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Son of Sam

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David Berkowitz

Real Names: David Berkowitz, others unknown
Case: Serial Killings
Location: New York City, New York
Date: July 29, 1976 - July 31, 1977

Case[]

Details: The Son of Sam was a serial killer who used a .44-caliber revolver to commit eight shootings throughout New York City, New York, in 1976 and 1977. Six people were killed, and seven were seriously injured. Many of the victims were couples parked in lovers' lanes. Nearly every shooting occurred late at night.
On August 10, 1977, twenty-four-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz was arrested. The police believed he was the lone gunman in the Son of Sam shootings. The media rejoiced. The elusive Son of Sam was behind bars. Or was he? Investigative journalist Maury Terry has spent years looking into the case. He claims to have found convincing evidence that Berkowitz did not act alone.
The Son of Sam's reign of terror began on July 29, 1976. That night, eighteen-year-old EMT Donna Lauria and her friend, nineteen-year-old nursing student Jody Valenti, sat in Jody's Oldsmobile Cutlass. They were double-parked in front of Donna's apartment building on Buhre Avenue in the Bronx's Pelham Bay neighborhood.
At around 1:10am, Donna and Jody noticed a man quickly walking towards them. He pulled out a gun from a paper bag, crouched, and fired four times through the car's closed right window. He then turned and quickly walked away. Donna was shot in the back and killed instantly. Jody was struck in the thigh but survived. She worked with the police to create a composite sketch of the gunman. She described him as a white male in his thirties with a fair complexion, about 5'8" tall and weighing about 200 pounds. His hair was short, dark, thin, and curly. Several neighbors reported seeing an unfamiliar yellow compact car in the area that night.
On the evening of October 23, twenty-year-old security guard Carl Denaro and his girlfriend, eighteen-year-old college student Rosemary Keenan, were sitting in her Volkswagen Beetle on 160th Street in Queens' Flushing neighborhood when they were shot at. She received minor injuries from the broken glass, but he was shot in the head and needed a metal plate to replace a portion of his skull. Neither of them saw the gunman.
Shortly after midnight on November 27, sixteen-year-old Donna DeMasi and eighteen-year-old Joanne Lomino walked home from a movie. They stopped to talk on Joanne's porch on 262nd Street in Queens' Floral Park neighborhood. At around 12:40am, a young man in military fatigues appeared out of the shadows and asked for directions. He then pulled out a revolver and shot them multiple times. Donna was shot in the neck, but the wound was not life-threatening. Joanne was shot in the back and paralyzed from the waist down. Witnesses helped the police create a new composite of the blond-haired gunman.
On the night of January 30, 1977, twenty-six-year-old secretary Christine Freund and her thirty-year-old fiancé, John Diel, sat in his Pontiac Firebird near the Long Island Rail Road Station in Queens' Forest Hills neighborhood. At around 12:40am, they were shot through the car window. He sustained minor injuries, but she was shot twice and died in the hospital hours later. Two witnesses saw the gunman walk up to the car, crouch, and fire four times.
At around 7:30pm on March 8, twenty-year-old Barnard College student Virginia Voskerichian was walking home from school along Dartmouth Street in Queens when she was shot in the head and killed. This shooting occurred about a block from the previous one. As in the earlier attacks, a .44-caliber revolver was used.
Ballistics tests confirmed that the same gun, a .44-caliber Charter Arms Bulldog revolver, was used in all five shootings. The gunman became known as the ".44-caliber killer." Witnesses from Virginia and Christine's murders created two more composites of the gunman. They appeared to show a different face from the earlier drawings.
On the night of April 17, nineteen-year-old tow truck operator Alexander Esau and his girlfriend, eighteen-year-old Lehman College student Valentina Suriani, went to a movie. Afterwards, they sat in his brother's Mercury Montego on Hutchinson River Parkway in the Bronx's Pelham Bay neighborhood. At around 3am, they were shot through the windshield and killed. This shooting occurred three blocks from the scene of the first one.
This time, a hand-printed letter was left at the scene, addressed to Captain Joseph Borrelli of the New York City Police Department (NYPD). The writer taunted the police and expressed his determination to continue killing. He wrote, "I am a monster. I am the Son of Sam. I'm a little brat…Let me haunt you with these words: I'll be back!"
