Joel Rifkin's house

Serial Killer House in East Meadow, New York, United States

This is the former home of serial killer Joel Rifkin.

The house is situated at 1492 Garden Street in the hamlet of East Meadow, Long Island, New York.

Rifkin confessed to killing 17 women between 1989 and 1993. During his crime spree, he deliberately targeted sex workers and other vulnerable women who lived similar lifestyles.

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 at this house on February 20th, 1989. That night, he beat and strangled a 25-year-old sex worker named Heidi Balch to death.

Once his victim was dead, 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 of 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 rock band Reagan Youth, which had broken up three years earlier. Since then, he had fallen on hard times and become 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.

Where did Joel Rifkin live?

Below, you will find the address and the GPS coordinates for this location.

GPS coordinates

The latitude and longitude coordinates for the house are:

40.708633, -73.566097

Map

To view directions on how to get there, you can use the Google Maps shortcut below:

Google Maps Link

Address

The full address for this location is:

1492 Garden Street
East Meadow
New York
NY 11554
United States

Directions

The house is situated on the corner of Garden Street and Spruce Lane in East Meadow.

Private Property Warning

This is a private property. It is not a public place. Therefore, you should be respectful and not step foot on the property without permission.

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 of 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. At the time, he was battling prostate cancer. Notably, the 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 of 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. They also came across a chainsaw that had pieces of flesh on it. According to neighbors, 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.