The Son Of Sam Story
David Berkowitz, the infamous Son of Sam whose murderous spree gripped New York with terror during the summer of 1977, is profiled on CBS News Productions' "Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer," part of its Eye Too documentary series. The following was prepared for that documentary.
Few serial killers have created as much fear as David Berkowitz, better known as the Son of Sam. For over a year in the mid-70's, the chubby former postal worker held New York City under siege. Armed with a powerful .44 revolver, he preyed on young women walking alone and couples in parked cars.
The police created a special task force of 300 to try to catch him, at one point fielding as many as 8,000 calls a day. Before Berkowitz's reign of terror ended, he killed six and wounded seven, and earned a permanent place in the nightmares of New Yorkers.
David Berkowitz grew up in the Bronx in the '50s and '60s. He was adopted as a baby, raised by caring parents, played baseball, and was bar mitzvahed. But in an interview, he admits that even as a child he considered himself drawn to evil.
When he first began stalking women and couples in various parts of the city, the police had no idea the murders were related. It was the .44 caliber bullet found in the bodies of several victims that convinced them they were dealing with a serial killer.
The news that a gunman, quickly dubbed the ".44 caliber killer," was prowling New York City searching for human targets created panic. Suddenly, nightclubs were deserted. And learning that the victims all had long dark hair, women began dying their hair or cutting it short.
The police dragnet, which included manning toll booths and bridges and stationing undercover male and female officers in lover's lanes, was the biggest in New York City's history. But months went by, and the body count grew. Berkowitz even taunted the police, leaving messages at the scenes of murders and writing letters to Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin. He signed them "Son of Sam."
Ultimately it was a parking ticket left on a car near the scene of a homicide in Brooklyn that led to Berkowitz's arrest. The police subsequently learned that he had taken test drives through neighborhoods before committing his executions, and even hung out in coffee shops, eavesdropping on the cops trying to catch him.
Berkowitz is now serving six separate 25-year terms. Yet there are some who have come to believe he was part of a satanic cult, and that he did not act alone.
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