Joel Rifkin's E. Meadow home may soon be sold
Exterior of the in-contract home at 1492 Garden Street where Joel Rifkin lived in East Meadow, N.Y. (Jan. 26, 2011) Credit: Howard Schnapp
The family of serial killer Joel Rifkin, who was convicted of the murders of nine women, has accepted an offer on the home where some of the killings took place.
The two-story, ranch-style house was put on the market last year after Rifkin's mother, Jeanne Rifkin, died in March. By the fall, the $349,998 asking price was about $75,000 below the initial sale price listed for the "handyman's special."
"Every home has a buyer," said Gregory A. Berkowitz, manager of Laffey Fine Homes in New Hyde Park, the company in charge of selling the four-bedroom house. "Just like every seat sits a person."
Berkowitz said the potential buyers of 1492 Garden St. in East Meadow are "fully aware" of the house's history.
"We have a family that is happy about buying it," he said.
Rifkin, one of Long Island's most notorious serial killers, kept one victim's body in the garage. Prosecutors said he murdered some women in his bedroom and the basement.
Rifkin was caught after authorities stopped his truck for a traffic violation in June 1993, and found a dead woman in the back.
In 1994, Rifkin was convicted of committing nine murders and sentenced to 203 years to life. He confessed to killing 17 women between 1989 and 1993. Many of them worked as prostitutes.
The discovery last December at Gilgo Beach in Babylon of the remains of four women, who also were prostitutes, has led police to say that there may be another serial killer.
Rifkin's sister, Jan Tsistinas, still lives in East Meadow in a different home. "Please don't," said the man who answered the phone at Jan's house, in response to questions about the sale.
Berkowitz would not disclose the final sale price of the home.
"It's going to be closed on shortly," Berkowitz said. "We are in the middle of the final process of clearing the appraisal."
