David Berkowitz was one of the most feared killers in New York City in the 1970's. His crimes caused the death of six people, and the injuries to seven others. His crimes became legendary because of the bizarre content in the letters that he wrote to the police and the media and his reasons for committing the attacks. David Berkowitz, better known as Son of Sam, is a man with a troubled childhood and upbringing. From his many “Parental Figures” to believing that dogs were telling him to kill. During his reign of killing the police felt the pressure to catch David. "Operation Omega" was formed, which was comprised of over 200 detectives – all working on finding the Son of Sam before he killed again. He is currently serving a 365 year sentence at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York, and became eligible for parole in 2002.
David Berkowitz was born on June 1, 1953. His birth name was Richard David Falco. His mother, Betty Broder Falco, was born in 1914 and was raised in Brooklyn. She had an affair with a man named Joseph Kleinman, who eventually impregnated her with David. When he was told that she was pregnant, he told her to get rid of the baby. So when he was born, he was immediately put up for adoption. When he was a few days old he was adopted by Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz, a Jewish couple from the Bronx. They reversed the order of his given names and called him David, he would be their only child.
Not much is known about David's early childhood, but it is known that he was a solitary child. He enjoyed playing cowboys and Indians, war games, and other childhood games. He was a chubby kid, and got teased a lot for it. He was also very smart, in 1960; he was given an IQ test, and scored a 118, a “superior” level. One of his elementary teachers described him as a “moody child, very easily upset.” David loved to hide; his father gave him various nicknames like Sneaky, Snoop, and Spy. David loved sneaking through the house, trying to be invisible.
In 1967 Pearl Berkowitz died of breast cancer. This was the second mother that he'd lost. He was 14 at the time and devastated by her death. When asked how he felt about her death years later he replied “both happy and sad. It was freedom. She was a pest sometimes ...
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...ly, then shot them. Donna survived without suffering permanent physical harm, but Joanne was paralyzed for life.
• January 30, 1977 – 26-year-old Christine Freund and her fiance John Diel were shot as they sat in a parked car. Christine died and John Diel survived the attack.
• March 8, 1977 – Virginia Voskerichian, a Barnard College honor student was shot and killed while walking home from class.
• April 17, 1977 – 18-year-old Valentina Suriani and her 20-year-old boyfriend Alexander Esau, were both shot twice. Both died as a result of gunshot wounds. Berkowitz left a letter at the scene, signed “Son of Sam.”
• June 26, 1977 – Judy Placido and Sal Lupu were shot while leaving a disco. Both survived although Judy was shot three times.
• July 31, 1977 – Bobby Violante and Stacy Moskowitz were shot in the car while parked at a lover’s lane. Stacy died from a gunshot wound to her head and Bobby lost vision in one eye and partial vision in the other eye.
Site: www.about.com - David Berkowitz - The Son of Sam
Site: www.captaincynic.com - Lost Soul: David Berkowitz
Site: www.freeinfosociety.com - The Free Information society
Site: www.carpenoctem.tv - Killers, David Berkowitz
First, David’s mother gave him enough courage to keep hope his father would be all right after the Nazis arrested him. Because their own house was no longer safe from Nazi invasion, David’s family was staying with friends. However, Nazis burst into the house they were staying in on...
The first shooting occurred on July 29, 1976 and the second months later; and the third one month after the second. At this point, Berkowitz had shot six people but the New York Police Department did not see any relation between the shootings. In January 1977, Berkowitz struck again by shooting a couple while sitting in a car. This event caused police to start a search for a .44 caliber killer. A .44 caliber gun is the type of gun that Berkowitz used in all of his murders. He continued to elude police, he even began taunting them. Berkowitz started leaving note addressed to the NYPD captain near all of his crime scenes. In the letters he spoke to police telling them of how he was recruited to commit the murders and addressed himself as the “Son of Sam”. This is how Berkowitz attained the name The Son of Sam Killer.
...oyd. She started acting again to tell the story of her spying. She died on stage because of a heart attack. She died at age 56.
In the final count, sixteen kids lay dead along with their teacher, another twelve kids were wounded plus the two adults who met the shooter at the door. Only one boy in the gym made it through physically unharmed his name was Robbie Hurst, and he survived by hiding under the dead bodies of his best friend and another classmate (Pederson).
Not too long before he was murdered his house was set on fire on Valentines Day of 1965 (Hardy 123).
At 12:30 P.M., JFK's convertible drove past the Texas Bookstore Depository and onto Elm Street, where to the right was the grassy knoll. In that same spot, the grassy knoll, Abraham Zapruder had his 8mm camera, recording an event that would drastically change history (Fertzer 65-72). The first shot missed the convertible completely. The second shot hit the President in the upper right back and exited through his neck, continuing on to Governor Connelly's back, through his chest, and hitting his wrist upon exiting. The third shot struck JFK in the head killing him instantly. At 1:50 P.M. Lee Harvey Oswald was taken into custody after resisting arrest and killing officer J.D. Tippit (North 2...
his father and dead mother. David's father has an idealized vision of his son as
David LaChapelle is an incredible, modern photographer. He combines celebrities with the bizarre. His photography is unique, charged with sexual imagery, and provides a unique view on people you see in the media, today.
seriously wounded. Patty Valentine, a tenant who lived above the bar, looked out her window just after the shooting. She saw two black men leave in a white car.
The second victim was David Spears, age forty-three. On June 1, 1990 Spears’s body was found on the side of a highway in Citrus County, Florida. He was found with no clothes on except a baseball cap and had died of six bullet wounds to the torso. The third victim was Charles Carskaddon, age forty. His body was found on June 6, 1990 in Pasco County, Florida. He was shot several times in the chest which lead to his death. The fourth victim was Troy Burress, age fifty. He was reported missing on July 31, 1990 and on August 4, 1990 police officers found his body in a wooded area along a road in Marion County, Florida. Cause of death was being shot twice. The fifth victim was Charles ‘Dick’ Humphreys, age fifty-six. His car was found in Suwannee
...otal of 130 bullets into their ford. They famous duo was finally stopped and shot dead.
Three shots were fired as the motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza. The first missed. The second seriously wounded both Kennedy and Connally and a third inflicted a fatal head injury on the president. The injured were taken to Parkland Hospital where doctors pronounced Kennedy deceased at 1:00 p.m. CST. Governor Connally underwent numerous operations and recovered from his wounds (“Kennedy”). Eyewitnesses to the shooting reported that shots were fired from the building of the Texas School Book Depository. Police entered the building and discovered boxes piled against a window on the sixth floor and next to them a Carcano rifle, later identified as the murder weapon (“Kennedy”). Based on a description of the assailant, Police Officer J.D. Tippit stopped Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee of the book depository, as he walked along a sidewalk three...
...July 11, 1804, they shot on each other on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. Hamilton was fatally injured so he died the next afternoon (Famous People).
a. It appears that President Kennedy and Governor Connally were injured by two different shots (Hurt 63).
bullets from the gunman. The news of Victoria’s death raced across the news and many people