David Berkowitz was born on June 1st 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. His mother Betty Broder had an affair with a local married man Joseph Kleinman, and fell pregnant. Kleinman wanted nothing to do with the child and refused to pay support. Betty put the child up for adoption. Nat and Pearl Berkowitz a childless couple from Stratford Avenue, Bronx, New York adopted the baby David. David grew up in the Bronx a loner, always big for his age he was remembered at times to be hyperactive and violent. At the age of 14 David learned that his mother Pearl had breast cancer. She died shortly after in the fall of 1967, David was devastated.

In 1971 after graduating from high school David’s father remarried. This caused David great resentment, especially as the couple moved to Florida leaving David alone in New York. In the summer of 1971 David decided to join the army. He spent a year in Korea where he says he had experiences with LSD, and was later based in Fort Knox, Kentucky where he remained until his discharge in June 1974.

It was now that David decided to look for his adoptive parents. The Bureau of Records showed his real name to be Richard Falco. After going through the local phone book he found his birth mother Betty Falco (Broder). At first David seemed happy to visit Betty and his sister Roslyn, but as 1975 progressed David visited less and less and eventually drifted away. November 1975 David wrote to his father in Florida his state of mind became very apparent from the disturbing writing. Three months before the first murder was to occur David moved into 35 Pine Street, Yonkers.

On July 29th 1976 Donna Lauria 18 and Jody Vanenti 19 were sitting in their car outside Lauria’s Bronx apartment. After talking for a few minutes Donna noticed a man peering through the window, without warning the man pulled a gun out of a brown paper bag and fired 5 shots into the vehicle. Donna died instantly, Jody was rushed to hospital with thigh injuries, she survived the attack and gave a vague description of the man. Three months after the first murder on October 23rd Carl Denaro 20 and Rosemary Keenan 18 returned from a party in Queens. David approached the car from the passenger side and fired 5 shots. Rosemary survived, Carl was hit in the back of the skull but survived with a metal plate in his skull.

On 27th November another attack occurred in the Queens area. Donna Demasi 16 and her friend Joanne Lomino 18 had walked from the bus stop back to Joanne’s house. As they were sitting on the steps outside a man approached them to ask directions, before finishing his sentence he pulled a gun out and fired 5 shots. Donna was shot through the base of the neck, Joanne shot through the spine. Both girls survived but Joanne was to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. At this time only one bullet had been recovered from all three shootings, therefore no links were made between the attacks

On January 30th 1977 John Diel 30 and Christine Freud 26 left a bar just after midnight and were sitting in their Pontiac Firebird. David fired 2 shots through the windscreen killing Christine. John went on to provide a description of the attacker to the police. Detective Sergeant Joe Coffey discovered that the weapon used to kill Christine was the same .44 caliber gun used in the previous attacks. Police finding no links to any of the victims feared they had a serial killer on the loose.

 

This was to be confirmed on March 18th. Virginia Voskerichian 19 was walking home from class in the forest Hills Gardens area. A man approached her from the opposite direction raised his gun and shot her at close range in the face. Ballistics testing showed that the bullet retrieved from Virginia was a match to that used to kill Christine Freud. A witness to the shooting managed to give detectives an accurate description of the man, a white male aged between 25-30 of medium build with dark hair. In fact the killer spoke to the man as he passed saying “Hi mister”.

 At this stage in the investigation on April 14th the police decided to form a task force called Operation Omega in order to catch the .44 Caliber killer. It became the single largest operation ever mounted by the New York police. Headed by Deputy Timothy Dowd with Deputy Captain Joe Borrelli the force had over 300 detectives and cost $90,000 a day. Three days after the task force was formed, the killer struck for the 6th time. On April 17th a young couple Valentina Sutiani 18 and Alexander Esau 20 were sat in a parked car near the Hutchinson River Parkway. At 3am a car pulled up beside them, firing 2 shots at each victim. Valentina died instantly and Alexander died 2 hours later.

There was something different however this time. A letter found at the scene addressed to the deputy task force leader Captain Joe Borrelli. In it the killer described himself as “The Son of Sam”. Two weeks later Berkowitz wrote to a reporter for the New York Daily, Jimmy Breslin the letter was published on May 2nd. The next attack was to happen on June 26th after a couple left a night club in Queens. Judy Placido 17 and Sal Lupo 20 were sitting in their car discussing the Son of Sam “You never know where he will hit next”. Suddenly shots rang out as 3 bullets were fired causing the windows to explode. Both victims were very lucky to avoid serious injuries and survived the attack.

Son of Sam’s last victim died on July 31st 1977. Stacey Moskowitz 20 and Bobby Violante 20 from Queens. They pulled up their car in South Brooklyn around 2am. Son of Sam fired 3 shots into the car, Bobby felt Stacey collapse into his arms, She was rushed to hospital but died 38 hours later, Bobby was blinded in 1 eye and lost most vision in his remaining one.

Unbeknown to David Berkowitz he had made his first big mistake that night which would prove to be his last. He had parked his White Ford Galaxie next to a fire hydrant and had received a ticket. A neighbour in the area saw him pull the ticket from the windscreen and throw it away. It took the witness 3 days to report to the police what she had seen the night of the murder. 10 days later police finally unearthed the ticket issued in that area. It proved to belong to David Berkowitz of 35 Pine Street, Yonkers.

On Wednesday August 10th 2 detectives John Longo and Ed Zigo went to the address to check it out. 6 hours later Berkowitz left the apartment and got into his Ford Galaxie. Police swooped on the vehicle and made him exit the car, upon asking him who he was David replied “I’m Sam”.

David Berkowitz was taken into custody and during the 30 minute interview confessed to all 6 murders. He claimed that his neighbour Sam Car had told him to do the killings passing on the message via his black Labrador Harvey. In subsequent interview’s David confessed to over 1400 arson attacks, apparently he was obsessed with fires as a small boy. He also maintained that “A demon has been living in me since birth”. Court appointed Psychiatrist’s could not agree on whether David was suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 365 years in prison.