WHAT DOES A KILLER LOOK LIKE?

A killer could be anyone. Maybe even your neighbor. There's no set feature of someone's face that will tell you what that person is capable of doing. For example, here's a photograph of a young man who reeked havoc on New York in the '70s.  Now, I ask you, does he look dangerous? I think he looks like a cuddly teddy bear. But that's just the problem. The saying goes: Never judge a book by its cover", and the same goes for a killer. You can't possibly know what's on their minds.

This man is David Richard Berkowitz who was born Richard David Falco, June 1, 1953 and became known as the Son of Sam

 

Born Richard David Falco, he was adopted by Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz when he was only a few days old. According to some reports, David Berkowitz was an intelligent but troubled child growing up. He was close to his mother who died during his teenage years, and he was deeply affected by her death.

He joined the military and received an honorable discharge, returning to New York City, and eventually found a job at the US post office and lived in Yonkers. Neighbors and co-workers described him as a quiet loner, but they had no idea how lethal he was.

His violent crimes began in the early '70s. His first attempt at murder was using a knife, but knowing the woman survived, he moved and decided to learn how to use a gun instead, and purchased a .44 caliber pistol to continue his spree throughout Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

His victims? All were women with long, dark, wavy hair and he would search the streets for couples who sat in parked cars. What was so interesting about this case is I don't think there was ever a reason given as to why he chose only brunettes.

Now having a gun, his first shooting victim was in the Bronx. When two friends left a disco bar, he was waiting in the parking lot and ran toward them. The frightened driver gave him a piece of her mind. He didn't like being reprimanded so he crouched down, bracing his elbow on his knee and aimed killing her with one bullet. The other passenger was shot in her thigh, and a third bullet missed both women, after which, he turned and ran away. Both of these women survived and when they described the stance he took, the NYPD thought it might have been a policeman. The investigation proved nothing and they moved on.

More killings and the women of New York were in a state of panic afraid to leave their homes, but they found a way by bleaching their hair or wearing wigs to cover up their brunette locks.

Making his way around New York, to throw the police off, he killed at random. As often happens, the media made this guy a celebrity and he began to enjoy the notoriety. Reading negatives things about himself angered him and he fought back. Below is his first letter to the police that he left near the  victim.

 



 

More media coverage pursued and he didn't like the way he was being represented. (see below). It was the biggest thing to hit the city in a long while and the residents wanted answers.

 

Upset, he began to play a game with them. He loved this notoriety. It gave him a celebrity in his own right. Below is another letter. Source: Wickipedia

 

I am deeply hurt by your calling me a wemon hater. I am not. But I am a monster. I am the "Son of Sam." I am a little "brat". When father Sam gets drunk he gets mean. He beats his family. Sometimes he ties me up to the back of the house. Other times he locks me in the garage. Sam loves to drink blood. "Go out and kill" commands father Sam. Behind our house some rest. Mostly young — raped and slaughtered — their blood drained — just bones now. Papa Sam keeps me locked in the attic, too. I can't get out but I look out the attic window and watch the world go by. I feel like an outsider. I am on a different wave length then everybody else — programmed too kill. However, to stop me you must kill me. Attention all police: Shoot me first — shoot to kill or else. Keep out of my way or you will die! Papa Sam is old now. He needs some blood to preserve his youth. He has had too many heart attacks. Too many heart attacks. "Ugh, me hoot it hurts sonny boy." I miss my pretty princess most of all. She's resting in our ladies house but I'll see her soon. I am the "Monster" — "Beelzebub" — the "Chubby Behemouth." I love to hunt. Prowling the streets looking for fair game — tasty meat. The wemon of Queens are z prettyist of all. I must be the water they drink. I live for the hunt — my life. Blood for papa. Mr. Borrelli, sir, I dont want to kill anymore no sir, no more but I must, "honour thy father." I want to make love to the world. I love people. I don't belong on Earth. Return me to yahoos. To the people of Queens, I love you. And I wa want to wish all of you a happy Easter. May God bless you in this life and in the next and for now I say goodbye and goodnight. Police — Let me haunt you with these words; I'll be back! I'll be back! To be interrpreted as — bang, bang, bang, bank, bang — ugh!! Yours in murder Mr. Monster.

