← UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast
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- [00:01]
Maximus Tribe Sponsor
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- [01:00]
Dr. Ng Berrell
I went over to Nassau Corrections center and shortly on entering the room, he asked me if I was afraid of him. And then I said something to him like, I wouldn't let you date my sister, that's for sure. And then he left.
- [01:16]
James Buddy Day
I'm beginning to see a pattern in the cases I've been covering in the 1980s and 90s, something changes. The term serial killer enters the mainstream and suddenly there's language for something that didn't exist in the public consciousness before.
- [01:35]
Dr. Ng Berrell
They haven't really accomplished anything of value or worth, and this is really their project in life, you know, this is their big accomplishment. Now, of course, that's perverse.
- [01:47]
James Buddy Day
Joel Rifkin confessed to the murder of 17 women, most within a three year period in the late 80s and early 90s. He left the remains scattered across Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.
- [02:02]
Robert Mladnich
It's hard to reconcile the fact that this nice guy you're talking to about normal things is capable of such brutality.
- [02:10]
James Buddy Day
The media will later call him Joel the Ripper. But it's a name he didn't earn in real time because for years no one was looking.
- [02:21]
Dr. Ng Berrell
He narrowly escaped on a couple of occasions, getting caught, and I think it probably fed his point of view that he finally found his calling.
- [02:34]
James Buddy Day
In this episode, we break down how Joel Rifkin avoided detection for years and why the focus on the killer and not the victims may have made it possible. I'm James Buddy Day. This is unmarked. I've spent a lot of time in Long Island It's a place where I've covered a number of true crimes across multiple platforms. And recently, on April 11, 2026, a local resident named Rex Heuermann appeared in court to plead guilty to the murders of eight women during a 17 year killing spree mostly concentrated around Gilgo Beach. Now in that case, the revelations are only beginning. It'll be years before we have the full picture, and that's not unique. Richard Cottingham, Robert Pickton, the Grim Sleeper, they all follow a similar pattern. The true scope of their crimes was not understood until after they were incidentally discovered. In fact, there are only a few serial killers that I've come across that reflect this idea more than another Long Islander, a man who was operating at the same time as Rex Heuermann. His name, Joel Rifkin. Before we go too deep, let me catch you up. And to show you just how far under the radar Rifkin was, I pulled the arrest report from Nassau County. It reads like a routine traffic stop. It shouldn't. On June 28, 1993, at approximately 3:15am A 1984 tan Mazda B2000 pickup truck was, was observed driving without a license plate by a state trooper. The officer attempted a routine traffic stop, but the driver fled. What followed was a 25 minute high speed chase ending when the suspect crashed into a utility pole. The driver was arrested and identified as 34 year old New York State resident Joel David Rick.
- [04:58]
Dr. Ng Berrell
He came out of the truck and he made an immediate confession. Like he told, he told this officer, there's a dead body in my, the back of my truck. I don't think the officer believed him.
- [05:11]
James Buddy Day
During the subsequent investigation, Rifkin admitted to 16 additional murders, claiming all were sex workers that he'd picked up in Manhattan and Long Island.
- [05:23]
Dr. Ng Berrell
He was brought back to the barracks, the state troopers, and he made a complete confession.
- [05:30]
James Buddy Day
That's Dr. Ng Barrel, a renowned criminal psychologist and director of New York Forensic. He's been interviewing and testifying in criminal and civil cases for more than 30 years. In fact, I've worked with him in the past on my documentary series, the Lost Tapes of Ed Gein, which you can find on Amazon Prime Video.
- [05:55]
Dr. Ng Berrell
To do these interviews and engage someone who's committed these type of crimes, you've got to have a certain mentality yourself.
- [06:04]
James Buddy Day
In the Rifkin case, Dr. Berrell was on the scene early. In fact, he was one of the first people to examine Rifkin after his arrest in 1993.
- [06:16]
Dr. Ng Berrell
I was part of his first trial in Nassau county and I was Hired by the defense, he struck me as kind of certainly anxious, somewhat disorganized, and much, much in need of help.
- [06:36]
James Buddy Day
Prior to his arrest in 93, police not only had no idea who Rifkin was, but they didn't even know there was a serial killer operating at all. Going through the case files, what stands out isn't just what's there, it's what isn't. No task force, no public warning, no coordinated effort. And when Dr. Beryl meets Rifkin for the first time, he encounters a man who is eager to talk about what the police have failed to see.
- [07:07]
Dr. Ng Berrell
I thought that he was glib and he was remorseless. You know, he didn't even attempt to suggest that he wasn't involved in any of this. It was just clear, and he acknowledged that this was the case.
- [07:29]
James Buddy Day
Joel Rifkin is not just a psychopath, but fixated on the idea of being one.
