It was the smell of death, and it would linger long after the source had been removed. "And a lot of them are dangerous people. Things seemed to go downhill from there. Joel Rifkin, and I am dating Joel Rifkin, laments Elaine, whose coworkers have gotten wind of the creepy coincidence. Williams would fill another nameless paupers grave until Rifkin confessed to her murder, six months after she was found. A pair of womens panties lay on the floor, near a stockpile of rope and tarp. 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. 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. Chainsaws, people screaming, fine. Most killers stick to one method of disposing the bodies, but his mixturemade it easier for him to go undetected, according to the special. Weary of the pain by February 1987, he took a massive dose of barbiturates and died after four days in a coma. He is an actor, known for Alias (2001), L.A. 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. ", "Even when we first spoke at the correctional facility, it was like we had been friends the previous 20 years," he shared. "There were mini clusters, little sets of three," Rifkin said. Rifkin had dated Williams twice and enjoyed a great time before the final pickup on October 2, 1992. In 2002, New Yorks Supreme Court rejected Rifkins appeal of his convictions for the murder of nine women. In the trunk was the decaying body of his last victim. I wouldn't sleep with my back to him if I were you, cracks a colleague. We were out every night, her 16-year-old sister Jessy Olmedo said at the time. 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. He was still so tense when he got out of his car that he said he sprained his back. Joel would not strike again for 15 weeks, and when he did, he would take better care to hide his tracks. 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. Rifkin painstakingly covered up his crimes. One week after he killed Lorraine Orvieto, on January 2, 1992, Rifkin went hunting again. She liked dressing up.. 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.. The habit was expensive and she tricked to keep herself supplied. Unlike Orvieto, Holloman was identified from dental records and returned to her family for burial. 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. Prison is where he belongs, Rifkin says in the special. June 27, 1993. The case was open-and-shut but it was far from simple. The oil drum worked so well for Rifkin that he purchased several more for use as makeshift coffins. It didnt fully come home to me what was happening until later., Things went from bad to worse at East Meadow High School. "There are a lot of damaged people out there," he said. Lawrence said he paid an enormous toll, starting with the day of the conviction. Legal Statement. 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. He admitted dumping two womens bodies in Suffolk County, but troopers continued to question him, Corcoran said. WebJoel Rifkin murdered 17 women, making him New York's deadliest serial killer. "We were trying to catch up from the previous 20 years. Joel Rifkin Joel Rifkin Rifkin started his own landscaping business in April 1991, renting space at a local nursery to store his equipment. Rifkin was bullied throughout his school years, an experience that left him feeling angry and isolated. Several months later, the football star was charged with murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Rifkins first attempt at higher education took him to Nassau Community College, on Long Island. Joel couldnt wait to play the deadly game again. both were veterans, but Teasle was ruler of his own little fiefdom and wanted to keep it. Rifkin!" ", First published on March 27, 2013 / 3:17 PM. JODI ARIAS APPEARED FRIENDLY AFTER TRAVIS ALEXANDERS BRUTAL MURDER, EXPRESSED REMORSE FOR HIS DEATH: DOC, Serial killer Joel Rifkin led cops to the skeleton of one victim at the outskirts of New York City's Kennedy International Airport. "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. Rambos escape made him look bad and so he had to eliminate that insult to his own overblown ego. Maryann Holloman, age 39, was retrieved from Coney Island Creek in her oil drum on July 9, two days before passers-by found the skeletal remains of Lorraine Orvieto nearby. One high school date was scuttled after fellow track team members trapped him in the gym and pelted him with eggs, forcing Joel to call his father for help. 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. I stopped when I got tired.. Rifkin dumped her body in the Suffolk County pine barrens, where she lay undiscovered until his arrest. "As much as I say I wanted to stop, there probably would've been others. "We kept asking him, 'What about this one?'" In an exclusive 2011 interview with CBS-2's Mary Calvi, Rifkin talked about his killing spree. I just lost control, he said later. The Rifkins also adopted a daughter, Jan, in 1962. By Becca van Sambeck & Oxygen Staff From 1989 to 1993, a Her slaying capped his own frenzied acceleration period and left him with embarrassing wounds to explain. Elaine told her new beau he should change his name. Two other victims remain unidentified to this day. (Photo by Jerry Engel/New York Post Archives /(c) NYP Holdings, Inc. via Getty Images). Years of pent-up anger and humiliation craved release. When she fell asleep, he clubbed her with the same table leg he had used on Julie Blackbird, then finished the job by manual strangulation. Fifty percent of the proceeds from sales were earmarked for New Yorks Crime Victims Board, with inmate artists retaining the rest. Five months after Rifkin was caught, "Seinfeld" released an episode titled "The Masseuse" in which Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is dating a man named Joel Rifkin (Anthony Cistaro) at the same time the murderer was drawing headlines. Hes not the murderer, she reassures. He wasn't driving erratically or doing anything odd. He researched past crimes for details. It was a life far removed from her affluent Long Island home where shed been a high school cheerleader. 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. It also includes the best true crime artwork from around the world. So who were the women who lost their lives to this disturbingkiller? He shared his mothers enthusiasm for photography and handicrafts, a brainy child who never quite fit in with other kids his age. This 90 card set features the artwork of 15 noted true crime artists and will come with a numbered, signed certificate of authenticity for each set. 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. Violet ONeill: ONeills dismembered body parts were found over three days in July 1992 in multiple waterways including the Harlem River, East River, and a body of water near Governors Island, according to a New York Times article. She had pieces of skin under her fingernails, her sister Margarita Gonzales told The Associated Press in 1993. Is Joel Rifkin still alive Rifkin had reached the detonation point. Determined not to bungle the disposal this time, Rifkin went out to purchase cement and a large mortar pan. Rambo: Last Blood is currently in theaters. 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. 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. And Rifkin told WCBS-TV in 2011 that his victim count would have likely been much higher if he hadnt been arrested in 1993. Joel David Rifkin (born January 20, 1959) is an American serial killer convicted of the murder of 9 women (although it is believed he killed as many as 17), mostly drug addicted prostitutes, between 1989 and 1993 in New York City. Over the years, he was also bullied at school, which left him angry and isolated as he desperately sought his fathers approval. In February 1987, Rifkin's adoptive father committed suicide to end the pain of cancer, thereby increasing Rifkins depression. How did Rifkin become such a vicious murderer? Click to reveal The couple was so happy with their son that they repeated the procedure, with a daughter, three years later. Many of the victims were never even reported missing, and so police were unaware of the scope of the killing spree. Through newly revealed interviews from Attica Correctional Facility, New York's most prolific serial killer, Joel Rifkin, reveals exclusive insights into the mind of a monster. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! The neighbor always survives to do the interview afterwards. It didn't help matters that he was constantly seeking his father's approval, too. Corcoran said it played a role in his promotion from lieutenant to captain. (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. 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 2018Newsdayarticle. New York state troopers Sean Ruane and Deborah Spaargaren were patroling Long Islands Southern State Parkway at 3:15 a.m. on June 28, 1993, when they spotted a Mazda pickup truck with no rear license plate. 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. In 2010, Rifkin was interviewed by ABC's Martin Bashir as part of the Nightline Prime mini-series, Secrets of Your Mind.