David Berkowitz was born Richard David Falco on June 1, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York. His biological mother, Elizabeth "Betty" Broder, who was struggling with poverty, had a brief affair with a married businessman, Joseph Kleinman, who was David's father. Just days after his birth, Betty gave him up for adoption. He was soon taken in by Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz, a childless Jewish-American couple who ran a hardware store in the Bronx. They reversed his middle and first names, raising him as David Richard Berkowitz.

Though intelligent, David's childhood was difficult. He was often bullied at school and performed poorly academically, developing an early interest in petty larceny and arson. His life was thrown into turmoil at age 14 when his beloved adoptive mother, Pearl, died of breast cancer. This loss marked a significant turning point, leading to increased tension at home, as he clashed with his adoptive father's second wife. After high school, David joined the U.S. Army, serving in both the United States and South Korea before being honorably discharged in 1974. Upon his return, he located his birth mother and learned the unsettling details of his origins, which disturbed him deeply. He held several jobs, including a position as a letter sorter for the U.S. Postal Service, but his inner turmoil continued to grow.

Following his capture in August 1977, Berkowitz initially confounded investigators with a bizarre story, claiming he was commanded to kill by a demon that possessed his neighbor's dog. This narrative was later recanted and assessed by psychiatrists as a fabrication. Deemed competent to stand trial, Berkowitz pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six consecutive 25-year-to-life terms. In 1987, while incarcerated, he converted to evangelical Christianity and has since expressed deep remorse for his crimes. Now referring to himself as the "Son of Hope," he participates in prison ministry and has consistently waived his right to be considered for parole since 2002.

In the mid-1970s, David Berkowitz began a chilling wave of violence that terrorized New York City. His first known major assault occurred on Christmas Eve of 1975, when he used a hunting knife to seriously injure 15-year-old Michelle Forman in Co-op City. After this attack, he moved to Yonkers and escalated his methods, switching to a powerful .44 caliber Bulldog revolver. On July 29, 1976, he shot two young women in a parked car in the Bronx, killing 18-year-old Donna Lauria and injuring her friend, Jody Valenti. This marked the beginning of a string of shootings that seemed to focus on young women with long, dark hair.

The attacks continued with cold precision across the boroughs. On October 23, 1976, he shot Carl Denaro and Rosemary Keenan in Queens. On November 27, Donna DeMasi and Joanne Lomino were shot on Lomino's porch, leaving Lomino paralyzed. Following the murder of Christine Freund in January 1977, and the murder of Columbia University student Virginia Voskerichian in March, authorities announced they were hunting a serial attacker they dubbed the “.44 Caliber Killer.” The terror escalated on April 17, 1977, when Alexander Esau and Valentina Suriani were both shot and killed in their car. It was at this scene that Berkowitz left his first mocking letter, giving himself a new name: the "Son of Sam."

The case gained international media attention after Berkowitz sent a taunting letter to newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin, creating a state of unprecedented fear during the summer of 1977. The NYPD formed "Operation Omega," a task force of over 300 detectives dedicated to the manhunt. The killer's reign of terror culminated on July 31, 1977, with the shooting of Stacy Moskowitz and Robert Violante in Brooklyn; Moskowitz died and Violante was severely injured. The breakthrough came when a witness reported a suspicious car being ticketed near the scene. The ticket led police to David Berkowitz's Yonkers apartment, and he was arrested on August 10, 1977. Upon his arrest, he calmly confessed to all the shootings. Decades later, Berkowitz claimed he was part of a Satanic cult involved in the killings, though this remains unconfirmed. His case spurred the creation of New York's "Son of Sam" laws, designed to prevent criminals from profiting financially from their notoriety.