- What To Know About John & Michael Carr, The Brothers Featured In The Sons Of Sam
A new Netflix docuseries reinvestigates the Son of Sam murders.
"believed that Berkowitz and the Carr brothers were members of a vast satanic cult that carried out the killings"
A new Netflix docuseries reinvestigates the Son of Sam murders.
"believed that Berkowitz and the Carr brothers were members of a vast satanic cult that carried out the killings"
- Did 'Son of Sam' really act alone?
"members of the group, according to Berkowitz, were plotting ritualistic murder, human sacrifices to the devil"
"members of the group, according to Berkowitz, were plotting ritualistic murder, human sacrifices to the devil"
- Did convicted Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz act alone?
" there was a satanic cult that was meeting in Untermyer Park in Yonkers and killing dogs. And so I met him down there, he showed me where the cult was meeting. We saw all the satanic graffiti."
" there was a satanic cult that was meeting in Untermyer Park in Yonkers and killing dogs. And so I met him down there, he showed me where the cult was meeting. We saw all the satanic graffiti."
What To Know About John & Michael Carr, The Brothers Featured In The Sons Of Sam
A new Netflix docuseries reinvestigates the Son of Sam murders.
'The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness'
By Johnny Brayson May 5, 2021
'The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness'
By Johnny Brayson May 5, 2021
David Berkowitz is one of the most notorious serial killers in history. Convicted for murdering six and injuring several more in the “Son of Sam” shootings that terrorized New York City in the mid-1970s, Berkowitz will forever be known as one of the world’s greatest monsters. But there are some who believe that Berkowitz did not act alone. That’s the impetus for the Netflix docuseries The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness, which explores the theory that Berkowitz was just one member of a group of killers. Included in this group, one independent investigator believed, were John and Michael Carr. So what do we know about these brothers, and their relationship to Berkowitz?
The Sons of Sam is based on the work of journalist Maury Terry, who spent decades attempting to prove that David Berkowitz was not the only murderer behind the Son of Sam shootings. Terry, who died in 2015, believed that Berkowitz and the Carr brothers were members of a vast satanic cult that carried out the killings. He was never able to prove his theory of the case — indeed, some of the claims in his sensational book The Ultimate Evil would later be disproven — but in his mind, John and Michael Carr were central to the murders.
The Carrs’ father was Berkowitz’s neighbor, Sam Carr — which literally makes Michael and John the sons of Sam. At the time of the killings, Berkowitz claimed that he was directed to kill by Sam — a demonic entity who spoke to him through Sam Carr’s dog. But Terry believed that Berkowitz’s association with the Carrs didn’t stop with the dog or his hallucinations.
Both Carr brothers would die prematurely in the years following Berkowitz’s 1977 arrest....
Berkowitz named both Michael and John Carr as two of his accomplices: he claimed that Michael was the gunman at the June 26, 1977 shooting at Bayside, Queens’ Elephas discotheque, which left two people injured; and he alleged that John pulled the trigger on November 27, 1976 in a shooting that left two teens injured. Witness descriptions of the shooter in the latter case reported seeing a young blonde man — a description that didn’t match Berkowitz, but did bear a resemblance to John Carr. Berkowitz said both men were murdered by the cult to keep them from talking about their involvement.
Berkowitz also claimed that the Carrs were involved in a satanic cult — a group that he said instigated the Son of Sam killings. Berkowitz claimed that it was Michael Carr who first introduced him to the cult, while Terry allegedly uncovered evidence linking John to the cult at his home in North Dakota, according to Unsolved Mysteries. Berkowitz is also believed to have made mention of John Carr in the infamous threatening letter he’d sent to journalist Jimmy Breslin, where he referenced a “John Wheaties — rapist and suffocator.” According to Terry, “Wheaties” was John Carr’s nickname.
It’s unknown if David Berkowitz acted alone in the Son of Sam slayings, let alone if the Carr brothers or a satanic cult had any involvement. But as The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness shows, Maury Terry certainly believed this was the case.
Did 'Son of Sam' really act alone?
