David Berkowitz's apartment

This is the apartment building where David Berkowitz lived.

It is situated at 42 Pine Street in the west of Yonkers, close to the Hudson River.

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

At the time of the murders, this rental building was called Pine Hill Towers.

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

As you can imagine, they weren't too pleased to be associated with the notorious "Son of Sam"—the boastful serial killer who had terrorized New York City with his Bulldog revolver.

Between 1976 and 1977, Berkowitz killed six people in eight separate shootings.

His first victim was 19-year-old Donna Lauria, whom he shot to death in the Bronx on July 29th, 1976.

Following Lauria's murder, he continued to target young couples, often focusing his efforts on lovers' lanes. During his crime spree, he carried out shootings in the Bronx, Queens, Long Island, and Brooklyn.

In prison interviews, Berkowitz admitted that he used to drive around New York City for hours looking for suitable victims. If he couldn't find any, he would give up and try again the following day.

Originally, the media nicknamed him the ".44 Caliber Killer" due to the type of weapon that he was using. However, he quickly became known as the "Son of Sam" after he identified himself as such in a letter that he left at one of his crime scenes.

The murders, his taunting letters, and the creepy nickname that 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.

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 realizing that the driver might have been the "Son of Sam", investigators trawled through records of vehicles that had been ticketed in the area until they eventually honed in on a 24-year-old Yonkers resident called David Berkowitz.

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

Certain that they had finally found their man, they proceeded to wait outside until their suspect exited the building and got into his vehicle.

At that point, they moved in and arrested him.

When one of the officers asked Berkowitz who he was, he reportedly smiled and said, "You know."

Following his arrest, Berkowitz claimed that he had been taking orders from a demonically possessed dog that was owned by his neighbor, Sam Carr, who lived across the street.

However, he later admitted that he had made this story up. In reality, there was no demon dog. Instead, these attacks were his way of lashing out against a world that he felt had rejected him.

On May 8th, 1978, he pleaded guilty to all of the murders. One month later, he received six consecutive 25-year-to-life sentences.

He remains in prison to this day.

Photos

Photos of the apartment building and other related images.

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