At the scene of one of his shootings, SOS got sloppy--he hadn't counted on anyone seeing him. Fortunately, the person who witnessed the shooting saw a man getting away in a car that had a parking ticket on it, and that was their break in the case. Only a handful of tickets had been given out that day, and one of them was for Berkowitz. The police arrested him on August 10, 1977. According to The New York Times, Berkowitz said, "Well, you've got me" when they took him into custody.

He was found mentally competent, and incarcerated in the state prison for murder. In the course of further police investigation, Berkowitz was also implicated in many unsolved arsons in the city.
In response, the New York State legislature enacted new legal statutes, known popularly as "Son of Sam laws", designed to keep criminals from profiting financially from the publicity surrounding their crimes.

Berkowitz has been imprisoned since his arrest and is serving six life sentences consecutively. In the mid-1990s, he amended his confession to claim that he had been a member of a violent Satanic Cult that orchestrated the incidents as ritual murder. Though he remains the only person ever charged with the shootings, some law enforcement authorities have questioned whether Berkowitz's claims are credible. A new investigation into the murders was launched in 1996, but was suspended indefinitely after inconclusive findings.

Today, Berkowitz wants the world to forgive him because he's found God. While saying you're sorry for evil deeds is a noble objective, I'm not sure I could ever forget or forgive the terror he caused in New York and the surrounding areas because I remember that smirk on his face when he was apprehended and I remember seeing the pleasure he got from his new celebrity status.

Right, David Berkowitz. I'll get right on that!

WHAT LURKS IN THE MINDS OF THE EVIL?

This month, I'm talking about Ted Bundy. He was a serial killer, a kidnapper, rapist and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s. The total amount of deaths is unknown, but he confessed to 30 homicides in numerous states.

Bundy was arrested in August 1975 by a Utah Highway Patrol officer after Ted failed to pull over for a routine traffic stop. The officer, noting that the Volkswagen's front passenger seat was missing, searched his car, and found a ski mask, a second mask made from pantyhose, a crowbar, handcuffs, trash bags, a coil of rope, an ice pick, and other items initially assumed to be burglary tools. When asked, Bundy said the ski mask was for skiing. The handcuffs? He claims he found them in a dumpster, and the rest were common household items. Detective Jerry Thompson did not believe him because he remembered a similar suspect and car description from a November 1974 DaRonch kidnapping, and Bundy's name from Kloepfer's December 1974 phone call. He was taken in for questioning until they could do a search on his apartment. All that was found was a guide to a Colorado ski resort with a checkmark next to the Wildwood Inn, and a brochure advertising the Viewmont High School play in Bountiful. This was the scene of a previous missing teenager,but nothing sufficiently incriminating to hold him. He was released.

After they did find enough evidence, he would boast to the police that during the first search, the police missed his collection of photographs of his victims hidden in the utility room, which he promptly destroyed when he came home that day.

Ted was a handsome, smart, charismatic young man who had a promising law career and took the dark side of law performing his own acts of evil. He was known for charming his victims to win their trust by pretending to be injured or disabled so they'd help him. Then, he'd give them a sob story about how he became injured, tell the woman how beautiful she was and take her to a secluded area under the auspices of a romantic evening only to rape and kill, then leave her there for the animals to feast on. He later admitted to revisiting the crime scene and performing sexual acts on the decomposed bodies.

On the victims he decapitated, he admitted taking the heads home as a memento until he tired of them. What he did with them afterward is unknown.

Unable to control his urge, he changed his routine by simply breaking into homes at night and bludgeon his victims while they slept.

Labeled a sadistic sociopath who took pleasure from another human's pain and his control over them,  he told the authorities he was "... the most cold-hearted son of a bitch you'll ever meet.

At trial, his own attorney wrote that he "was the very definition of heartless evil. When the jury read the verdict, Ted Bundy remained unemotional and showed absolutely no signs of remorse.

