Lone wolf or Satan cult – did Netflix serial killer Son of Sam really act alone?

A haunting new Netflix true crime documentary is out this week (5 May), and it follows the murders of notorious serial killer, David Berkowitz.

David Berkowitz, widely known as Son of Sam, went on a vicious murder spree between 1976 to 1977, evading cops and taunting them with twisted letters which threatened more violent crimes.

Berkowitz killed six people and wounded up to ten, and was also named the “.44 Calibre killer” due to the gun being his murder weapon of choice.

The killer’s scary reputation was built after he wrote and sent eerie letters to the police and press, where he would profess his love for hunting down and killing his victims in grizzly detail.

For instance, after fatally shooting Alexander Esau and Valentina Suriana who were both in a parked car, police discovered a handwritten letter near their bodies.

The crime scene note, addressed to the NYPD, read: “I love to hunt. Prowling the streets looking for fair game—tasty meat.

“The wemon of Queens are z prettyist of all. I must be the water they drink. I live for the hunt—my life. Blood for papa.”

The documentary, titled Son of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness, explores whether or not Son of Sam acted alone or whether he acted as part of a satanic group.

The crime series is told from the perspective of journalist and author, Maury Terry, who believes there is a “web of darkness” behind his crimes.

Terry was convinced that lone killer Berkowitz was actually part of a “highly motivated and well-organised cult group”.

To mark the release of the new Netflix documentary, we’ve decided to dig deeper into Son of Sam’s crimes, and investigate whether or not he really was a lone wolf killer in his 1970s murders.

When Berkowitz confessed to his murders, he initially claimed to have been obeying the strange orders of a demon dog, belonging to his neighbor called “Sam.”

Although he later redacted these earlier demon-possession claims as a hoax, his letters to both the press and police frequently refer to the alleged demon spirit which raises questions about his religious beliefs.

In 1979, Berkowitz sent a bizarre witchcraft book to police in North Dakota – having underlined many passaged and even written notes including the phrase “Arliss Perry, Hunted, Stalked and Slain, Followed to Calif. Stanford University.”

The note referenced murder victim Arlis Perry, 19, who was killed at Stanford University in 1974. His other references to Perry suggested that he knew details of it from the original killer himself.

Son of Sam then declared to the press he had joined a Satanic cult in the spring of 1975 – and in 1993 he shockingly announced to the press that he had only killed three of the Son of Sam victims: Donna Lauria, Alexander Esau, and Valentina Suriani.

He claimed that other shooters, who could not be named, were in fact involved by planning the events, tracking down the victims, and acting as drivers at the scenes.

He even stated that “at least five” cult followers were at the scene of the crime scene of Freund and Diel’s shooting, with the actual shooter coming in from outside the city known as “Manson II”.

He named two cult members: John and Michael Carr – sons of the dog-owner Sam Carr, pinning the actual perpetrator in his Demasi-Lomino shooting as John Carr.

Reporter John Hockenberry commented that many officials doubted the theory that Son of Sam acted alone.

He said: “What most don’t know about the Son of Sam case is that from the beginning, not everyone bought the idea that Berkowitz acted alone.”

Interestingly, NYPD officer Richard Johnson also asserted: “Why are there three cars, five different [suspect] descriptions, different heights, different shapes, different sizes of the perpetrator? Somebody else was there.”

However, Berkowitz’ Satanic cult claims have been dismissed by many commentators.

Skeptics of the cult claims include FBI profiler John E. Douglas who spent hours interviewing Berkowitz.

He asserts that he was convinced Berkowitz acted alone and was an “introverted loner, not capable of being involved in group activity”.

And journalist discarded his story of Satanic cult members, adding: “”when they talked to David Berkowitz that night, he recalled everything step by step by step. The guy has 1,000 percent recall and that’s it. He’s the guy and there’s nothing else to look at.”

The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness is out on Netflix on Wednesday (May 5).

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk