David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam, Continues to Claim He Acted Alone
The story of the Son of Sam, David Berkowitz, who was found guilty of six murders committed in New York City in the late 1970s, once again returns to prime time in Netflix’s new documentary The Sons of Sam. Though Berkowitz is the titular focus, the four-part series organizes events around a different Yonkers resident. The series chronicles the white-whale search of investigative reporter Maury Terry, who maintained Berkowitz was not the sole perpetrator of the New York City killing spree. His investigations and his book, The Ultimate Evil, attempted to connect Berkowitz’s crimes to other occult-linked killings in the United States, while also proving the Berkowitz murders required accomplices—namely Berkowitz’s neighbors John and Michael Carr, the actual sons of Sam (Sam Carr).
Terry was ultimately unable to convince police investigators to reopen the case, and though he managed to gain access to Berkowitz for a televised interview—an interview in which Berkowitz appeared to concede he was not the sole triggerman for the murders—many discredited Terry’s investigations, his interview techniques, and the foundations for many of his claims.
“When you’re coming and you’re criticizing me and that criticism is justified, fine, I’ll take that,” Joseph Borrelli, a retired NYPD lead detective on the Berkowitz case, told Netflix in an interview for the series. “But when you go making up stories, like a cult, I don’t buy it at all.”
The story of David Berkowitz, however, even before the killings, wasn’t entirely straightforward. Born in 1953, Berkowitz was given up for adoption and raised by foster parents in the Bronx. At 18, he joined the Army. He was later honorably discharged, moving back to New York where he started working in the Bronx Post Office in 1976. The killings began four months later. At the time of the first murders, Berkowitz was 23.
The events to which Berkowitz is connected include almost a dozen shootings: Jody Valenti and Donna Lauria in the Bronx (1976); Carl Denaro and Rosemary Keenan in Queens (1976); Donna DeMasi and Joanne Lomino in Queens (1976); Christine Freund and John Diel in Queens (1977); Virginia Voskerichian in Manhattan (1977); Valentina Suriani and Alexander Esau in the Bronx (1977); Judy Placido and Sal Lupo in Queens (1977); and Robert Violante and Stacy Moskowitz in Brooklyn (1977). Lauria, Freund, Voskerichian, Suriani, Esau, and Moskowitz all died from their injuries. Others were blinded and paralyzed.
Berkowitz was initially dubbed the “.44 Caliber Killer” by New York Newspapers, named after his murder weapon of choice. Later, he left a letter at one of the crime scenes signed “Son of Sam.” On August 10, 1977, Berkowitz was arrested in Yonkers, sitting in a car outside his home. On May 8, 1978, he plead guilty to six counts of murder and received six life sentences. At the time, Berkowitz claimed the motive for the killings was Sam, a demonic spirit that inhabited his neighbor’s black Labrador.
Where is David Berkowitz now in 2021?
In 1979, directly after his incarceration at Attica Correctional Facility, Berkowitz was attacked by an inmate and slashed across the neck. He later moved to Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York.
In an interview with CBS in 2013, Berkowitz attempted to correct misperceptions about him. He said he was not ordered to kill by his neighbor’s dog, nor was he part of a demonic cult. He claimed instead that he felt like “a soldier on a mission.” He said he believed Satan would release him from his emotional pain and loneliness if he killed. He also said he had not taken any medication and was not mentally ill.
Berkowitz said that in 1987 he experienced a spiritual rebirth, and that God forgave him. In 2007, he wrote an apology on his own website. “I grieve for those who are wounded, and for the family members of those who lost a loved one because of my selfish actions,” Berkowitz wrote. “I regret what I've done and I'm haunted by it.”
When asked in 2017 whether he was the sole shooter in each incident, Berkowitz said he took responsibility for all shootings. When asked again if anyone else was involved, he said, “Let’s put it this way, there were demons.”
Berkowitz, 67, is now imprisoned at Shawangunk Correctional Facility in the Hudson Valley. In an interview late last year, he was once again asked if others had helped him commit the murders. He declined to talk about it. “Because the Lord has taken all my sins and thrown them into the depths of the sea, as the Scripture says, never to be remembered anymore. So why should I go fishing there and pull those things up?”
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