Joel Rifkin's house

This is Joel Rifkin's former house.

It is located at 1492 Garden Street in East Meadow, New York.

Rifkin was a serial killer who confessed to murdering 17 women between 1989 and 1993. During his crime spree, he targeted sex workers and other vulnerable women.

He started killing at the age of 30. At the time, he was unemployed and living with his mother and sister.

His first murder took place on February 20th, 1989, when he beat and strangled a 25-year-old sex worker named Heidi Balch to death in his bedroom.

Following Balch's murder, Rifkin drifted off to sleep for six hours before waking up and dismembering her body.

He discarded Balch's remains at different locations. Her skull was discovered by a golfer in a wooded area at the Hopewell Valley Golf Course in New Jersey.

"Joel the Ripper's" luck finally ran out after he murdered a sex worker named Tiffany Bresciani.

On June 24th, 1993, Rifkin picked up Bresciani in his mother's blue Toyota sedan. At the time, she was with her boyfriend, Dave Rubinstein.

Rubinstein was a former member of the punk band Reagan Youth, which had broken up three years earlier. By the time he crossed paths with Rifkin, he was a washed-up rock star who was heavily addicted to heroin.

Bresciani, who was also a heroin addict, funded both of their habits by working as a sex worker. Whenever Bresciani returned to Rubinstein after seeing a client, the couple would walk off together to find a dealer.

On June 24th, 1993, she jumped into Rifkin's car and told Rubinstein that she would be back in 20 minutes. However, she never returned.

Sensing that something was wrong, Rubinstein called the police and provided a description of the Toyota. He also checked local hospitals and the club where his girlfriend danced.

Four days later, two police officers noticed Rifkin's Mazda truck driving along the Southern State Parkway highway on Long Island with no license plates.

Although they turned on their flashers and repeatedly ordered him to pull over via the PA system, Rifkin kept driving.

The 20-minute chase finally came to an end after he overshot an intersection and hit a utility pole.

After arresting Rifkin, they discovered Bresciani's remains hidden underneath a tarp in the back. At the time, he was reportedly en route to dump her body.

Although Rifkin confessed to killing 17 women, he attempted to mount an insanity defense. However, the jury refused to accept this plea. In their opinion, he knew exactly what he was doing.

On May 9th, 1994, Joel Rifkin was convicted of the murder of Tiffany Bresciani. One month later, a judge sentenced him to life in prison.

Photos

Photos of the house and other related images.

1492 Garden Street

This Google Street View image of 1492 Garden Street was taken in September 2012.

The 4-bedroom split-level ranch house was built in 1951. It was last sold for $322,000 in 2011.

Rifkin confessed to murdering a number of his victims at his home address. He lived in this house with his mother, Jeanne Rifkin, who was a retired school teacher.

His parents had adopted him when he was just three weeks old. It is believed that his biological parents were two university students who weren't ready to raise a child.

He was nicknamed "lard ass" and "the turtle" in school due to his slow walking speed and slouched posture.

His father, Bernard, committed suicide on February 20th, 1987, following a battle with prostate cancer. Notably, Rifkin's first murder took place on the second anniversary of his father's death.

Rifkin attended Nassau Community College and SUNY Brockport. However, he dropped out of college before he earned a degree. His first arrest came in August 1987, after he tried to solicit sex from an undercover policewoman.

When the police arrived at this house on Garden Street, they discovered human blood in a wheelbarrow in the garage and a chainsaw that had pieces of flesh on it. Neighbors said that there had been a foul odor emanating from the garage for quite some time.

During a search of his bedroom, investigators found jewelry, clothing, IDs, and pocketbooks belonging to some of his victims.

Victims

Rifkin admitted to murdering 17 women. However, two of his victims remain unidentified.

His first victim, Heidi "Susie" Balch, wasn't identified until 2013. Although she was murdered in 1989, she wasn't reported missing until 2001. To complicate matters further, her aunt believed that she had been last seen in 1995, which was six years after her death.

However, the police eventually learned that the 1995 "sighting" was an unreliable piece of second-hand information that had come from someone else.

Balch's head was found in an empty paint can near the seventh green at the Hopewell Valley Golf Course in New Jersey.

His final victim was Tiffany Bresciani, whom he picked up in Manhattan on June 24th, 1993.

Bresciani's boyfriend, Dave Rubinstein, was heartbroken following her murder. However, his grief was further compounded when his mother was killed in a freak vehicle accident less than a week later.

Following the deaths of his girlfriend and mother, Rubinstein decided to commit suicide.

On July 3rd, 1993, he deliberately overdosed on heroin.

Rifkin's house from the side

This is a Google Street View image of the southern side of the house, as seen from Spruce Lane.

Rifkin's neighbor described him as a quiet loner who was always respectful and pleasant to deal with.