Admitted Killer of 17 Women Leads N.Y. Police to 2 Bodies

A man who said he had killed 17 prostitutes during the past two years led police to the buried remains of two women Tuesday, providing the first physical evidence to support his claim, investigators said. One source said documents apparently identifying many victims were found in the suspect’s home.

Joel Rifkin, an unemployed gardener, made the claim of serial killings after he was pulled over for traffic violations Monday and an officer discovered a woman’s decomposed body in his pickup.

Using Rifkin’s directions, police found one body buried about 80 feet from a road in the resort town of Southampton, then another near Kennedy Airport.

Thomas Constantine, the state police superintendent, said that during 10 hours of interrogation, Rifkin gave details of murders that were “very close” to several under investigation.

Rifkin’s descriptions of two bodies--one found in Southampton in May and another found near an interstate in Putnam County last year--were particularly accurate, investigators said.

Rifkin, 34, also provided details of a homicide in the South Bronx, said Lt. Raymond O’Donnell, a New York City police spokesman. And a city police detective, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Rifkin appeared to know one of two prostitutes found slain in Coney Island in January, 1992.

Constantine said investigators were not sure that Rifkin was a serial killer. However, a state trooper, speaking on condition of anonymity, said later that documents apparently identifying many victims were taken from his house in the Long Island town of East Meadow.

Police had not been able to confirm Rifkin’s claim that each victim was a prostitute from New York City whom he picked up, killed and dumped in a three-state area.

Earlier in the day, Rifkin pleaded innocent at his arraignment.