A Serial Killer: David Berkowitz Son of Sam/Son of Hope

About the Book

Always the initiator of his own media, in 1997, hoping to convince the world that he is now a "born again christian", the Son of Sam sent a letter to the New york Daily News, and other similar publications, stating:

"The police and the news media used to call me ‘The Son of Sam’, but God has given me a new name, ‘The Son of Hope’, because now my life is about hope-- I am no longer the son of the devil."

In 1976 this serial killer initially received his name (The Son of Sam) from a long taunting note he left at the scene of one of his killings, and addressed to Captain Joseph Borreli who was publicized as a member of the Omega Team that was formed to hunt this psycho who was killing young women in various parts of the city with a .44 cliber handgun, stating:

"I am a monster, I am the Son of Sam."

Yet again in February of 1979 at a press conference that he called, David Berkowitz, announced to the world that:

"The blood-thirsty Demons was just a concocted story invented by me in my onw mind to condone what I was doing."

We must keep in mind that it has never been the police, nor the news media who had given David his different names. The psychiatrists tend to believe that David was delusional at the time he committed his crimes, and today, the religious community, dramatically and without an iota of questioning, tends to believe his claim to be born again in the persona of the Son of Hope.

In all instances, it has always been David Berkowitz who initiated press releases for his own reasons, and people who do not know him, nor have ever spoken to him, now proclaim HIS press releases as the Truth!

In a letter I received from David just prior to his "Son of Hope" press release, he tells me that:

"I am getting tired of all the negative publicity the press lays on me, and its about time that I created some positive publicity."

Approximately two weeks later, the press was filled with David’s words as to how God came to him and gave him his new name; The Son of Hope.

In my (9) nine years of close association with David, as far as I am concerned, the book is still open as to whether or not he truly found God in his life.

While David surely comments in numerous letters to my brother and I, as to how he was grateful for encouraging him to write, my primary concern in getting him to write was to gain an insight into the mind of a serial killer, and hopefully, how we may learn to prevent similar occurances in others nurturing similar traits.

Whatever we are to believe about this man, these definitive writings of his are his only true legacy. For better or for worse;

Welcome to the history of infamy, and into the mind of a serial killer.

Stephen Cender

Kenneth Cender

About the Author

Stephen and Kenneth Cender have both spent over a decade in the prison setting with David Berkowitz, and as a result of such close association, came to know David extremely well. Except for the short introduction, the entire book is the writings of David Berkowitz. It is the authors' wishes that the readers make up their own minds as to who and what David Berkowitz is, or has become.