Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “Son of Sam” - David Berkowitz

Episode Date: August 7, 2018

Plagued by the voices of monsters and demons since adolescence, serial killer David Berkowitz set over a thousand small fires throughout his youth and early adulthood. But his later involvement in devil worship and the occult, paired with his deep hatred for women, ultimately led him down the gruesome path to murder.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the lonely hearts killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels. But you don't need to break any laws to find your perfect business partner because you have Shopify. It's the commerce platform that can help you with literally everything, website design, marketing, shipping, and more.

So start your business today with the best partner, Shopify, and get that. Sign up for your $1.00. per month trial today at Shopify.com slash killers. That's Shopify.com slash killers. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Whether you're hiring for a role or searching for a killer, the hunt can be exhausting. When detectives looked and searched to find any kind of evidence to find the person they were looking for, like Jack the Ripper, the Golden State Killer, the unit bomber, it's tedious work to find what you're looking for. So if you're hiring, I've got news for you.

You can skip the lengthy investigation and the tiresome process of sorting through hundreds of resumes. Just use ZipRecruiter. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash killers. Because not only does ZipRecruiter have the technology to match you with potential candidates quickly, it also just added a new feature

that pushes candidates who are qualified and interested in your role to the top of the list. They can even tell you why they're interested, making it easier for you to get a sense of who they are. Cut through the standard and get to the standouts with ZipRecruiter. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. And now you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash killers. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash killers.

Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamavah Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary.

You in? Must be 21 to enter. Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes dramatizations and discussions of murder and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. A quick note. In this week's episode, all quotes will be performed by actors. However, these lines are quoted from primary research sources and presented exactly as those people stated them.

Schizophrenia is a heartbreaking disorder that affects how a person, thinks, acts, or even feels. Some symptoms attributed to schizophrenia, according to the DSM-5, are auditory and visual hallucinations, images or sounds that appear out of nowhere. The most common of these is hearing voices. Before its classification, many of those who suffered this were deemed possessed, hypnotized by demonic spirits with ill intent for those around them. People feared those afflicted with this mental illness as avatars for the devil's work. Of course, today, such superstitions have been debunked, giving way to a genuine understanding of the mental illness. But for those who are suffering from this terrible affliction, those demons can feel very real. Starting in 1976,

demonic fear had a vice grip on New York City. A string of grisly and seemingly random murders stretched from Queens to the Bronx. A mysterious assailant left six dead and avoided a manhunt with over 300 police officers, all the while leaving cryptic and disturbing notes claiming he was commanded by demons. This was the work of Son of Sam, David Richard Berkowitz. Hi, I'm Greg Paulson, and this is serial killers.

Today we're going to take a deep dive into the life of David Berkowitz, a.k.a. son of Sam, the notorious 44-caliber serial killer of New York City. For over a year, Sam terrorized couples and young women parked in cars between the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Vanessa's not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she's done a lot of research for the show. Hi, everyone. We'd like to ask a quick favor. Would you leave a five-star review of serial killers on your favorite podcast directory? It seems so simple, but it really helps us out. And don't forget to subscribe while you're there, because a new episode comes out every Monday. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast. And on Twitter, at Parcast Network.

David Berkowitz is a fascinating case study for serial killers. While thankfully, the number of lives. he took was few. He captivated both New York and the nation with his bizarre behavior and motivations. David, or son of Sam, as he was called by the media, was the Big Apple's boogeyman from 1976 to 1977. Haunting the parks, lone alleys, and lover's lanes of the city, David appeared like a phantom. Striking mercilessly, he shot unsuspecting couples to death with the 44 Magnum Revolver. Then he vanished into the night. No witnesses, no evidence, save for a few disturbing handwritten letters. His letters taunted and mocked the police, demanding to know what was taking them so long to catch him. He described himself as an apostle to a demonic

society, and after each letter, he signed off saying, I am a monster. I am son of Sam. I love the hunt. An eerie declaration. What do you think we're dealing with here, Vanessa? It's a tough call, Greg. While at the time David Berkowitz claimed to have been controlled by demons, he later recanted his story of possession. Since then, his motivations for the murders have constantly changed. He's blamed everything from self-loathing, pornography, the devil, and even women in general. He's been diagnosed with depression, antisocial behavior, and schizophrenia. Any number of these factors could have played into David Berkowitz's transformation from