- [07:36]
Dr. Ng Berrell
My impression was that he liked the company, he liked to talk about himself, and he even made jokes, you know, and, I don't know, it was kind of odd. My sense was that this is. This was going to be. I think, from his life's perspective, this was going to be a windfall for him in terms of attention.
- [08:04]
James Buddy Day
In Rifkin's case, he expressed a desire to be recognized along men that he studied, people like Arthur Shawcross and the Green River Killer. Their crimes became something like a goal to Rifkin, something he'd been building towards over time. And to understand when that project begins, we have to go all the way back to the beginning. We're going to take a short break. Stay with me. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Given the stories that I cover, I'm a firm proponent of taking care of yourself. And one of the most common stressors we overlook is financial. It doesn't just live in your bank account. It follows you into your day, into your sleep, and into your relationships. And it's one of the leading sources of conflict for couples. I remember a stretch where I felt like no matter how hard I worked, I couldn't quite get ahead. And what surprised me wasn't the numbers. It was the pressure, the anxiety, that constant background noise. But that's where therapy can help. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform. But remember, therapy isn't about getting financial advice. It's about managing the stress, even the shame. It's a safe space to unpack your relationship with money, to understand your patterns, and to build healthier ways of coping. BetterHelp does the initial Matching work for you so you can focus on your goals. I actually went through the process. It's straightforward. A short questionnaire helps you identify needs and preferences. And with more than 12 years of experience and an industry leading match fulfillment rate, they typically get it right the first time when life feels overwhelming. Therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com unmarked that's BetterHelp H E-L P.com unmarked thank you again for staying with us. Now back to the record. Long island in 1959 looks like the cliche of the American dream. Picture rows of new homes, young families and steady commutes into the city. Places like Levittown, they promise stability. Mass produced houses financed through the GI Bill, filled with young families. It's a culture built on conformity. A place where everything looks connected, even though people, they often aren't. This is where Joel Rifkin grows up. He's born January 20, 1959, to two unwed college students and immediately placed up for adoption. Remember, this is a time when unwed pregnancy is seen as a social crisis. And it's Rifkin's adoption that needs to be parsed carefully because his defense will later argue that feelings of rejection tied to being adopted lead to the violent fantasies that follow. They categorize this as Adopted child syndrome, but that isn't science. Not even close. It's part of Rifkin's refrain framing of his own story. Research consistently shows that adopted children as a group, they don't have higher rates of violent or criminal behavior when compared to non adopted children.
- [11:45]
Dr. Ng Berrell
I mean, it takes some digging into the family background to see, you know, how this whole thing gets rolling. Now, there are genetics, of course.
- [11:55]
James Buddy Day
We don't have genetic information on Rifkin's biological parents, but we do have insight into his early environment, beginning with his adoptive parents, Bernard and Jean Rifkin. And when I go through the record, I keep seeing the same false claims repeated. Something I discussed with Dr. Beryl.
- [12:19]
Unknown Expert/Interviewer
When you met Rifkin, and in your opinion he was mistreated in childhood, which is contrary to what's commonly reported about Rifkin. It's often reported that he had this very normal, idyllic childhood, that his parents were loving. So that's wrong.
- [12:36]
Dr. Ng Berrell
I think it's wrong. He thought for me to get to know who he was, I should not only meet his mother and his sister, but I should go to his house where all this stuff took place. And I did. And I, I did go over there one evening and she Showed me his bedroom and, and then we had coffee and his mother spoke to me and his sister was there. It was kind of weird.
- [13:03]
James Buddy Day
The home he's describing is in East Meadow, Long Island. A modest suburban four bedroom, two bath house built in 1952 with a spacious garage. This is where Rifkin lives right up until his arrest.
- [13:18]
Dr. Ng Berrell
His bedroom was very dreary, if I'm remembering this correctly. There was a John Lennon poster on the wall. It was very dark. It was a fish tank with all this algae growing in it. It looked like the room of a teenager stuck in time.
- [13:45]
James Buddy Day
A teenager stuck in time. That's a useful way to understand Rifkin. Not as someone evolving, but someone stalled, fixed in place.
- [13:56]
Dr. Ng Berrell
And he was treated really cruelly, psychologically, which shouldn't be shocking. I mean, he was, you know, you can say mistreated, I think that's fair enough to say. And that there's a lot of chaos, you know, in the family.
- [14:12]
James Buddy Day
Contemporary reports from, from neighbors described the family as, quote, normal, supportive. But according to Beryl, the reality inside the home is something else entirely.
