David was born on June 1, 1953 in an undesirable circumstance. He was a product of a thirteen year affair with a business man who has his own child. The father of David vowed to leave his mother unless she gave up the child, so she arranged for his adoption. Three days after Davids birth Nathaniel and Pearl Berkowitz brought him home. Nat and Pearl were a Jewish couple, they celebrated Sabbath every Friday and went to Temple. They gave David all the attention and affection they could. David and his family lived in a one bedroom apartment, he shared bedroom with his parents until he was nine years old. David was very close to his mother and he was kind of distant with his adopted father. David also resented his father because of the physical closeness he had with his mother. He did not like to share his mother with anyone or anything; David poisoned his mothers parakeet and also poisoned her tropical fish because his mother paid too much attention to them. His neighbours remember him as a nice looking boy but he had a violent streak, a bully who assaulted neighbourhood kids for no apparent reason. He was hyperactive and very difficult for Pearl and Nat to control. David was not a good student, he didnt like school because he hated to be separated from his mother. He would fake being sick to stay at home with his mother. During his school years he would lash out at authorities by starting fires, thieving, vandalizing property and hurting or killing animals. He prided himself on never getting caught that was the thrill. David liked the fact that he could lie his way through a situation and not get caught. In a diary he kept he admitted starting over 200 fires in the Queens- Brooklyn area.

The sight of fire is thought to be sexually arousing in children and sexually immature adults. His destructive and deviant behaviour was never discovered because he was secretive and a loner. Though he had a few friends he was unable to establish any lasting relationships because no one was important to David. Davids world drastically changed when he was fourteen. Just two months after his Bar Mitzvah, his mother Pearl, died of breast cancer. He felt abandoned because he was not even told his mother was sick.

David graduated from high school in 1971. That same year he enlisted into the Army. David was very patriotic and wanted to die for a cause. This is where he learned his marksman skills, he was very good with rifles, and he stayed in the Army for three years. David wanted to go to Vietnam but instead was stationed to Korea.

David was discharged from the Army in 1974 with no job and no place to live. He moved back in his fathers house, but that didnt work out because of the fathers new wifes daughter. In December of 1974 David started to look for his biological family. Believing that his biological mother died on his birth, he was searching for his biological father. His whole life he carried around the guilt of killing his mother, only to find out that it was a lie. A copy of his birth certificate gave him his birth name, Richard David Flaco, the name of his mother. He met his mother in 1975, she did not reject him outright but they had a few discouraging meetings. It was not what David expected, he was disappointed in the meetings because he found out that he had an older half sister, who was not put up for adoption. Then he found out that he was illegitimate and the man listed on his birth certificate was not his father. The most injury was caused when he found out that he was given up because he was not wanted by his mother and her lover; he was an accident, nothing more than a mistake.

This is the beginning of the Berkowitz and his victims. Around Christmas 1975, David went to see a psychiatrist about a problem of having demons tormenting him. On Christmas Eve David attached a fourteen year old girl with a 32 inch hunting knife. It was his first attempt at killing, and he chose her because he thought she would be an easy pray. To his surprise she fought back and screamed her head off. She had six wounds from the hunting knife but escaped with her life.

David didnt know his dictums before hand, pretty much any young lady would do. He didnt stalk his victims, he stalked the neighbourhood by familiarizing himself with landmarks, streets, alleys and escape routes. His first victims were close to his childhood home in the Bronx. In the late hours of July 29, 1976 Donna Laurie and Jody Valenti were sitting in a parked car, on an open street talking. Berkowitz walked up to the passenger side of the car, held the gun with one hand and fired into the side window killing Donna and wounding Jody in the thigh. Berkowitz went out hunting every night with the intention on killing a woman. He would later tell the police that when hunting would come up empty he would visit his previous crime sense to relive the joy and power of the moment and then go home to masturbate.

In February of 1977 Berkowitz shot Christine Freud and John Diehl. Christine Freund died within hours. This shooting was different from the rest because Berkowitz used two hands and the shooters stance for more control. Secondly and most importantly, he had no fear, by his own admission he was becoming more cold blooded. Berkowitz had succeeded in justifying his crimes and had convinced himself that it was good to do it. The media was in panic and they named this unknown killer the 44-Caliber Killer.

On June 16th 1977 David set a fire at Ferry Point Park, ten days later Son of Sam struck again. His victims were Judy Placido and Salvatore Lupo. They were sitting in a parked car around the corner from a disco. They both survived. Another fire and a week later another murder, so he started lighting fires when he was going to strike. This would turn out to be his last murder. In the early morning David watched from a distance a police officer ticketed his car and then walked toward a playground. The fact that the police officer ticketed his car was very significant because it showed that he was getting reckless. In addition, he walked into a woman who was out walking her dog at 2am in the morning. She got a really good look at him. All of his encounters that night played a key role because later the woman walking the dog would give a description of him along with others who saw him flee the scene. Davids last attack was of a strange venue, he shot and then quickly ran to his car like to hell.