New York City was paralyzed with fear. According to NYPD Detective Henry Cinotti, residents were petrified, particularly in the Bronx. In the afternoon, people yelled to others in the streets, "Get in! That nut's out there." No one double-parked their cars. Couples stopped going to lovers' lanes. There was almost no business at nightclubs, bars, or restaurants. Because the Son of Sam seemed to target women with long, dark hair, many women got their hair cut or dyed.
200 officers and detectives formed the "Omega" task force to search for the Son of Sam. They fielded over 200 daily phone calls from tipsters, interviewed over 3,000 suspects, and tracked down registered owners of Charter Arms Bulldog revolvers. Undercover officers spent nights sitting in unmarked cars.
Psychologists created a profile of the Son of Sam. They believed he was a shy, odd loner who was inept at establishing personal relationships, especially with women. They theorized he was a paranoid schizophrenic. They noted that there were religious aspects to his thinking process and hints that he believed he was being operated under demonic possession.
On May 30, Memorial Day, Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin received a letter from the Son of Sam. It was postmarked early that same day in Englewood, New Jersey. Written in the same distinctive style, it contained taunts and references to Satanism. He wrote, "Sam's a thirsty lad, and he won't let me stop killing until he gets his fill of blood."
On the night of June 26, twenty-year-old mechanic's helper Salvatore Lupo and his girlfriend, seventeen-year-old high school student Judy Placido, went to a disco in Queens' Bayside neighborhood. At around 3:20am, while sitting in his Cadillac on 211th Street, they were both shot. She was struck in the right temple, right shoulder, and neck, and he was hit in the right forearm. Both survived their injuries.
Coincidentally, Salvatore and Judy were talking about the Son of Sam shortly before they were shot. Neither had seen the gunman, but two witnesses saw a tall, dark-haired man in a beige leisure suit flee the scene. One witness saw the man drive off in a car and gave police a partial license plate number.
Two days after the anniversary of the first shooting, on July 31, the Son of Sam struck for the last time. That evening, twenty-year-old secretary Stacy Moskowitz went on her first date with twenty-year-old salesman Robert Violante. They sat in his Buick Skylark on Shore Parkway, next to Bath Beach Park in Brooklyn's Bath Beach neighborhood. At around 2:35am, a man approached the car's passenger side and fired four times.
Stacy died the next day in the hospital. Robert was partially blinded but survived. This was the first time the Son of Sam struck outside the Bronx or Queens. Stacy was also the first blonde victim. Witnesses described the gunman as in his twenties, 5'7" to 5'10" tall, and of medium build. Another composite sketch was created. Again, it differed from the earlier drawings.
NYPD Detective Joseph Basteri felt that one or two of the Son of Sam composites resembled David Berkowitz, but the others did not. He thought that was strange. However, he points out that the composites are made by victims or witnesses who had briefly seen the gunman and then went to a sketch artist hours or days later. Due to trauma and other factors, the sketches are often inaccurate. He believes that explains the different-looking sketches.
In their investigation of Stacy's murder, the police were contacted by a witness, Cecelia Davis, who lived in an apartment near the crime scene. That night, around 2:30am, she encountered a suspicious man while walking her dog. He approached her on the sidewalk, looked at her, then passed her. He held his right arm down stiffly, like he was carrying something up his sleeve. A short time later, she heard the shooting.
When questioned by detectives, Davis also remembered seeing the same man taking a parking ticket off his car earlier that night. The police looked into parking tickets issued in the area that night. One had been issued to a yellow 1970 Ford Galaxie sedan owned by Berkowitz, who lived in a seven-floor apartment building on Pine Street in Yonkers. His car had been parked illegally next to a fire hydrant two blocks from the crime scene.
On August 9, NYPD Detective James Justus called Yonkers police to ask about Berkowitz. Dispatcher Wheat Carr said she knew him and that he was "crazy." Her sixty-four-year-old father, Sam Carr, was his neighbor. Two weeks after one of the Son of Sam shootings, on April 27, Sam received an anonymous threatening letter about Harvey, his black Labrador Retriever. Two days later, Harvey was shot and wounded with a .44-caliber revolver.
On June 10, Berkowitz's former landlords, Nann and Jack Cassara, received a get-well card from "Sam and Francis Carr." The Cassaras and the Carrs did not know each other. When they met, the Cassaras mentioned Berkowitz and his hatred of dogs. The Carrs then passed his name to Yonkers police officers Peter Intervallo and Thomas Chamberlain.
