SON OF SAM

IS DAVID BERKOWITZ The only SON OF SAM?

“Son of Sam,” but is David the only Son of Sam killer? Was he working alone or was there more than one Son of Sam? Is it possible that there was more than one Son of Sam? Let’s look at the facts and you can draw your own conclusion!

The killings occurred from July 29, 1976 through July 31, 1977 in New York State. There were 14 victims, 13 shot, 1 stabbed. Six died and 8 were wounded.

Before he was dubbed Son of Sam, he was called the .44 Caliber Killer or the .44 Killer because of the weapon he used (a .44 Caliber Bulldog).

July 29, 1976. Pelham Bay. 1:10 am, the parents of Donna Lauria (age 18) came home after having dined out. They saw their daughter Donna sitting in a parked car with Jody Valenti (age 19). The family dog needed to be walked so Donna suggested that she and her dad walk it as Jody was about to leave. As her dad went to get the dog (a poodle), he noticed a man across the street by a yellow compact car. When Donna got out of her car, the man from the yellow car approached her. He was carrying a paper sack. Once he was next to her and their car, he pulled a gun out of the sack, crouched, aimed and fired. He shot Donna in chest, killing her immediately. The next bullet hit Jody in the thigh and a third bullet went wild. The shooter then quickly walked away.

Jody told authorities that she did not recognize the shooter. She described him as a white male, in his 30s, of fair complexion, about 5’9” in height and weighing roughly 160 pounds. His hair was dark, short and curly. Donna’’s father described the man in pretty much the same way. Later, neighbors reported having seen a yellow compact car cruising the neighborhood for several hours before the crime.

October 23, 1976. Queens. Carl Denaro (age 19) and Rosemary Keenan (age 18) were driving in Rosemary’s red Volkswagen Bug when the windows exploded. It was 1:30 am, and the two immediately slumped down in their seats as more bullets hit their car. They weren’t sure what was happening to them and were further confused when Carl discovered his head was bleeding. He had been hit. Rosemary drove to the bar, Pecks, which they had been at about a mile and half away. Rosemary was injured superficially from flying glass; Carl needed a metal plate to replace part of his skull. But both victims survived. Neither one saw anyone.

Carl had long hair he frequently wore in a ponytail. It was speculated that he was shot because the perp thought he was a woman. Since both shootings were .44, late at night, and the first one was two girls, they drew a conclusion that the perpetrator was hitting girls.

November 26/27, 1976.Queens. Donna DeMasi (age 16) and Joanne Lomino (age 18) had walked back from a movie and were talking outside of Donna’s apartment. A man came within 10 feet of them. They say that they expected this man to ask for directions. They described him as about 5’9,” tall, slender, about 150 pounds, with straight dirty blond hair and dark eyes. He wore a military surplus type of trench coat.

He did indeed start to ask for directions. The girls described his voice as high pitched. Then he pulled out a gun from his waistband and shot each girl once. They fell to the ground. He continued to fire but missed them each time after the first shots. Joanne was shot in the lower spine; Donna was shot through the base of her neck. A neighbor, hearing the noise came running out of his home. He described the gunman as a blond shooter who was gripping a pistol in his left hand.

Joanne was left a paraplegic and Donna healed from her wounds.

January 29/30, 1977.Queens. Christine Freund (age 26) and John Diel (age 30) had just seen the movie ROCKY and were sitting in John’s Firebird about to go to a dance hall. At 12:40 am, three gunshots rang out. John panicked and drove away. He had been wounded but superficially but Christine had been shot twice and died at the hospital. Neither Christine before she died nor John saw the shooter. They were not able to provide any information.

At this point when the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS carried the story, the composites of the short, curly, dark haired man and the stringy blond haired man were pictured. NYPD sergeant Richard Conlon said that they were looking for two shooters.

March 8, 1977. Queens. 7:30 pm. The pattern varies here. Virginia Voskerichian was walking home. She lived approximately a block from where Christine Freund had been shot. She was walking alone. All of the victims had been in twos thus far. Also all of the shootings had occurred late at night/early morning and on weekends. This was a weekday.

It appears that Virginia attempted to protect herself by putting her school books up to her head, but the bullet that killed her went right through the books and into her.

