Son of Sam: The .44 Caliber Killer Who Terrorized New York

David Richard Berkowitz, born Richard David Falco on June 1, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York, carried out one of the most notorious serial killing sprees in American criminal history. Over a twenty-two-month period from 1975 to 1977, the man who would become known as the Son of Sam, the .44 Caliber Killer, and the Phantom of the Bronx systematically hunted victims across the boroughs of New York City.

The attacks began in December 1975 with a stabbing that left a woman severely wounded but alive. However, it was Berkowitz's turn to firearms that would define his reign of terror. On July 29, 1976, he opened fire on eighteen-year-old Donna Lauria and nineteen-year-old Jody Valenti in the Bronx. Lauria was killed; Valenti survived. The shooting marked the beginning of a calculated campaign that would grip the city in fear.

Over the following months, Berkowitz struck repeatedly. On October 23, 1976, he shot twenty-year-old Carl Denaro and eighteen-year-old Rosemary Keenan in separate incidents, leaving both wounded. A month later, on November 27, he targeted eighteen-year-old Joanne Lomino in Queens—her injuries would leave her permanently paralyzed. The violence escalated on April 17, 1977, when Berkowitz gunned down twenty-year-old Alexander Esau and eighteen-year-old Valentina Suriani in the Bronx, killing both.

By late spring 1977, New York was gripped by panic. On May 26, police released a psychological profile describing the suspect as neurotic with probable paranoid schizophrenia. The manhunt became one of the largest in New York history as detectives pursued leads across the city.