Son of Sam victim says serial killer's friend told her ‘David didn't do this'
On Wednesday, Wendy Savino was at the Valley Cottage Library in Rockland County, New York, when she was confronted by Frank DeGennaro, a friend of Berkowitz's who insisted the Son of Sam killer did not shoot her.
Savino, 88, told the New York Post that when she left the library, she saw a man standing outside staring at her.
'So I try to walk around him and he says, 'You're Wendy Savino, aren't you? Well, I just want you to know David is very upset about what happened to you. David wants to talk to you," she said, quoting DeGennaro. "'David wants you to know he didn't do it.'"
Savino was injured in 1976 when Berkowitz, now 72, shot her while she was sitting in her car in the Bronx. She said she tried to play dead after she realized the gunman was still outside her car, but Berkowitz fired twice more into her back.
She managed to crawl down a street to a restaurant where the staff called for help.
Last year, NYPD investigators announced that her shooting was the first victim of the Son of Sam, who went on to kill six victims and wound two others between 1976 and 1977.
Berkowitz never faced charges for the shooting because the statute of limitations had expired.
After DeGennaro told Savino that he was friends with Berkowitz, she asked him to write down his name. She then gave the name to her son, Jason, and they called the Clarkstown Police Department to report the encounter.
'He had me backed into a corner,' she said. 'He's just talking and talking about the same thing. 'David's a really good person.''
DeGennaro told the New York Post that he received a call from the police, but wasn't charged as he had committed no crime. He insisted he wasn't trying to scare Savino.
He told the paper that he became friends with Berkowitz 30 years ago after writing him a letter from prison. He said the two men bonded over their shared Christian faith.
DeGennaro said that he also happens to live in Clarkstown and visits the same library as Savino. He said he was surprised to run into her and added that he had not told her Berkowitz wanted to talk.
'I realize now that it was probably the wrong thing to do, to even talk to her,' he told the paper. 'This is getting blown out of proportion.'
While the encounter was likely terrifying for Savino and perhaps sobering for DeGennaro, it's a great bit of unintentional marketing for Netflix, which is releasing a documentary about Berkowitz on July 30 titled "Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes."
The documentary focuses on recently discovered recorded interviews with Berkowitz.
The Son of Sam killer confessed to his crimes in 1978, pleading guilty to six counts of second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each murder, and has been denied parole 12 times.
Savino said the encounter left her "very nervous."
'I was always afraid someone would come to me and say 'I'll finish you off for David.''
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
21 minutes ago
- The Sun
I risked prison to marry my cousin, the sex was sensational and we had a baby – but then my world fell apart
Angie Peng suffered a devastating blow just 14 months after their son was born FAMILY TIES I risked prison to marry my cousin, the sex was sensational and we had a baby – but then my world fell apart A PREGNANCY announcement is usually met with messages of love and support but Angie Peng faced only vile hate instead. Sick messages told the mum-to-be she was evil and that her baby would be 'born with 10 heads'. 4 Michael and Angie Peng married and had a baby together despite being first cousins Credit: supplied So bitter was the vitriol that Angie, now 44, was forced to turn comments off altogether. But it wasn't the pregnancy itself that was generating the hate but how it came about as the father of Angie's baby is her first cousin Michael. The couple faced hostility from the moment they announced their relationship from both strangers and their own family. Angie says: 'We posted a video of us kissing on the family Facebook page. 'One family member commented, 'I'll never be OK with this, you share the same blood.' 'Another said we were bringing dishonour on the family. That hurt but ultimately we were just two adults in love. What's so wrong with that?' Growing up, Angie had always felt drawn to Michael. She says: 'He was 10 months younger than me, but we only saw each other every few years because my dad's job took us overseas. 'When we were both seven, I saw him at a family party and we both felt an immediate connection. 'We made little rings out of pipe cleaners, which now seems quite symbolic. I visited 'world's most incestuous town' to track down infamous family - I was reported to POLICE and chased out of town 'Later, we climbed into a wardrobe, shut the door and shared a kiss. "His little brother opened the door, saw us and ran off shouting that he knew what we did, it made me wonder if we had done something wrong. 'Later that day, Michael told my mum he was going to marry me, she told him that we could only be good friends.' But the pair's bond grew. Angie, an artist, says: 'By the time I was 10, I had short hair, and Michael and I looked so alike, it was like looking at myself. 'Our personalities aligned too; we were both playful and mischievous. 'We'd sneak off, holding hands, desperate to be alone together. 'The other cousins would follow us though and report back to the adults. Eventually, my mum told me not to act so 'extra' with Michael.' 