Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “Joel the Ripper” - Joel Rifkin

Episode Date: June 17, 2019

When relentless high school bullies started dunking Joel’s head in urine-filled toilets, and throwing eggs at him after class, he needed a way to regain control. And unfortunately for 17 women around the Long Island area in 1989, he found a drastic outlet for his aggressions. Sponsors! Pair of Thieves - Get 20% off your first order at PairOfThieves.com/KILLERS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Whether you're hiring for a role or searching for a killer, the hunt can be exhausting. When detectives looked and searched to find any kind of evidence to find the person they were looking for, like Jack the Ripper, the Golden State Killer, the Unit Bomber. It's tedious work to find what you're looking for. So, if you're hiring, I've got news for you.

You can skip the lengthy investigation and the tiresome process of sorting through hundreds of resumes, days. Just use ZipRecruiter. Try for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash killers because not only does ZipRecruiter have the technology to match you with potential candidates quickly, it also just added a new feature that pushes candidates who are qualified and interested in your role to the top of the list. They can even tell you why they're interested, making it easier for you to get a sense of who they are. Cut through the standard and get to the standouts. ZipRecruiter. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day.

And now, you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash killers. That's ZipRecruiter. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the Lonely Hearts Killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels. But you don't need to break any laws to find your perfect business partner because you have Shopify. It's the commerce platform that can help you with literally everything, website design, marketing, shipping, and more. So start your business today with the best partner, Shopify, and get that. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash killers. That's Shopify.com slash killers. Do you want to hear something? Spooky? Some monster. It reminded me of Bigfoot. Monsters among us is a

weekly podcast featuring true stories of the paranormal. One of the boys started to exhibit demonic possession. Stories straight from the witnesses' mouths themselves. Something very snake-like lifted its head out of the water. Hosted by me, your guide, Derek Hayes. Somehow I lost eight whole hours. Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised.

This episode includes discussions of intense bullying, murder, and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. The boys forced Joel's head into the toilet. He could smell the familiar odor of sewage for just a moment before his face was submerged under water. He sputtered, choking on the foul water, and gasping for breath. Then he was lifted from the porcelain basin and flung on his face. to the ground. For a moment, relief flooded through him. But then, he felt something warm spraying on his chest. When he heard laughter, he opened his eyes and realized that one of his classmates

was peeing on him. This was a cruel but not unusual occurrence for Joel. In fact, it happened numerous times every week throughout his four years of high school. Joel was an easy target. He never fought back. His tormentors never suspected that underneath his sheepish facade, Joel was cracking. Joel would escape to a fantasy world that calmed him, made him feel in control. Even as a teenager, Joel Rifkin was getting high off the thrill of planning the perfect murder. Hi, I'm Greg Polson. This is serial killers, a parkast original.

Every Monday, we dive into the minds and minds. madness of serial killers. Today we're going to take a deep dive into the life of Joel Rifkin, or Joel the Ripper, a serial killer who murdered as many as 17 women. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. At Parcast, we're grateful for you, our listeners. You allow us to do what we love. Let us know how we're doing. Reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. And if you enjoy today's episode, the The best way to help us is to leave a five-star review wherever you're listening. It really does help.

We also now have merchandise. Head to Parchast.com slash merch for more information. Joel Rifkin, nicknamed Joel the Ripper, was a serial killer who was bullied so badly in high school that he developed an obsession with victimization that soon turned murderous. killed and brutally dismembered up to 17 women in New York City and Long Island between 1989 and 1993. Unbeknownst to his mother with whom he lived, Rifkin converted his basement into a chop shop to dismember his victims. It wasn't until police attempted to pull Rifkin over for a missing license plate in 1993 that law enforcement discovered the grisly work

Rifkin had been doing. This week, we'll follow Rifkin through his His rocky adolescence, as constant teenage torment, led him to find solace in brutal fantasies of murdering women. Next week, we'll follow the body-strewn trail of Ritkin's adulthood as he began murdering and dismembering innocent women engaged in sex work. Joel Rifkin was born on January 20, 1959, to an unwed teenage couple. Too young to take care of him themselves that gave little Joel up for adoption. Joel was adopted by a loving couple, Benjamin and Gene Rifkin, when he was only three weeks old.