July 2, 2004
By By John Hockenberry
July 2, 2004
By By John Hockenberry
It isn't just family members who are still haunted by the Son of Sam -- so are some of the original detectives who wonder, even now, if there's something or someone they missed. Now Dateline has learned one police department has never officially closed the Son of Sam case.
....What most don't know about the Son of Sam case is that from the beginning, not everyone bought the idea that Berkowitz acted alone. On the list of skeptics, police who worked the case, even the prosecutor from Queens, where five of the shootings took place. In addition, Berkowitz himself, in a little known interview done years after the killings, claimed there were other shooters, naming names.
But perhaps most surprising is what Dateline recently learned, that the arrest of David Berkowitz didn't actually close the Son of Sam case. In Berkowitz's home town it is still not officially closed....
Berkowitz: “I had gone to a party in the neighborhood and I met some interesting people there.”
Interesting, Berkowitz claimed, because they were into Satanism.
Berkowitz: “We began to talk about the occult. It just came up.”
He said he would go with the group to a park in Yonkers, Untermeyer Park.
Berkowitz: “And there'd be people getting high and going through some rituals. They were into the occult. I met some people there who said that they were witches. There were animal sacrifices and other dark and ugly things happening.”
He said he got caught up in the rituals. The group, he said, began to take over his very soul.
Berkowitz: “It was a recruitment process. A slow but methodical recruitment process.”
But Berkowitz said it was about more than animal sacrifice.
Berkowitz: “They were into child pornography, and there was other people that were into that thing, you know, where they wanted that. And they would provide that.”
Maury Terry: “Producing child pornography, is that what you're saying? And providing children?”
Berkowitz: “Yeah.”
Some members of the group, according to Berkowitz, were plotting ritualistic murder, human sacrifices to the devil, which is what this born again Christian was now saying the Son of Sam killings were all about.
Berkowitz: “They were working with Satan to try to bring in a lot of chaos.”...
But is there anything definite in this seemingly outlandish story, any facts or recollections that might support the theory of a 20-year-old satanic conspiracy as an explanation for the Son of Sam murders?
James Rothstein worked in a vice unit in Manhattan. He recalls leads he picked up years before the Son of Sam killing, a nefarious ring involved in pedophilia, and child pornography.
Rothstein: “We got information that children were being used and in particular there was something strange going on in Van Courtland park and Untermyer park.
Untermyer Park, in Yonkers is the same place Berkowitz said the group he ran with was centered. There Rothstein says, he first found evidence of animal sacrifice.
Rothstein: “And it came down that somebody was murdering German shepherds.”
Could this have been some kind of boardroom for a Son of Sam conspirators, the place where they planned their brutal crimes?
Rothstein: “And here was this building that had all these Satanic ritualistic drawings and stuff of that. So I had a pretty good idea I was looking at some type of a cult activity.”
Rothstein found this bizarre place five years before the first Son of Sam shootings. Reports of Satanic activity offer a possible motive for the Son of Sam killings – and a motive is something that the NYPD has never come up with even though they arrested Berkowitz. Cult activity also suggests the possibility of a murder conspiracy, something Maury Terry says there was already evidence for.
Terry: “Makes a hell of a lot more sense than thinking some guy listened to a talking dog and went out and shot people. It's ridiculous.”
David Berkowitz does admit to being a part of all eight shootings.
Berkowitz: “I was there, at all of them. And in the area, and scouting, and I had a part. I'm responsible for my involvement in those things, and, you know, definitely guilty.”...
ohn Carr lived in a house right behind David Berkowitz' apartment. Carr’s father was a man named Sam. New York police had an explanation for this. Berkowitz had allegedly been obsessed with the Carr's dog and may have even shot the animal. But Terry says there's a lot more to it. Carr's brother was named by Berkowitz as one of the so-called "interesting people" who made up the Satanic cult.
Berkowitz said the Carr brothers actually took part in the killings, that Michael Carr was the gunman at the disco shooting in Queens.
Michael Carr died in a traffic accident on Manhattan's West Side Highway. Berkowitz said it was Michael's brother John Carr, who was the gunman at another of the Queens shootings.
Maury: “Is it a fact that the shooter that night was John Carr.”
Was he the gunman that night?
Berkowitz: “Yeah.”
