Why We Love Serial Killers (19 page)

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 ego and gave him a twisted sense of identity and purpose. Of course, the results of his criminal labor were truly horrible. Berkowitz also admits that he deliberately resisted authority following his capture. He tried to intimidate everyone in the courtroom during his trial and in prison during the early days of his incarceration. Of that time, he now says, “I was once an evil man. I truly believed that I was working for Satan and I embraced the mission.” His own words reveal that Berkowitz was the principle author of the Son of Sam legend through his own terrible crimes and aggressive self-promotion.

I asked Berkowitz why the public seems to be so fascinated with serial killers. He told me that it has to do with a morbid attraction to the dark or pathological side of the human condition and the fact that everyone, in his opinion, has the potential to do terrible things under the right circumstances. He offered these powerful insights:

In general, people are drawn to the darker side of life. With regard to why people are so fascinated by serial killers, mass murder and violent crime, it could be that deep inside everyone is the desire to take out one’s anger and frustration upon someone else . . . Man can become violent and beast-like in a moment’s time . . . Concerning ‘evil,’ perhaps everyone has the potential, under the right conditions and circumstances, to do terrible, horrendous things . . . People want to understand why.

Berkowitz also told me that the news media are complicit in fueling the public’s interest in the dark side of the human condition. He said:

The media take a part in this, too, especially with serial crimes. Serial killers are very rare. All of the media attention makes them look more prevalent than they really are. In my opinion, this is part of the inner spiritual decline of western society as we slowly slide towards anarchy.

Berkowitz’s words suggest that he has a rather apocalyptic view of the world. He told me that he believes the public is easily manipulated or “programmed” by the news media. He also believes that the media frequently misrepresented the Son of Sam crime story and sought to exploit his infamy, particularly regarding his alleged satanic cult affiliation and obedience to Harvey the demonic dog. (I discuss the important role of the media in the social construction of serial killers as celebrity monsters, including Berkowitz’s perspective on this, in chapters 9 and 10.)

How the Son of Sam Became the Son of Hope

Berkowitz told me that during the early years of his incarceration he believed that Satan would open the prison doors and set him free. He was surly, uncooperative with prison officials, and tried to intimidate his fellow inmates, as he waited for the devil to arrive and free him. In 1979, Berkowitz was attacked by another inmate at Attica Correctional Facility and received a potentially fatal slash to the left side of his neck that required nearly sixty stitches to close. Keeping true to the prison code of silence, Berkowitz refused to name the prisoner that attacked and nearly killed him with a knife. Eventually, Berkowitz realized that Satan was not going to free him from his prison cell and he became sullen and despondent.

Incredibly, after being transferred from Attica, Berkowitz had a self-described “spiritual awakening” in his prison cell at Sullivan Correctional Facility and he became a born-again Christian. Berkowitz and I talked at length about his spiritual transformation and his life today during our visit together at Sullivan. He told me that by 1987, after ten years behind bars, he did not think he would be able to make it in prison. He was riddled with anguish, guilt, and shame, and he frequently thought about dying. According to Berkowitz’s personal testimony, his conversion occurred after reading Psalm 34:6 from a Gideon New Testament Pocket Bible that was given to him by a fellow inmate. In a moment of total desperation one night, Berkowitz fell on his knees and he remained there for roughly thirty minutes, asking God for help and forgiveness for the very first time. He told me that his prayers were answered that night and he felt the calming presence of God in his prison cell. After expressing deep remorse for his terrible crimes to God, he says that his sins were forgiven and his agonizing pain and fear were miraculously lifted from him. Of his moment of grace, as he calls it, Berkowitz said, “I shudder to think what my life would have been like if I never came to Christ. I probably would have taken my own life.”

Berkowitz now calls himself the “Son of Hope” and he strongly believes that his redemption has come at a price. He told me that God saved him so that he could provide help and service to others, to the best of his ability, for the remainder of his time on Earth. Since his spiritual rebirth, he has worked tirelessly with fellow inmates who are physically and mentally challenged as a peer mentor, spiritual adviser, and friend. Most days, he works as a mobility guide, helping disabled inmates get around and assists mentally ill inmates who may need a hand with daily activities or those who have difficulty reading or writing. He has been the only prisoner at Sullivan permitted to perform such services. The prison chaplain allows him to open religious services with a prayer. He is considered to be a model inmate by prison authorities and the other inmates call him “Brother Dave.” He says that his work with other inmates brings great joy into his life.

David Berkowitz, the remorseful “Son of Hope” in prison. (photo credit: Associated Press)

My visit with Berkowitz, which occurred thirty-six years after his incarceration began, revealed to me that he has been anything but alone inside as well as outside of prison. In fact, he has attracted an array of individuals who, although they deplore his murderous past, have become acquaintances, friends, and in some instances, spiritual partners. His circle of friends and associates, to a great degree, is made up of evangelical Christians, including a Town and Village Courts judge in upstate New York, an attorney and a financial adviser both in Manhattan, New York, who have been moved by Berkowitz’s story of becoming a born-again Christian. Many of them have been inspired to promote his incredible journey of redemption.