A neighbor was rounding the corner as he heard the shots. He described the shooter as a short, husky boy, 16 to 18 years of age, clean shaven, wearing a sweater and a watch cap. He was sprinting and nearly collided with him. The witness reported that the boy pulled the cap over his face as they passed each other and then said, “Oh, Jesus.””

Later other neighbors reported seeing a young man loitering in the neighborhood for a couple of hours. One described the loiterer as a teenager. Another described a close match to Berkowitz.

The chubby teenager that the witness had identified was then named as a suspect.

But two days later, they changed the chubby teenager to the status of witness, and declared that they were looking for the taller, dark haired man seen in the Lauria-Valenti shootings. They also stated that they felt the killer had a vendetta against women, possibly due to being chronically socially rejected.

They formed a task force and called it Operation Omega. No leads came.

April 17, 1977. Bronx. Alexander Esau (age 20) and Valentina Suriani (age 18) were a few blocks from the Lauria-Valenti shooting sitting in their Mercury Montago. It was 3:00 am. Each was shot twice and killed. Valentina died at the scene. Alexander died at the hospital.

In the street near the murders, a police officer found a hand written letter addressed to NYPD Captain Joseph Borrelli. It was hand written in block letter print, mostly capital letters, but with a few lower case ones, a direct quote of the letter:

“I am deeply hurt by you calling me a wemon hater! I am not. But I am a monster. I am the “Son of Sam.” I am a little brat. When father Sam gets drunk he gets mean. He beats his family. Sometimes he ties me up to the back of the house. Other times he locks me in the garage. Sam loves to drink blood. “Go out and kill,” commands father Sam. Behind our house some rest. Mostly young –– raped and slaughtered – their blood drained – just bones now. Papa Sam keeps me locked in the attic too. I can’t get out but I look out the attic window and watch the world go by. I feel like and outsider. I am on a different wavelength then everybody else – programmed to kill. However, to stop me you must kill me. Attention all police: Shoot me first – shoot to kill or else keep out of my way or you will die! Papa Sam is old now. He needs some blood to preserve his youth. He has had too many heart attacks. “Ugh, me hoot, it hurts, sonny boy. “I miss my pretty princess most of all. She’’s resting in our ladies house. But I’ll see her soon. I am the “Monster” –– “Beelzebub” – the chubby behemoth. I love to hunt. Prowling the streets looking for fair game –– tasty meat. The wemon of Queens are prettyist al all. It must be the water they drink. I live for the hunt – my life. Blood for papa. Mr. Borrelli, sir, I don’t want to kill anymore .Nosur, no more but I must, ““honor thy father.’ I want to make love to the world. I love people. I don’t belong on earth. Return me to yahoos. To the people of Queens, I love you. And I want to wish all of you a happy Easter. May God bless you in this life and in the next. And for now I say goodbye and goodnight. Police: Let me haunt you with these words: I’ll be back! I’ll be back! To be interpreted as – bang, bang, bang, bang, bang – ugh!! Yours in murder, Mr. Monster.”

It was common knowledge that a letter was left but not the content of it. The police speculated that this “monster” was familiar with Scotch English due to the phrase “me hoots, it hurts, sonny boy.” This phrase is from the actual Scottish verse: “my heart, it hurts, sonny boy.”

At the time of the receipt of the letter, the police speculated that maybe the killer’s father had many heart attacks that led to his death and he thus blamed a nurse for his father’s death. If the nurse was dark haired and young, that could explain why he was killing dark haired young women. This profile made sense as Valenti was attending nursing school and Lauria was a medical technician.

The police profiled the Son of Sam based on this letter. They called him neurotic; as well as probably a paranoid schizophrenic who believed that he was possessed by a demon.

How would you profile this letter? Do you agree with the police? Note his spelling of wemon.

The Police began setting traps with undercover cops posing as lovers, late night owls, etc. to try and lure him out.

