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Berkowitz's Was Born
Berkowitz, born as Richard David Franco, was born in Brooklyn, New York -
Berkowitz is abandoned
Berkowitz is abandoned from his mother and is adopted by a hardware store from Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz -
Berkowitz has a rough childhood
Berkowitz struggled in school, not being the most intelligne nor the best looking. He constantly got bullied and was picked on by classmates. He became depressed after his mother lost her battle to breast cancer. He then decides to go and join the army to find purpose in his life at 18 years old -
Berkowitz leaves the army
Berkowitz leaves the army around '74 after being honorably discharge. His soldiers were said to have respected him because he didn't talk much and got his missions/jobs done. Berkowitz has always been an outsider and was said to have been very introverted. His killings would soon start after he gets back... -
Two more people are shot but survive
Carl Denaro, 20, and Rosemary Keenan, 18, were shot at while sitting in a parked car in a residential area of Flushing, Queens. Both survived, but Denaro was struck in the head by one of the bullets. Police would later speculate Denaro may have been mistaken for a woman due to his shoulder-length hair. -
Berkowitz tastes blood
Berkowitz attack his first women, Jody Valenti and Donna Lauria, 18, were sitting in Valenti’s double-parked Oldsmobile when a man approached the car and fired three bullets. Lauria was killed instantly and Valenti was shot in the thigh before the man walked quickly away -
Another attack with seemingly no motive
Christine Freund, 26, and her fiancé, John Diel, 30, were shot as they sat in Diel’s car in Flushing, Queens. Panicked, Diel sped away. He suffered minor injuries but Freund was shot twice and later died in hospital. Like the previous attacks there appeared to be no motive, but following this murder the police made the first public acknowledgment that the attack bore similarities to earlier incidents – all victims were struck with .44 caliber bullets -
A college student is attacked in a the same area
Returning home in the evening after college classes, Virginia Voskerichian, 19 — who lived in the same neighborhood where Freund had been attacked — was shot in the head and died instantly. With local newspapers the Daily News and New York Post now reporting on the shootings on a daily basis, it was revealed at a press conference two days after Voskerichian murder that police strongly suspected the same .44 Bulldog revolver had been used in the attacks. -
A couple is attacked outside a club
After leaving a disco in Bayside, Queens, Judy Placido, 17, and Sal Lupo, 20, were shot while sitting in Lupo’s parked car. Both survived their injuries with Lupo reportedly telling the police he and Placido had been discussing the Son of Sam killer only minutes before the attack. -
The first attack involving a victim with blonde hair
Robert Violante, 20, and Stacy Moskowitz, 19, were shot in Violante's car while on their first date. Volante would lose his left eye, Moskowitz would die 18 hours after the attack which was the first to take place in the borough of Brooklyn and the first involving a victim, Moskowitz, with blonde hair. -
Berkowitz is arrested and confesses
Berkowitz, 24, of Yonkers, N.Y. was arrested in front of his apartment building. Police had investigated Berkowitz’s car and discovered a rifle in the back seat, maps of the crime scenes and ammunition. Waiting until Berkowitz left the apartment building, police arrested him as he sat behind the wheel of his car. A bag containing the .44 caliber revolver was recovered next to him, and a smiling Berkowitz reportedly said to the arresting officer, “Well, you got me.” -
Berkowitz gets life
Berkowitz withdraws an insanity defense and pleads guilty to the six murders, being given six 25-years-to-life sentences for the crimes, and for which he would be denied parole ever since. Following his arrest, Berkowitz made statements that he had been part of a violent cult that aided him in carrying out the attacks and murders.