Around 1 a.m. on July 29, 1967, a gunman stepped from the shadows on Buhre Ave. in the Bronx to pump five bullets into a parked car in which Donna Lauria, 18, was sitting–chatting with her best friend, Jody Valenti, 19, about boys. Lauria was hit in the head, neck and arm, and died. Valenti was wounded in the thigh, but managed to scare away the gunman by leaning on her car horn. Police theories included a Mafia hit on the wrong target and the gruesome handiwork of a vengeful ex-boyfriend.
David Berkowitz shot 13 people, killing six and wounding 7 in a one year spree from July of 1976 to July of 1977.
Those that didn’t make it:
Donna Lauria, 18, July 29, 1976
Christina Freund, 26, January 30, 1977
Virginia Voskerichian, 19, March 8, 1977
Alexander Esau, 20, April 17, 1977
Valentina Suriani, 18, April 17, 1977
Stacy Moskowitz, 20, July 31, 1977
Harvey, the “demon dog”
The neighbor’s dog. Berkowitz once shot this poor creature. Thankfully, he survived.