In early August, Nann told the Yonkers police she suspected Berkowitz was the Son of Sam. Meanwhile, Officers Intervallo and Chamberlain collected reports of strange behavior and harassment, leading them to believe Berkowitz was the Son of Sam. On August 5, they gave their information to NYPD Detective Richard Salverson.
On August 6, nurse Craig Glassman's apartment door was set on fire. He lived directly below Berkowitz and had also received anonymous letters that accused him of being a demon and forcing the writer to "kill." He believed Berkowitz had written them. When he saw the most recent Son of Sam sketch, he contacted the NYPD about Berkowitz.
Officer Intervallo found similarities between the Son of Sam letters and the ones sent to Glassman, the Carrs, and the Cassaras. Officer Chamberlain again contacted Detective Salverson about Berkowitz. However, it was not until Detective Justus called Wheat Carr that the NYPD realized Berkowitz was a strong Son of Sam suspect.
On August 10, the police went to Berkowitz's apartment. As they approached the building, they saw his Ford Galaxie. In the back seat, they spotted an army duffel bag with a rifle butt protruding through the opening. When they entered the car, they found ammunition and maps of the crime scenes. On the front seat, they found a letter threatening another attack. It was signed, "Son of Sam."
The police staked out the Ford Galaxie. At 10pm, Berkowitz emerged, carrying a .44-caliber Charter Arms Bulldog revolver in a brown paper bag. Ballistic tests would later identify it as the murder weapon. As detectives moved in to arrest him, he sat in his car almost passively. He said, "Well, you've got me." When they asked who he was, he said, "I'm Son of Sam." The police searched his apartment and found satanic graffiti on the walls, two shotguns, and more Son of Sam notes. They identified fingerprints on the first Son of Sam letter as his.
The next day, August 11, Berkowitz confessed to all eight Son of Sam shootings. He described each attack with "amazing recall" and even corrected the police on some details. He said that at the time of his arrest, he felt the police were "closing in" on him. He planned to shoot people at a disco or nightclub on Long Island and go out in a "blaze of glory." He also claimed that a 6,000-year-old demon inhabited Sam Carr and ordered him to commit the shootings by sending messages through Sam's dog, Harvey.
Berkowitz also confessed to stabbing two women and setting nearly 1,500 fires throughout New York City from 1974 to 1977. Six months before the first Son of Sam shooting, on December 24, 1975, he stabbed fifteen-year-old Michelle Forman six times on a bridge in the Bronx. She was hospitalized for a week. That same night, he stabbed an unidentified Hispanic woman.
The police learned Berkowitz was born "Richard David Falco" on June 1, 1953. Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz adopted him as an infant and raised him in the Bronx. When he was five, he was told that his birth mother had died in childbirth. He felt responsible for her death. He soon became "infatuated" with bullying, stealing, and starting fires. When he was fourteen, Pearl died. He felt lonely and wanted a purpose in his life.
In 1971, at eighteen, Berkowitz joined the U.S. Army and became a proficient marksman. After receiving an honorable discharge in 1974, he attended community college. In 1975, he learned that his birth mother was alive. When they met, he was "disturbed" to learn that both of his birth parents were married to other people when he was conceived. He felt unwanted. His mental condition deteriorated. He also became interested in Satanism and the occult.
In April 1976, Berkowitz moved into his Yonkers apartment. On July 28, he quit his job as a private security guard. The next day, the first Son of Sam shooting occurred. He later became a letter sorter for the U.S. Postal Service, working from 4pm to midnight. Coworkers described him as a loner.
A judge ordered psychiatric examinations to determine whether Berkowitz was fit to stand trial. Court-appointed psychiatrists diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia. They disagreed on whether he was fit to stand trial. He told psychiatrist Dr. David Abrahamsen that he hated women and wanted to destroy them. Dr. Abrahamsen believed his adoption and Pearl's death negatively affected him and that he committed the Son of Sam shootings to get revenge on women.
Nine months after his arrest, on May 8, 1978, Berkowitz withdrew his insanity defense and pleaded guilty to six counts of second-degree murder. On June 12, he received six consecutive twenty-five-year-to-life sentences in New York's Attica Correctional Facility. He also received several twenty-five-year sentences for attempted murder.
