David Berkowitz | |
|---|---|
 Berkowitz mugshot taken on August 11, 1977 | |
| Born | Richard David Falco June 1, 1953 |
| Other names |
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| Alma mater | |
| Motive | Misogyny[1] |
| Conviction(s) | Second-degree murder (6 counts), attempted second-degree murder (7 counts) |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years |
| Details | |
| Victims | 6 killed, 11 wounded (including 2 stabbings in 1975) |
Span of crimes | July 29, 1976 – July 31, 1977 |
| State(s) | New York |
| Weapon | .44 Special caliber Bulldog revolver |
Date apprehended | August 10, 1977 |
| Imprisoned at | Shawangunk Correctional Facility |
David Richard Berkowitz (born Richard David Falco; June 1, 1953), also known as the Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer who pled guilty to perpetrating eight shootings in New York City between July 1976 and July 1977, which resulted in six fatalities.[2] Berkowitz grew up in New York City and served in the United States Army. Using a .44 Special caliber Bulldog revolver, he killed six people and wounded seven others by July 1977, terrorizing New Yorkers. Berkowitz eluded the biggest police manhunt in the city's history while leaving letters mocking the police and promising further crimes, which were highly publicized by the press.
Berkowitz was arrested on August 10, 1977, and subsequently indicted for eight shootings. He confessed to all of them, and initially claimed to have been obeying the orders of a demon manifested in the form of a black dog belonging to his neighbor, "Sam". After being found mentally competent to stand trial, he pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences in state prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. He subsequently admitted the dog-and-devil story was a hoax. In police investigations, Berkowitz was also implicated in many unsolved arsons in the city.
Intense media coverage of the case lent a kind of celebrity status to Berkowitz, which many observers noted he seemed to enjoy. The New York State Legislature enacted new statutes, known popularly as "Son of Sam laws", designed to keep criminals from financially profiting from the publicity created by their crimes. The statutes have remained in New York despite various legal challenges, and similar laws have been enacted in several other states. During the mid-1990s, Berkowitz, by then professing to be a converted evangelical Christian, amended his confession to claim he had been a member of a violent Satanic cult that orchestrated the incidents as ritual murder. A new investigation of the murders began in 1996 but was suspended indefinitely after inconclusive findings.
- ^ "David Berkowitz "Son of Sam"" (PDF). Department of Psychology, Radford University. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
- ^ "The Son of Sam: A Timeline of the Killings that Terrorized New York City". May 4, 2021.The Son of Sam: A Timeline of the Killings that Terrorized New York City|title=