Why We Love Serial Killers

by Scott Bonn

  When the news media began to report that an unknown serial killer was targeting women with long dark hair, a public panic erupted. By the summer of 1977 thousands of New York women had acquired short haircuts or dyed their hair in bright colors, and beauty supply stores could not meet the demand for wigs. Despite the tremendous media attention given to his murders, it was David Berkowitz who coined the iconic pseudonym “Son of Sam” in handwritten letters to the police and press, including a letter to the legendary New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin. In his threatening letters, Berkowitz said that Satan was ordering him to kill “pretty, young girls.” He became a larger-than-life public monster when his bizarre letters to authorities were published and repeatedly hyped by the New York news media.

  The Son of Sam Legend Is Born

  Jeff Kamen, a veteran journalist who reported on the Son of Sam case, called Berkowitz a “capable communicator who used his limited writing skills to terrorize the greatest city in America with his letters to Jimmy Breslin and others.” Berkowitz became the leading architect of his chilling public identity when he brazenly contacted his pursuers for the first time and gave himself a brand name on April 16, 1977. On that date, in close proximity to the dead bodies of his eighth and ninth victims, investigators discovered a handwritten letter addressed to NYPD Captain Joseph Borrelli. In this letter, Berkowitz revealed the name “Son of Sam” for the first time and claimed responsibility for his murders. Abridged with misspellings intact, the letter read as follows:

  I am deeply hurt by your calling me a wemon hater. I am not. But I am a monster. I am the “Son of Sam.” I am a little “brat.” When father Sam gets drunk he gets mean. He beats his family. Sometimes he ties me up to the back of the house. Other times he locks me in the garage. Sam loves to drink blood . . . I am on a different wave length than everybody else—programmed too kill. However, to stop me you must kill me. Attention all police: Shoot me first—shoot to kill or else. Keep out of my way or you will die! Papa Sam is old now. He needs some blood to preserve his youth. He has had too many heart attacks. Too many heart attacks. “Ugh, me hoot, it hurts sonny boy.” I miss my pretty princess most of all. She’s resting in our ladies house but I’ll see her soon . . . Mr. Borrelli, sir, I don’t want to kill anymore no sir, no more but I must, “honour thy father.” I want to make love to the world. I love people. I don’t belong on Earth. Return me to yahoos. To the people of Queens, I love you. And I want to wish all of you a happy Easter. May God bless you in this life and in the next and for now I say goodbye and goodnight. Police—Let me haunt you with these words; I’ll be back! I’ll be back! To be interpreted as—bang, bang, bang, bank, bang—ugh!

  Yours in murder

  Mr. Monster

  The unknown predator’s outrageous, direct communication with the police and news media received massive exposure and critical analysis. A panic of epic proportions was ignited when the first Son of Sam letter was released to the public. Forensic psychologists who were involved in the case observed that serial killers often derive satisfaction by outsmarting their observers and pursuers. By manipulating the news media, law enforcement authorities, and the public, serial killers enjoy a feeling of power, control, and domination. Dr. Harvey Schlossberg, the former director of psychological services for the NYPD, who considers criminal profiling a balance of art and science, was instrumental in developing a profile of the Son of Sam. On May 26, 1977, the NYPD released its profile of the unknown serial killer who haunted New York City. He was described as mentally ill, probably suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, and under the delusion that he was a victim of demonic possession.

  Following the largest manhunt in New York history, David Berkowitz was finally arrested on August 10, 1977, due to a chain of events stemming from a parking ticket he received at the scene of his final shootings. His two twenty-year-old victims in that final attack suffered different outcomes. Stacy Moskowitz died in the hospital several hours after the shooting while her boyfriend, Robert Violante, was critically wounded and blinded but survived. Berkowitz was interrogated for about thirty minutes in the early morning of August 11, 1977. He quickly confessed to the shootings and expressed an interest in pleading guilty. The results of his evaluation by forensic psychologists determined that he was mentally competent and thus, not legally insane. During his sentencing, Berkowitz repeatedly chanted “Stacy [Moskowitz] was a whore” at a low yet audible volume. His behavior caused a tremendous uproar in court and the proceedings had to be adjourned for a time. Berkowitz has confessed that his comment about Stacy was directed toward her mother who had openly said that he should be executed. On June 12, 1978, Berkowitz was sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison for each of his six murders and the sentences are to be served consecutively. He was ordered to serve his time in Attica Correctional Facility, a New York State super maximum security prison.

