After nearly five decades of trying to move on, Wendy Savino—a survivor of the infamous “Son of Sam” shootings—was suddenly pulled back into a nightmare she thought she’d left behind.
And it happened in the most unexpected place: a library visit in Long Island.
It wasn’t David Berkowitz himself who confronted her, but a man claiming to be his friend, delivering an unsettling message straight from the convicted killer.
A Strange Message at the Valley Cottage Library
Wendy was at the Valley Cottage Library on Wednesday when she says an elderly man approached her outside.
That man was 88-year-old Frank DeGennaro, who calmly asked if she was Wendy Savino.
Trying to brush him off, she attempted to walk around him—but his words stopped her in her tracks.
“David wants to talk to you,” he told her. “David wants you to know he didn’t do it.”
She was stunned.
The Survivor Felt Cornered and Unnerved
According to Wendy, the encounter wasn’t just weird—it felt intrusive and unsettling.
“He had me backed into a corner,” she recalled. “He just kept talking about David.
How he’s a good person. That he’s sorry.”
Feeling uneasy, she asked him to write down his name and later visited the Clarkstown Police Department with her son Jason to report the incident.
DeGennaro Defends Himself But Admits Poor Judgment
Frank DeGennaro confirmed the exchange when contacted by the press.
He said police had reached out to him but that he hadn’t been charged.
He insisted he didn’t mean to scare Wendy and denied blocking her path.
“I realize now that it was probably the wrong thing to do, to even talk to her,” he admitted.
“This is getting blown out of proportion.”
DeGennaro claims he became pen pals with Berkowitz years ago and now considers him a friend.
The Night Wendy Was Shot by Berkowitz
Back in April 1976, Wendy was sitting in her car when David Berkowitz opened fire on her.
She survived—but became what authorities later confirmed as his first victim in a series of horrifying attacks that terrorized New York City.
What followed was a 13-month killing spree that claimed six lives and wounded seven more.
A City Gripped by Fear and Headlines
Berkowitz, a 24-year-old postal worker at the time, targeted young couples—often while they sat in cars in quiet corners of the city.
He used a .44 caliber revolver and struck in neighborhoods like the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn.
The press dubbed him “The .44 Caliber Killer,” but Berkowitz gave himself a more sinister name—Son of Sam—in a taunting letter to the police.
He later claimed that a demonic entity named Sam spoke to him through a dog, commanding him to kill.
New Yorkers Changed Their Lives to Avoid the Killer
The fear was palpable. Young women dyed their brown hair blonde to avoid fitting the victim profile.
Couples stopped parking in lovers’ lanes. People stayed home, glued to the headlines, hoping for answers.
Then, on August 10, 1977, the nightmare finally ended when Berkowitz was arrested outside his Yonkers apartment.
Berkowitz Behind Bars and Seeking Redemption
In 1978, Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life for each of the six murders.
He has remained behind bars ever since, becoming eligible for parole in 2002—but always denied.
In recent years, he’s claimed to have turned his life around.
In an interview last month, he said he’s now a born-again Christian and tries to do good from inside the prison walls.
“I wish I could undo the past, but I can’t,” he told The Daily Mail.
“I just try to move forward and help people when I can.”
Berkowitz Calls Himself a Pawn of Darkness
Despite his remorse, Berkowitz still seems to deflect responsibility in part.
He described himself as someone who was “used” by the devil, a passive player in a much darker force at work.
“I let the devil rule my mind,” he admitted, adding that he’s now grateful to have law-abiding friends who accept the man he claims to be today.
A Victim’s Trauma Never Really Ends
For Wendy Savino, no amount of regret or rebirth can undo what happened that night in 1976.
And the recent encounter with someone speaking on Berkowitz’s behalf was an unwanted reminder that the past isn’t always content to stay buried.
She may have walked away from a killer that night nearly 50 years ago, but his shadow—through unexpected messengers—still follows her.