Murder Victims | son-of-sam

Victims Stories

On July 29th, 1976,18 year old Donna Lauria and 19 year old Jody Valente were sitting in Jody's car at 1.am outside Donna's home. A few minutes later, Donna said goodnight to Jody and was just about to open the door when a man approached the car. He was holding a brown paper bag of which he reached into and pulled out a gun. He fired 5 shots. Donna was shot in the neck and arm, she fell out of the car and hit the pavement. Jody screamed as a bullet struck her thigh. She fell forward hitting the car horn. Donna's father, Mike Lauria, was already on his way downstairs, taking Donna's dog for a walk, when he heard the shots. He then quickly ran the rest of the way. He found Jody leaning on the car horn screaming. Mike Lauria accompanied his daughter on the way to the hospital, but she was already dead. Jody was taken to the hospital, suffering from hysteria. Jody was able to give a description of the killer: "a white male with curly hair, about 30 years old". She had never seen the man before in her life until that day. It was thought that this could of been a possible Mafia hit with a case of mistaken identity, because the area of the North Bronx is a popular Italian area. Also the police knew the weapon was a .44 Bulldog, which is a weapon solely for the purpose of killing people.

On October 23rd, 1976 was the next attack of Son of Sam. 18 year old Rosemary and 20 year old Carl Denaro has just left a bar and drove to a quiet spot where they could be alone in the district of Queens. Carl Denaro had shoulder length hair and was mistaken for a girl by Berkowitz as he pulled out his .44 and fired it five times into the red Volkswagen. Only one of the fired bullets hit Carl Denaro in the back of his skull, he survived the attack but required a metal plate to replace the portion of his skull that was missing.

Midnight; November 27th, 1976 Berkowitz struck the area of Queens by attacking 18 year old Joanne Lomino and her 16 year old friend, Donna DeMasi. The two girls were sitting on the front steps of Joannes home when a man crossed the road and approached them. It appeared the man was seeking directions. He stated: "Say can you tell me how to get to...", then the man pulled out a gun from his waistband and began firing at the girls. The girls both turned towards the door when Joanne was shot in the lower spine and Donna was shot through the base of the neck. The girls were rushed to hospital. Donna was not badly injured but Joanne's spine was shattered and she would have to spend the remainder of her life in a wheel chair. The police considered that the attacker could be the man who murdered Donna Lauria and attacked Jody Valente. But due to different eyewitness descriptions of the attacker it seemed unlikely.

January 29th, 1977; 30 year old John Diel and 26 year old Christine Freund had left a bar midnight and got in their Pontiac Firebird. Suddenly the windows shattered by gunfire that entered the car. After the attack, John Diel found his girlfriend slumped forward with a bullet wound to the head. She died that morning in St Johns hospital. After it was discovered that the weapon was a .44 Bulldog the police connected all the attacks, but dismissed it because of the different descriptions of the assailant in each of the attacks.

On the March 8th, 1977, 19 year old Virginia Voskerichian was returning home at around 7.30 pm when she side-stepped a man to let him pass. Just as she did he raised a gun to her head and fired, killing her instantly. After ballistics tests on the riflings of the bullet that killed Virginia Voskerichian proved to be the same that killed Christine Freund, and that both murders were close in location it was thought that it was the same .44 killer who had done the previous four attacks. Even with the different descriptions of the attacker the police decided to start a task force under the command of Deputy Inspector Timothy J. Dowd.

Son of Sam struck again on the April 16th, 1977. 18 year old Valentina Suriani and 20 year old Alexander Esau were sitting in their Mercury Montego, suddenly two bullets struck Valentina in the skull killing her instantly. The next two shots hit the the top of Alexander Esau's head. He died two hours later. The first policeman to arrive at the murder scene found a white envelope addressed to Captain Joe Borell (Timothy Dowd's deputy). After evaluation, it appeared the killer had only used the tips of his fingers making the prints unable for a matching. On April 30th, a letter had been sent to the New York Daily News' . ~for letter see page "Mr Monster"~

On June 25th, 1977 , 17 year old Judy Placido and 20 year old Salvatore Lupo had just left a discotheque and were sitting in their car, when Son of Sam suddenly attacked. The shots went through a window and Salvatore was shot in the wrist which went to pass on to hit the flesh of Judy's neck. The next shot got Jody in the head but did not penetrate her skull, the next shot hit her shoulder. Salvatore jumped out of the car and ran to the discotheque. Jody, had just realised that she had been shot and headed for the discotheque, collapsing after a few steps. They both recovered in the hospital.

(final attack) July 31st,1977 in the district of Brooklyn. Bobby Violante and Stacy Moskowitz had just seen a movie and at about 1:45 am parked opposite a playground and softball park under a streetlamp. They decided to have a stroll around the park. When they were walking around the park they noticed a man, a "hippie type" leaning against the wall of a public toilet. Bobby and Stacy headed back to the car, by now the "hippie type" man had gone. They were sitting in their car and talking for a while when suddenly Son of Sam fired three shots through the car window. Bobby's eardrums exploded instantly, the bullets had blinded him him also. Tommy Zaino saw all of the happenings in his rear view mirror of his car, while in a date with his girlfriend. He had only got a quick look at the murderer. Stacy died 38 hour laters in hospital and Bobby was left permanately blinded. The capture of David Berkowitz was not made by the eyewitness report of Tommy Zaino, but by Cacilia Davis (Tommy's girlfrend), who did not even see the murder.