4 The couple, seen as children, were attracted to one another from a young age Credit: supplied 4 They were forced to travel across the country to marry as they faced five years in prison if they married in Utah Credit: supplied The cousins, who are from a large Mormon family, refused to let anyone come between them. Then, just before Angie left for university aged 17, they both stayed the night at their mutual grandmother's house. Angie says: "Michael snuck into my bedroom but nothing intimate happened, we just lay there talking for hours." Two years later, Angie married someone else and went on to have three children. Michael married too, and out of respect for each other's relationships, the cousins kept their distance from each other. But after nine years, Angie got divorced. She began working as a stripper in an unconventional attempt to boost her body image, and had been a single mum for 10 years when, in 2018, Michael's photo popped up on Facebook. Angie says: 'It turned out we were both living in Utah and his marriage had ended too. 'We started talking online and I started having dreams about him. My oldest said the relationship wasn't acceptable Angie Pen 'When I told him, he said he'd dreamt about me too saying sometimes it was innocent and sometimes sexual. 'One day I asked if he'd marry me and he said, 'In a heartbeat'.' They met up soon after at a family gathering and, the following month, in January 2019, shared their first adult kiss. Angie says: 'I didn't have my kids that day, so we got together at my house. 'Michael was shaking with nerves and I was sweating. 'We ended up kissing passionately for three hours. 'A few weeks later, we made love for the first time. It was sensational – both physically and spiritually.' Not wanting to waste time, they went online and were horrified to discover that marriage between first cousins in their home state of Utah risked up to five years in prison – but it was legal in nearby Colorado. Angie says: 'It was crazy, it should be legal everywhere. Love is love.' They decided to do it, but first they had to break news of their relationship to their parents. Angie insists that despite the initial shock, they all took it well – but Angie's three children, then aged 17, 15 and 11, didn't. Angie says: 'My middle child started crying. 'My oldest said the relationship wasn't acceptable. 'I realised we were hurting people but I was so full of gusto and enthusiasm, I didn't want to give Michael up. He made me happy.' Then came their Facebook announcement with the kissing video, which outraged their wider relatives. But not wanting it to deter them, just two months later, in March 2020, the couple went to Colorado for a civil wedding – one of just 18 states allowing unrestricted marriage between first cousins. Angie's children came round in the end. Can I marry my cousin in the UK? ACROSS the globe, more than 10 percent of marriages are between first or second cousins. In the UK, there's no legal bar to two cousins having a relationship. That means that if end up falling for the children of your aunts and uncles, there's nothing stopping you from eventually tying the knot. If you're over the age of 18, you can do this without the consent of your legal guardian or parent. First-cousin marriages were once quite common in Europe, especially among the elite. She says: 'There were no guests, no flowers. 'Michael had cold feet the night before; he was sensitive and was freaking out but he loved me so he did it anyway. 'When we uploaded the wedding video to Facebook, someone said that it wasn't the place to post that, but other family said congratulations.' The couple later started an online petition calling for marriage between cousins to be made legal. It was met with more backlash, but Angie felt it was important to have their voices heard. A few months later, Angie fell pregnant but sadly miscarried at 10 weeks. She says: 'It felt cruel, like a moment for the haters to say, 'See? That's what you get.'' Genetic testing later revealed that while Angie was a carrier of cystic fibrosis, Michael wasn't, confirming there were no genetic risks to pregnancy. Soon after, Angie discovered she was carrying again, and in May 2020, their son Eric was born. I realised we were hurting people but I was so full of gusto and enthusiasm, I didn't want to give Michael up Angie Pen Angie says: 'He was perfect. We were smitten.' But just 14 months later, in July 2021, and after a long-term battle with drug addiction, Michael tragically died of an overdose, leaving Angie heartbroken. She is now trying to build a life without her soulmate. She says: 'I'll always tell Eric, who is now five, about his dad. 'Just last month, for the first time, Eric suddenly said to me, 'Daddy is your cousin', so I took out a Beatrix Potter book in which Benjamin Bunny marries his cousin. 'I'd bought it when I was pregnant, ready for the day Eric would start asking questions as I always wanted to be honest with him. 'We read the book together and he was fine. If he has more questions, of course I'll answer them.' Angie is now admin of a Facebook group for cousins in relationships and is continuing to petition to change the law. She adds: 'Love is love and should be celebrated. 'I loved Michael deeply and am grateful for the time we had together. 'People try to make out that our relationship was wrong and dirty, but it was pure and wonderful. I have no regrets.'