Benjamin was a structural engineer, and Gene was a devoted homemaker who loved gardening. The two were devout Jews who were active and well-liked in their community. They had been trying to have children for years, and they welcomed little Joel into their lives with open arms. Three years later, Benjamin and Jean adopted a second child, a baby girl named Jane. In 1965, the family of four moved into the neighborhood of East Meadow, Long Island. All in all, it seemed like the Rifkins were loving, doting parents. The family was upper middle class, and Benjamin and Jean seemed to care deeply for both of their two children. Although Joel was comfortable in a family setting, he was an awkward child,

and he was inherently shy and uncomfortable around his peers. When the Rifkins moved to East Meadow, six-year-old Joel began at ten years. attending Prospect Avenue Elementary School. Starting at a new school must have been especially difficult for Joel, who already had trouble fitting in and making friends. Joel's peers exploited his awkwardness as an opportunity to pick on him. They came up with a cruel nickname for him because of his poor posture and slow gait, Joel the Turtle.

Joel also suffered from learning disabilities, despite his high IQ of 128. He struggled to keep up in class, which led to further ridicule from his classmates. As Joel moved through elementary school and into middle school, the abuse progressed beyond taunting and exclusion and into mean-spirited pranks at Rifkin's expense. Schoolmates frequently hid his books or stole his lunch. Sometimes, bolder bullies would even come up behind Rifkin and pull down his pants. Every day was a new exercise in humiliation for his lunch. Joel, who became withdrawn and despondent around his peers.

Vanessa's going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. According to a study done by the National Institute of Mental Health, or the NIMH, childhood bullying between the ages of 6 and 17 can have a significant impact on individuals well past the period of bullying and even into adulthood. The NIMH study found that individuals who are bullied in childhood

are at a higher risk for anxiety or depression disorders, as well as for borderline personality symptoms and psychotic experiences, such as hallucinations or delusions. According to the study, these effects were likelier and more severe in cases where childhood bullying was defined as chronic or spanning over multiple years. By the time he was 13, Rifkin was afraid of going to school. He would beg his parents to let him stay home

so that he wouldn't have to face his classmates. But his parents didn't seem to understand. They thought Joel was just a bit awkward and was being hyperbolic about the abuse he was facing. In the meantime, the bullying had gotten so bad that Rifkin was afraid both inside and outside of school. When Joel encountered his classmates outside, of the protection of school grounds, their teasing was even more merciless. They would chase Rifkin

home or grab his books and make him chase after them. Sometimes they even threatened physical violence. Joel managed to survive middle school and vowed that in high school things would be different. He'd make some friends, maybe even get a girlfriend. He wasn't going to be Joel the Turtle anymore. But heartbreakingly, high school proved to be just as difficult. as middle school, if not more so. The academics were more challenging, and Joel's learning disabilities left him struggling to keep up. Worse, Ripkin's poor academic ability had begun to seep into his family life. Although Joel had struggled throughout elementary and middle school, he'd still managed to pass all his classes. But in high school, the combination of new academic

pressure and increased social pressure was too much for Joel to handle. When he brought home a failing report card, his father was furious. Benjamin screamed at Joel, calling him a failure. Disappointing his father must have been difficult for Joel, especially because Joel wasn't doing as well socially as he had hoped. In fact, the bullying hadn't gotten better at all in high school. It had gotten worse. Joel's social awkwardness had always provided fodder for his tormentors. Now, Joel's bullies had found something new to tease him about, his fashion since. As Joel's peers began to develop distinct personal styles, Joel continued to dress in the same type of outfits he had worn since he was in kindergarten, thick glasses, high-waisted

pants, and white socks peeking out above his shoes. The taunts about Joel's physical appearance couldn't have helped his already fragile self-esteem. To make matters worse, the abuse became physical. Tormenters regularly pushed Joel's head into the toilet. In a lot, in a lot of addition to stealing his clothes and books. Joel began to feel genuinely unsafe going to school every day. But still, Joel did his best to try to fit in. He joined the track team in an effort to make new friends. But unfortunately, Joel wasn't particularly athletic or coordinated. Joel was so bad at track that the jocks started calling him Lardass. Regardless, Joel was determined to try to turn the experience around.