- [14:25]
Dr. Ng Berrell
Inside the house, things were dicey. They were kind of dark, a lot of insults and belittling. I don't know that he was physically violently mistreated, but psychologically, what shows up
- [14:40]
James Buddy Day
here are the same developmental precursors of psychopathy which we've seen in a lot of these cases. School records indicate Rifkin has learning disabilities, particularly in math and reading. Picture an awkward, inward kid who struggles to attach to others, watching everyone else do it with ease.
- [15:04]
Dr. Ng Berrell
He was ridiculed for his lack of, you know, academic acumen and his lack of popularity and being the odd duck. And this was a, I, if I recall, you know, a real disappointment for his father.
- [15:22]
James Buddy Day
By grade nine or 10, Rifkin is tall for his age, lanky. He wears oversized glasses. He begins to cycle through periods of depression, especially around the holidays. November through January, Valentine's Day, Christmas, New Year's. He's watching other people celebrate connection, family relationships, social groups, things that for him feel just out of reach. All while dealing with verbal abuse in the home.
- [15:56]
Dr. Ng Berrell
The aggressiveness of the verbal abuse, I think played a role in what I would say would be like the internalized self hatred and anger that kind of percolated over time in high school.
- [16:16]
James Buddy Day
His difficulties compound. He's described by psychologists as a socially inept, clumsy child who was bullied by his peers. End quote.
- [16:28]
Dr. Ng Berrell
I remember some story about when he was a kid, you know, like he was often locked inside of lockers at the Schools. I remember him telling me something about someone forcing a chicken's head into his mouth or something like that when he was a child. So he was, you know, often taken advantage of and, you know, mocked, treated very badly.
- [16:53]
James Buddy Day
At this point, Rifkin is struggling to connect with the world around him. And this is where the fantasy begins to take hold. Going through Dr. Beryl's assessment, Rifkin describes episodes of magical thinking. At one point, he imagines speaking to his dead grandfather for comfort. At 17, he gets his driver's license and with it, a way out. Out of school, out of the house. He takes his mother's Toyota and he just starts driving. That's when Joel Rifkin sees them sex workers for the first time. Access replaces rejection. It's transactional, but it gives him something he hasn't had contact on his terms in the same car his mother drives during the day.
- [17:47]
Robert Mladnich
Joel loved the whole ritual of, of finding the sex workers, perusing them driving around the block several times, getting them eager with anticipation, thinking, oh, boy, you know, maybe I have a john now. And then driving off. He loved, I think he loved the power associated with the selection process.
- [18:15]
James Buddy Day
That's Robert Mladnich, a retired NYPD officer, a former professional heavyweight boxer and journalist who first met Rifkin in the late 1970s and spoke with him long after Rifkin's arrest. When they meet, Joel Rifkin is working a series of menial jobs. He attends multiple, multiple colleges with fluctuating interests in horticulture and photography. As Robert recalls, he requested a partner for a journalism assignment and met a fellow student.
- [18:48]
Robert Mladnich
Within a half hour, Joe Rifskin appeared with his cameras, you know, slung over his shoulder, and he was raring to go. And that was my first meeting with him. He was kind of rumpled. He, you know, he had long hair, he had wrinkled clothes. He rumpled clothing, you know, probably so, you know, low self esteem. But he was very passionate about the photography.
- [19:22]
James Buddy Day
For Rifkin, his investment in photography, it doesn't last. And soon he drops out of college. And that's because research shows that individuals with psychopathic traits often struggle with these kind of routines. They often drift between jobs and drop out of school not because of a lack of ambition, but because they lack the internal rewards for the outcomes that take time to achieve. It means they have difficulty sustaining effort over time. This again is Dr. Beryl.
- [19:58]
Dr. Ng Berrell
He was living sort of this, this really, you know, pathetic existence and certainly hadn't accomplished a great deal and wasn't able to get himself through College wasn't someone with lots of friends or someone who had lots of girlfriends and, you know, was living in his, his mommy's house on Long Island.
- [20:25]
James Buddy Day
Rifkin continues like this until his late twenties. To Dr. Beryl, he describes his life as unremarkable. But despite his internal feelings of worthlessness, at 28 years and 6 foot 2, he's physically imposing. And in 1987, that's when the dam breaks, when external events bring what's been building underneath to the surface. Joel's father, Bernard Rifkin, is diagnosed with cancer, a condition that causes severe, prolonged pain within months. The family is shaken.
- [21:05]
Dr. Ng Berrell
This is something that was like a touching, touchy issue for him. But his father died.
- [21:11]
James Buddy Day
His father's death isn't just tragedy. It's a deeply personal event that happens inside the family home. On February 20, Bernard Rifkin writes a note and is found unconscious at the kitchen table. Following an act of self harm, he's rushed to the hospital, but dies four days later.
- [21:35]
Dr. Ng Berrell
But I think for him, it was terribly disappointing that his father would choose to kill himself. I think that was shocking to him.
