He Shed Innocent Blood In The Most Gruesome Way. Why?
Nicknamed the Son of Sam, David Berkowitz mercilessly terrorised and shook the whole of New York for nearly two years. His brutality was one that had never been seen before.
David Berkowitz, whose real name was Richard David Falco, is the son of a Jewish woman called Elizabeth Broader, popularly known as Betty.
FlashBack
In 1936 before David was born, his mother got married to an Italian American called Tonny Falco. Sadly in less than four years of their marriage, Falco left Betty for another woman. She remained single until 1950, where she fell in love with a married man called Joseph Klineman. Quickly she fell pregnant and gave birth to a son she named Richard David Falco on the 1st of June 1953 in Brooklyn, New York.
Because David was born out of wedlock and a product of an affair, it is allegedly believed that his birth father, Joseph Klineman, threatened to abandon Betty if she kept the baby and used his last name. As a result, she named him after her former husband, Tony Falco.
Fearing being left by her lover, she gave the baby away to a lovely couple described as desperate to have a child, Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz, who lived in the Bronx. They renamed him David Richard Berkowitz.
Growing up as the son of Berkowitz, he was described by relatives and neighbours as a troubled child who was very spoilt and often a bully. He attended a public school, and despite being an average student, he hated school at a very early age, fantasised about stealing and starting fires. His behaviour and attitude towards other people got worse by the day. The final blow was when his adoptive mother, Pearl, died of breast cancer when he was only 14.
She was the only person David described as loving, caring and understood him more than anyone else. While struggling with her death, his adoptive father married a second wife, who David hated to the core. The home was no longer the way it used to be for him.
At the age of 17, David left home and joined the United States Army to escape the new mom in the house and heal Pearl’s death on his own. After three years of service, for an unknown reason, David was honourably discharged from the army. Quickly he searched for his birth mother, Betty, and without much effort, he found her. They connected and arranged to meet.
Their first meeting seemed optimistic for both of them. After a couple of visits, Betty felt like it was the right time to disclose anything David wanted to know about his childhood, how he came about and why she gave him up for adoption.
Regrettably, the information that David received was not what he anticipated. Instead of feeling better with himself, he felt livid. He started to question why he was unworthy of being loved by both of his father figures. His thoughts fueled this feeling that neither of his mothers loved him enough, one way or the other; they left him alone to figure out life on his own.
According to Forensic Anthropologist Elliot Leyton, the discovery of his adoption and birth details were the “primary crisis” of his life, a revelation that shattered his sense of identity.
Angry with his biological mother, David cut communication with her permanently but for some time stayed in contact with his half-sister, Roselyn.
The Beginning Of His Outrages Crimes
In 1970 David had a neighbour called Sam Carr, who had a lovely dog named Harvey. According to David, this dog was possessed by an ancient evil demon that gave him “ irresistible commands” to kill people and spill their blood all over the streets of Newyork.
Adhering to the so-called demands, which were later proved nonsensical, David began the reign of terror in Newyork, which lasted from 1975 to 1977.
The First Attack
On the Christmas Eve of 1975, David made his first official attack. While two young ladies aged 15 enjoyed their night taking a stroll underneath a bridge in Co-op City, David attacked and stabbed them with a hunting knife.
One of the victims sadly died and could not be identified but was of Hispanic origin. The other victim, Michelle Forman, was taken to the hospital for treatment for her injuries.
After two weeks, she was discharged. Not recollecting what happened that night, she failed to identify the possible suspect, and David got away with murder. Realizing his luck, he moved 20–25 minutes away from Co-op City, but that didn’t stop him.
After a few months of laying low David decided it was time to hit again. On the night of July 29, 1976, two friends, Donna and Jody, sat in a parking lot and had a catch-up about their day. After some few hours, Donna opened up her car door to leave and all of a sudden, she saw a shadow of a man quickly approaching her direction. As soon as she opened her mouth to question what the man wanted, David pulled his 44 calibre pistol and shot Donna in the chest; she died on the spot.
Seeing what just happened to her friend and being scared for her dear life, Jody tried to get out of the car and run. David saw her and shot her on the thigh; she fell, crawled like a baby, and luckily found help. Fearing being caught, David fled the crime scene without a trace. Police were called, and after interviewing Jody, they still had no possible suspect as Jody said it was dark and she couldn’t see the man.
Next Victims
Again David laid low for some time, and on October 23rd, 1976, in a residential area of Flushing Queens, a 20-year-old Carl Denaro was having a great time chilling with his girlfriend, Rosemary in her car. Suddenly, the car windows shattered, and in panic mode, Rosemary drove away. Luckily, she only received superficial injuries from the broken glass, but her boyfriend, who got hit in the head, was badly left with a bullet wound.
He was taken to the hospital for treatment, and eventually, a metal plate was put to replace a portion of his skull. Thankfully both of them survived. When asked by the police If they saw the attacker, they responded they had no idea.
While the police investigated this shooting, something stroke their eyes. They noticed similarities with the shooting of Jody and her friend. While looking inside the car, they found shell casings from a 44 calibre pistol that perfectly matched the previous shooting.
While taking a closer look at the victims, the investigators noticed that the attacker was attracted to a specific type of women with long dark hair. Since the police had mistaken Carl for a woman in the beginning because of his shoulder-length hair and softer features, they believed that David also thought the couple was only girls.