Does anything support these claims? How about the sketches? During the investigation, witnesses frequently seemed to be describing different people. But could there be another explanation for the different hairstyles? In his interview with Terry, Berkowitz claimed he was the gunman at only two of the eight shootings attributed to the Son of Sam, and that he killed three of the six victims, all in the Bronx. The witness sketch from the first Bronx shooting bears a clear resemblance to Berkowitz. The sketches from other shootings, where Berkowitz claimed someone else pulled the trigger, indeed look like someone else. They come from the shooting Berkowitz said John Carr committed.
John Carr is also dead, of gunshot wounds he sustained in North Dakota in 1978. Police came to believe it was a probably a homicide.
Of course you might say that the death of both Carr brothers conveniently supports the theory of a convicted murderer. Berkowtiz would not name any other accomplices. He claimed some of them are still alive. His family he says would be at the mercy of his former satanic cohorts if he named them....
here are other voices who believe this case should never have been closed.
All the tanalizing theories about satanic cults behind the Son of Sam case are worth next to nothing in court without solid evidence. Yet in the late 1970s the Queens D.A., a man with five of the shootings in his jursidiction, who would have loved to say case closed, instead challenged the NYPD'S lone gunman theory.
Santucci: “I believe David Berkowitz did not act alone, that in fact others did cooperate, aid and abet him in the commission of these crimes. In fact, it has crossed my mind that this 44-caliber pistol was passed around among a number of people.”....
Even a man who took a Son of Sam bullet, Carl Denero, agrees.
Carl Denero: “There's no way that David Berkowitz did all the shootings. I personally think it was a cult. I don't know that for a fact. But I am convinced that -- and no one can unconvince me -- that more than one person was involved.”
And as for columnist and Son of Sam pen-pal Jimmy Breslin, he's heard it all before and doesn't buy any of it. And it's not just Jimmy Breslin. A former FBI profiler who spent hours interviewing Berkowtiz told us he was convinced Berkowitz acted alone, was an "introverted loner, not capable of being involved in group activity."
The case in Yonkers has never been brought before a grand jury. The New York City police would not comment on any aspect of the Son of Sam case, but have never wavered from their belief that a lone gunman was the Son of Sam.
Berkowitz in his 1997 interview with Maury Terry seemed to shine a light on Terry's conspiracy theory, but he declined to elaborate on his allegations, and would not grant an interview to Dateline. So we're left with these last on-camera words from David Berkowitz.
Berkowitz: “It was a time of foolishness for me, a time of spiritual darkness, a time of a lot of confusion.”....
Did convicted Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz act alone?
....David Berkowitz confessed to all the shootings. He told police that his neighbor’s barking dog had told him to commit the murders. He pleaded guilty to all the charges and was sentenced to 25 years to life. But to author Maury Terry, his confession seemed too convenient:
“After the arrest of Berkowitz, just through fate or whatever, I started poking around into the case because I had some suspicions that maybe there was more to it than the public was being led to believe.”
Maury Terry suspected that Berkowitz didn’t act alone, but that he was part of a gang of killers. It was Stacy Moskowitz’s murder that first made Maury suspicious:
“The very early reports on the Moskowitz killing had me concerned. David Berkowitz’s features were widely different from the sketches of the killer that had been done by the police artist. I started seeking out witnesses and found Tommy Zaino, who was a key witness to the shooting.”
According to Tommy, he and his girlfriend were parked in front of Stacy Moskowitz and her boyfriend on the night of the murder:
“I was looking in the mirror of the car and I noticed somebody standing in the park. What I saw was that he had long hair and it’s hard to really see the face, but he was thin. He looked like he was in pretty good shape. He walked up to the car as if he was going to get in the car, and then he went into a stance and he shot. And that was it. He turned around and ran. I can’t picture Berkowitz running like that. That’s the thing that confused me after they caught him. In a week, he can’t get that fat. And that’s all I can say. He didn’t look like the type of guy to run and do that.”....
Maury Terry believes that at least three people, including Berkowitz, were involved in Stacy’s murder. He claims they were members of a satanic cult and were responsible for every one of the “Son of Sam” shootings. According to Maury:
“David Berkowitz was selected to be the fall guy on the Son of Sam killings. He was not a willing fall guy, he wanted it to be another way. But Berkowitz knew that he had been involved in all of the shootings. He has pulled the trigger definitely two times, responsible for three murders. He’s not an innocent man and was on the scene of all the others, as a lookout, a wheel man, whatever.”