- [21:44]
James Buddy Day
Despite a difficult upbringing, Rifkin reports a life spent seeking acceptance from his father. And with his death, that possibility is gone. What's left is unresolved.
- [22:00]
Dr. Ng Berrell
I know for Rifkin, you know, he admired his father a lot, and his father was held up as sort of an ideal in his head.
- [22:11]
James Buddy Day
In practical terms, the relationship ends without resolution, no approval, no reconciliation, and no recognition. For Rifkin, whose mind places itself at the center of everything, it doesn't just lead to grief, it leads to fixation.
- [22:32]
Dr. Ng Berrell
He needed like. Like most kids or most boys, you know, they needed. He needed a father who would be not only kind to him and understanding, supportive, encourage him to do good things with his life.
- [22:53]
James Buddy Day
Rifkin begins to look for that sense of validation elsewhere. He returns more frequently to sex workers. But on August 22, 1987, six months after his father's death, he's arrested for soliciting an undercover officer on Long island and fined $250. It's another humiliation. After this, he spends time in libraries studying police techniques. He wants to learn how to avoid detection. And by his own estimation, over the next two years, he sees more than 100 sex workers without being caught. This is partially explained by his change of location. Instead of Long island, he crosses the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan. This again is Robert Mitch.
- [23:50]
Robert Mladnich
He would leave his house on Long Island. There was a stroll on Long island in Hempstead, but there wasn't a lot of action there. So he would go to Brooklyn East New York, where there were a preponderance of prostitutes. He would drive around there. If he saw something he liked, he would, he would take it.
- [24:09]
Dr. Ng Berrell
I think found a group of people that, from his perspective, were lower on the social totem pole than he was. And I think that's what got that ball rolling, you know, in terms of kind of being contemptuous of who they are and who they were and, you know, and, and, you know, those were
- [24:35]
Robert Mladnich
his victims, all of the girls he was with over the years. He would always pick the most emaciated ones. He never picked the ones that looked healthy or, or looked, or looked as if they could fight back or, or be formidable.
- [24:57]
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- [25:41]
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- [26:09]
James Buddy Day
In the late 1980s, the Lower east side is an area under pressure. High crime, heavy drug use. AIDS is the leading cause of death for men aged 25 to 44 and in women aged 25 to 34. In New York City, Gotham City is reporting over 2,000 homicides a year.
- [26:34]
Robert Mladnich
That's seven a day, year after year through the early 90s. What a lot of people don't realize or understand is that back in the, in the 80s, early 90s, New York compared to today was basically the Wild West. It was completely lawless. There was no communication from borough to borough. Quality of life crimes like prostitution, outdoor drug sales was pretty much completely ignored.
- [27:09]
James Buddy Day
Most nights, Rifkin can be Found picking up women near Delancey Street. But these encounters begin to shift, becoming less transactional and more prolonged.
- [27:21]
Dr. Ng Berrell
He would take advantage of his mother going to gamble in Atlantic City, so she would get on a bus for seniors and the house would be empty.
- [27:31]
James Buddy Day
Rifkin begins a lifelong habit of bringing these women back to his home in East Meadow, not just for sex, but simply to be with them. He buys them cigarettes, alcohol, then drives them back and forth from the city to get drugs. He lets them shower, sleep, anything to extend the interaction, but it doesn't hold. On one occasion, his mother's jewelry is stolen. On another, he attempts to stay with a sex worker in Manhattan, but returns home within weeks. And this is where something starts to shift.
- [28:10]
Dr. Ng Berrell
I know also that he developed a kind of contempt for these women as well.
- [28:18]
James Buddy Day
By 1988, Rifkin is collecting books and press clippings about serial killers. Men like the Green River Killer and Arthur Shawcross, both known for targeting sex workers. He's reframing his encounters into something that fits into growing sadistic fantasies. And this is a pattern I'm seeing across these cases. Earlier offenders like Ted Bundy, he operated before the term serial killer was widely used. But Rifkin comes later, at a time when the construct exists in law enforcement, in media, in culture.
- [29:00]
Dr. Ng Berrell
This culture was really preoccupied with serial killers. And, you know, I remember every student I ever had, graduate student at John Jay College, you know, of criminal justice in New York. Everyone, I think, fancied themselves as becoming a forensic shrink and be like Jodie Foster.
- [29:22]
James Buddy Day
In post arrest psychological evaluations, Rifkin compares himself to Charles Manson and David Berkowitz. He reports a fascination with shows like Hawaii 5o and Kojak. Absorbing the structure of the villains, savoring the attention, studying it.