Berkowitz has a spiritual and religious website that is maintained for him by a Christian friend in Texas. The home page displays a photo of Berkowitz smiling and wearing a white polo shirt in front of a hand-painted prison mural of a wooded lake area. The website promotes his memoir titled
Son of Hope: The Prison Journals of David Berkowitz
, published by Morning Star Communications, in which he expresses deep remorse for his crimes and professes a devotion to helping others and serving God from prison. The website also includes a personal apology from him, as well as a narrative in numerous languages about his earlier life and religious experiences behind bars. To date, it has received more than 250,000 visitors from around the world. Berkowitz receives no money from his memoir and a portion of the proceeds go to the New York State crime victims board for distribution to the victims of his crimes.

The politically powerful Christian group Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs conducted a radio interview with Berkowitz in 2003 about his troubled childhood, the Son of Sam shootings, and his religious conversion. The producer of the interview, Scott Welch, told the
New York Times
that the segment with Berkowitz was broadcast on more than 2,000 stations in the United States and also broadcast in more than fifty foreign countries. Scott Welch has maintained a written correspondence with Berkowitz through the mail since their 2003 interview. Another long-time friend, RoxAnne Tauriello, a minister
and evangelist who resides in New Jersey, speaks and visits regularly with Berkowitz. They met when he appeared from prison in 1995 on a Christian TV talk show that she produces and hosts. Tauriello told me that Berkowitz’s correspondence with a Christian evangelist and several pastors in Ghana who were in need of bibles in the mid-1990s led her to establish a ministry that has since sent thousands of bibles to that poor West African country.

Berkowitz explained to me that he writes about two dozen letters a week to individuals and organizations on an old-fashioned electric typewriter (he says he is illiterate on a computer and has no access to one) along with spending time with people who visit him at Sullivan Correctional Facility and talking to others on the telephone. One of his frequent visitors, RoxAnne Tauriello points to a steady stream of letters that Berkowitz receives from people around the world as evidence of his broad appeal and sizable following. Of his global kinship network, Berkowitz said:

These friendships, relationships, are a precious and priceless gift from God. Here I am, a convicted felon, a murderer, a man undeserving of anything that is good and wholesome. Yet, there are people who have found it in their heart to love me and have concern for me. Also, these friendships help to connect me with the church, and with society. It’s not a one-sided relationship but one of mutual giving.
⁷¹

There are numerous others who have been drawn to Berkowitz for reasons that are not religious, however, such as Daniel Lefkowitz, a Bronx teenage acquaintance of Berkowitz’s, who interviewed him in 2009 on local cable TV in Westchester, New York. Lefkowitz told the
New York Times
he invited Berkowitz to speak on his cable TV talk show because he thought that the average person, regardless of religious persuasion, might benefit from Berkowitz’s message of hope and positive thinking. Also, the chaplain of a state youth development center in Somerville, Tennessee, wrote to Berkowitz in 2007 to ask him for help in dealing with students who were experimenting with Satanism. As reported by Serge Kovaleski in the
New York Times
, the chaplain wrote, “Berkowitz, I am asking you to write out for me your warnings as to the study of the satanic bible. Please be thorough but also concise. I may even forward your warnings to the commissioner of the department.”
⁷²

In addition, Darrell Scott, whose daughter Rachel was killed in the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, has visited Berkowitz
several times in prison. The two men struck up a friendship after Mr. Scott learned that Berkowitz was moved by a book that he and his ex-wife, Beth Nimmo, had written about Rachel. “We [Berkowitz and I] met on one occasion [and talked] about bullying in schools and the effects it has on kids,” Mr. Scott told the
New York Times
. According to Scott, “He [Berkowitz] said that he wished he could go back and change things he had done because he felt that some of the people he bullied in school still carried the hurt with them.”

Berkowitz’s Critics and His Reaction to Them

There are legions of people who are rightly skeptical about the truthfulness of Berkowitz’s spiritual conversion and the sincerity of his expressions of remorse about his crimes. In particular, some of those connected to the criminal case express profound doubt that Berkowitz is truly a born-again Christian and speculate that he is just using religion to present himself as a changed man for his own selfish reasons. For example, Joseph Coffey, a police sergeant who took Berkowitz’s initial confession in 1977, said the statements about his religious convictions were as believable as the claim that members of a satanic cult were responsible for some of the Son of Sam shootings. Mr. Coffey, who retired from the New York Police Department in 1985, told the
New York Times
, “It’s a total charade [designed] to promote himself and nothing more.” Coffey added, “I have had people who I sent to prison or put in the witness protection program find religion because it suits them by providing them access to the outside world.” The veteran journalist Jeff Kamen also expressed deep skepticism about Berkowitz’s conversion. He told me, “There is so little thought to the living hell these night crawlers leave behind for the survivors of their victims—such a turn-around is almost unimaginable.” In addition, Joseph Borrelli, a homicide captain involved in the original Son of Sam manhunt, said, “These people around him [Berkowitz] may be decent folks but perhaps some are looking at him to see if they can get some notoriety for being part of his [alleged] conversion to a good guy.”
⁷³

In person, Berkowitz seems humble and accepting of his skeptics. During our prison visit together I asked the former Son of Sam to explain who David Berkowitz is today. He told me that he loves God and all people. He expressed deep remorse for the horrible crimes of his youth, including the numerous killings and many acts of arson he committed. Berkowitz wishes that he could undo all the harm he has done to others but knows that he cannot. He understands and accepts
that many people, especially the families of his victims, will never accept his apologies or forgive him. He would like to be forgiven by society for his actions but he has come to accept that it will not happen in his lifetime. To the families of his victims, skeptics, and those who continue to despise him, he says, “I understand and I am deeply sorry for my actions. I ask God to relieve their pain.”