Joel Rifkin


Joel David Rifkin is an American serial killer who was sentenced to 203 years in prison for the murders of at least 9 women between 1989 and 1993.

Early life

Rifkin's birth parents were both young college students, and his biological father was an Army veteran. On February 14, 1959, when he was three weeks old, Rifkin was adopted by an upper-middle-class couple living on Long Island.
Rifkin performed poorly in school due to learning disabilities and was unpopular with classmates. He graduated from East Meadow High School in 1977, then attended classes at Nassau Community College, the State University of New York at Brockport, and the State University of New York at Farmingdale, but left before earning a degree. After leaving college, Rifkin became self-employed as a landscaper.
On February 20, 1987, his father, Bernard, died by suicide, overdosing after having suffered from prostate cancer for several months.
On August 22, 1987, Rifkin was arrested during a prostitution sting in Hempstead, New York, after offering an undercover female police officer money for sex.

Murders

Rifkin committed his first murder on February 20, 1989, killing Heidi Balch in her own home in East Meadow. He then dismembered her body, removing her teeth and fingertips, putting her head in a paint can which he left in the woods on a golf course in Hopewell, New Jersey, disposing of her legs further North, and dumping her remaining torso and arms into the East River around New York City. On March 5, 1989, Balch's severed head was discovered on the seventh hole of the golf course. On April 8, 1989, Balch's legs were found in Pequannock Creek near Jefferson Township, New Jersey. Her remains were not identified until 2013.
Rifkin killed 16 more women during the next four years. He was implicated in Balch's murder after his arrest in 1993. Investigators determined in 2013 that Balch and the woman he described as his first victim were synonymous.
Rifkin picked up prostitute Tiffany Bresciani on Allen Street in Manhattan, on June 24, 1993, with her boyfriend, punk rock musician Dave Rubinstein. Bresciani told Rubinstein that she would be returning in 20 minutes. After Bresciani failed to return, Rubinstein called the police with a description of the 1984 Mazda pickup truck that Rifkin drove. Partially as a result of her death, Dave Rubinstein committed suicide by overdose less than two weeks later.

Arrest and trial

On June 28, 1993, at 3:15 am, state troopers patrolling Long Island's Southern State Parkway noticed a 1984 Mazda B2000 pickup truck without a license plate. After indicating to the driver to pull over, he failed to stop and led police on a 20- to 25-minute chase, ending after he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a light pole. The driver was identified as Joel David Rifkin, and after searching the vehicle, the troopers found the body of Tiffany Bresciani wrapped in a tarpaulin. On May 9, 1994, he was found guilty of second-degree murder for her death.

Prison life

Prison officials decided in 1996 that Rifkin was so notorious that his presence in the general prison population could be disruptive. He was confined to his cell at the Attica Correctional Facility for 23 hours per day. He spent more than four years in solitary confinement, then was transferred to the Clinton Correctional Facility in Clinton County, New York. Rifkin sued, arguing that his solitary imprisonment was unconstitutional. In 2000, a state appellate court determined that prison officials had not violated his constitutional rights by housing him in isolation. He reacted by saying, "Yikes, bikes!" Corrections officials said that Rifkin was imprisoned with more than 200 other inmates at Clinton, who were not allowed into the general prison population.

Known victims

Rifkin received his first of many life sentences in June 1994 for Bresciani's murder. In September 1995, Rifkin was sentenced to two life sentences for the murders of Evens and Marquez, both of which he previously pleaded guilty to. Later in December, he received three more life sentences after pleading guilty to murdering Orvieto, Holloman and the unidentified woman found at Newton Creek. In January 1996, Rifkin was given a seventh life sentence for the murder of Soto. That same month, he was sentenced to life again for the murder of Sanchez. In the span of two years, Rifkin racked up a total of eight life sentences.

In popular culture

A 1993 episode of Seinfeld, "The Masseuse", features a character named Joel Rifkin as the boyfriend of Elaine Benes. She begs him to change his name because of its association with the serial killer.