Putnam County, and dumped her corpse along I-84. A motorist stopping to relieve himself found Lopez the next day. He was confined to his cell at the Attica Correctional Facility for 23 hours per day. WebJoel Rifkin, best known for being a Criminal, was born in New York, United States on Tuesday, January 20, 1959. With this information, they were able to identify even more of his victims, the New York Times reported. Mary Catherine Williams was number 13, Joels omission of her name confusing police and some reporters into citing Williams as an 18th victim. 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. It didn't help matters that he was constantly seeking his father's approval, too. Bored and restless, he cut classes habitually, completing only one course in the 1977-78 academic year. Barbara Jacobs was the next to die, a 31-year-old addict with arrests on her record for auto theft and prostitution. She was actually a woman named Heidi Balch, who had used various identities throughout the years. Rifkin was booked at Hempstead, where homicide detectives launched a marathon interrogation. Well, 17 girls thought that, and now theyre dead.. Joel would not strike again for 15 weeks, and when he did, he would take better care to hide his tracks. Except for his grades, Joel was the stereotypical nerd, in glasses and high-water pants with white socks. "He always seemed like he was slower or a step behind," Fred Reiter, who lived next door to Rifkin in East Meadow, New Yorkgrowing up, recalls in the special. Rifkin arrived at Attica state prison in February 1996, sporting a black eye from his first assault by fellow inmates while confined on Rikers Island. 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. Check out our sister site VHS WASTELAND. Mary Catherine Williams, 10 years older than ONeill, had been a high school homecoming queen and college cheerleader in her native North Carolina. 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. He remembered her tattoos, a pickup in Manhattan, and the way she fought for life when he began to strangle her. He maintained his interest in photography and horticulture, but failed to make either a paying proposition. Just keep the music down., For more on Rifkin, watch Oxygens upcoming special Rifkin on Rifkin: Private Confessions of a Serial Killer, airing on Saturday, April 10 at 7/6c on Oxygen. He bought Williams a fix that night, then tried to choke her when she dozed off in his mothers car. On August 22, 1987, Rifkin was arrested in Hempstead, Long Island, for soliciting a prostitute. He dismembered the corpse as before, placing the head, arms and legs in buckets weighted with concrete; the torso filled a milk crate by itself.