Instead of fighting the bullies, Joel tried a new tactic, inviting them over to his house to watch television and drink beer while his parents were out. Although the bullies gladly drank the free beer, they continued to pick on Joel. Once, Joel made plans to go out to dinner with a girl from his school. Some of the athletes from the track team found out and trapped Joel in the school gym to throw eggs at him. He didn't make the date. Word of these failed romantic attempts got around school pretty quickly. Combined with Joel's already low social status, it became virtually impossible for him to attract any girl's attention.

Following his unsuccessful track experience, he spent a good chunk of his savings on a nice camera and joined the yearbook staff. Someone stole his fancy camera almost immediately. But Joel didn't let that deter him. He continued to spend his free time working diligently. to get the school yearbook out in time. For the first time ever, Joel was starting to feel like he fit in. He was thrilled to be a part of a team,

and he even felt like he was beginning to form meaningful relationships with some of his peers. So, Joel was crushed when he learned that he'd been deliberately excluded from the massive wrap-up party that the club hosted to celebrate the completion of the yearbook. It seemed that no matter how hard Joel tried, he remained the subject of intense ridicule and exclusion. For Joel, who had been bullied unceasingly for over 10 years, the abuse took its toll on his psyche. By the time he graduated from high school,

he had shed his desire to fit in. Instead, he began to feel a powerful indifference, combined with deep-seated anger. This anger began to shape Joel's personality and dictated many of his actions and decisions as he entered adulthood. All the years of torment and torture stripped away the layers of humanity Joel had left

until he finally became a brutal, murderous, cold-blooded monster. We'll learn more about Rifkin's darker turn in a moment. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot Machine by Aristocrat Gaming,

Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win?

Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Now back to the story. Following high school, Joel Rifkin enrolled in Nassau Community College on Long Island in the fall of 1977.

By that point, Rifkin's learning disabilities, combined with a lifetime of bullying, left him without much motivation for academics. He was frustrated, listless, in search of something else that he could do with his life, a way that he could better his situation. It was around this time that Rifkin first saw Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 film Frenzy, a film about a serial killer who drives around London murdering victims with a necktie. The film was inspired by the real-life unsolved serial killer, Jack the Stripper, and Rifkin was obsessed. He watched it over and over, often staying up into the wee hours of the night to watch the film on a loop. Years later, after he'd been caught, Rifkin confessed to police he learned how to plan for his crimes by watching Frenzy. He even claimed the film inspired his kills. Rifkin loved Frenzy so much that he convinced.

his parents to buy him a car so that he could drive around town just like the killer in the film. Rifkin began cutting classes to cruise around in his new car and pick up sex workers who he would sleep with in his car or in cheap motels. By the end of his freshman year, Rifkin had only managed to pass a single college course out of his entire schedule. However, in the fall of 1978, Rivkin transferred to the State University of the state university, City of New York in the Rochester suburb of Brockport. His parents hoped that enrolling in a new school might improve his academic performance. But Rifkin continued to cut classes, still preferring to

spend his time having sex in his car rather than wasting time in school or studying for exams. Eventually, he dropped out of SUNY Brockport in 1980 and moved back in with his parents in Nassau County. Rifkin tried re-enrolling in Nassau Community College several more times over the next couple of years, but he continued to fail all his classes, largely due to his increasing obsession with women engaged in sex work. He left the college for the last time in 1984. Now, a frustrated 25-year-old man, Rifkin tried his hand at working a variety of different jobs, but none of them seemed to stick. As had been the case in college, his attention.

record was poor. And employers commented that he lacked the motivation to perform even basic tasks. More than likely, Rifkin was picking up sex workers when he should have been working. Even still, Rifkin fostered dreams of attaining a better life for himself. He daydreamed of becoming a poet or a famous writer. But when it came time to actually put pencil to paper, he struggled with the writing itself. His content was always too dark, and he felt that nobody would relate to it or be interested in what he had to say. He was still interested in photography, but he never had been able to develop the hobby into a paying job. Rifkin had tried to move out of his parents' house several times, but he always ended up moving back in with them whenever he lost a job.