The NYPD considered the Son of Sam case closed. But to journalist Maury Terry, Berkowitz's confession seemed too convenient. He suspected there was more to the story than what had been released to the public. He started an investigation, and in 1979, he published several investigative articles that detailed his findings.
Terry believes Berkowitz did not act alone and was part of a gang of killers. It was the last Son of Sam shooting, the murder of Stacy Moskowitz, that first aroused his suspicions. He believes three people, including Berkowitz, deliberately planned and executed the crime. He claims there is eyewitness testimony to corroborate his theory.
Terry noticed that Berkowitz's features were widely different from the sketches of Stacy's killer. Seeking witnesses to the shooting, he spoke with nineteen-year-old mechanic Tommy Zaino. Zaino and his girlfriend were parked on Shore Parkway in front of Stacy and Robert Violante's car. They were parked near the intersection of Shore Parkway and Bay 14th Street.
Zaino was looking through his rearview mirror when he noticed a man standing in Bath Beach Park. The man was thin, in "good shape," and had long, light brown or blond hair. Through the mirror, Zaino watched the man approach Robert's car. He crouched, aimed his gun with both hands, and fired at Stacy and Robert. He then ran away. Zaino does not believe Berkowitz was the gunman. According to Zaino, Berkowitz was much stockier, and he could not picture Berkowitz "running like that." Furthermore, Berkowitz's hair was much shorter and darker.
According to Terry, the events leading up to the shooting began at Bath Beach Park's Shore Parkway entrance at around 1am. Witnesses saw a yellow Volkswagen pull up, and two men got out. At 1:30am, Zaino noticed the Volkswagen drive past more than once. The same car was seen fleeing the area after the shooting.
At 2:05am, a police officer issued a parking ticket to Berkowitz's Ford Galaxie on Bay 17th Street, two blocks from the crime scene. Around that same time, neighborhood resident Cecelia Davis pulled up in a friend's car just ahead of Berkowitz's Ford. Since they were triple-parked, she kept looking behind them in case another car came up. She saw Berkowitz take the ticket off his windshield. He then watched the police officers as they gave out tickets.
Berkowitz got into his car and pulled up behind Davis and her friend. He could not pass them because they were blocking the street. So, he honked his horn. Davis got out of her friend's car and gave Berkowitz a "dirty look" because she did not understand why he was in such a hurry late at night. She watched him drive up Bay 17th Street and turn right on Bath Avenue, following the police. Terry does not believe Berkowitz would honk at cars and follow the police around if he had the murder weapon in his car and was trying to avoid being caught.
Fifteen minutes later, at around 2:20am, Stacy and Robert went for a late-night stroll through Bath Beach Park. They noticed a man standing beside a restroom, watching them. At 2:33am, two blocks away, Davis was walking her dog by her apartment when Berkowitz walked straight towards her. She was certain he was the same man she had seen earlier.
According to Terry, approximately one minute later, Davis was in her apartment when she heard the shooting. Terry wonders how Berkowitz could have traveled from Davis' apartment to the crime scene in one minute when walking the two blocks from Bay 17th Street to the park takes at least two-and-a-half minutes.
Just fifteen seconds after the shooting, witnesses saw a man wearing a cheap, light-colored wig run out of the park, get into a yellow Volkswagen, and speed away up 17th Avenue. In his haste, he ran a red light and narrowly missed colliding with another car. Terry believes Berkowitz was a "lookout" for the actual gunman.
According to Terry, Berkowitz was a member of an "organized conspiracy" responsible for all the Son of Sam shootings. Terry believes the group selected Berkowitz to be the "fall guy" for the shootings. Berkowitz was not a "willing fall guy," but his actions and culpability in the crimes led them to make him one. He had been involved in all the shootings, either as a lookout, getaway driver, or gunman. He also got a parking ticket on his car, which led the police to him. Meanwhile, the real killer, who was deemed more valuable to the group than Berkowitz, escaped in the yellow Volkswagen.
Many former members of law enforcement who worked on the Son of Sam case believe that Berkowitz did not act alone. Two survivors, Carl Denaro and John Diel, also believe others were involved. Queens District Attorney John Santucci received a statement from a witness who said that Berkowitz had admitted that others were involved. Santucci moved the status of the investigation from inactive to active. In October 1979, he assigned detectives to investigate the possibility of Berkowitz having accomplices.