On May 30, 1977, a columnist for the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS received a handwritten letter from someone claiming to be the .44 killer. The letter bore a New Jersey postmark and on the reverse of the envelope, handwritten and precisely centered was:

“Blood and Family/Darkness and Death/Absolute Depravity/.44”

Inside:

“Hello from the gutters of N.Y.C. which are filled with dog manure, vomit, stale wine, urine and blood. Hello from the sewers of N.Y.C. which swallow up these delicacies when they are washed away by the sweeper trucks. Hello from the cracks and feed in the dried blood of the dead that has settled into the cracks. J.B., I’m dropping you a line to let you know that I appreciate your interest in those recent and horrendous .44 killings. I also want to tell you that I read your column daily and I find it quite informative. Tell me Jim, what will you have for July twenty-ninth? You can forget about me if you like because I don’t care for publicity. However, you must not forget Donna Lauria and you cannot let the people forget her either. She was a very, very sweet girl but Sam’s a thirsty lad and he won’t let me stop killing until he gets his fill of blood. Mr. Breslin, sir, don’t think that because you haven’t heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. No, rather, I am still here, like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest; anxious to please Sam. I love my work. Now, the void has been filled. Perhaps we shall meet face to face someday or perhaps I will be blown away by cops with smoking .38’’s. Whatever, if I shall be fortunate enough to meet you I will tell you all about Sam if you like and I will introduce you to him. His name is “Sam the terrible.” Not knowing the what the future holds I shall say farewell and I will see you at the next job. Or should I say you will see my handiwork at the next job? Remember Ms. Lauria. Thank you. In their blood and from the gutter “Sam’s creations”.44. Here are some names to help you along. Forward them to the inspector for use by N.C.I.C. (sic) “The Duke of Death” “The Wicked King of Wicker”” “The Twenty Two Disciples of Hell” “John Wheaties’’ – Rapist and Suffocator of Young Girls. PS: Please inform all the detectives working the slaying to remain. P.S. (sic) JB, Please inform all the detectives working the case that I wish them the best of luck. “Keep ‘em digging, drive on, think positive, get off your butts, knock on coffins, etc.” Upon my capture I promise to buy all the guys working the case a new pair of shoes if I can get up the money. Son of Sam.””

Under the signature ‘Son of Sam’ was a series of symbols that combined to create a logo of sorts.

Breslin immediately notified the police. The police upon dissecting it felt that the writer had an intimate knowledge of the shootings. The letter differed from the first in that the first was crude and handwritten. This letter may have been created in an art studio. It had the look of someone with professional knowledge in calligraphy, printing, and graphic design.

The police watched THE WICKER MAN (made in the 1970s) due to the reference “Wicked King Wicker”.

Does this second letter sound like the same person wrote both letters? Does the education level seem the same to you? The manner and pattern of speech? Not to mention the difference in the style and presentation – does that suggest anything to you?

After a week, and holding back parts of the letter, the police allowed the DAILY NEWS to print the abbreviated letter. Breslin urged the shooter to turn himself in. The DAILY NEWS claims that that edition sold over 1.1 million copies. However, the letter did not have the effect the police hoped. Instead it caused a panic. Thousands of baseless tips came in. Girls cut or dyed their hair due to the fact that the victims had had long dark hair. Blond wigs were selling off the shelves. Young women stopped going out.

June 25/26, 1977.Queens. Sal Lupo (age 20) and Judy Placido (age 17) after partying at a disco sat in their car around 3 am ironically discussing Son of Sam, when shots rang out. Three shots hit them, luckily their injuries were minor. Salvatore was shot in the wrist and passed through the fleshy part of Judy’s neck. Sal ran into the disco for help. Judy started to but collapsed after a few steps probably out of shock. Neither Sal nor Judy saw the shooter but other witnesses did. They described a tall, stocky, dark haired man running from the scene as well as a blond haired man with a mustache that had been driving a Chevy Nova with the headlights off earlier in the evening.

The police decided that the dark haired man was the shooter and the blond was just a witness.

Could the blond have been a shooter as well or the shooter?

Nearly a year went by and the police had nothing. Dragnets were set in both Queens and the Bronx. So, what did “Sam” do? He moved over to Brooklyn.

July 31, 1977. Brooklyn. Stacy Moskowitz (age 20) and Robert Violente (age 20) were making out in his car parked under a streetlight near a park. It was 2:25 am. A man walked right up to the driver’s side of the car and fired into it. He hit both in the head. Stacy died at the hospital. Robert lost an eye and retained only a small amount of vision in his remaining eye. The pattern had changed. Not only was Sam in Brooklyn, but Stacy had short, curly blond hair.

For some reason, there were more witnesses to these shootings than the others. Another couple was parked three cars ahead of Moskowitz and Violente. Tommy Zaino, the driver, came up for air just in time to see the man approach the car. Given the streetlight and a full moon, he had a perfect view. He described the man as about 25 to 30 years of age, average height (which he said was 5’7” to 5’9”) with shaggy hair that was either dark blond or light brown. But he felt certain it was a wig.

