Up and Vanished Weekly | VANISHED: Denise Griffin

0:00You're listening to a Tenderfoot TV podcast. Ready to level up? Chumba Casino is your playbook to fun. It's free to play with no purchase necessary. Enjoy hundreds of online social games like Blackjack, Slots, and Solitaire. Anytime, anywhere, with fresh releases every week. Whether you're at home or on the go, let Chumba Casino bring the excitement to you. Plus, get free daily login bonuses and a free welcome bonus. Join now for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Play Chumba Casino today. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Void were prohibited by law. 21+. TNCs apply.

1:02Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, Up and Vanish listeners, it's Rob. We wanted to share with you that we'll be spotlighting episodes of our new sister series, Up and Vanish Weekly, hosted by Payne Lindsey and Maggie Freeling. Every week, Up and Vanish Weekly dives into a new missing or murdered person's case, bringing you interviews with experts and advocates who take you behind the scenes of the investigation. On behalf of the entire Up and Vanish team, we hope you enjoy Up and Vanish Weekly.

1:58More on Apple Podcasts. This podcast discusses mature and sensitive content, including descriptions of violence that may be triggering for some audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

2:16It's 3.15 a.m. on June 28th, 1993. As New York State troopers are patrolling the Southern State Parkway, They notice a truck with no rear license plate. Moments later, they pull behind the tan 1984 Mazda pickup and turn their lights on. Instead of stopping, the driver increases their speed, and troopers soon find themselves in a quickly escalating high-speed chase. Officers continue their pursuit, but the chase abruptly ends when the driver collides with a pole. Troopers slow to a stop, approach the truck, calling out to the driver. As they close in, they see a bumper sticker that reads, Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me.

3:04They cautiously approach the truck, not knowing the state of the driver. As they inch closer, they identify an unmistakable odor. The driver is pulled from the vehicle, and troopers discover a horrific scene. Inside the vehicle is the decomposing body of a woman. The driver is immediately taken into custody and interrogated by authorities. As grisly as this discovery was, things soon became much more ominous. What initially began as a high-speed chase quickly evolved into the discovery of one of New York's most notorious serial killers, initiating a decades-long process to track down and identify his many victims.

4:10From Tenderfoot TV in Atlanta, I'm Payne Lindsey. And I'm Maggie Freeling. And you're listening to Up and Vanished Weekly.

4:21Hey, y 'all. Welcome back to Up and Vanish Weekly. I'm Maggie Freeling. Today, I want to break away from our normal way of doing things to talk to you about a couple of disappearances that happened in the New York area back in the 1990s. I grew up around this area where the disappearances happened, but I was very young at the time. I grew up knowing who Joel Rifkin was. He was infamous on Long Island, but I never knew anything about the women whose lives he took. Rifkin's crimes are gruesome and senseless. He's admitted to killing over a dozen women, but two have never been identified. They're known as victim six and victim nine.

5:05And because they went missing before modern technology, there's no paper trail or digital footprint to trace. so not much is known about them or what may have happened to them. But that doesn't mean they don't have people who care about them even today. I first found out about 6 and 9 while I was watching a recent A &E documentary called Cold Case Files, The Rifkin Murders. New York State troopers are actively trying to find out who 6 and 9 are. And in order to do that, they have to understand more about the man who's admitted to taking their lives. And so we're going to do the same. But I know it's tricky because in many ways, it's a slippery slope to talk about serial killers because some of them commit their crimes for attention and notoriety.

5:54So talking about them only feeds their egos. But I do think that to try and unpack who victims six and nine are, we have to understand the context around the crimes that Rifkin admitted to, starting with who he is and how he became one of the most prolific serial killers in New York. Here's Payne with more.

6:23Joel Rifkin was born on January 20th, 1959. His mother was an unwed college student who put him up for adoption. At just three weeks old, he went into the care of Bernard and Jeanne Rifkin. He was an only child for a few years, until age three, when Joel's parents adopted a girl named Jan. The family lived in East Meadow, Long Island. At a young age, he developed learning disabilities, physical challenges, and a stutter, and endured incisive bullying as early as a kindergartner. Rifkin was different from his peers and was an outcast throughout middle school and high school. He remained close to his mother, but he lacked social connection with others.

