During a yearlong string of shootings before his arrest in the summer of 1977, David Berkowitz, known as the Son of Sam, killed six people and wounded seven
others in New York City.
Upon his confession to the shootings, the portrait of the serial killer that
emerged was of a deeply disturbed loner, a man with a .44-caliber handgun who
said he took orders from a demonic black Labrador retriever owned by a neighbor.
But in the years Mr. Berkowitz has been serving a 25-year-to-life sentence,
he has been anything but alone. He has, it turns out, attracted an array of
individuals from outside prison who, though they deplore his murderous past,
have become friends, acquaintances and in some instances a kind of ad hoc set of
assistants.
This circle of admirers, to a great degree, is made up of evangelical
Christians, including a Town and Village Courts judge in upstate New York and a
financial adviser in Manhattan, who have been moved by Mr. Berkowitz’s story of
becoming a born-again Christian 23 years ago, and many of them have sought to
publicize his account of redemption.
But there are others who have been drawn to him for reasons that are not
religious, like the director of the mayor’s crime victims office in Houston and
Daniel Lefkowitz, a Bronx teenage acquaintance of Mr. Berkowitz’s who
interviewed him in 2009 for a talk show he hosts on cable-access TV in northern
Westchester County.
What all these people have in common is that they have made Mr. Berkowitz,
57, the beneficiary of what has amounted to a highly unusual public relations
makeover.
Inside the prison walls, the chaplain allows him to open religious services with
a prayer. Most days, he works as a mobility guide, helping disabled inmates get
around, and assists mentally ill inmates who may need a hand with daily
activities and those who have difficulty reading or writing.
But some of those connected to the Son of Sam case express deep doubt about
whether Mr. Berkowitz is truly a born-again Christian or whether he is just
using religion to present himself as a changed man.
Joseph Coffey, the police sergeant who took Mr. Berkowitz’s initial
confession, said his statements about his religious convictions were as
believable as his amended claim that members of a satanic cult to which he
belonged were responsible for some of the shootings.
“It’s a total charade to promote himself,” said Mr. Coffey, who retired from
the Police Department in 1985. “I have had people who I sent to prison or put in
the witness protection program find religion because it suits them by providing
them access to the outside world.”
(Billy's Thoughts>>>> I know not everyone may believe it but David is a changed man. I have been one of those who have written him for a number of years. The letters he writes to me have always spoken of his desire to bring honor to the Lord and he also has encouraged me when I have been going through hard time. Now I don't believe David should be let out of prison but the truth is he has come to know Jesus and has expressed true sorrow for his crimes and sins. Those who don't believe David has been changed by God must serve a smaller God than I do. If you are a follower of the Lord pray for David and the families who have had their lives changed in a terrible way because of what David did. If you like read all of the above story from the N.Y. Times, Backers
Give ‘Son of Sam’ Image Makeover.)