Several of the people involved in the Son of Sam case backed up Maury’s account. Witness Tommy Zaino:
“I didn’t think it was David Berkowitz then and I don’t think it’s him now.”
NYPD Det. Henry Cinotti:
“It’s a strong opinion of mine that David Berkowitz was not the sole killer and was aided by other accomplices.”
John Santucci, Dist. Attorney of Queens County:
“I had a statement made to me by someone who allegedly spoke to David Berkowitz, wherein David Berkowitz is supposed to have stated that others were involved.”
Maury says that cryptic references in one of the Son of Sam letters support his theory. One phrase that raised his suspicions was: “John Wheaties … Rapist and Suffocator of Young Girls”. Another was “Wicked King Wicker.” Maury views them as clues that help identify an accomplice of David Berkowitz.
Berkowitz lived in a seventh floor apartment in Yonkers. Down the hill was a street named “Wicker.” Could this be the “King Wicker” mentioned in the Breslin letter? According to Maury Terry, Wicker Street was near the home of another character mentioned in the letter — John “Wheaties”:
“I learned that the ‘John Wheaties, rapist and suffocator,’ alias of the killer in the Breslin letter, was not really an alias at all, but it was the name of a real person. That person was John Carr, who was the real-life son of Sam Carr. John Carr’s nickname was Wheaties. And I learned this within a day of the arrest.”
Maury Terry believes that there is a resemblance between two composite drawings of the .44 caliber killer and John Carr. Maury tracked down Carr to North Dakota, where he worked as a mechanic at a local Air Force base. He lived there during the mid-70’s, but often visited New York during the time of the “Son of Sam” attacks. Ex-Lieutenant Terry Gardner, of the Ward County, North Dakota Sheriff’s Department, said he was aware of Carr:
Maury Terry said John Carr was involved in satanic rituals:
“Through interviews with Carr’s friends and police officials in North Dakota, the picture emerged that John Carr was heavily involved in satanic cult activity, both in Minot, North Dakota, and in Westchester County, New York, where he spent part of his time. It involved blood drinking, urine drinking, the ritualistic sacrifice of animals, specifically German Shepherds.”
The Satanic symbol found on the Breslin letter was also found written on Carr’s phone book. One of Carr’s acquaintances was man named Phil Falcon. According to Maury Terry, Falcon claimed he accidentally walked in on Carr and a friend performing a satanic ritual:
“Phil Falcon told us that he walked into his own house one night in North Dakota and found John Carr and another friend of Carr’s part of the circle, in the act of ritualistically sacrificing an animal right in Falcon’s house. And Phil Falcon also told us that John Carr belonged to a very, very violent satanic cult.”
Prison sources who knew Berkowitz told Maury Terry that Berkowitz had been introduced to the cult by John Carr’s brother, Michael, in the 70’s. According to Maury Terry:
“Michael Carr ended up inviting Berkowitz to attend what he called ‘a floating coven party’. And Berkowitz came in and attended the party and symbolically, not literally, but symbolically, the .44 was put into his hand that night. That’s how he got into the cult scene.”
More than two years after Berkowitz was arrested, Michael Carr was killed in a car accident on a New York highway. He died just eighteen months after his brother.
Berkowitz admitted during two different court depositions that he knew both John and Michael Carr and that they were part of a satanic cult. And, he said the brothers were killed to keep them from talking. Maury Terry believes that the deaths of the Carr brothers may have been organized by the “22 disciples of Hell” mentioned in the Breslin letter. Maury also says this satanic group performed their rituals in a local park that was just one mile from Berkowitz’s apartment:
“I got a call from a young boy in Yonkers, a 15-year old high school sophomore, wanted to know if I knew that there was a satanic cult that was meeting in Untermyer Park in Yonkers and killing dogs. And so I met him down there, he showed me where the cult was meeting. We saw all the satanic graffiti. Saw the remains of probably two or three German Shepherds. It was a very significant development in the case.”
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