7:04As he withdrew, his resentment manifested into sexual deviation and fantasies of killing. When Rifkin was arrested on June 28, 1993, he had been working as a landscaper. The decomposing remains in his car would later be identified as 22-year-old Tiffany Bresciani. During his interrogation, Rifkin confessed to killing multiple women. He explained that his victims were sex workers whom he met and then violently murdered. After he murdered them, he dismembered their bodies so they could not be identified. Rifkin admitted that he became fascinated with the idea of raping and strangling women at a very young age.

7:46When he claimed his first victim, he said he soon became addicted to murder. He went on to share with authorities how at times he would brutally remove their fingerprints, dismember their bodies, and discard their body parts in various places, including the Brooklyn Canal and East River. When authorities searched his home, they found a variety of women's items disheveled around his room. Just months later, Rifkin was convicted of nine counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to 203 years in prison. At his sentencing in 1996, he addressed the victim's families. According to a New York Times article, here's what he said.

8:28Some of you believe that I felt that their murder was in some ways justified because they were prostitutes. but this is untrue. I never felt that way. Some of them were my friends and were kind to me. My victims were people with dreams and families and some of them had children of their own. What I have done can never be forgiven but I ask you to believe me when I tell you I will never understand the part of me that caused me to do these terrible things to your children. Not only will I go to my death reliving these horrors but I will go there never knowing why I did them at all. And in a strange twist, Rifkin also gave these chilling words.

9:11Please believe that there are other Joel Rifkins walking your streets right now. Like me, they will eventually be caught, but not until they have caused more suffering and deaths. I hope society can prevent this. After years of living in the shadows, authorities have pulled a ruthless monster off the streets, finally ending his reign of terror. But in a way, the work was just beginning. With several victims left unidentified, authorities now have the difficult task of understanding the profile and final moments of Rifkin's known victims to help solve the mysteries around the remaining Jane Doe's.

9:55something that stands out to me about Rifkin is the inward conflict he's expressed about the women he killed most serial killers show little or no remorse for their crimes but Rifkin is different he's expressed that these girls were his friends and he doesn't know why he killed them Rifkin began serving his sentence in 1996, and he'll remain in prison for the rest of his life. Normally, you would think that capturing and prosecuting a serial killer like Rifkin would be the end of the story. But in 2023, Rifkin shocked many by saying he was open to cooperating with authorities to help solve who Six and Nine are.

10:39But figuring out the identity of six and nine has proven to be very difficult, mainly because of the disorganization with how missing people were documented back in the 90s and even today. A quick search on NamUs of the New York City and Long Island regions between 1989 and 1993 shows there are still 28 missing females and over 160 unidentified females still waiting to be identified. Even when I narrowed down the search, there are currently 15 missing females that fit the demographic of a Rifkin victim. And they all went missing from these New York counties Rifkin was praying in. To help identify his other known victims, Rifkin provided information about the women he recalled, such as their names, descriptions, and how he killed them.

11:34He also described where he put their bodies. Investigators have showed Rifkin over 100 photos of women in the sex work industry from that time period to see if he could pick out anyone resembling victim six and nine. Rifkin stopped on a picture of a woman named Denise Griffin and said she looks like number six. Victim number six's body was never found, but Rifkin admits he killed a young woman around the same time Denise went missing and dumped her body somewhere in the Bronx. Investigators went to the area in the Bronx that seemed like the spot Rifkin was talking about, but they were unable to find anything.

12:14So was Rifkin lying or potentially misremembering? When authorities pressed Rifkin again about number six, he said it's more likely than not that Denise Griffin is number six. But with so little information to go on and no remains to use to make an ID, it's proven to be very difficult for authorities to confirm if number six is Denise. Our discussion continues after a quick break. In football, value isn't just about making flashy plays. It's about consistency, durability, showing up. Week after week, season after season. That's Toyota, the brand built for the long game. Award-winning quality, legendary reliability, and a lineup of vehicles that hold their value against the toughest competition.

13:05Every play, every drive. It's no wonder Toyota was named the best resale value brand for 2025, according to Kelly Blue Book's KBB.com, for the fifth year in a row. And why Toyota's proud to be the official automotive partner of the NFL. because like every great team, Toyotas are built to go the distance. For great deals and reliable vehicles you can count on, visit buyatoyota.com. That's buyatoyota.com. Vehicle's projected resale value is specific to the 2025 model year. For more information, visit kellybluebookskbb.com. Toyota, let's go places. As the weather gets cooler, I'm swapping in the pieces that actually get the job done.

