It all began on July 29, 1976, when two young women were shot in a parked car in the Bronx. Young people in cars--often dating couples--would continue to be the killers targets of choice. On one occasion, however, he gunned down a pair of young women sitting on a stoop. On another, he shot a woman as she walked home from school. Frantically she tried protecting her face with a book--but to no avail. She was blasted in the head. Before his rampage was over, a total of six young New Yorkers were dead, seven more severely wounded.
At the scene of one double murder, police found a long, ranting note from the killer. "I am the 'Son of Sam.' I am a little brat," he wrote. From that point on, the killer would be known by his bizarre new nickname.
For months, while the city was gripped by panic, police made no head-way. When a break finally came, it happened as a result of a thirty-five dollar parking ticket. On July 31, 1977, when a couple was shot along the Brooklyn shore, a witness noticed someone driving away from the scene in a car that had just been ticketed. Tracing the summons through their computer, the police came up with the name and address of David Berkowitz, a pudgy-faced rather ugly postal worker living in Yonkers.
When police picked him up, they found an arsenal in the trunk of Berkowitz's car. Son of Sam had been planning an apocalyptic act of carnage--a kamikaze assault on a Long Island disco.
Under arrest, Berkowitz explained the meaning of his bizarre moniker. "Sam" turned out to be the name of a neighbor, Sam Carr, who--in Berkowitz's profoundly warped mind--was actually a "high demon" who transmitted his orders to kill through his pet dog, a black Labrador retriever. Insane as his story was, Berkowitz was found mentally fit to stand trial. He was eventually sentenced to three hundred years in the pen, where he has recently undergone a religious conversion and become a jailhouse televangelist, preching the "gospel" on public-access TV.
Not too long ago I happened upon a very interesting, humorous website. In fact, it is the personal website of David Berkowitz. That's right, folks--the gun-toting madman we all love and know as the "Son of Sam" has his own personal website. What's even more wild about his website is that it is based on his "testimony" for Christ. How heart warming. You can download this "testimony" (this is no joke) and listen to it on your computer. Haven't really wanted to download it yet, but if one of you do it let me know. Click here to access his "forgiven for life" website. Ha. Have fun.