- [29:42]
Unknown Expert/Interviewer
If you're a childhood psychopath who is lonely and can't attach to people and has violent fantasy, and then you read
- [29:49]
James Buddy Day
books about people like you and it
- [29:51]
Unknown Expert/Interviewer
gives you a construct, an archetype to achieve.
- [29:54]
Dr. Ng Berrell
Yeah, well, if, you know, you, you, you found like a club that you can join, you know, be part of, and up until the time you're arrested and, you know, you see your, your face and your name you know, splattered across the media. Media, you know, you don't feel, or at least he didn't. And I think it's typical in some ways they feel, you know, like they haven't really accomplished anything of value or worth. And this is really their project in life. You know, this is, this is their big accomplishment.
- [30:30]
James Buddy Day
This is where Rifkin's fantasy begins to coalesce. He sees himself as a victim, burning, burdened by his adoption, bullied and rejected by his peers, dismissed at home, and ultimately unable to meet the expectations of his father. He can't see the external factors, his own limitations, the blind spots that make real relationships so difficult for him. So the serial killers that he fixates on, they start to represent something else and not just violence. Identity.
- [31:06]
Robert Mladnich
A 1973 movie called Frenzy. It was an Alfred Hitchcock movie, and it's about a serial killer that's going around London. A very handsome, debonair, almost like a James Bond type character, you know, and he's picking up and he's seducing beautiful women and then murdering them. And Joel said that that was his very first, you know, really strong sexual fantasy that stayed with him throughout his entire life.
- [31:36]
James Buddy Day
To Dr. Barrel and others, Joel Rifkin expresses expectations that his trial will receive widespread national attention, that he'll be written about, remembered, commodified. He talks about being featured in serial killer comic books and on T shirts.
- [31:54]
Dr. Ng Berrell
Now, of course, that's perverse, because if your big accomplishment is killing, you know, a bunch of people who you don't know, you know, complete strangers, no relationship, because they fit a type, you know, it speaks for itself how, you know, sort of depraved, the behavior is.
- [32:21]
James Buddy Day
Back in 1980. In 1989, Rifkin is spending nights driving for hours watching sex workers, spending what little money he has on repeated encounters. On an unknown date in early 89, he picks up a woman he knows as Susie. Decades later, she'll be identified through DNA as Heidi Balch. At the time, like many in the lorries side, she's struggling with HIV and substance abuse. At the time, Rifkin's mother is away, he has the house to himself, and he brings Heidi home, where he attempts to keep her close. He goes on cigarette runs, provides alcohol, television, drugs, and to his frustration, she spends most of the time sleeping. After about 11 hours, she asks Rifkin to drive her back to the city, and he agrees. According to Rifkin, when her back is turned, he picks up a large object. Investigative notes list it as an artillery shell casing, and he strikes her in the back of the head, then restrains her from behind. Further notes indicate the cause of death is asphyxiation.
- [33:40]
Unknown Expert/Interviewer
He said this was a regular thing he did, that he would bring these sex workers home.
- [33:44]
Dr. Ng Berrell
He did kill her in his mother's home and was saddled with the issue of how to dispose of her body.
- [33:56]
James Buddy Day
What follows is methodical. There's no complete medical examiner record because after the murder, Rifkin dismembers the body and the the garage of his family home.
- [34:08]
Dr. Ng Berrell
I mean, you have no training as a butcher, no training as a surgeon or in the medical field at all. And then you kill someone in your mother's home. It's really. It's almost. It's outrageous when you really consider it. It's just really incredible. And then you decide to cut her up. How do you know that you could even do this? You know, it's really quite phenomenal. I mean, he knew himself better than anyone, I guess, and he knew he had it in him.
- [34:40]
James Buddy Day
We know what happens next. Through subsequent discoveries, Rifkin drives into New Jersey and disposes of the remains along County Road 654. On March 5, 1989, a head is discovered near the seventh hole hole of the Hopewell Valley golf course, found by a player searching for a lost ball. Legs are recovered. Months later in Morris county, local police investigate but never come close to identifying either the victim or Rifkin. It's Joel Rifkin himself who eventually fills in the gaps after his arrest.
- [35:20]
Dr. Ng Berrell
Sex workers, they're the most vulnerable population that a serial killer could prey on because, you know, usually there's comorbid features like drug abuse or addiction. They're out at night, and as long as they don't attract attention, if they disappear, a lot of times, you know, maybe one person takes note of it.
- [35:48]
James Buddy Day
That lack of response. Response is what enables Rifkin, because in the aftermath of the murder, Rifkin spends months fearing consequences. Later, he describes periods of terror, expecting to be caught. But nothing happens. There's no arrest, no connection, no escalation from law enforcement. And over time, that fear fades. Eighteen months later, he repeated repeats the pattern again. He picks up Julie Blackbird, 31, a Texas native working as a street sex worker in Manhattan's Lower east side. He brings the victim home and murders her in a similar fashion. And in this case, her disappearance is reported but not thoroughly investigated, in part due to her criminal record. Arrests for drug possession and prostitution dating back to 1986.