Having the luck of not getting caught, David felt invisible. On November 27, 1976, two local high school friends, Donna, 16, and Joanne, 18, were sitting on Joanne’s front porch area just chatting. All of a sudden, they noticed a man dressed in a full combat uniform approaching them.
He pretended to be asking for directions, and before he could even finish his question, he pulled his gun and shot both of them. After he randomly fired bullets all around the house and left things with bullet holes. Luckily Donna survived okay, but Joanne had been hit on her spine, and she became paralysed.
Few months passed with nothing happening as David followed his usual pattern of taking some time off to see if the police had anything on him. Upon realizing that they had no clue or whatsoever, he set for motion in January 1977.
While a young engaged couple Christine and fiance John, sat in a parking lot probably talking about looking forward to the future together, a sound of random bullets went off out of nowhere. In the driver's seat, John started the car quickly and drove away to seek help. Lucky for him, he survived with minor injuries, but sadly his fiance died that night as she had been shot twice. The future now looked bleak for poor John.
The police continued to struggle to get any leads or possible suspects. They then decided it was time for the public to know the relation of the crimes and the pattern used by the killer. Sketches of the possible suspect were done and realized to the public by the media. In doing so, the police hoped for a positive outcome but to no avail.
On March 8th that same year, 19-year-old Virginia was heading home from school when David approached her with a gun. It is said that Virginia held her textbooks firmly together and tried to use them as a shield to protect herself, but sadly the bullet went through the books, hit her, and she died on the spot.
A few months after her death, the investigators released an official statement, letting the public know that bullets found from Virginia’s death were the same as those from the previous attacks. Without a name or whatsoever, the media gave the psycho a name- the 44 calibre killer.
With the police dismally missing David, the killings were not stopping anytime sooner. On the 10th of March 1977, 20-year-old Alexander and girlfriend Valentina were sitting in the car talking. Suddenly a stranger appeared and shot them. Sadly Valentina died on the spot, and Alexandra was taken to the hospital, but he also didn’t make it. He died as soon as they arrived at the hospital.
Oddly this time, there was a handwritten note left at the crime scene directed to the police. David shared that he was unhappy with the media's nickname- the 44 calibre killer- and demanded it is changed to “the Son of Sam.”
He kept his ridiculous belief that the dog required blood to support its youth as it was getting old. He also expressed in the letter that the only way to stop him was to kill him, or they should stop trying to stand in his way because they would die. Without making much sense in the letter, he wrote, “to the people of Queens l love you and want to wish all of you a happy Easter “.l mean how dare he when he had taken away so many loved ones from the people of Queens. Utter disrespect.
Ending the note, he assured the police that he would be back to strike again. The media managed to get their hands on the message and shared the letter with the public. Fear and terror gripped the hearts of many and became the story of their lives. Women with long to medium dark hair began to cut and shave off their hair. Those who wished to keep theirs dyed it blonde, trying to escape the monster who targeted victims with specific hair types.
In June 1977, the city of Bayside, Queens, had its first attack. A young couple Sal and girlfriend Judy were shot in their car at 3 am, but thankfully the attack was not fatal.
According to reports, that same year in July would mark the first anniversary of the 44. calibre killer. With it approaching, fear intensified in the hearts of many. They didn’t know who was next. Planning to celebrate the anniversary differently, David headed to a new city called Brooklyn.
On July 31st, a man named Robert and a woman called Stacey fell prey to his evil. He shot their car four times, and sadly Robert lost one of his eyes, and Stacey died on the spot. For the first time, Stacey was the only victim with blonde hair.
Word spread out about the incident, and while watching the news, one woman who had come across David earlier on and spotted him with a dark object suspected it was him and headed to the nearest police station. While giving her statement, she mentioned something that proved very useful. She had noticed that his car had a parking ticket. With that on the plate, it made it easy for David to be located.
On August 9th, 1977, the police headed over to David’s house to arrest him and bring him up to the station for questioning. With David not expecting anyone, he was relaxed at home. Upon their arrival, they noticed an assault rifle on the backseat of his car; they phoned immediately to obtain a search warrant for his house.
As they waited, the search of the car progressed, and they found a bag filled with ammunition, a map with marks of the crime scenes, and a threatening letter addressed to inspector Timothy Dowd of the Omega Task Force.
At 10 pm, the Son of Sam decided to leave his home and was greeted by the police. The first thing he said was, “Well, you got me. ”He was arrested and taken to custody. The following day he was only interviewed for 30 minutes, where he confessed his crimes and blamed them on the supposedly evil dog.
With that kind of statement, three different mental health experts were called to examine him, and both ruled that he was mentally stable to stand trial; the poor dog had nothing to do with his crimes, but David felt the world hated and rejected him, so it was time for it to pay up.
Trial and Sentencing
David pleaded guilty, and he was sentenced to 25 years for each victim to be served consecutively. While in prison, he shared that he was now a newborn Christian and would like his name to be changed from the Son of Sam to the Son of Hope.
He compiled stories of his notorious crimes and wrote books about them, but the government removed the law entitled killers to any share or royalties on books of serial killers. In 2002 David applied for parole, which was declined instantly. He is still in jail to date.
My heart goes out to the affected families, and hopefully, the victims who never made it are resting in peace.
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Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berkowitz
http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/david-berkowitz-son-of-sam