He sought the companionship of the women he paid for sex more and more frequently, which contributed to his inability to hold down a job or save up enough money for a place of his own. In 1986, Rifkin's life took yet another turn for the worse when his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Outwardly, Benjamin Rifkin put on a brave front as he underwent agonizing cancer treatments, but on the inside, he crumbled. One evening in February 1987, Joel's father, Benjamin, couldn't take it anymore. Without sharing his plans with Joel or anyone else, he quietly swallowed a fatal dose of barbiturates.

He would lay in a coma for four days. before passing away. Rifkin was shattered by his father's death, particularly by the notion that it was at his father's own hand. At Benjamin's funeral, Joel delivered a heartfelt eulogy for his father that brought other mourners to tears. After his father's passing,

the depression Rifkin had struggled with his entire life once again descended upon him. Suddenly, Ripkin wasn't just lost and dejected. He was heartbroken, angry, and spying. He wanted to do something, anything, to regain control over his life. His mind once again turned to Hitchcock's film Frenzy. A plan began to form, and Joel attacked his goals with vigor. Joel actually seemed to be doing better in the years following his father's death,

so much so that his mother believed that his father's death might have inspired Joel to pull his life together. He enrolled in the New York State College of Technology's two-year horticulture program exploring a previously untapped interest in gardening and management. Joel excelled in the program, earning straight A's for two consecutive semesters. Joel's outstanding academic performance won him a prestigious horticulture internship at Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, another town in Nassau County. On the surface, it appeared as if Joel was finally growing up, to become the fine young man his father had always dreamed he would be.

But in secret, Rifkin was on the verge of collapse. His obsession with sex workers continued to run rampant, and in August of 1987, he even made the mistake of soliciting sex from an undercover police officer. Rifkin was arrested and fined, but he was released in time to hide the arrest from his mother, even though he was living with her at the time. Rather than prompting caution, Rifkin's run-in with the law only convinced him that he'd have to go further away from home to pick up sex workers in the future, to prevent members of his own community from finding out about his illicit habit.

Instead of picking women up in Nassau County, Rifkin began traveling to Manhattan for his evening exploits. And meanwhile, Rifkin's imagination began to run wild. He began to fantasize about stabbing women to death. Whenever he wasn't with a sex worker, he was fantasizing about killing one. Early homicidal ideation like this, while not always leading to murder, is a common trait shared among serial killers. In his book, Real Life Monsters a Psychological Examination of the Serial Murderer. Criminologist Stephen Genangelo presents an interview with an unnamed serial killer

in which he talks about similar fantasies. This killer, given the pseudonym Rick, describes how many serial killers begin with vivid fantasies, often resulting in ultra-arousal that is personally gratifying and exciting. He goes on further to say that the threshold to killing is often crossed when a trigger spurs the killer to act out the fantasy. Rick said, you can only put in so much of the fantasy world before something escapes into reality.