troubled boy to theatrical serial killer. Perhaps it's best to start at the beginning. The origins of David Berkowitz, the son of Sam. David Richard Berkowitz was born in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City on June 1, 1953, though his real name was actually Richard David Falco. David was born to an impoverished Jewish woman named Betty Broder. Betty had had a rough life growing up in a small Jewish community in the Bronx. When she began to date an Italian named Tony Falco, her community shunned her altogether.

How tragic. Why was that? Well, it seemed that her community wasn't too keen on her dating anyone outside their community, due in part to the fear of conversion. especially considering how small the Jewish population was after World War II. Regardless, Betty married Tony, but maintained her Jewish identity. The two opened up a fish market in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, called Falco's Fish Market. The young couple seemed happy for a time. They even had a daughter, Rosalind Falco, David's older half-sister.

Sadly, their love was not to last. Falco's fish market fell on hard times. and the shop was slowly going out of business. Disappointed at what had become of his life, Tony Falco abandoned his wife and daughter. This left poor Betty to tend the failing shop alone. After struggling, the shop closed. Betty was on her own.

With no other options, she claimed welfare checks to sustain herself and her daughter. Despite Tony leaving, Betty kept his last name. She needed it in order to receive benefits from the welfare system. system at the time. Without them, she and her daughter would have starved. Luckily for Betty, salvation came in the form of Joe Climann. Climann was a successful businessman. He took Betty in and provided for her and young Roslin. There was just one catch. Climann was married. A scandal, I'm sure, especially for back in the day. Actually, maybe not as much as you think.

Apparently, Joe's wife knew about Betty, and the two even ate dinner with each other on occasion. One of those open secrets, I suppose. Wow. Well then. Though even with Klyman acting as Betty's sugar daddy, there were still some rules. The biggest one was don't get pregnant. I think you can see where this is going. Sure enough, in the later part of 1952, Betty became pregnant with Klyman's child. Klyman wasn't too happy. Betty wanted to keep the child, but Klyman did not.

He still had to keep up appearances as a faithful husband, even if the rest of his family knew he wasn't. Their arguments became so heated that Betty would sometimes physically attack climbing. Later in life, David claimed that this negativity was part of what drove him to kill. I've read that even in the womb, the child can be influenced. That kind of negativity. I truly think it had a profound effect on me. It made me more susceptible to the darker, more negative forces that affect our world. Of course, the root of David's madness isn't that simple.

While studies have shown that babies in the womb respond to the negativity and emotions of their mothers, there's yet to be a direct link to it causing antisocial behavior, let alone psychopathic behavior. Kleinman finally convinced Betty to give the baby up for adoption. Through an intermediary, Betty found a nice Jewish fan. family, Nat and Pearl Berkowitz, a working-class couple also from the Bronx. He was adopted 10 days later by the Berkowitz's. They switched his middle and first name. Thus, Richard Falco became David Berkowitz.

Betty listed her previous husband, Tony Falco, as the father in order to protect Clyman. She stayed his mistress for another 12 years until Climon died of cancer in 1965. The Berkowitz's took David home, happy with their newborn baby, though David turned out to be quite a handful. David was a wild child growing up. His sleeping hours were odd. He usually woke up around four or five in the morning to play. He got out his toys and made a ruckus, prompting his mother and father to get up and force him back to bed. David was also prone to violent temper tantrums, throwing toys, smashing various objects in fits, of rage. Yet once he calmed down, he was a joy to be around. I was a wild child, sure. But my adoptive parents were so patient and caring. I really don't give them enough credit sometimes with how much

they really had to put up with me. David was especially close to his adoptive mother, Pearl, who often showed a softer side when disciplining him. And while the Berkowitz's had trouble controlling their wild son, they saw to it he had plenty of toys and had had. And he had had plenty of time to play. I was really a spoiled kid, but in the best way. As David grew older, he soon developed more problems. He was much bigger than most kids and was often teased for his size and weight.

