David Berkowitz's apartment

This is the apartment building where the Son of Sam, David Berkowitz, was living at the time of his arrest.

It is located at 42 Pine Street in Yonkers, New York.

Berkowitz lived on the top floor, in apartment number 7E.

At the time, the building was called Pine Hill Towers. These days, it is called Horizon Hill.

The original address was 35 Pine Street. However, the owners changed both the name and number shortly after Berkowitz's arrest.

First attack

On December 24, 1975, Berkowitz attacked his first known victim, Michelle Forman, in Co-op City in the Bronx. That night, he stabbed the teenager in the back while she was walking across a pedestrian footbridge. However, her thick winter coat provided her with a layer of protection from the blade.

When Forman turned around and screamed, Berkowitz panicked and fled the scene.

Upon realizing that using a knife wasn't as simple as it seemed on TV, he decided to purchase a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver instead.

Murders

Between 1976 and 1977, Berkowitz killed six people and injured eleven others in eight separate attacks.

He committed his first murder on July 29, 1976, when he shot 19-year-old Donna Lauria in the Bronx.

Following the crime, he carried out similar shootings in the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn.

In prison interviews, Berkowitz admitted that he drove around New York City for hours while he was searching for a suitable victim. If he couldn't find one, he would give up and try again the following night.

Initially, the media nicknamed him the ".44 Caliber Killer" due to the type of weapon he was using. However, he became known as the "Son of Sam" after he identified himself as such in a letter that he left at the Esau-Suriani crime scene.

The murders, his taunting letters, and the nickname he gave himself created a media frenzy that lasted long after his arrest. It also led to one of the largest manhunts in New York's history.

Arrest

His luck finally ran out after his yellow 1970 Ford Galaxie received a parking ticket close to the location where he shot Stacy Moskowitz and Robert Violante.

Upon learning that the driver might have been the killer, investigators trawled through records of vehicles that had been ticketed in the area until they eventually zeroed in on Berkowitz.

When the police arrived at this apartment building on Pine Street, they looked inside his Ford and saw a weapon in the back seat. During a search of the vehicle, they found unsent letters from the killer and maps of the crime scenes.

Investigators patiently waited outside until Berkowitz exited the building and got into his vehicle. At that point, they moved in and arrested him.

When one of the detectives asked Berkowitz his name, he reportedly smiled and said, "You know."

Inside

Berkowitz's apartment was unkempt. Books and pieces of clothing were strewn across the floor.

There was also a hole in one of his walls. Beside it, he had written a message from someone called Mr. Williams:

"Hi. My name is Mr. Williams, and I live in this hole. I have several children who I'm turning into killers. Wait until they grow up. My neighbors, I have no respect for, and I treat them like sh*t. Sincerely, Williams."

Berkowitz was a serial arsonist before he progressed to violence. During a search of the apartment, the police found a detailed diary that listed every fire he had set since the mid-1970s.

Son of Sam

Berkowitz initially claimed that a demonically possessed dog had ordered him to carry out the shootings.

The dog was a black Labrador retriever named Harvey.

Harvey belonged to Sam Carr, who lived in a house on the western side of Berkowitz's apartment complex.

Berkowitz hated Carr's dog because it kept barking at night. In April 1977, he shot at the dog and wounded it in the leg.

Later, he admitted that the Son of Sam story was a hoax. Instead, the attacks were his way of lashing out against a world he felt had rejected him.

Berkowitz turned 72 in June 2025. He remains in prison at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility, having been denied parole numerous times.

He has since embraced born-again Christianity and expressed remorse for the murders.

His next hearing is scheduled for May 2026. Although Berkowitz believes he is no longer a danger to anyone, he is aware that his chances of ever being released are very slim.