David Berkowitz
An actor, depicting 1970's New York serial killer David Berkowitz known as "Son of Sam", and the demon dog which Berkowitz said told him to kill his six victims, are seen inside Nightmare: New York, a haunted house for adults, in New York Oct. 22, 2014. Reuters

David Berkowitz, also known as "Son of Sam," spread terror in New York City in the late 1970s with his murders. He would randomly choose his target by attacking young women and couples meeting in the city's lovers lanes. His killings forced people to stay indoors during that time.

Berkowitz named himself "Son of Sam" after his neighbor, Sam Carr. It was said that Carr had a dog named Harvey who Berkowitz believed was a powerful demon and gave him indications to kill. He also believed that Carr himself was a demon, which is why he later named himself as "Son of Sam" after his neighbor.

From 1976 to 1977, Berkowitz killed six people and wounded seven others. When he was arrested 40 years ago, he appeared as a "schlubby civil servant with a boyish face and a dopey smile," the Associated Press reported.

In the new documentary titled "Son of Sam | The Killer Speaks," Berkowitz will speak about his life. The documentary will broadcast Aug. 11 at 10 p.m. EDT.

Trending: Toilet Flush At Orlando International Airport Reportedly Delays Thousands Of Travelers

In his first major interview in a decade and the only one about the 40th anniversary of his arrest, he told the CBS News: "I see that people will never understand where I come from, no matter how much I try to explain it...They wouldn't understand what it was like to walk in darkness."

Berkowitz also expressed how he wants to distance himself from the nickname "Son of Sam" with which he was associated during the time of his murders.

"As far as I'm concerned, that was not me," Berkowitz said during the interview. "That was not me. Even the name, I hate that name, I despise the name."

Here are some quick facts about the serial killer.

1. Berkowitz was born as Richard David Falco and was adopted by Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz when he was just a few days old. He was reportedly an intelligent child. However, he had a troubled childhood. Berkowitz was close to his mother but she died while he still was a teenager and it affected him deeply. At the age of 18, he joined the U.S. Army, according to his biography.

2. He left the service in 1974 after which he returned to the New York City where he started working at a post office. He was a quiet man who stayed in an apartment in Yonkers while his neighbors and co-workers thought him to be a loner.

3. Berkowitz carried out his first crime on July 29, 1976, when he shot two teenagers outside a Bronx apartment building. Three months later, he shot a couple sitting in a parked car, severely damaging the man's skull. Few days after, he shot two teenagers, leaving one of them a paraplegic. At the time, police could not establish a link between these murders.

Read: Walmart Removes Controversial Back-To-School Gun Sign, Other Incidents When Company Apologized

4. Over the years, certain law enforcement officials and journalists have claimed Berkowitz did not commit the murders alone. They argued that he was part of a demonic cult and that he had accomplices in his murders. It is also believed that "Son of Sam" killed people at the behest of his neighbor's dog as he believed that it was a demon sending him messages in its nocturnal barking, CBS News reported.

5. The movies "Summer of Sam" and "Out of the Darkness" are inspired by Berkowitz's life.

RELATED STORIES