He also came off very antisocial. He didn't really know how to communicate with his peers. The teasing only drove him to isolate himself from others. He also had a hard time focusing in school. David was anxious, and unruly in class. Teachers thought there was something wrong with him. David now thinks the reason for his behavior

was because he had ADD, or attention deficit disorder, another condition that makes it hard for children and adults to properly focus. Back in my day, we didn't have ADD. You were just a problem child. I think that again was probably another reason for my descent into darkness as I got older. I just couldn't focus. It's fascinating.

But there's no correlation to ADD being related to schizophrenia, is there? No, there's not. ADD and schizophrenia are completely separate, though it's possible to have both at the same time. Also, let's remember that having either disorder doesn't make you a serial killer. More than likely, these multiple mental disorders were but the tip of the iceberg for an already troubled mind. Well said. because of David's unruly nature, he was often truant. One year, he missed 46 days of school.

Yet even with his inability to focus, or stay in school for that matter, David was highly intelligent. When given an IQ test in 1960, he tested above average with a score of 118. He was seven years old. So it really was a problem of focusing. It seemed that way. Still, David's parents needed. a way to deal with him. So between his sixth and seventh birthday, Nat and Pearl Berkowitz sat down with their son and decided to tell him the truth, or at least a version of it. They told David that his mother had died in childbirth, and his father couldn't afford to take care of him. So he was put up for adoption. David was devastated.

I couldn't believe it. I had so many thoughts run through my head. Was I a bad boy? Did I kill my mother? Why did this happen? Was my father still out there? Does he want me back? Or, or worse, does he hate me? The guilt stuck with David for the rest of his childhood and into adulthood. So tell me, Vanessa, how do you think this impacted him?

Was it wrong for the Berkowitz's to have lied to him when he was so young? I think the Berkowitz's had the best of intentions, but I think by telling him his birth mother died in childbirth when he was so young, perhaps they imbued David with an early sense of self-loathing, a kind of guilt that makes a child question their entire existence. This sort of phenomena isn't uncommon, as it's been cited in several studies, like in the 2005 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

So really, it's just another piece to a much bigger puzzle. I'm afraid so, but let's keep digging. David grew aggressive and enraged after learning he was adopted. He began to miss more days at school. He started to bully fellow kids at school. His grades began to decline. His teachers were at a loss with what to do with him. They met with his parents and told him to take him to a child psychologist,

or pull him out of school. The couple chose the former. David was taken to Dr. Soslov in New York City. For the next two years, David visited and talked to the psychologist. and sure enough, his grades began to return to normal. David later credits Dr. Soslov for helping him get through elementary school, but says the mandatory therapy didn't do much to help him in the long run. I think at that time child psychology was only just getting started.

Dr. Soslov was a lovely woman, but I still felt lost and angry. Indeed, as David grew older, he only seemed to get angrier and angrier. He played outside less. opting instead to stay inside and hide under his bed or in his closet. If he did go outside, he would bully the children, especially the smaller ones. Here are some signs of antisocial behavior. One, he's choosing to isolate himself. And two, if he does interact with others, he's usually overly aggressive or violent towards them.

Could that be another symptom of schizophrenia? Schizophrenia does influence emotions and can create a sense of apathy, but rarely does it cause antisocial behavior. Plus, I don't think by this point he had developed schizophrenia at all. Schizophrenia usually doesn't develop until adolescence or even early adulthood. Whatever was going on in David Berkowitz's head, it was getting worse. We'll return to our story in just a moment from the Pardcast Network. Now, our story continues.

As the 50s rolled into the 60s, life continued to grow harder for little David's. David Berkowitz. Despite seeing a child psychologist through the latter part of elementary school, David's troubled mind continued to plague him. It also didn't help that from 1961 to 1967, David witnessed five deaths firsthand. All of these deaths were car-related deaths. The first was a little girl being struck by a car and dying instantly. Then, in 63, he witnessed a mother and her daughter on the street, get hit by a car, only for the mother to die instantly, and the little girl to slowly suffer. These constant displays of vehicular violence couldn't have been healthy for an already troubled boy.