I think I'll double lock our windows tonight!

SO WHY DID HE KILL CARL JENKINS?

And . . . our winner is Bev Steelman of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania who figured out who the killer was. For those of you who didn't, here are the details:

If you recall, I gave you two clues that focuses on the dog:

CLUE NO. 1: Walking the dog in the park
CLUE NO. 2: Barking dog at baseball game



The morning before Mr. Jenkins' death, he found a book bag left in the gym. When he went through the bag to see who the owner was, he found much more than he bargained for--a journal that was written like a manifesto detailing how this student was planning to kill those he disliked. Concerned, he's now checking the student's locker for drugs or weapons just as the student approaches.

The boy wants to know why Mr. Jenkins is looking through his locker. He tells him he found his book bag and wants to discuss the contents. The boy is furious he went through his bag. Mr. Jenkins tells him he's concerned and wants him to seek help. This angers the student but when Jenkins threatens to turn him in, it seems to calm the boy down and he's begging the teacher not to . An agreement is reached by the two that the student will seek counseling and Jenkins will keep it quiet, but he's going to hold onto the notebook in case the student reneges on his part of the deal.

That evening two students are driving around to find a new home where they can play "The Creeper" game and it turns out to be the home of  Carl Jenkins. Once inside, they hear the dog bark and back off. The one kid goes home, the other wants to walk home from there. As soon as the one is gone, the other reenters the home and gestures for the dog to come to him. He plays with the dog for a few minutes, gives him a treat, the dog lays down and goes back to sleep.

HAVE YOU GUESSED YET?

It's Tom Peno and he wants to find his notebook. He hears the sexual moaning and figures they're so involved with what they're doing, he'll have more time to search and be out of the house before either becomes aware. Gingerly walking down the hall, he sees the spare bedroom used as a trophy room and makes his way inside only to find Mr. Jenkins who's sound asleep. Tiptoeing around, he begins his search but Jenkins wakes up and begins arguing with the boy. That's when the boy picks up the trophy and kills him. Shoving the bloody trophy into his bag, he returns home at two o'clock in the morning and his little sister sees him with the trophy and tells him she's going to squeal. That next day, Jessie and Gerard visit his family. His parents push him into telling what he knows, and he tells them it was Willis who killed the teacher. That night, he plants the trophy under Willis' bed and Willis is arrested the next day. It isn't until later when Jess is at that baseball game that she sees the dog barking his head off every time someone passes by and it triggers a thought about the Jenkins' dog.

Jessie and Zach go to the park with the Jenkins' dog and he runs right to Tom who's there with his dog.

WHO KILLED CARL JENKINS?

Okay, Mystery Sleuths, here’s your case. For purposes of clarity, I’ll be using Jessie Kensington and Zach Gerard as my detectives. Don’t forget to add your comments at the bottom by clicking on the pencil and tell me who you think the killer is and why you think that person did it. The winner will be the person who has the strongest case and will receive an autographed copy of Deadly Obsessions. I know who the killer is, but if your idea is better than reality, you might just turn out to be the winner.

A call to a 911 dispatcher by the wife of a popular teacher at 2:00 o’clock in the morning is received. The victim is Carl Jenkins, a unique English teacher from the local high school who is known for teaching his students grammatical rules by writing them into a song to help them remember them.

The wife is still in her nightgown and bathrobe when Gerard and Jessie arrive. Both garments are covered in blood, as is her face, arms and hands. Wife claims she was awakened when she heard yelling in the spare bedroom where her husband was sleeping off his inebriated state after being out at a karaoke bar.  Asked about the state of their marriage, she says they have a good marriage and love each other.

Wife doesn’t understand why anyone would do this to her husband when everyone loved him. When asked how she became so covered in blood, she said she held her husband in her arms when she found him.

Locked in the bedroom where the body is located is the owner’s large dog who is barking because of the commotion in the house. Jessie goes into the room and tries to calm the dog down, but he’s ready to attack her. She rushes out.

