David Berkowitz Aka

“44 Caliber Killer Aka The Son of Samof Sam”

By tavarres Jefferson

Serial Killer

• A serial killer is a person who murders 3 or more people. The motivation for killing is most likely based on psychological gratification.

Childhood MemoriesBerkowitz was born Richard David Falco in Brooklyn, New York. Before he was a week old, the baby was adopted by hardware store Owners Nathan and

Pearl Berkowitz, who reversed the order of his first and middle names in addition to giving him their own surname.

Berkowitz adoptive mother died of breast cancer when he was a teenager.His home life became strained because Berkowitz disliked his adoptive father’s second wife. He would later claim that his new step sister was interested in witchcraft, sparking an

interest. When he was only 16 he joined the U.S. Air ForceIn 1974 Berkowitz located his birth mother, Betty Falco. After a few visits, she disclosed the

details of his illegitimate conception and birth, which greatly disturbed him. They fell out of contact.

He joined a cult ( a system of religious veneration directed toward a particular figure or object)

The group introduced him to drug use, sadistic pornography and violent crime. He claims they began by killing dogs.

THE MURDERS • During the same year he joined the cult, he attack and killed his first victim.He shot Donna Lauria and Jody Valenti, but only killing Donna Lauria. He attacked

them both while they were getting out of the car at a park. From the paper sacked he carried, he produced a handgun, crouching as he aimed, and fired three shots. Lauria was struck in her chest by one bullet that killed her almost instantly, Valenti took a bullet in her thigh, and the third missed both of them. Then he just walked away.

• The next attack was in the early morning of Oct 23, 1976.• Carl Denaro,25 and Rosemary Keenan, 38, were parked in a secluded residential

area in Flushing, Queens. As they started driving at about 1:30 the car’s windows started busting. They did not realize they were being shot at, even as Denaro was bleeding from a bullet wound to his head. They stopped at a Bar about a ½ mile down. Keenan had superficial injuries from the glass, but Denaro eventually needed a metal plate to replace a portion of his skull. Neither victim seen there attacker.

More Killings• In the early morning of January 30, 1977, and engaged couple, Christine Freund,

26, and John Diel’s, 30 were sitting in Diel’s Pontiac Firebird, preparing to drive to a dance hall after having seen the motion picture “Rocky”. Three gunshots penetrated the car at about 12:40 a.m. In a panic, Diel drove away for help. He suffered minor superficial injuries, but Freund was shot twice. She died several hours later at the hospital. Neither victim had seen their attackers.

• Berkowitz confessed to killing six people and wounding seven others in the course of eight shooting in New York City between 1976 and 1977.

Suspicion and Capture• After his last attack the Moskowitz-Violente shooting is when people started getting supicious.• The evening of the Moskowitz and Violante shooting, Cacilia Davis, wholived near the crime

scene, saw Berkowitz loitering in the neighborhood and glaring menacingly at passersby for several hours before removing a parking ticket from his yellow Ford Galaxie. Two days after the shooting, she contacted the police. The police initially thought Berkowitz was a possible witness, rather than a suspect. Not until August 9, 1977, seven days after Caillia Davis informed police about the man with the parking ticket, did a NYPD detective telephone Yonkers police to ask them to schedule an interview with Berkowitz. They called the house and Berkowitz sister of Berkowitz’s alleged cult confederates John and Michael Carr. The sister asked the police for some help tracking Berkowitz down. The Yonkers Police had their own suspicions about Berkowitz, in connection with the other strange crimes in Yonkers they saw referenced in one of the Son of Sam letters. They Next day the police investigates Berkowitz’s car parked on the street outside his Pine Street apartment in Yonkers. They saw a Commando filled with ammunition, maps of the crime scenes and a letter to Sgt. Dowd of the Omega task force, threatening further murders. August 10, 1977 he was carrying a 44 Bulldog (caliber) in a paper. The Police arrested Berkowitz as he was starting his car and his first words upon the arrest were reported to be, “You got me. What took you so long?”

Why no Trials?• The police were worried that, if challenged in court, their initial search of

Berkowitz’s vehicle might be ruled unconstitutional. The Police had no search warrant, and their justification for the search of Berkowitz’s car might seem flimsy. It did not matter because Berkowitz quickly confessed to the shooting, however, and expressed an inters in pleading guilt in exchange for receiving life imprisonment rather than facing the death penalty. He was questiong for about 30 minutes in the early morning of August 11, 1977, and he quickly confessed to the “Son of Sam” killings.

SON OF SAM????• Berkowitz said that the “Sam” mentioned in the letter was Sam Carr, his

former neighbor. Berkowitz claimed that Carr’s Labrador retriever dog, Harvey, was possessed by an ancient demon, and that it issued ireesistible commands that Berkowitz must kill people. Berkowitz said he once tried to kill the dog, but was unsuccessful due to supernatural interference.

Citation

• wikipedia.org/wiki• www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/

notorious/berkowitz/letter_1.html - 3• crime.about.com/od/murder/p/sonofsam.htm