Joel Rifkin is a serial killer who went on a string of murders in New York in the s. In , he killed his first woman. He discarded the bodies of his victims so they could not be identified. His reign of terror came to an end in June , when Rifkin was pulled over by the police who discovered a corpse in his car.
He was convicted of murder the following year and later pleaded guilty to additional counts of murders. Joel David Rifkin was born on January 20, , to two unwed college students. Three years later, they also adopted a daughter, Jan. Rifkin had difficulty fitting in with his peers and became a frequent target of school bullies. He was excluded from team sports and neighborhood games because of his sloping posture and slow gait.
Suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia, he also struggled academically despite his IQ. As Rifkin entered his teens, he desperately tried to fit in. He joined the track team with hopes of making friends, but his teammates frequently tormented him. Frustrated with athletics, Rifkin joined the yearbook staff. His camera was immediately stolen, and he was excluded from the wrap party at the end of the year.
The mistreatment and isolation eventually wore on Rifkin, who began retreating to his own disturbed world.
He started having daydreams about raping and stabbing women. Around this same time, his parents gave him a car. He started using the vehicle to troll for prostitutes in nearby Hempstead, and later Manhattan. His passion for prostitutes would increase as he entered Nassau Community College in He frequently skipped his classes and rarely showed up to his part-time jobs, preferring to spend his time with prostitutes instead.
