Who Is David Berkowitz?Early LifeThe Son Of Sam KillingsWhen Was David Berkowitz Caught?Where Is David Berkowitz Now?

Who Is David Berkowitz?

Early Life

The Son Of Sam Killings

When Was David Berkowitz Caught?

Where Is David Berkowitz Now?

David Berkowitz, also known as the Son of Sam or the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer. Today, David Berkowitz is still living, imprisoned, in New York, but his role as “the Son of Sam” is still debated in documentaries and among journalists throughout the country.

At 17, Berkowitz joined the Army, serving in Korea and at Fort Knox. He trained in firearms and was honorably discharged a few years later. At age 21, he made contact with his birth mother. The interaction didn’t go well and the two ended up losing touch shortly before the Son of Sam killings started.

Alleged First Victim

The next year, David Berkowitz had found steady work at the Postal Service and lived in Yonkers. This is when the infamous Son of Sam killings began.

New York City was known for high crime rates in the 1970s, but a string of possibly connected murders and attempted murders shook the city to the core. On July 29, 1976, a woman named Donna Lauria was shot while she was sitting in her friend’s car. Her friend was shot but survived the incident.

Three months later, Carl Denaro and Rosemary Keenan were shot in Denaro’s car. Despite having a bullet wound in his head, Denaro was able to speed away in his car and both survived the incident.

A month later, another shooting occurred, paralyzing Joanne Lomino and injuring Donna DeMasi. Both women were high-school students.

Two months after that, Christine Freund and John Diel were shot in their car. Freund died from the incident.

Five weeks later, Columbia University student Virginia Voskerichian was shot and killed. The shooting took place a block away from where the previous shooting of Christine Freund had taken place. All of the incidents happened within the Bronx and Queens.

In eight months, five shootings took place, taking the lives of three young women and injuring six more. It wasn’t until the later murders that police discovered that they didn’t have a string of hoodlums to investigate - they most likely had one shooter.

Who Did David Berkowitz Target?

There were a lot of commonalities in the shootings. All of the victims appeared to be young, college-age women with long, dark hair. There appeared to be no motive behind any of the killings. And although these don’t usually connect cases in a high-crime city like New York, one commonality brought all of the cases together: a .44 caliber revolver.

The news swept the city and terrified young women throughout New York. Some even cut their hair or started wearing it in scarves so they wouldn’t look like the rest of the victims. Everyone was scared of where the “.44 caliber killer” would strike next.

First Mention of Son of Sam

“Let me haunt you with these words: I’ll be back! I’ll be back!

To be interpreted as—bang, bang, bang, bank, bang—ugh!

Yours in murder, Mr. Monster”

The letter made its way into the news. After New York Daily News reporter Jimmy Breslin publicly responded to the letter, he received a letter of his own from the Son of Sam. The letter included multiple strange nicknames, including ““The Duke of Death” “The Wicked King Wicker,” “The Twenty Two Disciples of Hell,” and “John ‘Wheaties’ – Rapist and Suffocator of Young Girls.” The letter was published in the New York Daily News, further inciting the fear surrounding these shootings.

Police were worried that the killer might strike on the anniversary of the first shooting, but the next shooting came two days after the anniversary. Another shooting killed a blonde woman and blinded her boyfriend. Witnesses saw the murder but there was conflicting reports on the color of the shooter’s hair and what he looked like.

There was an immense amount of pressure on the NYPD to catch the Son of Sam killer. They didn’t have a lot of leads, but they chased anyone who might match the multiple sketches from eyewitnesses. In early August 1977, police were made aware of David Berkowitz through a parking summons. A police officer actually lived next to Berkowitz and mentioned that he had shot her father, Sam’s, dog. Police were intrigued, especially after hearing the connection to the name “Sam.” They didn’t know what David Berkowitz looked like, but that was okay. When they searched his car without a warrant, they found a letter from the Son of Sam and a gun.

Was David Berkowitz Actually Son of Sam?

One of the things that slightly confused detectives at the time was that the eyewitness reports of the shooters didn’t always match David Berkowitz’s appearance. David Berkowitz was a heavy-set guy, around 5’8” and 5’9” when you included his hair. Some of the eyewitnesses believed that he was 6’, skinny, and blonde.

The case appeared to be closing on the Son of Sam, but some police officers and reporters weren’t so sure. When psychiatrists interviewed David Berkowitz to determine his mental capacity, they learned some key facts that could explain his involvement in the crimes, but weren’t always satisfying. It was easy for some to believe that this man was a woman-hater that was taking his bad luck in dating and a rejection from his birth mother out on the young women of New York. Others took his story about Sam the dog as enough of an explanation.

Did David Berkowitz Act Alone?

Many believe that despite some evidence that suggested that David Berkowtiz worked with other people, the investigation was rushed through. The police wanted the case to be closed, especially with the knowledge that David Berkowitz’s weapons and Son of Sam letters were uncovered during an illegal break-in. David Berkowitz was happy to admit guilt, and the police were happy to pin everything on him alone.

One journalist in particular, Maury Terry, was highlighted in theNetflix seriesThe Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness.He devoted his life’s work to uncovering that David Berkowitz didn’t act alone. He could have worked with neighbors, the Carr family. The Carr family was the same family that owned the dog that Berkowitz claimed was instructing him to make his kills. At the head of the Carr family was a father named Sam, who was allegedly abusive to his sons in ways that eerily matched some of the descriptions in the Son of Sam letters. Additional letters to NYPD investigators from David Berkowitz also suggested that there were multiple “Sons of Sam” out there.

Was the Son of Sam in a Satanic Cult?

Further investigations found a path leading from the area where Berkowitz and the Carr family lived to an underground tunnel. The tunnel had blood on the walls, Satanic messages, and the bodies of dogs who had been sacrificed. People speculated that Berkowitz, and possibly the Carr family, were part of a Satanic cult that influenced the killings. Many clues in the Son of Sam letters referenced Satanism and the occult.

Still, the case continued on with David Berkowitz at the center. He plead guilty to the killing of six people and was sentenced to six consecutive 25-year jail sentences at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in the Catskills. In 1993, he told interviewers that members of the Carr family, specifically sons Joe and Michael Carr, were involved in the Sons of Sam murders.

But Berkowitz is no longer the “soldier on a mission” that he believed he was at the time of the Son of Sam murders. He became a born-again Christian ten years into his jail sentence but has lately described himself as a Messianic Jew. He has apologized for the shootings and expressed disinterest in parole, but that opinion has changed over time, too. In a 2017 interview on the 40th anniversary of the first Son of Sam killing, he told CBS News that he didn’t want to talk about the killings anymore and that God had already forgiven him for his crimes.

No murders have been connected to the Son of Sam killings since David Berkowitz was arrested. John Carr died from a gunshot wound to the head in North Dakota. The killing appeared to be a suicide, although there were claims that he was murdered in relation to the Son of Sam killings. His brother, Michael, died less than two years later in a car accident. Were they involved? Possibly, although the stories of David Berkowitz haven’t always told the full story. What we do know is that David Berkowitz is living a new life and is unlikely to be released anytime soon, if at all.

Reference this article:Practical Psychology. (2021, July).David Berkowitz (Serial Killer Biography).Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/david-berkowitz-biography/.Practical Psychology. (2021, July). David Berkowitz (Serial Killer Biography). Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/david-berkowitz-biography/.Copy

Reference this article:

Practical Psychology. (2021, July).David Berkowitz (Serial Killer Biography).Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/david-berkowitz-biography/.Practical Psychology. (2021, July). David Berkowitz (Serial Killer Biography). Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/david-berkowitz-biography/.Copy

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