  As portrayed by the entertainment and news media, the Son of Sam legend contends that Berkowitz killed at the behest of Harvey, a black Labrador retriever owned by his Yonkers neighbor Sam Carr. Over the years, journalists and law enforcement officials have perpetuated this idea by claiming that Berkowitz thought Sam Carr was Satan and his dog Harvey was a demon that ordered him to kill young women through its nocturnal barking. It is generally believed that Berkowitz complied with the demonic orders of Harvey in an attempt to stop the incessant barking that tormented him as he tried to sleep at night. There has also been a persistent claim made by certain law enforcement officials and journalists over the decades that Berkowitz did not act alone. Such theorists contend that he was part of a demonic cult and that he had accomplices in his serial murders. Berkowitz allegedly made these claims to law enforcement authorities during prison interviews following his incarceration at Attica.

  There is another version of the Son of Sam legend that has been articulated by law enforcement authorities over the years. According to the FBI, two years after his arrest, Berkowitz recanted his story of demonic possession. During a prison interview with the late FBI profiler Robert Ressler in 1979, Berkowitz allegedly said that he had invented the Son of Sam stories so that if he was ever caught he could claim to be not guilty by reason of insanity. Ressler said that Berkowitz personally told him the real reason he killed was because he felt resentment toward his mother and other women who had rejected and hurt him throughout his life. Berkowitz allegedly admitted that he had long contemplated killing women in order to strike back at a world he believed had harmed him. Moreover, Ressler claimed that Berkowitz found killing women to be sexually arousing. According to Ressler, Berkowitz told him that “following [each] shooting [it was] like I was walking on air—a mental orgasm, if not a physical one.”

  My Personal Reflections on David Berkowitz

  My interactions with David Berkowitz have given me a very different and far more nuanced perspective on the motivations and actions of the serial killer known as Son of Sam than what is offered in mainstream media accounts of his crimes. I corresponded extensively through letters with Berkowitz in preparation for this book and I also visited with him in prison to conduct a lengthy interview. During our prison visit together he provided me with his unique insights into why so many of us are fascinated with serial killers and the dark side of the human condition. Berkowitz also told me that Robert Ressler’s version of their 1979 prison interview and many aspects of the popular Son of Sam legend are inaccurate.

  On Wednesday, March 13, 2013, I spent nearly five engrossing hours one-on-one with the man whose self-proclaimed moniker still elicits tremendous fear in our society. He gave me a rare in-depth interview that I will never forget. Berkowitz is housed in the general prison population at Sullivan Correctional Facility in upstate New York. Sullivan is a chilling fortress made from Israeli sandstone that looms high on a lonely hill overlooking the Neversink River Valley in the Catskills. As a criminologist, I have visited prisons over the years but nothing like Sullivan Correctional Facility. A maximum security prison that spec
ializes in housing mentally and physically impaired inmates, as well as those serving life sentences for murder, Sullivan appears lifeless and indestructible from the outside. Once inside the facility, I encountered corrections officers who were efficient but very detached and somewhat intimidating—by design, no doubt.

  As I waited for Berkowitz to arrive in the visitation area, I wondered what his reaction toward me would be. It seemed to me that I had gotten to know him quite well through our written correspondence initiated by me but this was to be our first meeting in person so I was unsure what to expect. I had been told by a mutual acquaintance, RoxAnne Tauriello, a Christian TV talk show host and evangelist, that Berkowitz today is nothing like the brooding, angry, and disturbed predator that held New York in a grip of fear in the 1970s. When he arrived, Berkowitz nearly bounced into the visitation room wearing a bright yellow polo shirt and khaki pants. He appeared genuinely pleased, and even excited, to see me. He gave me a firm handshake and then a manly hug. Unlike the sullen young man with dead eyes who sat in court thirty-six years earlier, the fifty-nine-year-old David Berkowitz was full of youthful energy and his eyes were clear and bright.

