David Berkowitz: Case Description

David Berkowitz

Case Description

Group members: Janhavi Subramaniyan, Kajori Ganguly, Keertana Nagrajan, Meher Gandhi, Rachel Elizabeth Elengical, Kimberly Galstaun

Case description

Early life:

David Richard Falco was born on June 1st, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. He was adopted by Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz a few days after his birth, making him David Richard Berkowitz (Abrahamsen, 2012). He had a history of misconduct and a troubled childhood but these instances did not result in any legal interventions. Berkowitz was close to his adoptive mother who passed away due to breast cancer when he was only fourteen. He did not have a positive relationship with his adoptive father. He joined the US army at the age of 18 and was honourably discharged three years later in 1974 (Leyton, 2001). Having spent his life believing that his mother died giving birth to him, he had been filled with a sense of guilt. When he later discovered that his birth mother was alive and had him out of an extra-marital affair with a married man, he was furious and upset. Having realised that his birth was a mistake, and finding out that he had a half-sister, fueled his bitterness and triggered negative emotions that led him to commit even more crimes.

Case Details : 

David Berkowitz, also known as the Son of Sam, terrorised the people of New York City from 1976-1977. He committed 6 murders in total, creating panic and fear amongst the citizens for that whole year. He started out in 1975 by stabbing a woman but she survived her wounds and later on, he killed a woman in 1976 leading to the murder of 5 other people all of whom were couples. Most of his shootings were done on people sitting in a car and many of his victims survived. Thus, they were also able to give his descriptions to the police which later helped them narrow it down and catch Berkowitz. All his murders were with a .44 caliber gun. Throughout his killing spree, David also sent many scrawled notes to the police referring to himself as the Son of Sam, who was in fact the neighbour’s dog that was apparently demonic and controlling him. 

Finally, on August 10th 1977, after a chaotic and bloody manhunt, the police were able to apprehend Berkowitz. A yellow car had been described in all of the crimes and so when the police came searching for yellow cars, Berkowitz was looked at as a suspect instead of a witness. The police searched his car without a warrant and on finding a rifle, a map outlining the scenes of the crimes and an unsent letter of Son of Sam, they surrounded him at his apartment where to their advantage, he admitted to the crimes and cooperated with the arrest. When his apartment was searched, it was found that there was satanic graffiti on the walls, dirt lying all around and diary entries detailing the numerous arsons he carried out in the city. 

He agreed to plead guilty at court and the judge sentenced him with 25 years in jail for each murder that he committed. Being very inconsistent with his reasons and motivations, Berkowitz later revealed that the psychotic claims were untrue and that he was just taking revenge on a world that he felt had outcasted him, especially women. In 1990, Berkowitz was shifted to the Sullivan Correctional Facility, where he currently resides. 

Legal Standing and Result:

David Berkowitz was arrested on the 10th of August, 1977. He was interrogated the next day and confessed to having killed six people and wounding seven others in separate shootings. He stated that he would plead guilty in court, even though his defence counsel tried to push for a plea of ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’. Despite his insistence on being manipulated by the devil in the form of his neighbour’s dog, he was found competent to stand trial on multiple mental health examinations. On the 12th of June, 1978,  he was sentenced to 25 years-to-life for each murder in the Attica Correctional Facility, in Upstate New York.

Despite the severity of his crimes, he was eligible for parole after 25 years, and every two years after that. However, he consistently refused to attend the trials, stating that he ‘deserves to be in prison for the rest of his life’. 

David Berkowitz’ case started circulating again in 2021 after a new documentary on Netflix brought a lifelong obsession of a journalist Maury Terry to light. His work led researchers and the public to become convinced that Berkowitz did not act alone and that there were other ‘Son(s) of Sam’ all of whom were linked to a satanic cult. In 2007,  David issued an apology on his own website called ‘ariseandshine’ where he mentioned he was sorry for the hurt he had caused through his selfish actions and said that he regretted what he had done and was haunted by it everyday (Claire, 2021). Again in 2017, on the 40th Anniversary of his arrest when a news channel confronted him with the question of whether he was the sole shooter in the murders, he took full responsibility for the shooting but further added that there were demons involved. 

References for Case Description

Abrahamsen, D. (1985). Confessions of Son of Sam. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-05760-1.

Crime Museum, LLC. (2021, August 13). David Berkowitz | Son of Sam Killer. Crime Museum. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/david-berkowitz/

David Berkowitz (Son of Sam). (2021). Crime+Investigation UK. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/david-berkowitz-son-of-sam

Jenkins, J. P. (2021, May 28). David Berkowitz | Biography, Crimes, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Berkowitz

Leyton, E. (2001). Hunting Humans: The Rise of the Modern Multiple Murderer. New York: Carroll & Graf.

St. Clair, J. (2021, May 7). David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam, Continues to Claim He Acted Alone. Men’s Health. https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a36364781/where-is-david-berkowitz-son-of-sam-now/