Elizabeth John
SOC 212/6790
July 12, 2015
Prof. J. Weiss

David Berkowitz
“Son of Sam”

Synopsis

David Berkowitz better known as the “Son of Sam” is from New York. I choose him because I wanted to learn more about what drove him to commit such heinous crimes. I wanted to look into his mind and research why his mind was working like this. Could it be possible that a neurologic defect drove him to become a serial killer?

Due to today’s advanced media technology, we as a society are more aware and instantly informed about mass murders and serial killers. There is a difference between a mass murderer and a serial killer, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, statistics Bureau. (“Mental Floss”, 2008). A “mass
He also, killed thousands of bugs by burning and gluing them with rubber cement. (Gale Biography). In 1971 David’s father remarried, but he did not get along with his adoptive father’s second wife. David at 18 years old joined the U.S. Army and served in the United States and South Korea. During that time he had his one and only sexual experience with a prostitute and caught a venereal disease. When he returned home he found out his natural mother was still alive and that he had a half sister. (Montaldo, C.). There was a brief reunion but David was enraged and resented that his mother had kept and loved his sister and abandoned him. Then his father and his wife moved to Florida leaving David behind, again making him feel abandoned. This completely shattered David, he felt that all the women in his life threatened, abandoned or rejected him. This caused David to have hatred towards women that he could no longer contain. On December 24, 1975, David claimed that his crime spree started. He attacked and stabbed two women with a hunting knife, luckily both women survived. (Gale Biography). While living in New Rochelle, NY he claimed that howling dogs kept him from sleeping. He believed the dog’s howls were where messages from demons that ordered him to kill women. (Gale Biography). David then moves to an apartment in Yonkers, NY trying to escape the demons. However, his neighbor Sam Carr had a dog named Harvey, that David believed was possessed and