  My time with Berkowitz produced a number of revelations about his personal life, as well as his crimes. As we talked and had lunch together, I found him to be genuinely warm, candid, and engaging. With regard to his personal life, Berkowitz told me that he deeply mourns his adoptive father, Nathan, who died in 2012 at the age of 101. He said that his adoptive father never abandoned him and always loved him, despite the horrible things he had done. As Berkowitz spoke lovingly about his father and shared with me the deep regrets he has today for putting Nathan through so much misery over the years, his face became crimson and tears filled his eyes. I was moved by Berkowitz’s display of vulnerability, humility, and remorse in my presence.

  Debunking the Son of Sam Mythology

  As a result of my discourse with Berkowitz, I have come to believe that certain aspects of the Son of Sam legend are pure mythology that has been promoted by the media and law enforcement authorities over the last few decades. For example, Berkowitz did not kill young women at the command of a demonic dog. Although it is true that Berkowitz hated the nightly barking of Harvey, his neighbor Sam Carr’s dog, and he tragically shot the animal to end the noise, he never believed that Harvey was a demon or that it was ordering him to kill women.

  Contrary to the legend, Berkowitz was never a member of a demonic cult, although it is true that he became obsessed with the occult and worshipped Satan prior to becoming a serial killer. Despite his obsession with the occult, Berkowitz had no accomplices in his murders. He told me first hand that he acted alone during his killing spree. He also told me that he recanted his claim of demonic possession during his 1979 prison interview with FBI profiler Robert Ressler in order to pacify the agent. More specifically, Berkowitz claims that Ressler pressured him into saying that he had fabricated the story of demonic possession. Berkowitz told me that he complied with Ressler and changed his story simply to end the interview with the aggressive FBI profiler.

  I believe Berkowitz was driven to kill by an obsession with Satan and the occult that began shortly after his release from the army in 1974. Berkowitz joined the army in 1971 at the age of eighteen with the hope of finding purpose and direction in his life after experiencing a troubled and lonely youth. Unfortunately, his time in the army left him feeling even more unfulfilled and lonely. After returning home from the army at the age of twenty-one and still searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Berkowitz turned to Satan and the occult. In his tormented and delusional mind, Satan gave Berkowitz a new purpose in his life. He became convinced that Satan would free him from his emotional pain and loneliness as a reward for committing murder on the devil’s behalf. In addition to his inner turmoil, Berkowitz was unable to sleep at night due to the incessant barking of Harvey but shooting the dog did not stop his emotional pain, loneliness, rage, or compulsion to kill.

  Berkowitz explained to me during our visit that he felt like “a soldier on a mission” every time he went out to kill. A successful mission did not leave him feeling satisfied, however. Although he experienced a brief period of exhilaration following the act of murder, each killing ultimately left Berkowitz feeling more empty and unfulfilled than ever. Given the repetitious cycle of agonizing pain and temporary relief that defined his serial murders, it seems to me that killing became both a physical and psychological addiction for Berkowitz during his twelve-month homicidal odyssey. Like a heroin addict, he lived for the momentary high that each murder gave him but shortly thereafter, he would crash and experience a desperate, new emotional bottom. Throughout his killing spree, like a junkie in need of a fix, Berkowitz believed that just one more murder might finally provide permanent relief from the pain and emptiness that haunted him. Despite shooting thirteen people and causing a massive public panic, the relief he sought never came to him.

  Berkowitz’s Thoughts on His Public Image

  During our prison visit together Berkowitz told me he realizes that the terrifying public image he constructed for himself in the 1970s with assistance from the news media and law enforcement authorities may be indelibly burned into the minds of the public. He fully recognizes that he is perceived by many people to be the very personification of evil. He admits that he knowingly and deliberately contributed to the social construction of his monstrous public identity when he sent those bizarre and threatening letters signed “Son of Sam” to the news media and police during his reign of terror. He told me that he enjoyed shocking the world and derived fiendish pleasure from seeing his own words printed in the headlines of major New York City newspapers.