Obviously, this was a popular parking street, because in another parked car, a girl on the other side of the park saw a white male who she said was clearly wearing a light colored cheap nylon wig. She watched him run from the park and get into a small light colored car which sped away. She remarked that he acted as if he had just robbed a bank. Because of his odd behavior, she wrote down the part of the license plate that she could see. She was unsure of the first two positions, but the last four were 4-GUR or 4-GVR.

Another girl saw the light car speed away approximately 20 seconds after the shots. She described the car as a yellow Volkswagen.

Others in the neighborhood say they saw a yellow Volkswagen driving around earlier in the evening with its lights off.

A neighbor overlooking the street lamp, Mary Lyons, heard Robert’s calls for help and looked out her window. She says that she saw the man that she later identified as Berkowitz walking calmly away from the scene while others were frantically running to the kids to help them. That’s why she remembered him.

Then at about 2:35 am, a man was nearly struck by a yellow Volkswagen speeding through the intersection. It ran the red light and did not have its’ headlights on. Irritated by the near miss, he followed the car. He described the driver as late 20s to 30s, narrow face, long, stringy hair, and several days’ worth of growth on his face. He was also wearing a blue jacket. He did not get the plate but was pretty sure that it was not a New York plate but rather a New Jersey plate.

Later, Robert remembered seeing a similar looking man when he and Stacy were in the park. He described him as a grubby looking hippy with whiskers, wiry hair pulled over his forehead, dark eyes, and wearing a denim jacket.

At first, the police did not think it was a Son of Sam shooting, because the weapon used was a large caliber instead of the .44. They intended to hunt down Volkswagen owners, but when they discovered that there were more than 900 of them, they felt that wasn’t the most productive way to catch Sam.

There had been another witness at the last shooting, Cacilia Davis. She lived in the area of the shooting and had seen Berkowitz earlier in the evening. She said he was glaring at people for several hours and he got a parking ticket for parking too close to a fire hydrant. His car was a yellow Ford Galaxy. Two days after the attack, she called the police with her suspicions. When they pulled the tickets they found it, license number 561-XLB.

Initially, the police felt Berkowitz could be a witness to the crime. But 7 days later, Detective James Justis called the Yonkers police and asked them to schedule an interview with Berkowitz. As fate would have it, the dispatcher that took the call was Wheat Carr, daughter of Sam Carr and sister to John and Michael Carr (the two men that Berkowitz claimed were in a cult with him and part of Son of Sam with him). She shocked Detective Justis by saying that she thought Berkowitz was the Son of Sam.

She then told him that she felt Berkowitz had shot her dog Harvey.

The next day, August 10, 1977, the Yonkers police went to Berkowitz’s address. They saw his car and out in the open on the backseat was a Commando Mark 111 rifle. They searched his car and found a duffel filled with ammo, maps of crime scenes, and a letter to Omega task force leader Sergeant Dowd which threatened more murders. Armed with this info, the police decided to wait for Berkowitz to come out rather than storm his apartment risking harming innocent individuals. So they waited. At roughly 10 pm, he exited his apartment. He was carrying a paper sack with a .44 Bulldog in it. As he headed to his car the police closed ranks and arrested him. He went in with no incident but said, “You got me. What took you so long?””

When police searched his apartment, they found it a mess. Satanic graffiti was on the walls. They found a diary where he wrote of dozens of arsons he had set in the New York area. The arsons may have been as high as 1100, but that has not been verified.

The search was done without a warrant. The rifle on the backseat was not grounds as that particular gun was legal in New York and did not rise to probable cause. However, New York got lucky when Berkowitz confessed in the interest of pleading guilty in order to take the death penalty off the table. He had been questioned less than 30 minutes when he confessed on August 11, 1977 to being the notorious Son of Sam.

He claimed that the Sam he referred to in his first letter was Sam Carr, his former neighbor. He told the police that Sam had a Labrador retriever named Harvey that was possessed by an ancient demon. He went on to say that Harvey issued commands, commands that he had to follow to kill people. He said that he tried to kill the dog but the dog’s power was too strong and he was unable to kill it.

The hunt for the Son of Sam cost $90,000 a day in the 70s, involved 300 detectives, and had approximately 215 calls a day to the tip line. Police questioned over 3000 suspects and attempted to check out 28,000 owners of .44 Caliber Bulldogs. 25 police officers were promoted.

