The son of Sam: The murderer who claimed to kill by order of Satan

 

An armed killer roams the streets of New York at night and shoots women and girls and everyone who leads his misfortune to stand in his way .. And all this in order to please Satan, he said! .. See dear reader, this is not a fictional story, but rather a completely real story, and its hero is a serial killer named the son of Sam "Ibn Sam" .. Here are the details.

the beginning

David Berkowitz was born on June 1, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. His mother, Elizabeth Broder, was from a poor Jewish family, who had previously married an Italian-American man named Tony Falco, but he soon left her, and after several years Elizabeth had a relationship with a married man named Joseph Kleinman and gave birth to her son David. Unfortunately for the poor child, his mother offered him For adoption A few days after his birth, although the reasons for doing so are unknown, Kleinman is believed to have threatened her if she kept the child and used his name.

The child was adopted by the couple Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz, who owned a hardware store, and had no children as they gave David their own nickname (Perkowitz) that he needed throughout his life.
David was above average intelligent, and despite that, his childhood was somewhat turbulent, and neighbors and his schoolmates complained of his hateful and bully misconduct, adding to this his extreme obsession with arson and theft from a young age, and his parents took him to several psychiatrists.

At the age of 14, his adoptive mother died as a result of breast cancer, which left a mark on himself because he was so attached to her, which increased his disorder, and his life was noticeably strained because of his extreme hatred of his father's new wife.

At the age of 17, he joined the US Army and served in South Korea and is said to have excelled in shooting with a 44-caliber pistol ..
After returning from Korea he sought to meet his real mother and indeed it happened in the early seventies, as he got to know his half-sister Roslyn .. However, he soon left them after he felt very angry and resentful because of his mother's abandonment of him as a child and took it upon himself to take revenge on all women, especially that he had contracted a disease in the reproductive system as a result of his first sexual experience with a prostitute during his work with the army.

 

 Crimes

David worked in several unstable jobs until he settled in the United States Postal Service as a message counters, in the meantime he caused dozens of fires across the city, and this devastating path of setting fire quickly turned into buildings of public importance.

His first attempted murder was in 1975 when he used a kitchen knife to attack two women on a bridge north of New York City. The injuries were serious enough to take them to hospital for seven days. He then switched to using a 44-caliber Bulldog pistol, where his victims chose white women with long wavy brown hair, who was attacking his victims while they were sitting in parked cars with their friends.

- In July, at 1 pm after midnight, the two girls, Donna Luria, 18, and her friend Judy Valenti - 19, were (Both are nurses) Two sessions talking in the car after a hard day at work, and when Luria opened the car door to leave, as she hinted at a man approaching quickly, she was terrified and said: “Now what is this ...” The man took a gun from a paper bag and directed his weapon with both hands and shot .. Donna hit her head and died instantly .. While another bullet penetrated Judy Valenti's thigh and the third bullet was mistaken .. Then the shooter turned and rushed away.

Valenti survived her injury and said: "She did not recognize the murderer, describing him as a white man in his thirties and his hair is short and curly." .. Witnesses provided confirmed reports to the police that a yellow car was traveling around hours before the accident.

In October, a similar shooting occurred in a secluded area. The couple, Karl Dinaro - 20 years old - was a security guard, with long hair reaching his shoulders .. Rosemary Kennan - 18 - is a student at Queen's College, sitting in a car when the glass suddenly crashed .. The terrified couple did not realize that someone shot them! Where they felt that the car had exploded, Kennan was superficially injured by the broken glass, while Dinaro was hit in the skull but he survived, and he did not see either of the attacking victims.

Police believe the attacker made a mistake and thought Dinaro was a woman because of his long hair

Dinaro's father was a veteran investigator at the New York State Police Department, which made the police open an extensive investigation into the incident ..
The details of the shooting of Dinaro and Kennan were very similar to the Luria and Valenti case, but the police did not link them .. This is because the shooting took place in different cities and was investigated by other police services.

