David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam

He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1953. Joseph refused to accept the child and so Betty gave him the name of her husband, Falco. As soon as he was born he was given in adoption to a Jewish couple who changed his name to David Berkowitz.

As a child David never had any interest in studies. But he was a good basket ball player and was a bully in his neighborhood. His adopted father remarried after his first wife died, but David who was devastated by his mother's death, never liked his father's second wife. Due to this, his relationship with his father also got strained. David joined the US Army in 1971 and went to South Korea. He later took to Christianity and claimed himself to be born again.

His first attack was on two women, out of which one survived in 1975. His shooting spree began in the summer of 1976. In New York, he shot two women at point blank range while they were sitting inside a car in a car park. In October 1976, another victim, a young 19 year old, was shot at in a car park in Queens. A month later, he shot two other women who were walking home after a movie in Queens. Though both survived the attack, one was paralyzed waist down.

The new year of 1977 brought more killings in New York. The modus operandi was the same as others. Christine and John were sitting in their car in a car park. Though John survived, Christine succumbed to bullet injuries.

This was when the cops woke up and found a pattern in the killings. The target had been women with long brown hair or couples in a car in car parks. Another girl, Virginia, was killed point blank on the road in Queens.

The police took all the murders together and "Operation Omega" was launched to find Berkowitz. Around 300 cops were involved in this operation. Finally David was arrested in front of his house on August 10^th 1977 in New York. It is understood that his first words to the police were "what took you so long"? His thirst for blood and his adopted mother's death, which he felt was a master plot to destroy him, turned him into a serial killer.

On arrest, he pleaded guilty and wanted to avoid death penalty. He is a reformed Christian today and prefers to remain in prison for his entire life. How he gave himself the name 'Son of Sam' is a bit weird and this made the police suspect that he was mentally disturbed. Sam was the name of his neighbor, Sam Carr, who had a black Labrador, which David thought was possessed by an ancient demon. He felt that the dog ordered him to kill.

He believed that when he tried to kill the dog he missed the target because of super natural intervention. His statements clearly proved his mental state and he was sentenced to 365 years in jail in 1978 David's life story has inspired many film directors to make movies on him. "I am deeply hurt by your calling me a women hater. I am not. But I am a monster. I am the 'Son of Sam.' I am a little brat." These are the opening sentences of his letter to Captain Joseph Borelli, where he calls himself a demon who is called from above to "kill". Today, David Berkowitz is a born-again Christian who is described as a model prisoner.

By Carlos Cabezas López
Original Article Source: http://www.casoabierto.com/Cronica-Negra/Cronica-Negra-Internacional/DavidBerkowitzenglishversion.html