Son of Sam and the Shadows

Unknown Speaker

Alright, folks, welcome back to MJ on Crime. I am your host, MJ. Today, we’re going deep into a case that, honestly, is the case that got me hooked on true crime—The Son of Sam. Now, if you grew up in or around New York City in the late seventies, you know exactly what I’m talking about. From the summer of ’76 to the summer of ’77, just a little over a year, the city was on edge. Six people were dead, seven more were wounded, and nobody had a clue who was behind it. I was seventeen, a high school senior growing up in a county north of the city. But even out there, you felt it. My friends and I would talk about it in school, on the block, everywhere people were talking. Picking up The Daily News or The Times and discussing it standing on the sidewalk in front of the Corner News. The fear wasn’t just in the city. I mean, this guy had a car, and we weren't that far from the city. —Fear spread like wildfire.

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I mean, New York was already a tough place back then, a declining city. They even called it Fear City. The city was experiencing a fiscal crisis, and cops and firemen were being laid off. But this mess...This was different. People started looking over their shoulders, changing their routines. Women with long, dark hair were cutting it short or dying it blonde, just to avoid matching the victims’ profiles. Parents kept their kids in at night. No more stick ball games on the block or running in open fire hydrants. The city that never sleeps suddenly felt like it was holding its breath. And, you know, I’ve seen a lot of cases in my career, but the way this one changed how people thought about safety—about just walking down the street at night—was something else. It was as if the whole city had lost a little of its Big Apple swagger and had lost its mind.

Unknown Speaker

And that’s the thing about these big cases, right? They don’t just affect the victims and their families. They get into the bones of a city. Son of Sam did that. It made New Yorkers—tough as they come—feel vulnerable. And that’s a feeling that sticks with you. It also produced anger. There were New Yorkers interviewed who told reporters that if we catch him before the cops...well, you'll see. Even the Mob, the wise guys, offered their help to find the Son of Sam: well, the NYPD, they said, well, thanks fellas, but no thanks. But, you know, there had to be cops thinking, hey, you wise guys, do your best. Just bring us the body. Need a body to close the case.

Unknown Speaker

So, let’s talk about how it all came to a head. August 10th, 1977—David Berkowitz gets picked up outside his apartment in Yonkers. The cops find a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver in his car, and just like that, the nightmare has a face. Berkowitz confesses right away. Says he did it all. But here’s where it gets weird—he claims his neighbor’s dog, Sam, was possessed by a demon and told him to kill. I mean, you can’t make this stuff up. The dog made me do it. NYPD, some of the most experienced, baptised by fire detectives in the world, the first time they heard that. Maybe I'm wrong after all, it is New York.

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And then there were those letters. Berkowitz sent or left at the crime scene. Bizarre, taunting notes to the police and the press. The handwriting, the rambling style—A flavor of the occult. It was like he wanted to be caught, or at least wanted the attention, or he wanted the motive to be known. The city was already on edge, and these letters just poured gasoline on the fire.

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Now, mental health—this was a big part of the conversation, both in the investigation and in the media. Was he insane? Was he faking it? The courts had him evaluated, and, turns out, he was found competent to stand trial. But the public? They weren’t so sure. Some folks thought he was just evil, others thought he was sick. And honestly, that debate still pops up today, every time his name comes up.

Unknown Speaker

But here’s where the story takes a real left turn. Enter Maury Terry, a journalist who just wouldn’t let it go. He starts digging and comes up with this theory: Berkowitz wasn’t acting alone. According to Terry, there was a whole satanic cult behind the murders—something called “The Children,” supposedly tied to The Process Church of the Final Judgment—maybe even good old Charlie Manson of Helter Skelter fame. We will discuss Maury Terry further at another time.

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Terry points to the Carr brothers—John and Michael—sons of Berkowitz’s neighbor, Sam Carr. Both of them died under, let’s say, suspicious circumstances, not long after Berkowitz was arrested. That just added fuel to the fire. Suddenly, people are asking, “Was Berkowitz just the fall guy? Were there more shooters?”

