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The serial killer known as “Son of Sam” was actually David Berkowitz. He was born on June 1, 1953 to Betty Broder Falcoand from an affair with a married man named Joseph Kleinman. David was immediately put up for adoption and found a home with Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz.
Raised in the Bronx, David was always a loner. He was exceptionally large for his age throughout most of his childhood and felt uncomfortable around other children his age. As he grew older he became known as the neighborhood bully. A hyperactive child with an unpredictable violent streak, David was greatly attached to his mother.
Her death from breast cancer in 1967 had a devastating effect upon David. He and his father moved into a new apartment but during it all a change had come over David. His school grades had taken an alarming drop and his faith in God had disappeared. He saw his mother’s death as a plan by God to hurt him.
His father Nat remarried in 1971 but David didn’t get along with his stepmother. When she and Nat moved to Florida to retire, David stayed behind. Eventually, David joined the Army and became a skilled marksman.
After David’s discharge in 1974, David began starting fires. He started keeping a diary of the fires he had started in New York City; in the end they totaled 1,488. He also started spiraling into fits of depression and flights of fancy. He lived more in his fantasy world until on December 24, 1975 when he listened to what he called demons and stabbed a young woman in the back. Running away when she began screaming, he later came across another fifteen-year-old Michelle Foreman and stabbed her six times.
When these attacks occurred, David was a security guard at IBI security. He soon moved into a home in Yonkers. It was a two-family home and owned by Jack and Nann Cassera. The Cassera’s had a German Shepherd that liked to howl with the neighborhood dogs. David was convinced the howling dogs were demons with a thirst for blood who were telling him to kill. He finally moved out and never even asked the Cassera’s for his security deposit back.
Moving to Pine Street, David met a man, Sam Carr, who owned a black Labrador Harvey. Convinced Carr was a demon named Sam who served the master demon, General Jack Cosmo, David shot Harvey but luckily for the dog, Carr was at home and able to get to a veterinarian in time. In the end, David took Sam’s name and called himself, “The Son Of Sam.”
In 1976 David changed from a hunting knife to a .44 Caliber Charter Arms Bulldog. While not a common weapon, there had been more than 28,000 of them made.
On July 29, 1976 Jody Valenti, 19 and Donna Lauria, 18 were sitting in a car when David approached the car and looked in. He then shot Valenti in the thigh and Lauria in the neck. Valenti survived but Lauria did not. Thus began his thirteen-month reign of terror over the people in New York. His victims appeared to be random with both men and women being targets.
Before being caught, he would kill six people and seriously injure seven more.
On October 23, 1976 Carl Denaro, age 18 was shot in the back of his head while also sitting in a car. Denaro survived and his female companion wasn’t injured. He struck again on November 26, 1976 when he shot two girls, Donna DeMasi 16 and Joanne Lomino 18 while they were also in their car. Both survived but Lomino was paralyzed for life.
On January 29, 1977 he shot and killed Christine Freund, 26, while she sat in a car with her boyfriend. On March 8, 1977 he shot Virginia Voskerichian, 21 who died instantly.
Not receiving the type of exposure he wanted, on April 16, 1977 David shot Alexander Esau 20 and Valentina Suriani 18. They had been necking in Esau’s car when approached and each shot in the head, killing both. David left a letter at this murder scene signing himself as “Son of Sam.”
June 25, 1977 another couple was shot. Sal Lupo who was hit in the arm and Judy Placido, 17 who was shot in the neck, shoulder and temple. Surprisingly they both lived.
On July 30, 1977 the police finally had a clue as to the identity of the Son of Sam. Stacy Moskowitz 20 and Robert Violante 20, were both shot. Moskowitz was killed but Violante survived and was permanently blinded. A witness saw the killer leave the scene and get into a vehicle that had been given a parking ticket. Police traced the ticket and David Berkowitz was arrested on August 10, 1977 outside his Yonkers apartment. Police were surprised when he began confessing to the killings immediately.
Looking for an insanity plea, David told investigators about the demons that told him to kill through the Carr’s dog Harvey. In the end the prosecution, the doctors that evaluated him nor the court believed he was insane and sentenced him to 365 years at Attica prison where he is now serving out his time.
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