1976 david berkowitz biography

David Berkowitz, also known as Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer who terrorized the New York City area from July 1976 to July 1977. Berkowitz killed six people and wounded seven, most using a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver gun.

Early Life
David Berkowitz was born Richard David Falco on June 1, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. His unmarried parents separated shortly before he was born, and he was put up for adoption. His adoptive parents switched his first and middle names, and gave him their surname. From a young age, Berkowitz began to show early signs of his future violent behavior patterns. While he was of above-average intelligence, he lost interest in school and instead focused on more rebellious habits. Berkowitz got involved in petty larceny and pyromania. However, his misbehavior never led to legal troubles or impacted his school records. When he was 14, Berkowitz’s adoptive mother died of breast cancer and his relationship with his adoptive father and new stepmother grew strained.

When he was 18, in 1971, Berkowitz entered the U.S. Army and served both in the U.S. as well as South Korea. He was honorably discharged three years later. Berkowitz then tracked down his birth mother, Betty Falco. His mother told him about his illegitimate birth and the recent death of his birth father, which greatly upset Berkowitz. He eventually lost contact with his birth mother and began working a number of blue-collar jobs.

Killing Spree
According to his own accounts, Berkowitz’s killing career began on December 24, 1975, when he stabbed two women using a hunting knife. One of the women was Michelle Forman, and the other has never been identified.

In the early morning hours of July 29, 1976, 18-year old Donna Lauria and 19-year old Jody Valenti were sitting in Valenti’s car when Berkowitz walked up to the car and shot at them. He fired three shots, and walked away. Lauria was killed instantly and Valen

Across 13 months of 1976 and 1977, fear over the Son of Sam murders perpetrated by then-unknown serial killer David Berkowitz gripped the citizens of New York City. Six women and men were shot and killed in three of the city’s boroughs in more than a dozen seemingly random attacks. The crimes spawned one of the biggest manhunts of the city’s history.

Tabloid newspapers battled for the latest information as daily sales soared. “It had absolutely everything going for it as a tabloid perfect storm,” Sam Roberts, the Daily News city editor in 1977 told the New York Times of the media frenzy. “It was an ongoing, unfolding crime story that New Yorkers were genuinely terrified about.”

Here's a timeline of one of the most infamous killing sprees in modern history:

July 29, 1976: The killer attacks his first victims

The shootings first attributed to the killer who would become known as the Son of Sam occurred in the Pelham Bay area of the Bronx. Two women, Jody Valenti and Donna Lauria, 18, were sitting in Valenti’s double-parked Oldsmobile when a man approached the car and fired three bullets. Lauria was killed instantly and Valenti was shot in the thigh before the man walked quickly away. Valenti described her attacker as a white male in his thirties, approximately 5-foot-8 and about 200 pounds, with short, dark, curly hair.

October 23, 1976: Two more people are shot but survive

Carl Denaro, 20, and Rosemary Keenan, 18, were shot at while sitting in a parked car in a residential area of Flushing, Queens. Both survived, but Denaro was struck in the head by one of the bullets. Police would later speculate Denaro may have been mistaken for a woman due to his shoulder-length hair.

November 27, 1976: A couple is attacked by a man in military fatigues

Following a late movie, Donna DeMasi, 16, and Joanne Lomino, 18, were headed to Lomino’s home in Floral Park, Queens when they wer

American serial killer (born 1953)

For the American bridge player, see David Berkowitz (contract bridge).

"Son of Sam" redirects here. For other uses of "Son of Sam", see Son of Sam (disambiguation).

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. 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 sta