David Berkowitz was born June 1, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York. David was born to a 19 year old Betty Broder who was married to Tony Falco but having an affair with a married man. She got pregnant from her affair and the married man, Joseph Kleinman, told her he would only continue to see her if she gave up the baby. So on the day she gave birth, she gave David up for adoption. Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz adopted him.

Pearl died of cancer when David was 14. This devastated David. He and his adopted father moved to the Bronx in 1969. Nathan remarried in 1971 but David did not like his step-mother and joined the army to avoid living with them.

David returned home from the Army in 1974 and renounced Judaism (the religion of Nathan and Pearl). This upset Nathan. He left Nathan’s home to live on his own. Loneliness spurred him to search for his birth parents. After much searching, he discovered that his real name was Richard Falco. From there, it was easy. He simply looked in the phone book and found his real mother.

It was quite the emotional reunion and David frequently visited his real mother’s home. He would also meet with his real sister, Roslyn and her family.

But in January of 1976 he started complaining of frequent headaches and stopped visiting them as often.

In February of 1976, he moved to the home of the Cassara’s of New Rochelle. He left two months later without attempting to collect his security deposit of $200.

Prior to the first attack July 29, 1976, David attacked 3 young ladies with a knife. All of the girls survived. Three months before that attack, he moved to Pine St where he was arrested and bought a .44 Caliber Bulldog Gun.

There is no dispute that David Berkowitz is Son of Sam or at least one of the Son of Sams. So, now we will look at the case for multiple Son of Sam killers.

There are several people that believe that Son of Sam was a collective group of shooters and not just David Berkowitz. John Hockenberry, formerly of DATELINE and MSNBC, had reported that the cases of Son of Sam in the Queens Bourough murders and Yonkers are still open. Maury Terry, a journalist covering the Son of Sam case, is another who believes in multiple shooters.

There are two different sketches, one with dark hair that looks like Berkowitz and one of a stringy blond hippie type guy.

We have a partial license plate number –4-GUR or –4-GVR vs. Berkowitz’s 561-XLB.

And then we have the issue of kills versus non kills. Why would a killer be able to hit his target only some of the time? Berkowitz was in the service and knew how to use a gun with proficiency.

Additionally, in some of the instances the witnesses said Sam pulled a gun from a paper bag and in at least one, he pulled the gun from his waistband. Why would he be inconsistent when he was very methodical in his ways?

And why the change from girls with long dark hair to the one with short, curly blond hair?

As a profiler that speaks of more than one shooter, what do you think?

In a rare interview with Maury Terry in 1997, Berkowitz said many interesting things. Maury was obsessed with the Son of Sam case and wrote a 500 page book. The book was a mainstay of conspiracy theories, some of which were outlandish but yet the core of the book makes perfect sense, enough that the two DAs have left their Son of Sam cases open.

During the sentencing phase of his trial, Berkowitz chanted “Stacy is a whore,” over and over again. Maury asked why and Berkowitz said it was to get back at her mother who called for him to get the death penalty.

Berkowitz’s group story according to Terry started about two years before the first shooting. He had gone to a party where he met a group of satanic worshipers. As a result he became part of the team that committed the Son of Sam murders. In fact, he said, he was a minor player compared to the others.

Was Berkowitz a minor player, the only player, or one of many? Later, he went into detail about who shot who and incriminated himself as having shot several of the victims.

This group hung out at Untermeyer Park in Yonkers. Here at this park, they would get high and conduct rituals, such as animal sacrifices and other “dark” things that he did not specify. Before long, he says he was caught up in the rituals and the group had taken over his “very soul.” Now, Untermeyer Park is known to have had satanic activity during this era, so this is indeed a possibility.

Besides sacrifice, the group was into child pornography. Some of the members produced child porn and even provided children for those in the group that wanted to participate. David wasn’t into pornography. Other members were planning on evolving from animal sacrifice to human sacrifice. Berkowitz told Terry that the group’’s plan was to create chaos, and the Son of Sam Murders was part of that plan.

Vice cop, Rothstein, verified that German shepherds were being killed in that park. He went on to talk about a building in the park where there were satanic drawings on the walls. Rothstein stated that a cult could easily have been active in the park. Mumblings of such a cult were reaching vice 5 years prior to the first Son of Sam killing.

