Julie Blackbird was a 29-year-old White woman whose life ended in 1990 after an encounter later attributed to Long Island serial killer Joel Rifkin. Investigators’ accounts rely largely on Rifkin’s own statements: he said he met Blackbird in New York City, brought her to his East Meadow home, beat her with a heavy table leg the next morning, strangled her, then dismembered her and used cement to weigh body parts before disposing of them in waterways reported as the East River and a Brooklyn canal.

No remains publicly attributed to Blackbird have been documented as recovered, so her death is recorded mainly through Rifkin’s confession rather than physical evidence. Rifkin was arrested after a traffic stop on June 28, 1993, that led to discovery of another victim and ultimately to charges, convictions, and lengthy prison terms for multiple murders. Blackbird’s name appears on lists of his victims whose remains were never found.

Did anyone in New York City or Long Island know Julie Blackbird or see her in 1990?