At first, Rifkin convinced himself that these vivid fantasies were just that. fantasies. He believed that if he indulged in a rich fantasy life, it would give him the strength to make it through his less colorful day-to-day. As a part of this increasingly robust fantasy life, Rifkin began collecting newspaper articles on serial killers who murdered sex workers, such as the Genesee River Killer, Arthur Shawcross, and the then-unidentified Green River Killer, Gary Ridgeway. Rifkin told himself he was merely studying these killers out of curiosity, but the ultimate truth would prove far more sinister. Things momentarily began to look up for Rifkin when he began his internship at Plantingfield's

Arboretum in the summer of 1988. Rifkin met one of the other interns, an attractive blonde woman who he took an immediate liking to. He was too timid to ask the blonde out, probably because of his repeated trauma with women in high school. However, Rifkin did make efforts to shadow the woman in the field whenever he could. But Rifkin grew frustrated when this woman failed to reciprocate his obvious affection. This appeared to be the turning point for Rifkin, who vowed that he would have his revenge on the women who had spurned him his entire life. For the next six months and into his second year of school at the New York State College of Technology,

Rifkin continued exploring a vivid fantasy life as a reaction to his deep-seated feelings of loneliness. His fantasies disturbed him, but they seem to be the only method of coping with his feelings of being unloved and unwanted. An article published by Willem H.J. Martens in the Psychoanalytic Review explores the link between sadistic serial killers and loneliness. The article uses Jeffrey Dahmer as an example to suggest that many serial killers strike because they feel unloved, unwanted, and inferior. Sadistic behavior serves. serves as a way for the killer to create an alternate reality in which he or she is powerful and in control, a tonic to the harsh reality they have actually experienced.

This certainly was the case for Rifkin, who employed his powerful fantasies as a tactic for coping with his feelings of inadequacy and loneliness in his reality. And the more he lost control with the women in his real life, the more Rifkin searched for control within the fictitious universe he created. Rifkin's fantasies escalated through 1988 and into the spring of 1989, when they became so powerful that Rifkin could no longer ignore them. In his mind's eye, he became obsessed with murdering women in a variety of scenarios. He itched to experience the incredible power and release he fantasized about in his murderous daydreams. With nothing in his life giving him that sort of satisfaction or control, Joel Rifkin,

burned with the desire to kill, and finally, he decided to act. Opportunity struck, even sooner than Rifkin had expected. The first week of March, 1989, Rifkin's mother announced that she'd be heading out of town for business. As far as she knew, she didn't have any cause for concern. But the moment Gene left town, Joel hopped in his car and drove to Manhattan's East Village, where he began cruising the streets and looking for sex workers to pick up. Eventually, he picked up a young woman who called herself Susie, though she was later identified as 25-year-old Heidi Balch.

According to Rifkin's later testimonies, Susie suffered from addiction issues, and she asked Rifkin to make a couple of stops to purchase drugs on the way back to Rifkin's house. At this point, Rifkin wasn't sure if he actually was going to go through with killing Susie, or if the urge would subside after they engaged in his. intercourse. Rifkin still didn't want to hurt anybody, but he felt as if the urge to consume human life was overpowering, and Susie's behavior only made Rifkin feel keener to lash out. Susie's obsession with finding a quick fix meant that her attention was on drugs rather than on

him. He grew frustrated. Although they eventually did make it back to Ripkin's place, where Susie performed her services, Rifkin described the sex as, It's unclear if this is because Susie wasn't particularly interested in Rifkin, or because for Rifkin, even the former thrill of picking up sex workers had lost its appeal. Following their encounter, Susie asked Rifkin if they could go back out to pick up more drugs. At this point, Rifkin got annoyed. Part of the excitement of picking up sex workers was that they were supposed to do exactly what Rifkin wanted, but Susie was distracted, more concerned with scorers.

drawing drugs than listening to Joel. As Rifkin considered Susie's disrespectful, flippant attitude, his mind traveled back to the other women who had spurned him over the years. The girls in high school laughing at him as the bullies pulled down his pants, the women in college who always preferred other men. Rifkin's blood boiled. He'd show Susie, who was really in control. We'll learn more about how Rifkin's plan unfolded in a moment.

Now back to the story. Joel Rifkin was consumed for years with fantasies of attacking and killing sex workers. In 1989, the 30-year-old crossed the threshold between fantasy and reality. When he brought a sex worker named Susie back to the house he shared with his mother, angered by her apparent disinterest, Rifkin's action soon turned deadly. Rifkin picked up a howitzer artillery shell that his parents had kept as a souvenir, and used it to strike Susie repeatedly. Rifkin later recalled the attack as frenzied.

