Serial Killer Analysis: David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) PDF

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This essay is for Professor Dahl's Forensic Psychology course and is an analysis of serial killer David Berkowitz, also known as the Son of Sam killer. This essay discusses Berkowitz's background and the factors that may have contributed to his heinous crimes. It also describes the timeline of Berko...

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Serial Killer Analysis: David Berkowitz Shelby Spradling CJ 375: Forensic Psychology Dr. Patricia Dahl Washburn University

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The Early Years David Berkowitz was born on June 1, 1953 to Betty Broder Falco and Joseph Kleinman (Abrahamsen, 1985). After Kleinman expressed that he was not interested in raising the child, Broder placed Berkowitz up for adoption. Shortly after, Berkowitz was adopted by a JewishAmerican, middle-class couple, Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz (Abrahamsen, 1985). David was born as Richard David Falco, but his adoptive parents renamed him David. Nathan and Pearl were devoted to giving Berkowitz a perfect childhood and showered him with affection. Despite their nurturing, Berkowitz gradually transformed into a violent and disturbing young man. In his adolescence, Berkowitz exhibited several serial killer precursors, including two from the MacDonald triad: fire-starting and cruelty to animals. Neighbors and relatives remarked that Berkowitz was a nice-looking boy with a mean streak. He was a bully who enjoyed tormenting neighbor children without reason. Berkowitz was also said to be prone to starting fires and shoplifting. In Berkowitz’s personal diary, he claimed to have started hundreds of small fires in his adolescence and early adulthood, but says his behavior never led to legal consequences. He also claimed he killed his mother’s pet parakeet by poisoning it with cleaning fluid over a period of three weeks. Berkowitz also allegedly killed thousands of bugs by covering them in rubber cement and setting them on fire. He reportedly shot a German Shepherd that had been wandering loose in his neighborhood as well as his neighbor’s Labrador Retriever. Aside from the MacDonald’s triad precursors, Berkowitz also suffered a dysfunctional social life and struggled to maintain lasting relationships (Abrahamsen, 1985). After learning of his adoption, Berkowitz grew up feeling rejected and different from his peers. Berkowitz’s larger stature only served to fuel his insecurities; he was larger than most of his classmates and did not consider himself attractive.

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When Berkowitz was just 14, his adoptive mother Pearl died from breast cancer complications (Abrahamsen, 1985). After her passing, Berkowitz began losing interest in school. Throughout his time in school, Berkowitz had been an excellent student with above average intelligence. Interestingly, Berkowitz had a high IQ of 118, but was diagnosed with a hyperactivity disorder. His education quickly deteriorated as he began skipping classes and avoiding homework. His relationship with his adoptive father became strained and his relationship with his new stepmother was almost nonexistent. When David turned 18, his adoptive father and new stepmother moved out of state, leaving him to fend for himself. Soon after, Berkowitz joined the United States army. During his time in the army, he had his first sexual relation with a prostitute which resulted in him catching a venereal disease (Abrahamsen, 1985). He served 3 years in the army before he was honorably discharged. After his discharge, Berkowitz began searching for his birth parents. He was able to locate his birth mother and began forming a relationship with her and his newly discovered, older half-sister. Their budding relationship dissipated quickly as Berkowitz stopped visiting and communicating with them. He began isolating himself and avoiding social interaction. To this day, Berkowitz blames his estrangement from his birth mother as the catalyst for his crimes (Abrahamsen, 1985). The “Son of Sam” Murders During the twelve months between July 1976 and July 1977, the New York districts of the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn were plagued by a rash of fatal shootings committed by a sporadic serial killer who called himself the “Son of Sam” (Abrahamsen, 1985). Several young couples were killed by an unknown assailant with seemingly no motive and a tendency to target those sitting in unsuspecting vehicles late at night. A total of six people were killed and seven more were wounded. Survivors were able to give similar descriptions of a white male in his