Witnessing this carnage regularly may have desensitized David to a certain level of violence. I thought about death a lot, not just my own, but others. by the time he was 11 years old, something else began to manifest in David. He started to complain about hearing monsters. David claims that starting around puberty, he began to hear voices in his head. These voices were vile and wicked, monsters and demons that asked him to do terrible things. They wanted me to hurt things. Animals.

People. David tried his best to ignore these monsters, but the voices were relentless. He often slept in his parents' bed, hoping it would alleviate his fear, but he was wrong. The voices plagued him for over a year, until one day David found a way to please the voices. At age 12, David began to start small fires, usually in alleys using rubbish and matches. With each fire he created, the voices seemed to disappear. I take it these voices were David's schizophrenia developing. I'm afraid that's likely the case.

Symptoms of schizophrenia include auditory or visual hallucinations. Voices and images coming out of nowhere. Sometimes these voices can be so overwhelming they render their recipient helpless. So how does schizophrenia develop, Vanessa? An excellent question, Greg. Sadly, not everyone can agree. on an exact cause. Most believe it's a combination of genetics and environmental factors. From the genetic side, it's possible someone within your family who has a history of mental illness can pass it on,

or at least put you at a higher risk for it. Environmental studies have found several factors may be contributors, living in a dense urban environment. Like New York, for instance, can spur the growth of the mental condition. Drug or alcohol abuse can increase the chemical imbalances in the associated with schizophrenia, one recent factor that I find interesting, and particularly to this case, is prenatal stressors. So you're referring when a baby is in development in the mother's womb? Exactly. In a study done in 2011, scientists theorized that maternal stressors and poor nutritional intake are associated with low development of RELIN in a developing child's brain. RELIN is a protein that helps with cellular interactions in the brain. If there's a deficiency in

these proteins, it can lead to mental illnesses and disorders. People with schizophrenia are said to have low wheelin levels in their brain. Hmm. So maybe David was onto something when he said his biological mother's rage and negativity influenced him at birth. I somewhat doubt it, especially since none of these studies have yet to link being pregnant and angry to children having schizophrenia later on. More than likely, David was already genetically predisposed, and his pre-induced. And his pre-neousy, situation just made it slightly worse, if anything. And again, having this illness doesn't turn you into a serial killer. The year was 1966.

David was now 13 years old. According to Jewish tradition, this meant he was on the verge of manhood and ready for a bar mitzvah, where he would read from a portion of the Torah and celebrate this rite of passage. Sadly, David was alone, at what's usually a momentous occasion with friends and family. He had no real friends to speak of. I'm sure being alone during such an occasion didn't help his troubled mind either. This may have reinforced his notions of being unwanted or undesirable. At least the boy still had his mother.

Though David had noticed she seemed paler than usual, frailer. It turns out that David's adoptive mother, Pearl Berkowitz, had breast cancer. Prior to David's adoption, she had been in remission. Sadly, the cancer returned and was must. more aggressive. Hmm. David couldn't understand what was happening to her. Pearl had been the closest relationship in David's life. The mother who loved him, despite his faults, was now dying. On October 6, 1967, Pearl Berkowitz died of breast cancer. David was devastated. He was

more alone than ever. David lost hope. He believed with the death of his adopted mother, God was instigating a plan to destroy him as well. He grew more and more introverted. And to make matters worse, the voices returned. David once again returned to setting fires, but fire alone didn't stop the voices this time. They demanded something more. David began to catch cockroaches and find various ways to torture them,

sometimes drowning them in glue, other times capturing them and setting them on fire. maybe a bit of both. His violence wasn't just isolated to roaches. He also poisoned his mother's parakeet over time. And with each act of violence, the voices quieted only to return even more demanding. This shows a clear sign of psychopathy developing.

But as David focused on the death of small animals, he also began contemplating his own death. Again, you have to understand. I felt that the whole unit was, The universe was out there against me. It was bleak. I had no faith. I seemed to be plagued by demons.

What hope did I have? While David didn't attempt suicide in his youth, his life at school took a nose dive. By 1968, David was in high school, and his grades seemed to drop with each passing year. He went from straight B's to C's to F's. He continued skipping classes. And by the time he was 16, he was truant for missing 36 days of the 10th grade.

