How Was David Berkowitz Caught? Inside the Unexpected Way that the Son of Sam Killer Was Captured by Police By Chris Harris and Samantha Stutsman

Nearly 50 years ago, David Berkowitz, a quiet postal worker from Yonkers, N.Y., plunged New York City into fear with a chilling series of late-night shootings that left six dead and seven wounded.

Berkowitz — who dubbed himself the “Son of Sam” — evaded capture for over a year, sparking one of the largest manhunts in NYPD history.

His killing spree began on July 29, 1976, when he fatally shot 18-year-old Donna Lauria and wounded Jodi Valenti as they sat in a parked car in the Bronx. Over the next 13 months, Berkowitz targeted a number of women and couples in secluded spots, using the same .44-caliber revolver in each attack.

The case took a darker turn in April 1977, when Berkowitz left a letter at a crime scene identifying himself as the “Son of Sam.” A second letter sent to New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin in May stoked public panic and further taunted investigators.

Berkowitz was finally arrested on Aug. 10, 1977, outside of his apartment. He later pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to six terms of 25 years-to-life. He is currently in prison for his crimes. The case is the subject of Netflix’s docuseries Conversations With a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes, which was released on July 30.

Here’s everything to know about how David Berkowitz was caught.

How was David Berkowitz caught?

Ironically, it was a parking ticket that cracked the Son of Sam case. After Berkowitz parked illegally near the scene of his final attack on July 31, 1977, detectives flagged the ticket during their investigation. At first, they considered him a possible witness, but suspicions deepened when he failed to respond to their calls.

A key break came when investigators contacted the Yonkers Police Department and spoke with the Carrs, a local family whom Berkowitz had been harassing.

Police headed to Berkowitz’s Yonkers apartment and spotted a duffel bag in Berkowitz’s car with a rifle sticking out and an envelope addressed to Suffolk County police — all matching the killer’s handwriting. On Aug. 10, 1977, officers arrested him outside his building.

Berkowitz didn’t resist. Instead, he smiled and said, “You got me. What took you so long?”

What happened to David Berkowitz? 

Berkowitz pleaded guilty to all six murders in May 1978, per The New York Times. He is currently serving six 25 years-to-life terms at Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill, N.Y.

Now a born-again Christian, he goes by “Brother Dave” and participates in an online ministry.

“[He] has to wake up every day and remember what he did to innocent people. David grieves over that a lot,” Roxanne Tauriello, a minister who visited Berkowitz in prison, told PEOPLE in July 2017.

“He is genuinely sorrowful and does not want to get out of prison,” she continued. “He knows he deserved to die and deserves to be exactly where he is.”

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Berkowitz became eligible for parole in 2002 and has had a hearing every two years since. His most recent parole request was denied in May 2024.

Though he briefly refused to attend the hearings, he now does so. However, Berkowitz has no desire to be released.

“To not attend a hearing can be viewed as being defiant towards authority, and that’s not me,” he explained to the New York Post in May 2024. “Most of all, I attend in order to openly apologize for my past crimes and to express my remorse.”

Why has David Berkowitz rejected the Son of Sam moniker? 

During the time of the murders, Berkowitz lived in a building across from his neighbor, Sam Carr, whose Labrador retriever, Harvey, frequently barked and aggravated him.

“That dog raised hell in my life,” Berkowitz said in Conversations With a Killer.

Berkowitz adopted the nickname “Son of Sam” in his taunting letters to police and journalists at the New York Post and New York Daily News, and even scrawled it on the walls of his apartment. He later claimed the name came from Harvey, saying demons spoke through the dog and commanded him to kill.

However, Berkowitz later revealed that he didn’t actually hear voices.

“I didn’t, at that time, understand any motives for what I was doing,” he said in Conversations With a Killer. “I needed some type of justification. I had to convince myself that, ‘No, I’m not the man that’s doing this. It’s some sinister force that’s controlling me.'”

Berkowitz has since rejected the “Son of Sam” name. These days, he claims to be a born-again Christian and has dubbed himself the “Son of Hope.”

“You never want to say ‘Son of Sam’ in front of him. He never uses that name, ever,” Tauriello told PEOPLE.

What has David Berkowitz said about the murders? 

In the final episode of Netflix’s Conversations with a Killer, Berkowitz shared his remorse for the murders with reporter Jack Jones.

“I’m so very sorry for what happened. I was in a very dark space in my life. Things were falling apart for me mentally, spiritually. My life spun out of control, and I just couldn’t get on that right path,” he said.

When asked what advice he would give his younger self, Berkowitz responded: “I would say, ‘Dave, run for your life. Get help.’ I could have gone to my dad, I could have gone to my sister. But I kept everything to myself, thinking, ‘I can handle everything.’ But the pull was too strong.”

He added, “I wish I could start all over again and take a better path in life, but it just didn’t work out that way.”