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thirties with dark, curly hair and a yellow vehicle. Given that the shootings were all committed with a .44 caliber handgun, the New York Police Department acknowledged a connection between the cases, but the link to a serial killer was not made definite until a mysterious letter appeared at one of the crime scenes. The letter addressed the NYPD and citizens of New York and promised more murders at the hands of the “Son of Sam,” who would later be identified as David Berkowitz, a local army veteran working for the United States Postal Service (Abrahamsen, 1985). In the Bronx on July 29th of 1976, two girls named Donna Lauria and Jody Valenti were repeatedly shot at as they sat in their car in Lauria’s driveway after a night out on the town (Klausner, 1981). Lauria did not survive the attack, but Valenti and Lauria’s father were able to give matching descriptions of the shooter. He was described as a white male in his mid-thirties, roughly 160 pounds, with short, dark, curly hair. Lauria’s father also mentioned seeing the man sitting in a yellow compact car that had been parked nearby (Klausner, 1981). Lauria’s neighbors also corroborated this description. Later that year, on October 23rd, a shooting occurred in Queens that closely resembled the shooting of Lauria and Valenti. A young couple, Rosemary Keenan and Carl Denaro, were sitting in a parked car when they were shot at a total of five times (Klausner, 1981). Keenan, suffering only from mild superficial wounds, was able to start the car and drive away for help. Denaro had been shot in his head and would later require a metal plate to replace part of his skull (Klausner, 1981). A bullet pulled from Keenan’s car was identified as . 44 caliber, but too damaged to match to a specific gun. While both shootings shared an overwhelming number of similarities, police did not originally link the two cases because they occurred in different police precincts.

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While walking home from a movie on November 27th of 1976, Donna DeMasi and Joanne Lomino were approached by a man in military uniform who began to ask them for directions (Klausner, 1981). Before finishing his questioning, the mysterious man fired at the two girls who then fell to the ground. The shooter fired several more shots as he fled the scene. DeMasi was shot in the neck but survived the attack. Lomino was struck in her back and eventually diagnosed as paraplegic (Klausner, 1981). In January of the following year, Christine Freund and John Diel were also shot at while they sat in Diel’s car. Diel was able to drive away for help, suffering only from superficial injuries, but Freund was shot twice and later died at the hospital. Neither of the two had seen the shooter. It was this attack that drove the police to acknowledge the possibility of the shooting cases being linked (Klausner, 1981). Diel and Freund had been shot with .44 caliber bullets akin to the one found in Keenan’s car. Unfortunately, the attacks provided two different descriptions of the shooter. Lauria’s shooter was described as having dark hair, while Lomino’s shooter was described as having blond hair. Police initially believed they were searching for more than one suspect. On March 8th of 1977, Virginia Voskerichian was shot in the head and killed while walking home from Columbia University (Klausner, 1981). Voskerichian lived close to where Fruend had been shot, but the other aspects of the crime did not match Berkowitz’s previous MO. After months of searching for multiple suspects, police would later uncover a taunting letter written by a man claiming to take responsibility for the killings (Klausner, 1981). On April 17th of 1977, Alexander Esau and Valentina Suriani were both shot twice while sitting in a car near Suriani’s home just a few blocks from the scene of the Lauria-Valenti attack (Klausner, 1981). Suriani died on scene and Esau later died at the hospital. At the scene, police found a letter near the victim’s bodies addressed to the NYPD captain. The letter was heavily misspelled,

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largely incoherent, and expressed the desire to continue the attacks (Klausner, 1981). The letter was signed as the “Son of Sam”. This alias would go on to replace the press’s original nickname “the .44 Caliber Killer” (Klausner, 1981). The last two shootings occurred between June and July of 1977 (Klausner, 1981). Sal Lupo and Judy Placido were shot at three times while in their car. Placido was shot in the temple, shoulder, and neck, but managed to survive the injuries. Lupo was shot in the arm and also survived. Neither had seen the attacker, but witnesses gave similar descriptions of a tall, darkhaired man leaving the scene. One witness claimed to have seen the man leave in his car and gave police part of the license plate number. In late July, Stacy Moskowitz and Robert Violante were shot in the head while kissing in their car (Klausner, 1981). Violante lost one of his eyes and Moskowitz died from her injuries (Klausner, 1981). Berkowitz’s Capture and Sentence After comparing witnesses’ descriptions of the shooter who was seen at the crime scenes, police were able to narrow down possible suspects. Berkowitz’s neighbors had filed several police reports against him for animal cruelty, disturbing the peace, and harassment after he sent them multiple threatening and cryptic letters. Police cross-referenced these letters with the letters found at the crime scenes but were unable to confirm an exact match. Some of the witnesses who provided a description of the offender also claimed to have seen a compact, yellow car near the crime scenes. One witness even gave police a license plate number, which was registered to Berkowitz (Klausner, 1981). The license plate pulled up a parking ticket that Berkowitz had received at one of the crime scenes during the timeframe that the shooting had occurred. Berkowitz was arrested on August 10th, 1977 (Klausner, 1981). The day after his arrest, Berkowitz confessed to his involvement in the crimes (Abrahamsen, 1985). Despite a

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psychologist finding Berkowitz to be delusional and paranoid, the court deemed him fit to stand trial (PBS, 2014). Berkowitz’s lawyer urged him to plead insanity. In the end, Berkowitz pled guilty to six of the seven shootings and received 365 years in prison (PBS, 2014). A Psychological Analysis Berkowitz falls into a category of disorganized killers. Disorganized killers are less ‘thoughtful’ in the way they kill (Leyton, 2001). Their victims are not targeted over a period of time and are simply the result of “wrong place and wrong time” way (Canter et al., 2004). An organized killer would be more hands on, while a disorganized killer would use something quick like a gun or knife. David Berkowitz began his serial killer spree with a knife but soon switched to a more effective weapon, his .44 caliber (Klausner, 1981). Berkowitz also did not dispose of his victims as an organized killer typically would (Canter et al., 2004). Berkowitz also killed in public, while an organized killer would want no interruptions because the kill is an intimate moment for them (Canter et al., 2004). Disorganized killers like Berkowitz are not typically able to hold down lasting careers; they bounce from job to job (Leyton, 2001). Berkowitz worked as a mail carrier and as a security guard, but both jobs that did not last very long (Abrahamsen, 1985). Disorganized killers also tend to be more antisocial (Leyton, 2001). They have few to no friends and are sometimes estranged from family. Disorganized killers are more ‘made’ by some type of drastic event in their eyes (Canter et al., 2004). For Berkowitz, this drastic event was the passing of his adoptive mother and subsequent ending of his relationship with his biological mother. Disorganized killers also often lack a father figure in their adolescence (Canter et al., 2004). Berkowitz’s biological father did not want to partake in raising him and he claimed to have never been very close to his adoptive father.

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The role of fantasy in Berkowitz’s killings is somewhat distorted throughout the information he provided police. For years after his capture, Berkowitz repeatedly added extra details and insinuations that convoluted the case. In the initial capture, Berkowitz claimed that demons, living in his neighbor’s dog, had been haunting him and encouraging him to kill women (Abrahamsen, 1985). Although women were his primary target, he insisted he wasn’t a womenhater. In his letters to police and press, he referred to his victims as being “pretty” and “fair game”. He insinuated that the women were his prey and he was free to prowl on them at will; however, Berkowitz never sexually assaulted any of the victims (Klausner, 1981). Later after the capture, Berkowitz retracted his demon dog claim and attempted to place the blame on a satanic cult (Klausner, 1981). Lacking substantial evidence to support the cult claims, police did not pursue this further. All of Berkowitz’s attacks were on couples who had been sitting in parked cars, with the exception of Virginia Voskerichian (Klausner, 1981). Many of his victims also had dark, brown hair that was shoulder-length or longer. It is my belief that Berkowitz’s crimes were motivated by the collaboration of multiple factors. Berkowitz chose women with similar characteristics because they reminded him of the women who had wronged him. I was unable to find any documentation on the physical attributes of Berkowitz’s birth mother or his adoptive mother, but I can rationally guess that she also had dark hair like his victims. Given that Berkowitz’s first sexual interaction was with a prostitute and resulted in a STD, I can also speculate that perhaps his victims reminded him of his first sexual encounter, which made him angry towards them. As for additional factors, I do agree that Berkowitz was mentally ill. Looking back at his many delusional statements regarding his neighbor’s demon dog, I think Berkowitz was an undiagnosed schizophrenic.

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References Abrahamsen, D. (1985). Confessions of Son of Sam. New York: Columbia Univ. Pr. Canter, D. V., Laurence, A. J., Emily, A., & Wentink, N. (2004). The organized/disorganized typology of a serial murder. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 10(3), 1-28. doi:10.1037/1076-8971.10.3.293 Klausner, L. D. (1981). Son of Sam: Based on the authorized transcription of the tapes, official documents and diaries of David Berkowitz. New York: McGraw-Hill. Leyton, E. (2001). Hunting humans: The rise of the modern multiple murderer. Carroll & Graf. Public Broadcasting System [PBS]. (2014). A crime of insanity - insanity on trial | Frontline. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/crime/trial/other.html

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