- [36:44]
Unknown Expert/Interviewer
You have this vulnerable population. You're absolutely right. That is exactly what makes them vulnerable.
- [36:50]
James Buddy Day
We all know that.
- [36:51]
Unknown Expert/Interviewer
That seems like at this point, common sense, given how many times this has happened, why do police not do something about it?
- [36:59]
Dr. Ng Berrell
Naturally, the police would have to snap into action and do something, but, you know, that doesn't happen always. You know, they just shrug it off, you know.
- [37:10]
James Buddy Day
In speaking to Robert Mladnich. He recalls the frustration of frontline law enforcement firsthand, working as an NYPD officer at the time. He describes a lack of resources combined with political apathy.
- [37:26]
Robert Mladnich
You would just arrest people, and it was, you know, the turnstile justice. You know, they'd be. Be arrested unless they were. Unless they were charged with something really serious. They would be released on bail, which is happening again.
- [37:40]
James Buddy Day
I need to pause here, because after this first incident, Rifkin kills at least 15 more women in rapid succession, a span of roughly 24 months. Many of the details are missing, and that's because most of what we have comes from Rifka himself, whose memory is inconsistent on names and dates. Also, many of the victims are never properly investigated. Some are never even reported missing. I spent hours trying to piece together Rifkin's timeline, and it's incomplete and not meant to be comprehensive, but it points to something larger jurisdictions that don't communicate, disappearances that just don't trigger urgency.
- [38:29]
Unknown Expert/Interviewer
Do you think he lost track of
- [38:31]
James Buddy Day
the number of victims?
- [38:32]
Dr. Ng Berrell
It didn't seem like that to me at the time. He was very clear. I mean, he's really clear on not so much their names, but where and when and where he dumped the bodies and stuff.
- [38:51]
James Buddy Day
In the summer of 1991, Rifkin kills Barbara Jacobs, 31. He wraps her body in plastic and places it in the Hudson River. In September, he encounters Mary Ellen DeLuca, 22. She's struggling with substance abuse. Her disappearance isn't immediately reported, as friends and family believe she's in rehab. Her skeletal remains are found months later by a man scavenging near West Point. Weeks later, Rifkin kills Yun Lee, a sex worker with a history of solicitation.
- [39:30]
Robert Mladnich
He picked her up on Long island, but they wound up in a hotel, a cheap motel on Long Island. He killed her thoughtlessly, you know, just killed her, not thinking, I got to get this body out of here. So it was only after he murdered this woman, had her sit. Laid in a bed in a cheap motel. Then he went to a Home Depot, whatever the version of a Home Depot was back then, and bought a steamer trunk.
- [39:57]
James Buddy Day
Her body is found inside a steamer trunk in the East river on September 23. He repeats the pattern almost immediately, placing victims in steel drums. One is never identified, her remains never recovered. Another is discovered nearly a year later, but still remains unidentified to this day.
- [40:21]
Dr. Ng Berrell
I think there's a compulsive dimension to this that, you know, this was highly gratifying. You know. You know, we've talked about it gives Someone like him, a sense of omnipotence. It is sexually pleasing. And he, he narrowly escaped on a couple of occasions, getting caught and, and, and I think it probably fed his, his, his, his point of view that he was, he. He finally found his calling.
- [41:01]
James Buddy Day
In December of 19. In 1991, Rifkin murders Lorraine Orvieto, 28, a former cheerleader struggling with bipolar disorder. This homicide occurs just days before Christmas. He places her body in a 55 gallon oil drum and drops it into Coney Island Creek, where it remains undiscovered for more than six months. At this point, there's no task force, no media attention, and Rifkin, he feels invisible. He acquires a copy of the book the Search for the Green river killer, published in 1991, and he begins to model himself after the unidentified offender, later revealed to be Gary Ridgway in Seattle. He takes cues from the book. He begins keeping trophies. And when investigators search, search his room years later, they find IDs, credit cards, licenses, library cards, items belonging to his victims.
- [42:07]
Unknown Expert/Interviewer
Serial killers, especially from the 80s and
- [42:09]
James Buddy Day
90s, and Rifkin's a great example.
- [42:12]
Unknown Expert/Interviewer
They watch movies and read books about,
- [42:15]
James Buddy Day
you know, like the Green River Killer or Ted Bungie.
- [42:18]
Unknown Expert/Interviewer
And then they, they say, oh, you know, if I commit these violent acts, I could achieve this fame.
