David Berkowitz was born June 1,1953. Originally named David Falco, Berkowiz was given up for adoption and subsequently adopted by Nathan and Pearl Bekowitz. Despite the fact that the couple reportedly adored him, Berkowitz grew up feeling abandoned and rejected because his birth mother did ot apparently want him. His adoptive parents didn't help matters when they falsely told him that his mother had died giving birth to him, leaving Berkowitz with feelings of intense guilt as a child. After a troubled childhood and a disasterous stint in the Army, he found out his birth mother was still alive. His mother wanted little to do with him and Berkowitz was left feeling alone and shunned again. It wasn't long after this that he began his murders that until his arrest would be attributed to the fearsome "Son of Sam".
On July 29th, 1976, Berkowitz fired into a car containing two girls, injuring one and killing Jody Valenti. Berkowitz followed this by shooting Carl Denaro while the man was sitting in a parked car with his girlfriend, who was not injured. Denaro was nearly killed, somehow surviving a gunshot wounds to his head. In November, two young women were shot from nearly point blank range, but managed to survive though one was paralyzed.
1977 did not bring an end to the attacks. Berkowitz just became deadlier. In January, he killed Christine Freund while she sat in a car in Queens with her boyfriend. On March 8th, He shot and killed Virginia Voskerichian. On April 17th a couple parked in a secluded lovers lane were shot and killed while sitting in there vehicle. Though police knew they had a serial killer on their hands, a letter left at the scene was signed "Son of Sam". Their killer now had a nickname but the fearful public was screaming for an arrest.
Berkowitz was fishing for attention also. In addition to the crime scene letter, he now wrote to newspaper writer Jimmy Breslin. The rambling letter was printed in part by the Daily News, petrifying the citizens of New York even further, which, of course was the point. Berkowitz was enjoying himself completely, but his luck was running out. On June 26th he opened bire with his 44 outside of a Queens nightclub, injuring a couple while they sat in their car. Soon after, Stacy Moskowitz and her boyfriend were shot while necking in a car in Brooklyn. Moskowitz later died from a headwound but Berkowitz had finally made a critical mistake. He had been issued a parking ticket near the Moskowitz killing at around the same time and after investigating the man a bit, they decided to move. On August 10th, Berkowitz was arrested outside his Yonkers apartment and volunteered his guilt immediately.
Berkowitz' year-long killing spree was finally over and he plead guilty at his subsequent trial and was sentenced to 365 years in prison, though he attempted to deflect blame for the killings to a dog owned by an aquaintance Sam Carr, which supposedly gave him his orders to kill. Berkowitz later confessed that the ridiculous story was untrue and he resides in prison to this day.