'Son of Sam' Survivor Says David Berkowitz Accomplice Shot Him and Evaded Police
A survivor of one of the U.S.' most notorious serial killers, Son of Sam, has spoken about how he was shot by an accomplice of David Berkowitz amid an NYPD probe for the wrong killer.
Carl Denaro has said he's lucky to be alive after revealing he was actually fired at by an "occult priestess" during the Son of Sam's reign of terror.
Berkowitz terrorized the city of New York for a year in 1977, killing six and wounding seven. The then 23-year old civil servant confessed to the killings.
Those events are now being explored in a new Netflix docu-series, The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness.
The series re-examines the infamous serial killer through the eyes of one man's obsession with the case—the late investigator Maury Terry, who believed that Berkowitz was caught up in a Satanic cult.
Per the Netflix series, Terry was convinced Berkowitz had not acted alone, and went on to spend decades attempting to prove that the web of darkness behind the murders went "deeper than anyone imagined—and his pursuit of that elusive truth would eventually cost him everything."
Now Denaro has published a new book, The Son of Sam and Me: The Truth About Why I Wasn't Shot By David Berkowitz, in which he details his experience with being shot when the .44 caliber killer was at large.
Denaro was 20 years old when he was shot in the head on October 23, 1976, while sitting in the passenger seat of a car in Flushing, Queens, with Rosemary Keenan.
Although Berkowitz initially said he shot Denaro, years later he denied that it was him.
Terry wrote a book detailing the Satanic cult connections of Berkowitz in The Ultimate Evil: An Investigation of America's Most Dangerous Satanic Cult, and his account somewhat aligns with Denaro's.
In a televised interview in 1993 Berkowitz suggested to Terry that a female cult member was the one who shot Denaro.
Terry "knew there would never be enough proof to solve the case unless Berkowitz talked ... or someone came forward and said they're part of the cult," Denaro wrote in his book.
He also told The New York Post that at the time of the shooting he had no reason to believe there was any cult involvement as it had not been reported in the news.
"During the 'Son of Sam' rampage, I got my information about the case like everyone else, the evening news, the New York Post and the Daily News," the 64-year-old Denaro told the publication. "At the time I had no reason to think that the attacks were the work of a cult. I read The Ultimate Evil ... and started thinking there might be something to this."
In his book, he reveals that an NYPD ballistics detective told him that the person who pulled the trigger was a "90-pound weakling or a woman."
Berkowitz pleaded guilty to all six murders in 1978 and was given six consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences. He remains incarcerated.
Denaro was also interviewed by filmmaker Josh Zeman for the Netflix documentary series, which premiered on the platform on May 5.
"I've learned a long time ago that I am a patient guy," Denaro said. "Here we are 44 years later and I'm still waiting for the truth—and still hopeful."
The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness is streaming on Netflix now.
