David Berkowitz Research Paper

David Berkowitz, also known as Son of Sam and the “.44 Caliber Killer”, is an American serial killer who, in New York City, murdered six people and injured seven. The Son of Sam killings –as his murder spree incident was called- began on July 29, 1976 with Donna Lauria and Jody Valenti who were both sitting in their car when a man peered into their window and fired multiple times at them. Jody survived the rainfall of bullets but her partner was not so lucky. Couple of months later, the police noted that this could be the work of a serial killer. David Berkowitz, whose birth name was David Falco, was adopted by Nat and Pearl Berkowitz a couple of days after his birth day, on June 1, 1953. He was a tormented child, as David put it in his own

The first time, he shot two women, Donna Lauria and Jody Valenti. It resulted in Donna’s death. Three months after his first killing, David Berkowitz shot at a couple sitting in a parked car. In that same year in November, David attacked two teenage girls who were on their way home. He severely injured one of the girls leaving her paralyzed from the spine down. In January 1977, Berkowitz went out and shot yet another couple in their car. In the following month, David shot at Virginia Voskerichian, a college student. After that, David killed another couple, Valentina Suriani and Alexander Esau. His killing spree did not stop there; he ruthlessly attacked another couple in Brooklyn. For all of his shootings, he used a .44 caliber gun. With this in mind, the police heavily searched for the .44 caliber

While being in prison, David’s life was in danger. An inmate attempted to kill Berkowitz but the attempt was a failure that left David with 56 stitches on his throat. With the way he was behaving in prison, his fellow inmates gave him the nickname “David Berserkowitz.” He claimed he was a Satanist and was part of a dangerous cult but it was never revealed if he was really in this cult or if it even existed. He also claimed he was not alone during his acts, that the people in the cult performed these violent acts as well including John Carr and Michael Carr but both died before being taken in and