Terry believes Berkowitz was a member of a satanic cult called "The Children," and it was this group that planned and executed the Son of Sam shootings. The cult operated in Berkowitz's Yonkers neighborhood but had branches across the United States. Terry received this information from a witness who knew a former "The Children" cult member.
In the letter to columnist Jimmy Breslin, the Son of Sam made cryptic references to the "twenty-two disciples of hell," a "wicked king wicker," and "John Wheaties, the rapist and suffocater of young girls." The writer also mentions "dog manure, vomit, stale wine, urine, and blood," an apparent reference to a "Black Mass" performed by satanic cults. At the bottom of the letter was a satanic symbol. Terry believes "The Children" sent the letter. He claims the handwriting and word choice in the letter do not match the first Son of Sam letter.
Terry believes "wicked king wicker" refers to Wicker Street, down the hill from Berkowitz's apartment. He thinks "John Wheaties" is John Carr, the son of Berkowitz's neighbor, Sam Carr. John's nickname was "Wheaties." He also sees a resemblance between John and two of the Son of Sam composites. In 1974, John moved to Minot, North Dakota, working as a mechanic at a local Air Force base. However, he frequently commuted to New York around the time of the Son of Sam shootings.
According to Lieutenant Terry Gardner of the Ward County, North Dakota Sheriff's Department, John was a "mixed-up" drug addict who hung out with a group of criminals. Months before Berkowitz's arrest, in early 1977, John returned to Minot and told friends about his friend "Berky." Lt. Gardner is certain that John was a friend, associate, and confidant of Berkowitz. The two reportedly met in 1975.
Six months after Berkowitz's arrest, on February 17, 1978, John was found shot to death in his girlfriend's Minot apartment. He was thirty-one. Looking at the scene, Lt. Gardner believed John had sat on the edge of the bed, put the gun in his mouth, and pulled the trigger. When Lt. Gardner first interviewed John's girlfriend, she said, "He must have taken his own life." However, her story changed when Lt. Gardner interviewed her the next day. She claimed John "had to have been murdered," was wanted by New York police for the Son of Sam shootings, and was afraid for his life.
Through interviews with John's friends and North Dakota police, Terry came to believe that John was heavily involved in satanic cult activity in Minot and New York. The activity included blood drinking, urine drinking, and the ritualistic sacrifice of animals, specifically German Shepherds. The satanic symbol on the Breslin letter was found written on John's Minot phone book. One of John's Minot acquaintances, Phil Falcon, told Terry that John belonged to a "violent" satanic cult. One night, Falcon came home and found John and one of John's friends ritualistically sacrificing an animal.
Prison sources who knew Berkowitz told Terry that John's brother, Michael Carr, had introduced Berkowitz to "The Children" cult in the spring of 1975. Michael invited Berkowitz to a "floating coven party" at a Bronx house, which led him into the cult scene. Two years after Berkowitz's arrest, at 4am on October 4, 1979, Michael crashed into a light post on New York's West Side Highway while driving at a high rate of speed. He was twenty-seven. He died just eighteen months after John. Terry believes he was intentionally run off the road.
Conclusive proof that Berkowitz knew John and Michael came during two court depositions. On October 25, 1978, when asked whether he knew John, Berkowitz answered yes. In another deposition taken on January 19, 1982, he was asked if John and Michael were part of a satanic cult. He also answered yes. When asked whether they were killed to ensure their silence, he again responded yes.
Berkowitz made other comments suggesting he had accomplices. In a letter to the New York Post a few weeks after his arrest, he said, "There are other Sons [of Sam] out there." In a letter to Sam Carr, he claimed John was an accomplice. According to Terry, he also left a letter that said a satanic cult in New York had been instructed to kill young women.
Terry believes John and Michael's deaths may have been engineered by "The Children," who were referred to as the "twenty-two disciples of hell" in the Breslin letter. He believes the cult held their rituals in Untermyer Park in Yonkers, one mile from Berkowitz's apartment. According to Terry, Berkowitz spent time with John and Michael there, particularly in an abandoned pump house nicknamed "the Devil's Cave."
One day after Berkowitz's arrest, on August 11, 1977, two young boys led the police to a grave that contained the bodies of three German Shepherds. Two of the dogs had been strangled with chains, and one had been shot in the head. At least ten other slaughtered dogs had been found in the park area.
