Episode 98: Are Serial Killers Made or Born

Sinister Crimes and Cocktails: A True Crime Podcast

From July of 1976 to July of 1977, one of America’s most notorious serial killers, David Berkowitz, better known by his moniker, The Son of Sam, swept panic through the streets and boroughs of New York City with a murder spree that captivated the nation and ignited a media frenzy. Over the course of that year, in three of the city’s boroughs, Berkowitz, using a.44 caliber Bulldog revolver randomly shot New York citizens, leaving six dead and seven wounded. He left handwritten letters at some of the crime scenes, in which he taunted and insulted the police for their fruitless efforts to capture him and expressed his determination to continue his work. Berkowitz’s deadly shooting rampage spawned one of the biggest manhunts in New York City’s history, ending in August of 1977, with the capture of the 24-year-old, finally putting to rest New York City’s notorious “summers of fear”. Berkowitz’s confessed to the string of brutal attacks claiming that he had received orders to kill from his neighbor Sam Carr, which had been communicated through Sam’s black Labrador retriever that had become possessed by a 6,000-year-old demon. Despite Berkowitz’s story of devils, demons, and possession, numerous psychological evaluations declared him “competent” to stand trial. So, was The Son of Sam just a sinister mind who had a lust for killing or was he suffering from serve mental health issues that had been the catalyst into creating a serial killer.
References:
‘I want people to understand what really happened’: did the Son of Sam serial killer act alone? | Documentary | The Guardian

Where Is David Berkowitz Now? Everything We Know About the "Son of Sam" (distractify.com)

The Son of Sam: A Timeline of the Killings that Terrorized New York City (biography.com)

David Berkowitz, "Son of Sam": America's Most Infamous Serial Killer - The CrimeWire

David Berkowitz | Son of Sam Killer - Crime Museum

Inside the Son of Sam Case (biography.com)

David Berkowitz - Crimes, Letters & Facts (biography.com)

Son of Sam serial killer is arrested | August 10, 1977 | HISTORY

David Berkowitz | Biography, Crimes, & Facts | Britannica

Where Is David Berkowitz Now in 2021? Is Son of Sam Killer Still Alive? (menshealth.com)

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