He stopped hitting Susie only when he became too tired to continue. But Susie was still alive, and she wasn't willing to give up without a fight. She bit Rifkin as hard as she could on his finger. As blood spurted from his hand, she pushed him off of her and stumbled towards the door. But Rifkin was stronger and faster. He lunged after Susie, her to the ground. He was losing control of the situation. He had to do something, anything, to rest it back. He clamped his hand around Susie's neck and tightened his grip around her throat,

strangling her until she went still. Rifkin had been uncertain about attacking women, hesitant to take human life. He had staved off the urge to strike for as long as he possibly could, but when his impulse finally overtook him, Rifkin felt a sudden, of adrenaline and joy. As if for the first time in his life, he was on top of the world. At long last, Rifkin had experienced the thrill

of his first kill. As forensic psychiatrist, Park Dietz, stated at Rifkin's trial, This was a sexual fantasy that he'd rehearsed countless times during his life of being with a woman, putting his hands on her neck,

and strangling her to death. But Rifkin wasn't able to enjoy his success just yet. He had cleanup to do. Rifkin wrapped the body in a trash bag and then went about scrubbing the living room to get rid of the blood and any signs of the struggle. After all, his mother would be home in a couple of days. Rifkin certainly didn't want her to find out that he'd murdered a woman in her absence. After cleaning for several hours, an exhausted Rifkin finally laid down for a few hours to rest. When Rifkin awoke from his nap, he immediately got back to work. He dragged Susie's body into his basement and laid her out across his washer and dryer. He then proceeded to

systematically dismember the body. Rifkin was meticulous in this task, even going so far as to remove Susie's teeth and cut off her fingerprints so that she couldn't be identified if her body was found. Rifkin's meticulous planning regarding the disposal of his victim suggests that he was an organized serial killer. According to the FBI's criminal profiling division, serial killers can be classified as either organized or disorganized. Organized serial killers carefully plan their crimes from execution to disposal of the body. Organized killers are typically highly intelligent and have made themselves familiar with police investigation methods, which allows them to carefully plan to cover their tracks.

Rifkin waited for a weekend when he would have the house to himself to commit the deed. He then took careful pains following the murder to ensure that the body would not be discovered or identified. When Rifkin was through dismembering Susie's body, he shoved her head into an empty paint can and threw the rest of the body parts into trash bags. He then loaded all of Susie's remains into his mother's car. Rifkin drove to New Jersey and disposed of Susie's legs and head in the woodlands outside of Hopewell.

He then drove to Manhattan and tossed Susie's remaining body parts into the East River. When Jean Rifkin returned home several days later, she didn't suspect a thing. On Sunday, March 5, 1989, a golfer at the Hopewell Valley Golf Club discovered Susie his head while he was searching for a golf ball, but police were neither able to make an idea on Susie nor trace her back to Rifkin. Secretly, Rivkin felt powerful, even smug. Not only had he successfully committed a murder, but he'd also managed to get away with it. For the first time ever, Rivkin felt in control and on top of his game.

In another of his books, the psychopathology of serial murder, Stephen Janangelo writes about the addictive properties of serial killing. For those who get a rush or dopamine reward from killing, the act becomes addictive. They search for new victims, hoping to feel the high once again. Jean-Angelo says in his book, these killers seem to evidence a pervasive lost sense of self, an inadequacy of identity, a feeling of no control. These could all be factors in a pathology that manifests itself in the ultimate act of control. the murder of other human beings. The feeling remained with Rifkin through his graduation from the New York State College of Technology.

For months, he wondered if he had shaken the urge to kill from his system entirely. But after his graduation, Joel once again began to struggle. Despite his internship and strong academic record, Rifkin had a difficult time landing a job out of school. It's possible that this was due to his underdeveloped people skill. or perhaps it was just a result of bad luck. Whatever the reason, all of his unwanted free time left space for the desire to kill to creep back into Rifkin's mind.