- [42:24]
Dr. Ng Berrell
This was kind of, I guess, as good as it was going to get for him. And thus, you know, he was prepared to milk it, you know, at the time and enjoy the notoriety that came with it.
- [42:41]
James Buddy Day
The following year, Rifkin murders Anna Lopez, a sex worker struggling with addiction. Her body is found near Interstate 84 on May 25, 1992. That July, he kills Violet O', Neill, 21, who uses the nickname Tiny. Her grandmother circulates missing posters in the Lower east side when police fail to investigate her disappearance. Her dismembered remains are recovered shortly after the murder. Murder. But police never connect them to her identity until Rifkin's arrest. Rifkin then murders Marianne Holloman, 39, who leaves a known drug house in the Lower east side and is never seen again. Authorities do not identify her until after Rifkin confesses. But by this point, Rifkin has completely dehumanized his interactions with these women.
- [43:41]
Robert Mladnich
He said the way that he absolves himself from any responsibility was he loved to make wartime and like sports analogies. He said, it's like in the war when you shoot down a plane or you, or you torpedo a ship. You don't even think of the humans that are in that ship. And Their families and everything. You only think of the ship that was sunk and the plane that was shot down.
- [44:11]
James Buddy Day
And then there's Jennie Soto. Her remains are found along the Harlem river in the south Bronx on November 18, 1992. Her brother later reports that detectives dismiss her as a sex worker, a claim disputed by others in her life. According to the family, the detectives leave on vacation within days of the homicide and never follow up. A year later, they receive a courtesy call informing them that Rifkin has admitted to the murder.
- [44:45]
Dr. Ng Berrell
He would have sex and then he would kill them. I remember him telling me that he would then have sex sometimes with them again after killing them. And then there were a couple of occasions where he literally had a body in his car and he was going to dump it. And then a cop actually confronted him and what are you doing over here? And you know, he had the ability not to. To fall apart and said some kind of bull, I don't know. He was able to speak quickly and the cop went away.
- [45:24]
James Buddy Day
On July 6, 1993, Rifkin murders Mary Catherine Williams, 31, from North Carolina. Her body is found days later in an oil drum near Brooklyn. Rifkin omits this homicide from his confession after his arrest, but police are able to connect it after finding her credit cards among the items in his bedroom. Rifkin. Rifkin also kills outside the pattern, in one instance at least. Leah Evans, 28 years old, a mother of two from Brooklyn, not a sex worker. Rifkin leaves her body in a rural area of Northampton. Her skeletal remains are found months later. In April or May of 1992, he kills 25 year old Iris Sanchez. Her disappearance is reported, but the investigation is once again minimal. When Rifkin is arrested, he leads police to an area surrounding JFK airport where her remains are found under a mattress, undisturbed from where Rifkin left them. The same pattern it repeats with Lauren Marquez, 28. The date of her death is un. Unknown, but after his arrest, Rifkin again directs authorities to her undiscovered body in a heavily wooded area.
- [46:48]
Dr. Ng Berrell
The question becomes, you know, is there a concerted and well coordinated communication system among the police? So that, you know, if someone makes a complaint to a precinct X and then another complaint comes, comes in to precinct, why do they put two and two together and say, oh gee, prostitute missing? You know, maybe there's a pattern and I think because of, you know, I. You want to call it societal prejudice or, you know, a sense that, you know, if, if these women are out there working as hookers and they're drug addicts. You know, it's not the same thing as, you know, a high school girl gone missing, you know, from an affluent neighborhood where naturally the police would have to snap into action and do something.
- [47:54]
James Buddy Day
Rifkin's downfall begins in June of 1993. He picks up 22 year old Tiffany Bresciani in the East Village, the one time girlfriend of vocalist Dave Insurgent, a member of the 1980s punk band Reagan Youth. Bresciani will be Rifkin's final victim. He transports her body to his East Meadow home. And in the end, it's Rifkin himself who sets everything in motion. Before leaving to. To dispose of the body, he reattaches a license plate to his truck, but he doesn't secure it properly and it falls off as he's driving when a state trooper spots the missing plate and attempts to pull him over. Rifkin is completely unaware of the mistake and he flees.
- [48:44]
Dr. Ng Berrell
A trooper, state trooper on the parkway noticed him driving by and he didn't have a license plate on the back of his truck and put on the siren and then proceeded to have a long chase, a high speed chase with him, not knowing who he was chasing, not knowing that there was a. A corpse in the back of the truck.