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Appeals court keeps order blocking Trump administration from indiscriminate immigration sweeps
A federal appeals court ruled Friday night to uphold a lower court's temporary order blocking the Trump administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in Southern California. A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing Monday afternoon at which the federal government asked the court to overturn a temporary restraining order issued July 12 by Judge Maame E. Frimpong, arguing it hindered their enforcement of immigration law. Immigrant advocacy groups filed suit last month accusing President Donald Trump's administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during the administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. The lawsuit included three detained immigrants and two U.S. citizens as plaintiffs. In her order, Frimpong said there was a 'mountain of evidence' that federal immigration enforcement tactics were violating the Constitution. She wrote the government cannot use factors such as apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, presence at a location such as a tow yard or car wash, or someone's occupation as the only basis for reasonable suspicion to detain someone. The appeals court panel agreed and questioned the government's need to oppose an order preventing them from violating the constitution. 'If, as Defendants suggest, they are not conducting stops that lack reasonable suspicion, they can hardly claim to be irreparably harmed by an injunction aimed at preventing a subset of stops not supported by reasonable suspicion,' the judges wrote. A hearing for a preliminary injunction, which would be a more substantial court order as the lawsuit proceeds, is scheduled for September. The Los Angeles region has been a battleground with the Trump administration over its aggressive immigration strategy that spurred protests and the deployment of the National Guards and Marines for several weeks. Federal agents have rounded up immigrants without legal status to be in the U.S. from Home Depots, car washes, bus stops, and farms, many who have lived in the country for decades. Among the plaintiffs is Los Angeles resident Brian Gavidia, who was shown in a video taken by a friend June 13 being seized by federal agents as he yells, 'I was born here in the states, East LA bro!' They want to 'send us back to a world where a U.S. citizen ... can be grabbed, slammed against a fence and have his phone and ID taken from him just because he was working at a tow yard in a Latino neighborhood,' American Civil Liberties Union attorney Mohammad Tajsar told the court Monday. The federal government argued that it hadn't been given enough time to collect and present evidence in the lawsuit, given that it was filed shortly before the July 4 holiday and a hearing was held the following week. 'It's a very serious thing to say that multiple federal government agencies have a policy of violating the Constitution,' attorney Jacob Roth said. He also argued that the lower court's order was too broad, and that immigrant advocates did not present enough evidence to prove that the government had an official policy of stopping people without reasonable suspicion. He referred to the four factors of race, language, presence at a location, and occupation that were listed in the temporary restraining order, saying the court should not be able to ban the government from using them at all. He also argued that the order was unclear on what exactly is permissible under law. 'Legally, I think it's appropriate to use the factors for reasonable suspicion,' Roth said The judges sharply questioned the government over their arguments. 'No one has suggested that you cannot consider these factors at all,' Judge Jennifer Sung said. However, those factors alone only form a 'broad profile' and don't satisfy the reasonable suspicion standard to stop someone, she said. Sung, a Biden appointee, said that in an area like Los Angeles, where Latinos make up as much as half the population, those factors 'cannot possibly weed out those who have undocumented status and those who have documented legal status.' She also asked: 'What is the harm to being told not to do something that you claim you're already not doing?' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the Friday night decision a 'victory for the rule of law' and said the city will protect residents from the 'racial profiling and other illegal tactics' used by federal agents.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Urgent hunt for couple who ‘grabbed and punched woman in face' leaving her with black eye in horror train station attack
AN URGENT hunt is underway for a couple who grabbed and punched a woman in the face in a horror train station attack. The shocking assault left the woman with a black eye and a split lip, cops say. 1 British Transport Police have released a CCTV image in connection to the incident. At around 11pm on Friday July 19, a man and woman in their 40s got off a train at Llanelli railway station, South Wales, before they became involved in a verbal confrontation with another couple. The woman was then grabbed and punched in the face, suffering a black eye and split lip. Officers believe the woman in the image may have information that could help in their investigation. Anyone who has any information is urged to get in touch with the police.
