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David Richard Berkowitz is an antagonist in the Netflix original series Mindhunter. Like his real-life counterpart he is a serial/spree killer who shot six people dead during a killing spree in New York City in the 1970s.
He was portrayed by Oliver Cooper.
Biography[]
Berkowitz was born out of wedlock as "Richard Falco" but was given up for adoption a few days after his birth, being raised by the Berkowitz family. Before his adoptive mother died, she told him who his real mother was; he tracked her down in 1974 and asked her why she gave him up, finding out that she never wanted him. This revelation destroyed Berkowitz, who began killing women as a way of retaliating for his mother's abandonment of him.
Between July 1976 and July 1977, Berkowitz shot fifteen people in eight separate attacks, killing six. His victims were usually couples sitting in cars by the side of the road, who he would approach before shooting at them through the passenger's side window (either because that was the side closer to the pavement or because it was usually the side the woman was sitting on). During the killing spree, the press named him "the .44-calibre killer" due to his choice of weapon, and insinuated that he was compensating for insecurities about his penis; insulted, Berkowitz tried to regain control of the narrative by writing letters to the media where he called himself "Son of Sam" and claimed to be killing people on orders from a demonic figure known as "Father Sam".
Berkowitz was eventually apprehended and, inspired by books he had read about demonic possession, he told the police a story about being possessed by demons which spoke through his neighbour Sam's dog and ordered him to kill people. His story was persuasive enough to fool trained psychiatrists into believing he was schizophrenic, which backfired when Berkowitz realized he would go down in history as insane. Not wanting that, he pled guilty to his crimes and was sentenced to 25 years to life.
In Mindhunter[]
Special Agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench of the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit decide to interview Berkowitz in order to gain insight into a serial killer in Kansas who is imitating Son of Sam. Berkowitz wastes no time in displaying his narcissism by asking why the FBI haven't come to talk to him yet and saltily asking if they've talked to anyone else before him; Bill immediately exploits this by flattering him about how he held a city in thrall like no other killer, before telling him that someone in Kansas is trying to copy him. As expected, Berkowitz is affronted and thinks he is being ripped off, agreeing to help them purely to spite his imitator.
Bill asks Berkowitz why he wrote letters to the media, setting Berkowitz off on a spiel about how he needed the public to know the truth about the demons. Holden becomes sceptical when Berkowitz mentions seeing The Exorcist just before his killing spree started and presses him on inconsistencies in his story, pointing out that he can't make up his mind whether the voices came from the dog or from inside his walls. Berkowitz continues to insist he was possessed by demons until Holden brings up the fact that he sold the rights to his life story to an author who will get all the proceeds from the upcoming book; when Berkowitz replies that he is in a legal dispute to get the rights back, Holden asks why the demons don't stop him talking to his lawyers. He then accuses Berkowitz of making up the story, and asks him if he wants to be remembered as the man who took orders from a dog. Berkowitz is offended, and confesses that he made up the demons, bragging about how many people he fooled after being insane.
Once Berkowitz has opened up, Holden and Bill question him more about his M.O. Berkowitz explains that he went out every night to drive around looking for victims, and that he went back to the crime scenes to re-live his attacks, even rolling around in the dirt to see how it felt when they hit the ground. He admits that he would go home and masturbate after every attack, but still insists his crimes were not sexually motivated. He concludes that the Kansas killer likely goes hunting every night and returns to the scene of the crime like he did. The BSU later conclude that Berkowitz's crimes did have a sexual motivation no matter what he says, and incorporate his insights into the Kansas profile.