Berkowitz does admit to being at all of the shootings but not to committing all of them. In the last shooting, the one at the park, the case for a conspiracy is clear. The reports from the witnesses include two different make descriptions, two different vehicles, etc. Terry asked Berkowitz if he knew about the other car, the VW. He told him that yes he did. And then he named some of the members. He even admitted to talking about them in his letter. For example, he mentions a John Wheaties in the letter. That was likely John Carr, whose nickname was Wheaties.

Berkowitz also made mention of two dozen core members in New York. He called them the “22 disciples of hell’ in the Breslin letter.

Carr lived in the house behind Berkowitz. And Carr’s father was named Sam. Son of Sam. They lived on Wicker Street. Carr had a brother, Michael, who was also a member of the cult. He said Michael was responsible for the shooting outside the Queens disco and Carr shot at the other Queens location. Berkowitz said he was responsible for the shootings in Bronx, killing three of the six. Additionally, Berkowitz resembled the sketch of that killer in Bronx whereas the Queens’ sketch is a closer match to John Carr than Berkowitz.

Side note: The brothers fled before they could be questioned. Michael Carr died in a car accident. He supposedly had been driving drunk, but he did not drink. He had an aversion to alcohol and was known to never consume it. John Carr died of a gunshot wound to his face in 1978 in North Dakota. The gun used was a rifle. Police initially thought it was a murder but they ruled a probable suicide. On the wall next to his body were the letters S.S.N.Y.C. in blood. There was question as to whether that could be Son of Sam New York City. On John’s hand was 666. He still had the long stringy dark blond hair. Another odd death was the local postman in 1977. Andrew Dupay supposedly committed suicide. In the note he left behind, he said that he had been threatened on many occasions. He delivered mail to both Berkowitz and the Carrs.

Ex-Yonkers police officer, Mike Novontny, believes that Berkowitz did not work alone. When he was asked how many people he thought were involved, he answered about a dozen.

Specifically, Berkowitz claimed that there was quite an intricate network of shooters and those surveilling for victims and lookouts. It has been speculated that ‘Son of Sam’ could have been a group of shooters who all agreed that should any of them be caught, they would never divulge each other’s identity. They also agreed that if one was caught, the others would stop killing.

Shooting 1 – Donna Lauria and Jody Valenti – Berkowitz admitted to being the shooter, while others were looking out and doing surveillance.

Shooting 2 – Carl Denaro and Rosemary Keenan – A Female cult member shot them. Berkowitz planned and then observed the crime. Berkowitz claimed that the victims survived because the shooter had no clue about the recoil of the .44 and it threw off her aim.

Shooting 3 – Donna DeMasi and Joanne Lomino – Jon Carr was the shooter, Berkowitz helped in the plan. He also said that a Yonkers police officer was there and part of the cult.

Shooting 4 – Christine Freund and John Diel – Manson 11 was the shooter, five cult members were present. Manson 11 supposedly was brought in from another area to do the job for a very special reason that Berkowitz was not clued into.

Shooting 5 – Virginia Voskerichian – The shooter was a woman from Westchester. This one was designed to confuse police, i.e. changing to one lone girl in the early evening.

Shooting 6 – Alexander Esau and Vanetina Suriani – Berkowitz says he was the shooter here.

Shooting 7 – Sal Lupo and Judy Placido – Michael Carr shot them. That the cult wanted to shoot at the Elephas disco because they felt it was linked to their interest in the 19th century occultist Eliphas Levi.

Shooting 8 – Stacy Moskowitz and Robert Violente – Shooter was a friend of John Carr who came in from North Dakota just for the occasion. Berkowitz claimed that he tried to get them to reschedule the deed due to his getting a parking ticket but they declined and in fact ordered him to stay in the area to make sure no police arrived.

Side note: It is interesting that the unnamed killer for the eighth shooting is from North Dakota, because that is where John Carr was found dead in 1978.

Later Berkowitz claimed that he was motivated to kill by the Hall and Oates song RICH GIRL, but it wasn’t released until February of 1977 (4 shootings had already occurred).

Side note: The law known as the Son of Sam law came about because of this case. Many states followed suit. Some have repealed the laws, but originally it made it so that no prisoner could profit from their crimes by writing a book, have a movie deal, etc.

Berkowitz became a born again Christian in prison.

Son of Sam? Lone Berkowitz or a group?