At first, it was just a tickle in the back of Rivkin's brain, a passing urge that he was able to stamp down and ignore. But as the months passed, the urge continued to grow, until it was a roaring din, a voice screaming in his head, urging him to strike. again. Rifkin thought back to his first murder. Killing Susie had been so easy. Nobody had thought to trace the kill back to him. Nobody had even identified Susie's body. The compulsion to kill was becoming so powerful that it was overtaking Rifkin entirely.

And now Rifkin knew that killing was almost without risk. By the fall of 1990, it had been well over a year since Rifkin had murdered Susie, and his initial exhilaration following the crime had subsided almost completely. Rifkin felt his life was spiraling out of control. All he could think about, all he could imagine doing to make his situation better, was killing. When his mother went out of town one weekend in the fall of 1990, Rifkin drove to Manhattan once again and began searching for the perfect victim. After driving around for a couple of hours, Rifkin picked up a woman who called herself Julie Blackbird.

Rifkin later said he liked her because he thought she looked a little bit like Madonna. As with Susie, Rifkin drove Julie back to his mother's house where the two spent the night together. When Rifkin and Julie woke up the next morning, Rifkin carried out his plan. He grabbed a wooden table leg and used it to beat Julie within an inch of her life, before finishing the job by strangling her to death. In a later interview with law enforcement, Rifkin admitted he had considered having sex with

her corpse, but decided against it because he found the thought too repulsive. In the wake of his second kill, Rifkin began to fine-tune his murders. As he had done with Susie, Rifkin threw Julie's body into a garbage bag, cleaned up his bedroom, and then dragged Julie's corpse into his basement, where he proceeded to dismember her. This time, Rifkin had learned from some of the mistakes he had made last time. Recalling how quickly Susie's severed head had been found the year before, Rifkin placed Julie's head, legs, torso, and arms into buckets

and filled the buckets with cement. Once again, the specifics of Rifkin's crimes pointed to his organization and intelligence. Not only was he carefully planning his crimes, but he was also adjusting and learning from the mistakes of his first crime. When the cement had dried, Rifkin threw the buckets into his car and drove to Manhattan's East River, where he dumped Julie's torso and head. He then drove to a barge canal in Brooklyn to dispose of the remainder of Julie's body parts. Rifkin's plan worked. Nobody ever discovered Julie's severed limbs.

Her death wasn't confirmed until years later, when Rifkin confessed to her murder. For several months following Julie's murder, the noise in Rifkin's head subsided. With the memory of his kill, still fresh in his mind, Rifkin once again felt powerful and in control. He was able to focus on work, so much so that he even started his own landscaping business.

Rifkin put his two murders behind him, telling himself that he had done what he had to do to get his life back on track. Now he could finally get on with his life. But a couple of months into 1991, Rifkin once again grew frustrated and listless. Although running his own business afforded him some of the power he craved so deeply, he still was unsuccessful romantically, and he didn't have any friends to spend his free time with.

By the summer of 1991, Ritkin's need for control had begun to take over his life once again. He began leaving work early to pick up some. sex workers, as well as spending more time alone in his bedroom, replaying his past murders in his head. But these were band-aids, and eventually it all grew stale. He was once again consumed by the burning, seemingly physical necessity to take someone's life. Now, for the third time, Joel waited patiently for his mother to go out of town. When she packed up for a business trip on the evening of July 13, wasted no time. As soon as she was out the door, Rivkin jumped in his car and drove to Manhattan to troll the streets for sex workers. That evening, Rifkin chose a 31-year-old woman named Barbara

to be his victim. Barbara was similar in type to Rifkin's first victim, Susie. In addition to participating in sex work, she also struggled with addiction issues, and Rifkin appealed to her by buying her drugs before taking her back to his mother's home for intercourse. When Barbara dozed off, Rifkin picked up the same table leg he used to kill Julie and struck Barbara over the head. The blow alone didn't kill Barbara. And so Rifkin used his bare hands to strangle her to death. At this point, Rifkin had his cleanup routine nearly perfected. He quickly tidied up the bedroom, then dragged Barbara's body downstairs to his basement. But this time, Rivkin didn't want to dismember her.