If that wasn't enough, he gained a rap sheet for petty crimes, minor arson, pyromania, and smashing car windows. It seemed whatever David did, it was aimed at his own destruction. David later suggested that he was acting out due to self-loathing. I was doing it out of my own guilt. guilt about having thought I killed my first mother at childbirth. I thought I didn't deserve to live. So I subconsciously tried to sabotage myself. Think that was the real reason behind his behavior?

Coupled with his mental illness? Yes. I believe he was acting out of a sense of guilt for what he believed he had done to his mom and also a sense of being abandoned by God and his two mothers. That being said, he was clearly developing psychopathic traits at this time. Killing animals isn't a trait normally found in schizophrenia or ADD.

It's more linked to antisocial behavior and homicidal tendencies. In fact, in the homicidal triad, the three traits that many people believe point towards psychopathy developing are continued bedwetting, setting fires, and torturing animals. The homicidal triad isn't an exact science, but it's an interesting pattern to consider. David exhibited two out of three traits. So you think here David's psychopathy is really starting to develop? I do, indeed. And let's not forget he had already expressed antisocial behavior with his bullying.

Lucky for David, his father, Nat, kept him on track and convinced him to finish school as best he could. By 1969, David was more or less trying to straighten himself. out. He even tried going on a couple dates with girls. While many turned him down, he did manage to land a few. Yet David still felt undesirable and unwanted. David had only one real relationship, and that was with a girl named Iris Gerhardt. To him, she was everything. He built her up in his mind and created an elaborate fantasy. In reality, Iris only considered him a friend, and after a while, she broke off the friendship. David grew even more angry, especially when it came to women. Interesting how we see David losing himself in these fantasies. How so? Well, another part of schizophrenia is an inability to differentiate reality from fantasy. In David's mind, Iris probably was his girlfriend, and he couldn't distinguish the truth from his own fantasy.

How tragic. But again, here we also see his twisted sense of ownership or entitlement over. women. David had complained in his youth that he was undesirable, especially for girls. Here, he's built up this idea that because a girl is kind to him or friendly, she must be his girlfriend. Iris ending her friendship with David was likely a huge blow to his entitled worldview, where he believed he had some sort of right to Iris' affection. This may in fact be the beginning of his hatred and contempt for women. By 1970, Nat and David moved out of their home in the Bronx and moved to Co-op City.

There, Nat, remarried, to a woman named Mary. David didn't care much for her, feeling she was replacing Pearl. In 1971, David graduated high school. He'd cleaned up his act. He had a 3.3 GPA and was absent for only 12 days of his last semester. After this, Nat left David defend for himself. and moved to Florida with his new wife. The two kept in contact via letters.

That summer, David joined the Army. He passed his psychological and physical evaluation tests and was placed in the infantry. David graduated from basic training as an E-4 specialist or corporal. Rather than seeing combat, he was stationed in Seoul-South Korea at the end of his training in late 1971.

Korea would be a time of experimentation for David. He tried various drugs like marijuana, mescaline, amphetamines, and LSD. He also had his first sexual experience over there, though it wasn't very pleasant. David went into Seoul on leave from the base and met up with a Korean prostitute. After having sex, he contracted venereal disease. This put him off sex for a while and further drove him to despise women. It's interesting to note that David shares my own. much of the same experiences that other serial killers had when it comes to women.

Mostly in that they all blame women for their own inability to be romantically successful and think this gives them the right to murder them. Why do serial killers so frequently target women? Varying studies debate, but one common element, other than being scorned, is control and sexual fulfillment. David's is a great example, actually. Again, we can go back to his feeling of being undesirable and his control fantasy. David wanted to connect with girls, but each time he was rejected or saw a negative outcome.

At the same time, we know David also creates these obsessive control fantasies, believing that once a girl is nice to him, she's his. I think once these fantasies were shattered, David started to create a new kind of fantasy, one where women were the undesirables. It also didn't help that his fellow soldiers teased him relentlessly. They nicknamed him the wolf due to his abundant body hair. This once again drove David to isolate himself. David fell into trouble.