Captain Gerard Buckhout of the Greenburgh Police Department received information about a group of people wearing black or dark-colored hooded robes, carrying torches, chanting, and conducting a ritual in the park's rear aqueduct. The group allegedly sacrificed animals, including dogs, and drank their blood in a satanic ritual. Witnesses reported hearing animals screaming. Subsequently, the police found the remains of dogs in the area.
A fifteen-year-old Yonkers boy contacted Terry and said that a satanic cult was meeting and killing dogs in the park. He took Terry to various spots in the park and showed him where the cult met. Terry saw "sophisticated" satanic graffiti throughout it. The boy took Terry to an area where they found the remains of two German Shepherds. He also took Terry along the aqueduct, described as the "gutters of NYC" in the Breslin letter. He then showed Terry where the cult had set up an altar. Terry felt this was a significant development in the case.
Cult activity has continued around the park since the Son of Sam shootings. While Unsolved Mysteries was filming, two cousins came forward, saying they had witnessed a satanic ceremony in 1987. That evening, they were watching TV when they saw a car's headlights go by on the aqueduct path. Taking a baseball bat and flashlight, they walked through their yard onto the path.
In the park, the cousins saw fifteen to thirty people. One man appeared to be the "head chanter," chanting louder than the others. The cousins froze. They did not know what to do. They had never encountered anything like it before. So, they left. They did not want anyone to see them because they did not know what the group would do to them.
Meanwhile, the NYPD does not believe that Berkowitz had any accomplices. They point out that eyewitness testimony is often unreliable, which most likely led to the different-looking sketches of the gunman. Captain Borrelli notes that there have been no similar shootings since Berkowitz's arrest.
Columnist Jimmy Breslin notes that Berkowitz's confession was detailed and that he recalled everything "step by step." Former FBI profiler John Douglas interviewed Berkowitz and concluded he was an "introverted loner, not capable of being involved in group activity." Psychologist Dr. Harvey Schlossberg believes the cult claims were a fantasy concocted by Berkowitz to absolve himself of guilt.
However, Queens D.A. Santucci believes others cooperated, aided, and abetted Berkowitz. He is concerned that they could do it again. He thinks it would serve the public interest to know if there is a cult that engages in satanic activities, including possible human sacrifice. If Terry is correct, the cult responsible for the Son of Sam shootings is still alive, meeting, and recruiting new members.

Suspects: David Berkowitz confessed to the Son of Sam shootings and later pleaded guilty. However, some, including former law enforcement, believe others were involved. Composite sketches of the Son of Sam gunman seemed to depict different people. The Queens District Attorney's Office would like to question the individuals who match the composites. They would also like to locate the yellow 1971 Volkswagen seen at the scene of the last Son of Sam shooting. Its license plate ends with the letters G-U-R or G-V-R.
It was alleged that a satanic cult known as "The Children" was involved in the Son of Sam shootings. Two reported members were now-deceased brothers John and Michael Carr.
Extra Notes:

  • This case aired in two parts; Part 1 aired on the November 2, 1988 episode, and Part 2 aired a week later on the November 9, 1988 episode.
  • It was also mentioned in the Carolyn Reynolds and Stockton Arsonist segments.
  • The witness to the cult meeting was filmed in silhouette and not named.
  • The case was also featured in the 2021 Netflix documentary, The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness. Terry wrote the 1988 book, The Ultimate Evil, about the case. Many other books, shows, and movies have been made about the case, including the 1999 film Summer of Sam.
  • Berkowitz was paid substantial sums of money to share his story. The New York State Legislature enacted new statutes, known as "Son of Sam laws," to prevent criminals from financially profiting from books, movies, etc. related to their crimes.
  • Some sources spell Carl Denaro's last name as "Denero", Donna DeMasi's last name as "DiMasi", and Cecelia Davis' first name as "Cacilia". Some sources state that: Donna Lauria was exiting Jody's car when she was shot; they were shot three or five times; they were shot in the Bronx's Westchester Heights section; Carl and Rosemary were in his car; Virginia was killed in Manhattan; Alexander and Valentina were killed two blocks from the scene of the first shooting; Alexander was twenty; Stacy and Robert were shot around 2:50am; Cecelia heard the shots five minutes after encountering Berkowitz; Berkowitz was arrested at 10:30pm; his gun was in a manilla envelope; when arrested, he said, "What took you so long?"; and the police were at the front door when John Carr was shot.