Donna Dimas - 18 years old - and Joan Luminou - 18 years old - came home two students at Martin Burin High School, and while they were talking in front of the door a man in uniform approached and began asking about directions where he said out loud: “Can you tell me how to get ... ” But he is Soon he took out a pistol and shot both girls. After they fell on the floor, they were struck with their blood, and he fired several bullets at them again .. A neighbor heard a gunshot and rushed to the scene .. He said he saw a blond man running away with a handgun in his left hand .

Demasi was shot in the neck, but she narrowly escaped, while Joan Luminau was shot several times in the back, causing her to be paralyzed.



On January 30, at around 12:40 after midnight, Secretary Christine Freud - 26 - and her fiance, John Dial - 30 years - (Nadil) were .. Sitting in a car preparing to go to the dance floor after watching "Rocky", three car bullets were in a state of terror .. Diyal went out to ask for help and suffered minor injuries, but Christine was shot and died hours later in hospital .. Neither victim saw the face of the murderer.

 

While the police issued the first official statement that the shooting of Frond and Diyal was similar to previous incidents and that the bullets that the victims had suffered were of 44 caliber .. It appears that the killer was targeting young women with long dark hair, and New York Police Sergeant Richard Kunlun said that they were looking for multiple suspects and not just one due to the conflicting descriptions made by the victims. Some said that the attacker had blonde hair while others said that he had black hair ! Several different drawings of the suspect were issued.


The murderer was beaten again on the evening of March 10, when student Virgina Fuskercian - 19 - was on her way home, and an armed man intercepted her .. In a desperate moment to defend herself, she raised her textbooks and covered her face, but the bullet penetrated that temporary shield, hit her in the head, and died instantly.

At 3 am on April 17, truck driver Alexander Aiso - 20 years old - was accompanied by his girlfriend Valentina Soriani, a student at Lyman College, actress, and ambitious model - 18 years old - sitting in a car belonging to the brother of Iso in the Bronx when a bystander heard four shots He called the police .. It turned out that a Syrian was shot and died as a result, while Alexander Iso was shot in the head and died in hospital.


The police found a handwritten crime scene message that included sarcasm and insults to the police and their failed attempts to arrest him, and some of what he suffered in his childhood, the message is as follows:

“You insulted me as a hate woman .. I am not like that .. I am Sam's son .. I'm a monster, but I'm a little naughty .. My father had several heart attacks .. And when he drinks, he becomes evil .. He hits his family .. Sometimes it keeps me locked up in the attic .. I can not get out .. I look out the window and see the world pass by, I feel strange .. I became a programmer for murder and bloodshed .. To stop me you must kill me .. Shoot me first or get out of my way, or you will die .. Be careful, policemen .. I will come back to you I love life wandering the streets and looking for delicious fishing .. I wish you a good Easter. Ibn Sam

At approximately 3:00 am on June 26, high school graduate Judy Placido - 17 years old - sat next to her boyfriend Sal Lobo - 20 years old - a mechanical assistant - in their car parked on the side of the road, and suddenly hit three bullets .. Lobo was shot in the hand while Judy was hit in the shoulder .. However, both survived .. They later said that they were discussing the Ibn Sam case just moments before they were shot !!

Early on July 31, 1977, Secretary Stacy Moskovin was accompanied by her beloved Bobby Violet - a 20-year-old clothing store seller - who was hiking in a public park .. And while the two lovers sat on one of the hammocks, they kissed .. There was a man hanging around a few meters away .. Stacy felt uncomfortable, and she insisted Bobby go to their car parked near the street, and they actually got in the car .. Moments later, even before they closed the doors .. Shots were fired at them and the car windows were shattered .. Stacy fell out of the car, dead with a bullet that settled in her head .. While Bobby was subjected to two shots, he was completely blinded in one eye and severely damaged in the other .. He managed to crawl out of the car and cry for help.

