The location where Virginia Voskerichian was killed
This is the location where the Son of Sam, David Berkowitz, killed Virginia Voskerichian.
It is situated outside the apartment complex at 4 Dartmouth Street in Forest Hills, Queens.
Murder
On the evening of March 8, 1977, Voskerichian returned to Queens from Barnard College in Manhattan. After leaving the Forest Hills-71st Avenue subway station, she walked south along Continental Avenue.
Her destination was her home on Exeter Street, just a five-minute walk away.
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She reached this section of Dartmouth Street at approximately 7:30 p.m.
In 1977, the area was dark due to sparse lighting and a broken streetlight.
As Voskerichian walked along the sidewalk, Berkowitz calmly approached her with a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver and shot her at close range. The 19-year-old student tried to protect herself by raising her textbooks, but the bullet pierced them and struck her in the face.
An autopsy later determined that the bullet shattered her teeth and lodged in the back of her skull, killing her almost immediately.
Following the shooting, Berkowitz turned and ran back to his car.
An elderly man in the area heard the gunshot and assumed it was a firecracker. Moments later, he saw a "pudgy youth" wearing a stocking cap fleeing the scene.
Around the same time, a young man discovered Voskerichian's body near the sidewalk. He attempted to revive her but ran to call the police after he saw blood pouring from her mouth.
Berkowitz later explained that he killed Voskerichian because he wanted to change his modus operandi and confuse the police.
Until that point, he had mostly targeted couples. By targeting a lone woman, he hoped to make himself less predictable.
Berkowitz said he spent an hour prowling the area looking for a suitable victim before he saw Voskerichian walking towards him.
Proximity to Freund shooting
Six weeks earlier, Berkowitz had shot Christine Freund and John Diel while they sat in their car at a nearby location.
Initially, the police stated there was no evidence connecting the shootings. However, the media soon learned that the same .44 caliber ammunition had been used in both killings.
The decision to return to the same neighborhood so soon after Freund's murder was significant.
Berkowitz's letters to the police and media indicate he was hungry for attention. He enjoyed seeing news reports about his crimes.
For the first time in his unremarkable life, he finally felt powerful.
Criminology professor Dr. Scott A. Bonn, who interviewed Berkowitz on multiple occasions, shared a similar opinion:
"It is clear to me that Berkowitz relished his evil celebrity status and that he enjoyed terrorizing the city of New York throughout his murderous rampage. I believe that his criminal infamy boosted his otherwise fragile, disturbed ego and gave him a twisted sense of identity and purpose."
Consequently, it is plausible that Berkowitz purposely targeted the same area to make the links between the shootings more obvious.
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Address
The address and GPS coordinates for the site are as follows:
Address
4 Dartmouth Street, Queens, New York, NY 11375, USA
GPS Coordinates
40.719169, -73.845811
40°43'09.01"N 73°50'44.92"W
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Area Information
📍 It is close to the intersection between Dartmouth Street and Continental Avenue in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens.
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Closest Locations
Other locations that are relatively close to this address:
The location where David Berkowitz killed Christine Freund
Less than a mile away.
Crime Location in Queens, New York
