New York City serial murderer Joel Rifkin may be a twisted criminal, but he sure knows how to use the A-word around the city’s tabloid editors. Rifkin shocked even the most jaded New Yorkers when he slayed 17 women between 1989 and 1993. Now, as his newest shocker, he says AIDS made him do it. Most people connected to the case think he’s lying, however. Before being sentenced for his seventh conviction, Rifkin reportedly told a probation officer that he hated women because he contracted HIV after having sex with a prostitute. Just last year, though, he boasted about being with a lot of sex workers, but said that he had tested negative. Rifkin hasn’t been tested by the state, which has sent him to prison for many lifetimes.