By chance, a man named Tommy Zeno witnessed the shooting .. He saw the killer run away inside the park and disappear among the dense trees.

Investigators noted that Stacy Moskovin is the only blonde victim, while all the other victims have dark hair.

The son of Sam was arrested

On that day, the police conducted an intensive investigation in the area where the attack occurred, and a woman testified that she had seen a traffic policeman issuing a violation of a parked yellow car after that a man passed by her side and kept checking it in a strange way, raising her doubts and holding black bags in his hands, and she felt very afraid of him She rushed to her house and while she was fleeing, I heard several gunfire ..

The police examined all the cars that were registered in that area and interrogated their owners, among which was a yellow Ford Galaxy vehicle belonging to David Berkowitz .. Police patrols went to the building where Berkowitz lived and searched his parked car where they found a Bulldog 44 pistol inside a paper bag, a coarse bag full of ammunition, maps of the crime scene, and a threatening letter addressed to Inspector Timothy David in charge of the case ..

Then the police decided to wait for David to leave the apartment, instead of risking a violent confrontation in the narrow corridors of the building, and they also obtained an order to search the apartment.

Two hours after the wait, David left the apartment building and entered his car .. Detective John Valotico approached the driver's side and directed his rifle towards him, while Sergeant William Gardela pointed his gun from the driver's side .. The other men surrounded the car from each side .. They asked him to get out of the car, then Detective Valutico said, directing his words to David:

“Now that I got you .. who are you !“

Berkowitz replied with a big smile on his face:
"Yes, you got me, I'm Ibn Sam."

The investigator said: “You are Sam! Sam who? ”

The man replied, “Sam, David Berkowitz.“

The police searched Ibn Sam's apartment and found it in chaos, and diabolical writings on the walls. They also found notes he had kept since he was 21 years old - almost all of them full. Berkowitz indicated in his notes that he was responsible for hundreds of fires. Some sources say this number may exceed 1,400 artificial fires throughout New York City.

 

 Berkowitz was interrogated for 30 minutes in the early morning of August 11, 1977, and soon he confessed to the shooting and expressed his desire to confess guilt, and claimed that he was killed on the basis of irresistible orders from a demon embodied in the form of his neighbor's dog "Sam Car" who owns a dog Black Labrador is called Harvey, Ibn Sam said that there is a bad demon that inhabits that dog's body and desires the blood of beautiful girls!! ..
Hence he called himself Ibn Sam. As he gave information to his psychiatrist Dave Abrahamson, that he was part of a demonic sect that helped him carry out the murders and that his colleagues John and Michael Carr (Sami Kar's sons) helped him with his mission, and he ended his words saying: “There are other children, that the Lord is helping the world.” ..

Perhaps you have now confirmed, dear reader, that such confessions are issued only from a sick mind ..

The trial

 

Doctors performed three mental health checks, and they considered that he was eligible for trial .. Defense attorneys advised him to file a patent on the pretext of insanity, but he refused, and he seemed calm in court as he confessed to all the shootings and showed no remorse. When the verdict was pronounced, Ibn Sam made an unexpected order .. Where he tried to jump from the seventh floor window of the courtroom .. But they caught him at the last minute and tied him well, he was very angry as he suddenly shouted, "Stacy .. My last victim was a prostitute .. I will kill her again .. I will kill them all again. ” ..

Then the court ordered another psychological examination, and the result was that he was suffering from insanity due to his allegations about the story of the demonic dog as well as schizophrenia accompanied by paranoia.

He was convicted of 6 murders and sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment for each murder, and then sent to Attica prison, north of New York State.
Despite the prosecution's objections, the conditions for admitting guilt made him eligible for parole after 25 years! .. Yet he is still in the Chawangunk Correctional Center in New York to this day.

 

Sources :

- David Berkowitz - Wikipedia
- How David Berkowitz Terrorist 1970s New York City
- David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) - Crime Files