- [49:07]
James Buddy Day
And there's something else, something I found in Rifkin's arrest reports. At the time of his arrest. It's noted that he has Noxzema skin cream under his nose. And it immediately reminded me of a scene from Silence of the Lambs. And digging further, I actually found a reference from Rifkin himself where he admits that's exactly where he got the idea. I'm gonna read it to you. Silence of the Lambs is where he got the idea to use Noxzema to mask the odor of Bresciani's decomposing body when he removed it from his garage on June 28. The night of his arrest, I found
- [49:49]
Unknown Expert/Interviewer
a passage where he spoke about watching Silence of the Lambs, right? And watching the autopsy scene in which Jodie Foster puts the Noxzema under her nose. I don't even remember this scene. So that she can withstand the smell of the body.
- [50:07]
Dr. Ng Berrell
I remember him saying that he put the noxema in his nose, but I know he had noxema in his nostrils when he got caught. And he was driving around with a rapidly decomposing body in the back of his truck.
- [50:23]
Robert Mladnich
Once his name was released, I, I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe that it was that it was the same guy, but it was Joe Rifkin from East Meadow, New York. So I knew immediately it was, you know, my guy.
- [50:37]
James Buddy Day
After his arrest, Rifkin spends an extensive amount of time speaking with authorities, trying to reconstruct a timeline of his crimes.
- [50:47]
Dr. Ng Berrell
And all of a sudden, he becomes, you know, a cause celeb, in a sense, in a perverse way, you know,
- [50:56]
James Buddy Day
and that's the part that stands out, because when Rifkin is arrested, there's something else there. Not relief. Recognition. He speaks openly, engages, participates in the analysis of what he's done. It's to ensure that he becomes more than what he really is.
- [51:15]
Dr. Ng Berrell
He was working as a landscaper, really, and really not typical for, you know, a nice Jewish boy from Long island, you know, becoming like a landscaper living with his mother.
- [51:30]
James Buddy Day
For someone who struggled to establish any identity, this becomes one. Rifkin's trial begins in 1994 in Nassau County. Prosecutors lay out a pattern. Victims, locations, timelines, much of it coming from Rifkin himself. His confession corroborated by evidence recovered across multiple jurisdictions. During the trial, he attempts to plead insanity, but when that fails, he's convicted in stages, pleading guilty to multiple counts to avoid further trials. By 1996, Rifkin is sentenced to a total of 203 years to life in prison.
- [52:17]
Dr. Ng Berrell
His life has not been like a glamorous life since he was arrested. From the time he was arrested, he's never been free again for the rest of his life. And, you know, the reality is he'll die in prison. He's in. He's in segregated population, I'm sure, because, you know, he'd be an obvious target. I think he's up in Attica right now. He's in upstate New York.
- [52:46]
James Buddy Day
Rifkin isn't unique. Men like him operate under the radar because they target vulnerable populations. People they know won't be immediately missed. They rely on apathy, on jurisdictions that don't communicate, on cases that don't trigger urgency. And more often than not, they're right. But that's nothing new. By the 1980s and 90s, law enforcement understood this pattern. They began to study these offenders, to define them, profile them, give them a name. Serial killers. But in doing that, the focus shifted away from the victims and onto the offenders. And that's the mistake they made for. Because it created something else. A template, a model of behavior, a framework that can be studied, understood, but also imitated in the same way. Earlier generations had detective magazines. This era had books, films, media built around the idea of serial killers.
- [53:57]
Apollo Neuro Sponsor
Hey, how many people did Rifkin strangle?
- [53:59]
James Buddy Day
18.
- [53:59]
Robert Mladnich
Yeah, 18 strangles.
- [54:00]
James Buddy Day
Yeah. Well, you know why Rifkin was a serial killer? Because he was adopted.
- [54:05]
Robert Mladnich
He would get very enthusiastic and very kind of hyped up and energetic when talking about the Seinfeld episode. The fact that he seemed so excited about being a subject of a Seinfeld episode makes me think he does enjoy being renowned.
- [54:29]
James Buddy Day
And for someone like Rifkin, that didn't just explain the behavior. It gave it a shape, it gave it direction. Not just in a way to act, but in a way to be seen. Before we wrap a few show notes, I had a great conversation with Dr. Barrel and we're going to post the full full interview inside Unmarked Case Files, our research portal where you can examine the evidence for yourself, along with early and ad free episodes. Next, my books. I am an independent author and my true crime book about Charles Manson, including research and interviews with Manson himself, is available on Kindle and Amazon. Also, my grim dark fantasy A Plague of Steel, the first in a series called Sons of the Tempering, is available on Kindle, Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. It's very much in that grimdark fantasy lane books I read all the time. This episode of Unmarked was produced by John Dideau and edited by Dave Alderson. Our additional producer is Jesse Demery and I know I say these names every week, but this is a real team and we are overwhelmed and thankful for the response we're getting to the podcast. So thank you. Until next week. This is Unmarked.
- [55:58]
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