  It is clear to me that Berkowitz relished his evil celebrity status and that he enjoyed terrorizing the city of New York throughout his murderous rampage. I believe that his criminal infamy boosted his otherwise fragile ego and gave him a twisted sense of identity and purpose. Of course, the results of his criminal labor were truly horrible. Berkowitz also admits that he deliberately resisted authority following his capture. He tried to intimidate everyone in the courtroom during his trial and in prison during the early days of his incarceration. Of that time, he now says, “I was once an evil man. I truly believed that I was working for Satan and I embraced the mission.” His own words reveal that Berkowitz was the principle author of the Son of Sam legend through his own terrible crimes and aggressive self-promotion.

  I asked Berkowitz why the public seems to be so fascinated with serial killers. He told me that it has to do with a morbid attraction to the dark or pathological side of the human condition and the fact that everyone, in his opinion, has the potential to do terrible things under the right circumstances. He offered these powerful insights:

  In general, people are drawn to the darker side of life. With regard to why people are so fascinated by serial killers, mass murder and violent crime, it could be that deep inside everyone is the desire to take out one’s anger and frustration upon someone else . . . Man can become violent and beast-like in a moment’s time . . . Concerning ‘evil,’ perhaps everyone has the potential, under the right conditions and circumstances, to do terrible, horrendous things . . . People want to understand why.

  Berkowitz also told me that the news media are complicit in fueling the public’s interest in the dark side of the human condition. He said:

  The media take a part in this, too, especially with serial crimes. Serial killers are very rare. All of the media attention makes them look more prevalent than they really are. In my opinion, this is part of the inner spiritual decline of western society as we slowly slide towards anarchy.

  Berkowitz’s words suggest that he has a rather apocalyptic view of the world. He told me that he believes the public is easily manipulated or “programmed” by the news media. He also believes that the media frequently misrepresented the Son of Sam crime story and sought to exploit his infamy, particularly regarding his alleged satanic cult affiliation and obe
dience to Harvey the demonic dog. (I discuss the important role of the media in the social construction of serial killers as celebrity monsters, including Berkowitz’s perspective on this, in chapters 9 and 10.)

  How the Son of Sam Became the Son of Hope

  Berkowitz told me that during the early years of his incarceration he believed that Satan would open the prison doors and set him free. He was surly, uncooperative with prison officials, and tried to intimidate his fellow inmates, as he waited for the devil to arrive and free him. In 1979, Berkowitz was attacked by another inmate at Attica Correctional Facility and received a potentially fatal slash to the left side of his neck that required nearly sixty stitches to close. Keeping true to the prison code of silence, Berkowitz refused to name the prisoner that attacked and nearly killed him with a knife. Eventually, Berkowitz realized that Satan was not going to free him from his prison cell and he became sullen and despondent.

  Incredibly, after being transferred from Attica, Berkowitz had a self-described “spiritual awakening” in his prison cell at Sullivan Correctional Facility and he became a born-again Christian. Berkowitz and I talked at length about his spiritual transformation and his life today during our visit together at Sullivan. He told me that by 1987, after ten years behind bars, he did not think he would be able to make it in prison. He was riddled with anguish, guilt, and shame, and he frequently thought about dying. According to Berkowitz’s personal testimony, his conversion occurred after reading Psalm 34:6 from a Gideon New Testament Pocket Bible that was given to him by a fellow inmate. In a moment of total desperation one night, Berkowitz fell on his knees and he remained there for roughly thirty minutes, asking God for help and forgiveness for the very first time. He told me that his prayers were answered that night and he felt the calming presence of God in his prison cell. After expressing deep remorse for his terrible crimes to God, he says that his sins were forgiven and his agonizing pain and fear were miraculously lifted from him. Of his moment of grace, as he calls it, Berkowitz said, “I shudder to think what my life would have been like if I never came to Christ. I probably would have taken my own life.”