Woman who claimed to be ‘Son of Sam’ killer’s first target is finally recognized after 48 years as she reveals how she miraculously survived being shot five times

A woman finally claims she was the first target of infamous ‘Son of Sam’ killer David Berkowitz, as she reveals that playing dead probably saved her life.

Wendy Savino said she was shot five times in her car on April 9, 1976, by Berkowitz – who admitted to killing six people – and is trying to confirm she was the first victim.

In the 1970s, it was believed that the man who shot her – contrary to Savino’s belief – was murdered not far from his home.

However, a YouTuber requested all files on the murders and eventually discovered a link to Berkowitz before contacting a Bronx homicide detective, who spoke with Savino in Rockland County this week.

“I’m so happy he’s been named as my attacker,” said Savino, who lost her right eye in the shooting.

Wendy Savino said she was shot five times in her car on April 9, 1976, by Berkowitz — who admitted to killing six people — and is trying to confirm she was the first victim.

“For years, if anyone asked me what happened to me, I’d say, ‘I got shot by Son of Sam,’ and it was, ‘Oh yeah, I definitely did.’ So I’m very happy to be on the list of one of his survivors.’

Berkowitz, who has committed a half-dozen murders and calls himself a born-again Christian in prison, was confronted about Savino’s shooting.

However, sources say so the New York Post they were able to trip him up by admitting to shooting her in an interview and now think they have enough to link him to Savino’s shooting.

The now 87-year-old victim believes the shooting was never properly investigated because the Democratic prosecutor was a political rival of her husband, who was then chairman of the Republican Party in the Bronx.

“From the day I was shot, the NYPD had my sketches done for me, and I carried them with me every day in my purse. I didn’t know his name, but I certainly knew what he looked like. I said, ‘This is the man who shot me.’ And of course, once he was arrested, I knew my sketch was David Berkowitz,” she said.

At one point she lived under a pseudonym and moved to Britain out of fear of the gunman.

‘I was absolutely terrified. I wouldn’t go out after dark. During the day my children played on the cricket field and I said, “If you don’t come in before dark, I won’t come get you.”

‘I wouldn’t answer the phone. I wouldn’t open the front door. When I went shopping, if I got scared, I would leave my shopping cart in the parking lot after paying for it. If I hit one, I’d run a red light. I was terrified.’

A woman finally claims she was the first target of infamous ‘Son of Sam’ killer David Berkowitz, as she reveals playing dead probably saved her life

In the 1970s, it was believed that the man who shot her – contrary to Savino’s belief – was murdered not far from his home.

She lived in Britain with her sister and brother-in-law, while her sons were sent to Florida.

Police now suspect that Savino surviving the shooting prompted Berkowitz to purchase a more powerful weapon to continue his reign of terror.

She said he walked toward her, smiling, as he approached her to shoot him, as she tried in vain to protect herself with her left arm.

“My chest exploded,” she said. ‘He was standing by my window, to the left of the driver’s door. The second bullet went through my arm, bounced off the dashboard and went through my right eye.”

‘The third bullet entered through my shoulder, traveled further, punctured my windpipe and lodged in my spine. At that moment my head is on the passenger side. They were bucket seats in a silver 1976 Jaguar.”

She said she had eight pieces of glass in her left eye and a bullet in her right eye, describing how she ran out of air.

Savino decided her best chance to survive was to pretend he had already done the job.

“I said, ‘I can’t let him get to me until I can get out.’ So I lay there with my head in the bucket, as if I were dead, and with my eyes closed, but peeking through the one eye that I could still see through.”

Police now suspect that Savino surviving the shooting prompted Berkowitz to purchase a more powerful weapon to continue his reign of terror

Berkowitz fatally shot six people and wounded eight others during his yearlong killing spree

The gunman fired two more times at Savino’s back.

‘I now have five bullets in my back. And I say, ‘He’s going to take my jewelry,’ but he didn’t try, so I said to myself, ‘Of course he wants you dead.’ Just lie here and hope he goes away before you pass out.”

She started to hear him walking away, opened the door, rolled into the parking lot and tried to crawl as far as she could until she found a wall.

Savino was outside a restaurant at the time, trying to get into the kitchen, where she was faced with an almost darkly comedic scene.

‘All the waiters and everyone threw their hands and pots and pans in the air, shouting. So I said, ‘You’re not getting anywhere here, are you?’ And I walked straight into the dining room.”

‘There was quite a reaction when I walked into the dining room and they threw a white tablecloth over my head. I took it off and said, ‘Please don’t do that, I can’t breathe.’

She then found a wooden chair to fall near, took off her jewelry and told a waitress or bartender to give it to her husband.

Eventually, a police officer came through the front door of the restaurant and told her to “stay with me” while Savino went to sleep.

Police mugshot showing the front view and profile of convicted New York City serial killer David Berkowitz, known as the “Son of Sam”

Berkowitz owned a 1970 Ford Galaxy, which you can see above in the garage of the NYPD headquarters in Manhattan on August 11 – the day after his arrest

She was taken to the hospital, where she was eventually healed and was able to draw a sketch of the shooter.

All the while, she says police have refused to believe her attacker was Berkowitz.

“No one believed me even when I showed them the sketch of his face that I had,” she said.

What would she say to him if she met him in person? “You’re a bastard.”

In 2017, Berkowitz said that he now rejects the ‘Son of Sam’ nickname he used to make headlines during his murder and shooting spree that killed six people and injured seven between 1976 and 1977.

“As far as I’m concerned, I wasn’t,” Berkowitz said during the interview with CBS News. ‘It was not me. Even the name, I hate that name, I despise the name.”

The nickname is taken from a taunting letter Berkowitz wrote to authorities and left at a crime scene, identifying himself as the “Son of Sam,” whose father, “Sam,” ordered him killed.

Berkowitz, now a born-again Christian, said the “Son of Sam” was actually “a demon.”

Above is a photo of Berkowitz from March 2003. According to Bustle, he is serving his time at the maximum security Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County, New York

After his arrest, Berkowitz told authorities that a dog named Sam had ordered him to commit the murders — a story he later recanted in an interview with reporters in 1979, according to The New York Times. Above Berkowitz during his arraignment on August 11, 1977

His murderous rampage through New York came at a particularly difficult time for city residents, who were already dealing with a period of financial crisis, brutally hot weather, and a citywide blackout that culminated in mass looting.

Under the names “Son of Sam” and “.44 Caliber Killer,” Berkowitz made daily local and national headlines for shocking, seemingly random, and unstoppable shootings—particularly of couples in parked cars and women with shoulder-length brown hair—that seemed to be related engage in demonic cult activities.

Leaving insulting notes for police at the crime scene and sending letters directly to local media only added fuel to the sensational fire.

Berkowitz was eventually caught during one of the largest manhunts in New York City history.

Now that Savino’s shooting has been linked to him, he has officially killed six people and injured eight others.