13:48Warm, durable, and built to last. And Quince delivers that every time, with wardrobe staples that'll carry you through the season. Quince has all kind of fall staples that you'll actually want to wear on repeat, like 100 % Mongolian cashmere from just$60, classic fit denim, and real leather and wool outerwear that looks sharp and also holds up. Personally, I've got my eye on their suede trucker jacket. It's perfect for layering and just looks really casual but also put together. Quince partners directly with ethical factories and top artisans, so they cut out the middlemen, which means they deliver us premium quality at half the cost of similar brands.

14:28As we're easing into fall, my favorite thing that Quince has is by far their cashmere. The quality is incredible, it's soft, it's perfect for the cool fall air, and it's affordable. Quince has really become a go-to across the board, and they have seemingly everything. Bedding, bath, cookware, travel accessories, so go check it out. Layer up this fall with pieces that feel as good as they look. Go to quince.com slash upandvanished for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash upandvanished for free shipping and 365-day returns.

15:06quince.com slash upandvanished.

15:12All right, now back to our case. So who exactly is Denise Griffin? Here's Payne with what we know.

15:25Because Denise vanished in the early 90s, tracking down information about who she is and the circumstances around her disappearance is very difficult. After doing a few online searches, here's what we were able to find. Denise Griffin was born sometime between 1967 and 1968. At the time of her disappearance, she was 24 years old and living in Eatontown, New Jersey, which is about an hour drive from New York. Some sources indicate she may have been married at the time. But again, this has not been confirmed. We know Denise had a C-section scar, so it's possible she has a surviving child. Any additional information about her immediate family remains unconfirmed.

16:07The last known sighting of Denise was May 17, 1991. There are reports that she was possibly seen in Manhattan or Brooklyn near Coney Island Hospital. When searching for case file information on Denise, it can only be confirmed that she's a missing person and there's no information available about who reported her missing or any other information from law enforcement, family, or friends about the circumstances of her disappearance. According to some online sources, there are reports that in November 1988, Denise was arrested for driving under the influence and making terroristic threats against a county clerk.

16:45But since so little is known about Denise's life, and the kind of person she was prior to her disappearance, it's important to keep these kinds of reports in perspective. With so little information about one of Rifkin's long-suspected victims, authorities have had a difficult time connecting the dots between Denise Griffin and his unknown victim number six. To have any hope of solving this mystery, police would have to work closely with the man who claims to have killed her and see what clues he may offer to help solve this decades-old mystery.

17:22Although information on Denise Griffin is not widely available, the lead is not a dead end. Rifkin, like many serial killers, kept trophies or mementos from his victims. The earrings Rifkin describes from number six look similar to one of the trophies found in his home, which is a promising lead. Investigators were able to get a partial DNA match from the earrings, but unfortunately, they can't put a partial profile into the database to see if it matches Denise. So they need to find a family member to compare the sample. And while we wait for that, they are also pursuing leads to uncover who victim 9 is.

18:04Number 9 was found in a 55-gallon steel drum floating in Newtown Creek in Brooklyn on May 13, 1992. A silver snake bracelet was found on her, but no DNA was able to be recovered from it. As part of their reinvestigation, New York State Police decided to exhume Number 9's remains to get her DNA. However, they quickly realized this plan was more complicated than they anticipated. Number nine is buried on Heart Island, New York City's public cemetery. This is where people who have no one to claim them are buried. Over one million individuals are buried on Heart Island, and unfortunately, many are in mass graves.

18:47When authorities went to exhume number nine, they found her mixed with 150 other people. Sorting through everyone to locate and identify her will take time. The only information the National Association for Missing and Unidentified Person System lists for Victim 9 is that she was a white woman, about 5 '7", 140 pounds, between 20 and 50 years old. It's a wide swath of people to try and pinpoint just one missing person from. There are 400 missing females from the years Rifkin was active. Any one of these daughters, sisters, mothers, cousins, aunts, friends could have come to New York, encountered Rifkin, and are still unidentified.

19:34There are so many people who have dedicated their lives to covering people like Joel Rifkin, and others who have dedicated their lives to finding people like Denise, where little is known about them. And that includes my friend, Laura Norton, the host of the podcast, The Fall Line and One Strange Thing. I've known Laura since I got into doing this kind of work. We're kind of a podcast family and have been on each other's podcasts, and I've admired and respected her ever since I first heard of her. Laura takes time and care with each victim and their story and treats them like the humans they are, whether they have a face or not.