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And you know, the cult theory really caught on. Maybe it was the times—late seventies, early eighties, all that talk about satanic panic. Or maybe it was just that the official story didn’t feel complete. People want answers, and when the facts don’t add up, they start looking for patterns, for conspiracies. I get it. I’ve seen it in other cases, too. Sometimes the simplest answer isn’t enough for folks, especially when the crimes are this brutal, this random, this senseless.

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Now, it wasn’t just journalists and armchair detectives raising questions. Some law enforcement folks had their doubts, too. Former Queens DA John Santucci and Yonkers' New York PD Detective Richard Johnson, from the city just north of NYC, where both Berkowitz and the Carr brothers reside, both pointed out things that didn’t fit. Witnesses described different-looking suspects; there were reports of multiple cars at the scenes. It’s the kind of stuff that makes you pause. And to add even more fuel to the cult theory, Detective Johnson had evidence and leads on cult activity in Yonkers.

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And look, as someone who’s worked cases that rely on witnesses, I can tell you—witness accounts are messy. People see what they see, but adrenaline, fear, darkness—it all messes with your memory. But when you get enough conflicting stories, you gotta wonder if there’s more to it.

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Now, there have been cases where the official narrative didn’t seem to add up. Sometimes it’s a red herring, sometimes it’s a sign you missed something big. And then you’ve got the conspiracy rumors swirling around—makes it even harder to separate fact from fiction. Investigators must walk a fine line: follow the evidence, but avoid getting lost in the noise. It’s a balancing act, and with The Son of Sam, that balance must have never been easy to find.

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Fast forward to recent years, and the questions haven’t gone away. Berkowitz has given interviews where he admitted to having co-conspirators and being a member of a cult. In other interviews, he has said, flat out, he wasn’t part of any cult. Claimed he acted alone, that he was trying to numb his pain by saying what he had said in the past. But then you’ve got survivors like Carl Denaro, who still aren’t buying it. He’s convinced there was more than one shooter, and honestly, I can’t blame him. When you survive something like that, being shot in the head with a forty-four-caliber round, you hang onto every detail, every inconsistency. You earned that right to doubt. To have your opinion on who nearly killed you.

Unknown Speaker

The public’s fascination hasn’t faded, either. Berkowitz has been denied parole twelve times now. Every time it comes up, the old questions resurface. And then there’s Berkowitz himself—he’s found religion in prison, calls himself a born-again Christian. Says he’s not the same man he was. Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not. I tend to believe him regarding his religious awakening. But the story keeps getting re-examined—by journalists, by amateur sleuths, by me...by anyone who can’t let go of the idea that there’s more to it.

Unknown Speaker

That’s the thing about these cases—they never really close. There’s always another angle, another theory, another piece of evidence someone wants to look at one more time.

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So, where does that leave us today? Well, there’s still chatter about new evidence, new interviews—every few years, someone claims they’ve got a fresh lead, or Berkowitz says something that gets people talking. In recent years, I haven’t seen anything that really blows the case wide open, but that doesn’t stop folks from digging.

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And then there’s the question nobody wants to ask out loud: Are there more victims out there? People who never got connected to the case? With advances in forensic tech—DNA analysis, digital forensics, all that stuff we talked about in the BTK and other episodes—there’s always hope that something new could come to light. But so far, nothing definitive.

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What’s wild is how the Son of Sam case continues to shape our perspective on true crime. The way it’s covered, the way people talk about cults, conspiracies, lone wolves—it all traces back to this story. It’s in the DNA of every true crime doc, every podcast, every late-night debate about unsolved mysteries. The legacy is alive and kicking, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Unknown Speaker

Alright, folks, that’s where we will leave it for now. The shadows around Son of Sam aren’t going anywhere, and neither are the questions. Thanks for listening, and stick around—there’s always another story to tell. Remember. Every crime has a story. My mission. Tell it. Catch you next time on MJ on Crime.