Results: Unresolved. In 1987, Berkowitz became an evangelical Christian after having a "spiritual awakening" in prison. He expressed remorse for the shootings and retracted his claim about the possessed barking dog. In November 1993, Terry interviewed him for "Inside Edition." During the interview, he publicly claimed that a satanic cult was behind the Son of Sam shootings and that the victims were "sacrifices" to the devil.
Berkowitz claimed he was first introduced to the cult at a Bronx house party in 1975, where he met Michael Carr. He met with the cult in Untermyer Park, where they performed rituals and animal sacrifices. During one meeting, he called out to the devil and asked him to take control of his body. He claimed that some cult members were involved in child pornography. Several years before the Son of Sam shootings, Detective James Rothstein received leads about a "nefarious" ring involved in pedophilia and child pornography that met in Untermyer Park.
Berkowitz admitted being on the scene of each shooting but claimed that he had only killed three victims: Donna Lauria, Alexander Esau, and Valentina Suriani. He alleged that several cult members were involved in each shooting. They planned the events, stalked the victims, and acted as lookouts and getaway drivers.
Berkowitz claimed that a female cult member shot Carl Denaro and Rosemary Keenan. A male cult member, nicknamed "Manson II," shot Christine Freund and John Diel. Berkowitz was the lookout when a male cult member from North Dakota shot Stacy Moskowitz and Robert Violante. John Carr shot Donna DeMasi and Joanne Lomino, and Michael shot Salvatore Lupo and Judy Placido. Berkowitz said he could not name any other accomplices because it would put his family at risk.
In 1996, the Yonkers police reopened the Son of Sam case and began a new investigation into Berkowitz's claims. However, it was later closed due to inconclusive findings. The Queens District Attorney's Office later closed their case as well.
In June 2002, Berkowitz became eligible for parole. However, he did not show up to his parole hearing, claiming that he deserved to stay in prison. In a 2002 interview, he said that the other cult members had "gone legitimate and blended into society." However, he again refused to reveal their identities. In a 2017 interview, when asked if others were involved, he said, "Let's put it this way, there were demons, and that was it."
Maury Terry dedicated the rest of his life to investigating the case and trying to confirm his cult theory. However, the investigation became an "obsession" for him. His marriage ended, his reputation was damaged, and his health was ruined. In 2010, filmmaker Joshua Zeman learned about the case and befriended Terry. Terry later gave his case files to Zeman. On December 10, 2015, Terry passed away at sixty-nine.
On May 5, 2021, Netflix released Zeman's four-part documentary, "The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness," about the case and Terry's investigation. Zeman believes Terry was correct about Berkowitz having accomplices. He theorizes that the NYPD wanted to close the case so the city would return to normal. He feels the case should be reopened. However, he is not sure if a "nationwide" satanic cult was involved.
Terry seemed to make outlandish claims regarding the alleged cult. He claimed they were connected to the Manson Family, Scientology, and several unsolved murders. On October 31, 1981, Ronald Sisman and Elizabeth Platzman were shot to death in Ronald's Manhattan apartment. Berkowitz later claimed that cult members had killed the couple while looking for a "snuff film" of Stacy Moskowitz's murder.
In several letters, Berkowitz mentioned the murder of Arlis Perry, who was stabbed to death in a church at Stanford University in Stanford, California, on October 13, 1974. He claimed her killer was the cult member "Manson II." In 2018, DNA testing identified her killer as campus security guard Stephen Crawford. Her case is no longer believed to be connected to Berkowitz or the cult.
Skeptics of the cult theory noted that when Terry interviewed Berkowitz, he appeared to ask "leading" questions, which allowed Berkowitz to answer the way Terry wanted him to. It was also suggested that Terry fell victim to the "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s.
In June 2024, the NYPD identified Wendy Savino as the first Son of Sam shooting victim. On the evening of April 9, 1976, Wendy, then thirty-eight, was sitting in her car along Boston Road in Queens when a "smiling" man approached her and shot her five times. She survived but spent two months in the hospital and lost her right eye.
After Berkowitz's arrest, Wendy recognized him as her attacker. For reasons unknown, the police did not link her to the Son of Sam cases at the time. However, in early 2024, YouTuber Manny Grossman convinced the NYPD to take a new look at her case. After interviewing Wendy and Berkowitz, they identified him as her attacker. However, the statute of limitations has run out in her case.
Berkowitz remains in prison. In May 2024, he was denied parole again.
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