Back at the precinct, the pair learn they found fingerprints that match a teenager, whose prints have been found at other homes throughout the city where ‘the creeper’ was written on the wall. They learn ‘The Creeper’ is a game the kids play by sneaking into a house for the thrill of it and stealing a souvenir to prove they were there. The fingerprints lead them to Willie Gaffes. Also during their search, they learn that Tom Peno is Willie’s best friend and they want to talk to him too.

Gerard and Jessie leave to question Willie and find out he’s at a band party, where they head over to only to find out the party which was intended to be a celebration has turned into a grieving session after the students learn about the teacher’s death. Walking around, Jessie questions at random asking for Willie, but runs into Tom instead. Jessie asks if the victim was his teacher and he tells her he was not, but he knows him from the park where they used to walk their dogs. He confirms he and Willie are best friends. Jessie notices he’s nervous and calls him on it. He says he’s just upset about the teacher. He points them to where Willie is, but as they’re walking toward Willie, he happens to approach them first. He offers them information about being at the park near the teacher’s home the night he was killed and claims he saw a black van that took off like a shot causing him to jam on his breaks. He didn’t have a license plate number for them nor the name of who it might belong to, but claims the driver was Russian. When asked how he knows that, he says, he looked like a Russian. Willie then asks if he’ll get a reward for his information. Detectives tell him to write down his name and address and label it ‘reward’ because if it pans out, he will get money. They also ask about ‘The Creeper’ game and he denies knowing anything about it.

Zach thinks he’s guilty, but Jessie says Willie’s a ‘stoner’, not a killer, and wants to question Tom. They leave for Tom’s house and while Jessie and Zach are talking to the parents, Tom walks in. He tells them Willie was inside the teacher’s home that night and he really thinks Willie killed him.

The team does a search at Willie’s house and they find a trophy with blood on it under his bed. They head to the school to arrest him and he’s taken into custody.

Searching the wife’s financials, they come upon a check that was paid to a Nikolay Antiopiv, a Russian immigrant, and asks the wife about him. She claims he works at her job and they’ve become friends. Jessie picks up on her nervousness and asks her how long she’s been sleeping with him? The wife denies it at first, but ultimately tells them she and Nikolay were having sex while her husband was being killed. She reiterates that she really does love her husband.

Nikolay Antiopiv: When questioned, he tells the detectives they’ve been having an affair ever since he began working at the shop where she works, six months earlier.  He’s only in the US on a visa, although he’d love to remain in New York forever.

While Jess and Zach are at a baseball game, there’s a dog tied to the fence and he’s barking which has her thinking about the victim’s dog and how much he barked at her, but the wife told her she didn’t hear the dog barking that night.  

 

NOW, it’s your turn. Who killed Carl Jenkins? The wife who’s cheating on her husband; the Russian, who wants to remain in the United States; Willie, whose fingerprints are on the windowpane, or Tom? Or did someone else come into the home?

THE MAKINGS OF A MONSTER

In September 2005, Orlie and Dawn McCool were found dead in their home in the small town of Pineville, Missouri for no apparent reason. The crime scene indicated they’d just returned home from the supermarket because groceries were strewn all over the floor next to their bodies. The position of seventy year-old Orlie McCool’s body being close to the entry, investigators knew the killer had surprised him, and Dawn, whose body had been brutally chewed up from a complete round of bullets, was face down in the hallway.  The killings were so brutal, it was determined to be a crime of passion.

Investigations proved fruitless until the police received a call from Scott King, father of twenty-three year-old Levi who’d just escaped from a half-way house, returned home only to be told he was no longer welcome and was asked to leave. When Scott returned home later that morning, he discovered an Ak47 shotgun, a 9m handgun and a knife were missing from his gun collection, knew Levi had taken them and he thought the authorities should know. 