20:15And for years, Laura has covered all kinds of cases that other media does not take the time to, whether it's because of their lack of interest, bias, or because, like Denise, there's not much evidence or information to go on. And because Denise's case is a bit of a puzzle, I want to get her thoughts on it. So stick around for my conversation with Laura after a quick break. You're listening to Up and Vanished Weekly. FanDuel's got an offer you don't want to miss this NFL season. New customers can bet just$5 and get$300 in bonus bets if you win. That's right. Pick a bet, bet$5, and if it wins, you'll unlock$300 in bonus bets to use all across the app.

20:59You can build parlays, bet player props, ride the live lines, whatever your style, FanDuel has you covered. The NFL season is here. The only question is, are you ready to play? Visit Fanduel.com slash sportsfan to download the Fanduel app today and get started.

21:39if you try hard enough. You can stop bad things from happening, but you can't. Good help. Get out! Is hard to find. No! You need me to do this. A Hulu original. The hand that rocks the cradle. Rated R. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. For bundled subscribers, terms apply. Alright, now back to our case. Laura, thank you for being here to talk with me about Denise, the little we know and how we can find more information. Absolutely. I'm happy to join you. So you are truly an expert in this field. The work you do is amazing. Can you just give me kind of a top line, what your thoughts are on Denise?

22:22Well, in terms of fitting the profile, as I know it, I think that roughly she does, of course, fit the profile. She seems to fit chronologically into what Rifkin was doing at the time. What struck me the most was just how little information was available, even compared to the other possible victims that they looked at in terms of the information I was reviewing. And so the first thing that struck me was how can we get more information on Denise to try and compare? And I know that was something you were concerned about, too, right? That's the main thing. It's like, where's her family? Where's this information on her?

22:59Who who is looking for her? Do you often find cases like this? Yes. And when we begin to dig into those cases, of course, the easiest cases to work on that have little information available, oftentimes that lack of information falls at the feet of the media. It falls at the feet of police that have either been overwhelmed by a number of cases in a large metro area or cases that have simply been abandoned based on the profile of the victim. They're victims that are considered the less dead, you know, based on sexuality. based on intersectional issues, based on profession, you know, were they involved in sex work.

23:40But sometimes it's also people who didn't have a lot of strong connections at the time that they disappeared. And when we see victims like that, the first thing we start to do is try and go back not one year, not five years, but maybe even 10 or 15 years. And to do that, you really have to get back into not only things like census records or ancestry records. you begin to look for things like marriage records. You begin to look at things like birth certificates. But I also start to go back and look at things like middle school yearbooks, high school yearbooks, try to find those connections that existed before someone was an adult to see people who might have known them.

24:21Because the interesting thing is, we think of ourselves now as a society that is very transitory, but it hasn't always been that way. A lot of people stay where they grew up and they stay in the same small areas. And I noticed that some people who were commenting even on social media who said they knew Denise were from New Jersey. So you start with those kinds of people. And of course, I know you do this as a reporter. What's the first thing you do? You start messaging people and saying, can I get a comment? But if you go and try and find like alumni groups for a high school, even if someone didn't graduate, they may know that person.

24:58You can find old addresses. You can go to those addresses, you know. And we tend to think about Googling an address. I know you go to libraries. You go to the library, what do they often have? Old phone books. So that's the kind of place where we start to try and make those little connections where they're not so obvious. So, you know, an armchair detective who hears this and wants to help find Denise, is something like a birth certificate or a marriage record publicly available? It totally depends on the state. Some of this is going to be on Ancestry, so you can at least see that it exists. And whether or not it's going to be publicly available is totally dependent on the state.

25:37In general, it's going to at least show you there's a record, and that can get you on the way. Because if it's there, someone can go. But I do want to caution armchair detectives. Just because it's there, it doesn't mean that you personally need to reach out to people. But that is something that at least creates a connection, right? And that lets you know, okay, if I'm going to make, say, a missing persons poster, I can target that poster for that area. You know, geolocate it. It costs$10 to run a Facebook ad or an Instagram ad. People will respond to that. I remember listening to, it was actually Billy Jensen talking about geolocating and using that kind of technology is fascinating.

26:19So I want to talk about the DNA that was found in this case. So there was a partial profile found on the earrings that may be Denise's earrings. They were the ones that Rifkin says he remembers that particular victim, number six, wearing. But they were not able to upload this profile. So can you help explain to listeners the problem with partial DNA? Now the investigators are saying they need to find her family. So they're probably using a lot of these techniques we just discussed and tracking down her family to get a full profile. Absolutely. And as you and I were discussing privately amongst ourselves, I do want to add the caveat that, like, I'm not a DNA expert.