David Berkowitz Research Paper

“All victims were strangers to him, all murders had been done in the middle of the night except for one. While he was nervous and fearful at the first shooting; he took great pleasure in it. He alone knew who killer was. He was omnipotent. The “demons” had transformed the unassuming and quite ordinary David Berkowitz into one of the most sought-after killers of modern times” (Abrahamsen, 1985). During childhood an individual goes through phases, events, emotions that shape his or her adulthood, David Berkowitz was not an exception like many other murders he was the product of his formative years. Notorious for the spree of killings committed in 1976-77 in New York City of young women, whom he stalked, and preyed on after dark. For one year
Joanne Lomino, 18, survived the brutal attack but was left paralyzed from the waist down. Media coverage of these two first incidents terrorized New York; parents did not feel their daughters were safe as the killer was still roaming the streets. On January 30, 1977, a couple parked their car on Forest Hills Street when suddenly an individual approached and the car and opened fire killing Christine Freund. Two months later, in March, a half a block away from the third incident Virginia Voskerichian was walking down the street when an individual shot her to death. All four incidents were interrelated, the victims were young women and the same .44 caliber gun was used for all the shootings. One month after the fourth incident Valentina Sauriani and Alexander Esau were gunned down while they were in their car parked in the Bronx. This time the murderer left a note for the police: “Come and get me.” signed “Son of Sam.” It was clear the murderer wanted to be known to the public by the name he signed, and the mass media coverage did a great job in spreading the fear of “Son of