Thirteen hours later, the Pampa, Texas 911 dispatcher received a call from seven year-old Robin Doan that her entire family had been murdered. Her stepfather, her pregnant mother and her teenage brother. When asked if she’d been hurt she told the dispatcher she had not. She claimed that minutes before when she heard her mother's screams, she crouched down by the door and saw the killer, but got back into bed pretending to be sleeping, and when the killer stopped by her room he fired two shots into the room which she claims whizzed past her head. Now, pretending she was dead, she lay there until he was gone and she felt it was safe to get up, grabbed the phone and walked outside to report the massacre.

Twenty-nine hours later, psychopath, Levi King was apprehended at the Juarez, Mexican border by Border Patrol where he immediately plead guilty. Extradited back to Texas to stand trial in the Lubbock County Courthouse where he was charged with capital murder, he stood stone-faced, showing no emotions whatsoever even as Robin Doan looked directly at him when she testified.  He offered no reason for the killings.

In 2004, Levi agreed to do an interview on The First 48, a CBS television show, where he breaks his silence and tells the viewers why he went on a killing spree.

Levi grew up in the small town of Pineville, Missouri with five siblings. Raised by his father, Scott King, in a house with no amenities, and a father who took out his anger on his family. 

Remembering his past, he admits his psychopathic tendencies began at at age four when he set his sister's bedroom on fire because he was angry with her. These tendencies would continue in a downward spiral.

Growing up with a father who ruled his family with an iron fist, Levi recounts his first encounter with a gun was at age seven when his father told him to get into the truck while he carried a box full of puppies and a shotgun. He said they drove out to an open field where the father dumped the puppies out onto the ground and used them for target practice. Levi said he was so angry, he couldn't even look at his father and there was no way he was going to ride home with him so he ran the two miles back home. 

Three years later, at age ten, he began smoking and drinking, and by age thirteen he was already into taking pills. His behavior continued to worsen abusing the rights of others that soon lead to a jail sentence for burglary and arson for which he received a sentence of fourteen months.

 After his release he was sent to a half-way house where he would later escape and return home. That was when his father rejected him. Angry, he vandalized his father’s house and stole the arsenal that he would use during his killing spree on people he had never seen or knew anything about.

His father's rejection made him so angry, he needed to kill someone to get back at him. He hadn’t planned to kill, despite his mind telling him to do so, and it wasn’t until he saw the McCool’s house that he knew they’d be his target.

During the interview he maintained a smug expression on his face as he recounted the peacefulness he felt after he'd killed the McCool's. And when he was finished, he stole the truck and headed southwest enjoying the calm and peacefulness he felt afterward. That peacefulness would only last for thirteen hours before the anger returned, and that was when he knew he’d never find peace again unless he killed.

Seeing the lone farmhouse on a deserted street void of any surrounding houses, he slated that family to be his next victims. Breaking into the house in the early morning hours while the Conrad family slept, the five months pregnant mother awoke and began screaming and he emptied six bullets into her body. Next would come the husband whom he shot through the temple emptying four bullets into him. Slowly walking down the hall to the other bedrooms, he stopped at Robin’s room, walked inside and fired two bullets into the room. 

Robin would later explain that minutes before, her mother's screaming had woken her and she crouched down by her door and saw him, then quickly got back into bed and pretended to be sleeping.He did fire two shots into her room, but they whizzed past her. His last stop would be her fourteen year-old brother's room who he shot multiple times.

Satisfied he’d killed everyone, he walked out of the house glancing at himself in the mirror along the way and remembered feeling empty, but not remorseful. He got back into his truck and continued his journey knowing if he drove to Mexico,  they would not extradite him. Stopping at the border stop, when asked if he had anything to declare, he informed them he had guns and was given permission to drive through. Thinking he was home free, he found that he'd made a wrong turn and realized he was headed back to Texas where he was apprehended by the Border Patrol.

At the conclusion of the interview, the reporter asked if he was so angry at his father, had he ever thought of killing him? His reply was that he'd thought about it many times, but he did not want his brothers and sister to see their father killed by their brother. When asked if he felt any remorse for his crimes, he smugly replied he did not.

Although the death penalty was on the table, all but one juror agreed and the state was forced to give him life in prison without parole. 

Now, I ask you, do you think the punishment fit the crime? How would you have voted?