The Son of Sam serial killer is once again in the headlines after a brand-new Netflix documentary on the infamous 70s murderer.
The streamer just today uploaded a documentary that features a number of previously hidden conversations with the serial killer who shot and killed six people. This led to what was, at the time, the biggest manhunt in the history of the United States.
Covered in the new Netflix doc titled Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes, this may not be where many Netflix users first came across the story of the serial killer.
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A fictional version of The ‘Son of Sam’, David Berkowitz, appeared on Mindhunter, the David Fincher show where FBI agents interview serial killers to try and understand their minds to aid in capture other murderers.
This was based on the pioneering real life work of the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit (BSU), and was largely inspired by a book titled Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit.
Written by John E. Douglas, an influential FBI agent within the BSU, the real life John E. Douglas interviewed the Son of Sam killer just as the agents do in the show.
For those who don’t remember the specifics of the case, David Berkowitz shot a number of people in the late 1970s, earning his name as The Son of Sam serial killer due to notes he left behind at crime scenes signed with the moniker.
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He killed six people and was caught in 1977 before being sentenced to six successive life sentences in 1978.
Portrayed by Oliver Cooper in the David Fincher show with shockingly realistic makeup to look like the real David Berkowitz, the conversations in the series are based on a real interview conducted by Douglas.
In this, Berkowitz made a major admission per Douglas’ book, stating that he opened up to them due to their ‘extensive homework’ into his case.
The Son of Sam killer had long stated at the time of the interview that he had carried out the killings on instruction of the devil, speaking to him via his neighbour’s supposedly three-thousand-year-old dog Sam.
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Though he would later publicly recant this, it was still his publicly known motive for the killings.
Douglas said in his book that early on this came up, adding: “The psychiatric community had accepted the story as gospel and thought it explained his motivation.
“But I knew that that story hadn't actually emerged until after his arrest. It was his way out.”
He said that when Berkowitz brought up the dog, he told him ‘Hey David, knock off the bulls**t, the dog had nothing to do with’.
Douglas claimed ‘he laughed and nodded and admitted I was right’.
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This was not the only major admission The Son of Sam killer made in the interview either.
The real-life Mindhunter agent also said that he was ‘always thinking about these murders’.
He added: “On a night when no victims of opportunity were available, he would return to the sites where he had successfully killed to masturbate and relive the sensation of power and sexual energy he derived from the crime itself.”
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Netflix’s new documentary gives even more insight into the horrifying killer who is among the most infamous in American history.
Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes are available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: Netflix, True Crime, Mindhunter, TV and Film, TV, Documentaries
Michael Slavin