David Berkowitz gained the moniker Son of Sam after terrorizing the residents of New York from July 1976 until August 1977, during which time he killed six people and wounded several others.
Budding serial killer Gary Charles Evans was incarcerated for burglary at Clinton Correctional Facility in Essex County, New York, when Son of Sam was sentenced to life imprisonment. The two quickly hit it off, often weight lifting and studying together.
Even after Berkowitz was transferred to another prison and Evans was released, the two prison pals kept in touch. Unbeknownst to Berkowitz, Gary Evans was saving every letter – likely with the intent to one day sell them.
Evans continued his well-planned, high-dollar burglaries and added homicide to his rap sheet when he murdered jewelers Douglas J. Berry, 63, and Gregory Jouben, 36, in two separate robberies.
Buddies from his old neighborhood, Michael Falco, Timothy W. Rysedorph, and Damien Cuomo all “worked” with Evans from time to time and all three eventually disappeared; their bodies having been disposed of in makeshift graves. Eventually it would learn Evans had hacked up before being tossed by his killer.
Evans knew he was going away for a long time when he was finally arrested for murder and during a jail transfer, Evans committed suicide.
Among possessions Evans had trusted to another old (but non-criminal) friend was the letters he and Berkowitz had exchanged. And, boy, did they have a story to tell.
But what exactly is that story?
Award winning author M. William Phelps released a digital book in April 2012 titled Nothing This Evil Ever Dies: The Letters Son of Sam Never Wanted You to See that implies it will unveil some deep dark secret about Son of Sam but I’m still in the dark.
With only snippets of the letters sprinkled through the book (not a single one printed in its entirety), I wonder if the secret was supposed to be that Berkowitz and Evans are/were closeted homosexuals? If so, that’s a major disappointment. It’s a concept which has been discussed too many times to count – and a little obvious, in my opinion.
All in all, the book focuses more on Evans’ story than Berkowitz, which is repeat material from Phelps’ 2005 book Every Move You Make for most of us.
I feel as thought I’m picking on Phelps having given his last book a so-so rating and now giving this one only two stars, but I promise I’m not. Honest to goodness, these last two books have just left me feeling very, very disappointed.
Hopefully Phelps is just experiencing a bad streak and his next book will hit one out of the ballpark. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
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