He found dismemberment grotesque, untidy, and exhausting. According to an article by Kansas State Clinical Social Worker and Therapist, Mary Bradley, killers who dismember their victims typically fall into one of two categories. Those killers who take sexual pleasure in the dismemberment itself, and those whose pleasure comes only from the act of killing, and dismember as a part of their organized method for disposing a person. of the bodies. Because Rivkin didn't actually take any pleasure

from the dismemberment, he falls into the latter category. Disgusted by the dismemberment, Rifkin decided to try a new tactic. He wrapped her corpse in plastic, then shoved her remains into a large cardboard box. He then drove to the Hudson River and dropped the box into the water before returning home. However, this method wasn't successful.

Barbara's body was found just a couple of hours after Ripkin disposed of her, but Barbara's issues with drug addiction ended up working at Rifkin's favor. The coroner found significant traces of a number of substances in Barbara's system and ruled her death and overdose. Police also were not able to identify Barbara, so she was buried in a Potter's Field Cemetery as a Jane Doe. In his later confession, Rifkin indicated that Barbara's death being ruled in overdose made him feel powerful. When law enforcement failed to identify her body, he felt absolutely

untouchable. According to the FBI's analysis, this is a fairly common phenomenon across serial killers worldwide. As law enforcement fails to catch and apprehend serial killers, the killers often become emboldened and sometimes even feel as if it's impossible for them to get caught. Often this surge in confidence actually leads to the killer's eventual capture because killers can get overly cocky and make mistakes. Before killing Barbara, Rivkin had tried to suppress his urge to kill because he feared the repercussions of his actions. But after getting away with her murder, Rifkin began to feel unstoppable above the law.

He wasn't worried about getting caught any longer. It seemed as if the dam had finally broken. Rifkin did indicate in later interviews that he always felt remorse about the the human toll of his actions, even after he began murdering more frequently. In his interviews with the FBI, Rifkin expressed a desire to stop hurting women that was overpowered by his deep-seated urge to kill. Rifkin admits that, were he not caught and placed in prison, he might have killed hundreds or even thousands of women. There was some evil force that had a hold on him and simply would not set him free, no matter how hard he tried to shake it.

But it's clear that Rifkin's feelings of being above the law trumped whatever feelings of remorse or desire to reform he harbored. After murdering Barbara in July of 1991, Rifkin went on a killing spree, murdering at least 14 more women in fewer than two years. Some of these murders even took place within a week of each other, suggesting that Rifkin's cooling off period was shrinking rapidly. killing became a part of Ripkin's composition as a human, something he needed to function

on the most basic level in his day-to-day life. Rather than simply surviving, Joel was now thriving with one goal in mind, his next kill. Next week we'll dive into Rifkin's 14 frenzied kills, as well as the strange circumstances of his arrest and his shockingly candid confessions about his crimes. We'll also explore Rifkin's unusual trial, and finally, dive into his attorney's controversial defense. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back Monday with a new episode.

You can find more episodes of serial killers, as well as all of parcasts, other shows, on Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Several of you have asked how to help the show. And if you enjoy the show, the best way to help is to leave a five-star review. And don't forget to follow. us on Facebook and Instagram

at Parcast. And Twitter at Parcast Network. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler, is a production of Cutler media and is part of the Parcast Network. It is produced by Max and Ron Cutler, sound design by

Michael Langsner, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro and Paul Mahler. Additional production assistance by Maggie Admire and Freddie Beckley. Serial Killers is written by Zoe Broad and stars Greg Polson and Vanessa Richardson. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again.

I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Blood Trails is a true crime podcast born in the outdoors, where the terrain is unforgiving, the evidence is scarce, and the truth gets buried under brush and silence. I've seen something in the road. I instantly thought it was a sleeping bag, and there was a full of blood. Somebody somewhere knows something.

I'm Jordan Sillers. Season two is out now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.