Sometimes he'd refused to participate in troop movements, and he also had a tendency to be tardy. On one occasion, he was written up as AWOL for missing a bus back to the barracks while off base. By January of 1973, David was, was transferred to Fort Knox in Kentucky. While there, he started to look into the Baptist Church and Christianity. He decided to try a new religion, and in May of 1974, he converted to Christianity and was baptized. One year later, David was honorably discharged from the Army in June of 1974.

He returned to New York unsure of what to do. Now David needed to try and find himself, a journey that proved much more revealing than David had anticipated. Our story will continue in a moment after a brief message. And now, let's continue our story. Following his honorable discharge from the Army, David Berkowitz tried enrolling in a couple of community college classes, mostly to appease his father. But college really didn't seem to suit him.

So he dropped out, not long after starting. David got a job as a security guard. at a security firm called IBI. He was tasked with training and working with the dogs on the force. At the same time, David also took up a second job as a cabby. As David tried to navigate the hustle and bustle of New York, the voices returned. Unable to quell the relentless chatter in his head, David began to set fires again. This time, though, the fires not only relieved the voices within him, but he came to find enjoyment.

in the voices as well. David set a series of fires starting in September of 1974. He kept a journal of each fire, when, where, and of course, how he started them. Why the obsession with fire besides the obvious influence of the voices in his head? Well, Robert Ressler, author of Whoever Fights Monsters, said that most arsonists like the feeling that they're responsible for the excitement and violence of fire, that the people, that the The simple act of lighting a match denotes a sense of control, whether it be over the future, society, themselves, this may have played into David's need for control.

So the fire was one aspect of himself he could control. Well, that would make sense, as he felt he had control over his demons once he started fires. Exactly. While David was busy lighting clandestine fires, he also began to look into his true parentage. He got help from the program Alma, which helped adopted children locate their parents and vice versa. He was surprised to learn that on his birth certificate, his real name wasn't David Richard Berkowitz, but Richard David Falco. Using the last name Falco as his only lead, he was able to track down his mother, Betty,

who was still alive. You couldn't believe my astonishment. David confronted his dad via phone, who told him the truth. His mother hadn't died, but instead gave him up because of her boyfriend's demands. David didn't understand why his adopted parents had lied about his birth mother. His whole world had changed. He hadn't killed his mother. His guilt, his shame, all a lie.

He never had to feel any of it. While he eventually reconciled with his father, he set forth to track down his real mother. In May of 1975, he finally met his mom, Betty Broder, in person. Despite what the tabloids wrote later, David says the reunion was happy. Everyone said the reunion was tragic or terrible. I couldn't have been further from the truth. It was happy. We were happy.

I found my mom. She was alive. David reconnected with his mom and even met his half-sister, Rosalind. David had a new family, but sadly, David was going through another dark change. David had lost faith in God and sought new outlets to try and satisfy his spiritual void. He turned to occultism and Satanism, exploring demonology from across the world. I got really into one druidic deity named Sowan or Sam Hain. I even began reading the Satanic Bible, another literary.

that promoted anarchy to bring about the second coming of Christ. And the more David was drawn into these dark arts, the more the voices began to take the form of these demons. The voices, or the demons, influencing me demanded blood and wouldn't stop until I gave it to him. So now that we're getting into the ideas of demonic possession, what's your thoughts on it? What was really going on in David's head?

I think much of his talk of demonic possession was really him dealing with the manifestation of his mental illness. These demons or voices were really his own dark, innate desires trying to take control. I guess you could say in a way he was possessed or being controlled by demons, but they were the demons of mental illness. Not long after meeting his mother and half-sister, David quit his job at IBI and got a new secure job at JFK Airport in June of 1975. Once again, David was tasked with training the dogs. David soon found himself plagued with new voices. This time, the voices didn't come from his head, though.

David later claimed the dogs were talking to him, telling him to do terrible things to the innocent, to bring them their blood. David quit that job in the fall of 1975 and took on a job as a duct worker in an air conditioning company. Yet as November rolled around, the voices got worse. Things were at an all-time low for David. He stopped talking to Betty and his sister Roslyn.

He locked himself in his apartment most of the month and started scribbling on his wall. He would write strange things on his wall like... In this hole lives the wicked king. Kill for my master. I turn children into killers. He also wrote his father, saying, It's cold and gloomy here in New York.

The world is getting dark now. I can feel it more and more. The people are developing hatred for me. You wouldn't believe how much some people hate me. Many of them want to kill me. I don't even know these people, but they still hate me. Most of them are young. The girls call me ugly, and they bother me the most.

Sounds like his violent tendencies developed further here. Notice how he draws attention to girls. We know even after the Army, he had trouble flirting and talking with girls. Here, it looks like he's falling into the delusion of them actively working against him. Remember, all of his encounters with women up to this point had been negative. Mother gave him up at birth, adopted. mother died, rejected by his childhood friend Iris, and catching VD from a prostitute in Korea. In his mind, David believed he was a victim and sought vengeance toward the gender that he

blamed for his problems. If he could not control them, he would end them. Sounds about right. By December 23rd, 1975, David lit his last fire. The total number of fires he set was now 1,488, all of which he kept track of in his three journals. My God, 1,488 fires. The following day, David's inner demons were extremely volatile. They kept demanding blood, specifically young women. The demons wanted girls. Sugar and spice and everything nice.

So David left his apartment on Barnes Avenue and drove to Co-op City near his old apartment. There, he stalked women for hours until he noticed a lone woman in a grocery store parking lot. He approached her from behind. The voices called for her blood. David stabbed her in the back with a hunting knife. The woman screamed, startling David, who ran away. A few hours later, David cornered 15-year-old Michelle Foreman. She was walking home when David ambushed her. He stabbed her six times, including once in the head. Once again, the girl screamed, prompting David to flee the scene. Despite being stabbed six times, Michelle survived. Afterward, David went to get a late-night

snack at a burger joint. The voices praised him. David felt good. All his rage in isolation. No more. Here we see him ultimately give in to his inner demons personified. I imagine the rush from stabbing those women felt something akin to a dopamine dump, he finally had control over the lives and deaths of the women he killed. And to think this was only the beginning. After that night, David began to venture out more and more. Though he claims he didn't attack anyone else, he stalked countless women. As he did this, he fantasized about how he was going to kill them. I didn't want to hurt him. I only wanted to kill them.

Here we see the culmination of everything, his self-loathing, guilt, antisocial behavior, schizophrenia, all feeding into his dark psychosis. Now that he was giving into his darker impulses, he could finally vent his frustration on those he felt did him the most wrong. Women. By targeting women, he could deal with his own sexual frustration, while acting out unique control fantasies.

They had always rejected him, and now he could decide whether they lived or died. His urges would no longer wait in the shadows. This was the birth of Son of Sam. Thanks again for joining us. Next week, we'll continue to look into David Berkowitz as he begins his year-long murder spree, and how his demonic persona, Son of Sam, came to be born.

We'll also see how David was eventually stopped, his life in prison, and his claims of evangelical rebirth. Don't forget to subscribe to Serial Killers on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or any other podcast directory, or through our website, parcast.com. That's p-ar-c-c-a-st-com. A new episode of Serial Killers comes out every Monday. Please let us know what you think and join the conversation on our Parcast Facebook. page. You can tweet us at Parcast Network. That's P-A-R-C-A-S-T network. As always, we thank you for listening. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler, is a production of Cutler media and is part of the

Parcast Network. It is produced by Max and Ron Cutler, sound design by Kenny Hobbs, with production assistance by Paul Mahler. Additional production assistance by Carly Madden and Maggie Admeier. Killers is written by Michael Pindis and stars Greg Poulson and Vanessa Richardson. Our amazing voice actor is Harris Markson. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up, getting ready for bed, is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcast this year, but they're not crime Beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon

Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Blood Trails is a true crime podcast born in the outdoors, where the terrain is unforgiving, the evidence is scarce, and the truth gets buried under brush and silence. I've seen something in the road. I instantly thought it was a sleeping day, and there was a full of blood. Somebody somewhere knows something. I'm Jordan Sillers. Season 2 is out now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.