Since 1976, Wendy Savino has been telling whoever would listen she miraculously survived being shot by “Son of Sam” killer David Berkowitz.
But it wasn’t until this week that a Bronx homicide detective finally validated her claim, filing a shocking report pinning her life-altering April 9, 1976, shooting on Berkowitz — officially making Savino, 87, the serial killer’s first known victim, police sources told The Post.
“I’m so happy that he’s going to be named as my assailant,” said Savino. “For so many years, if somebody asked me what happened to me, and I would say ‘I was shot by Son of Sam’ and it was, ‘Oh right, sure you were.’ So, I am very happy that I am going to be listed as one of his survivors.”
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Investigators are confident that, before setting off on his terrifying killing spree in July 1976 with his trusty .44-caliber revolver, a smiling Berkowitz — armed with a .32-caliber gun — walked up to Savino’s car parked behind Nina’s Restaurant on Boston Road in the Bronx.
He began laughing as he fired five times into the vehicle. Savino — the 40-year-old wife of the head of the Bronx’s Republican Party — survived gunshots to her face, back, arm, chest and right eye. She lost the eye.
At the time, The Post reported Savino was critically wounded by a “gunman as she climbed into her car in the parkng lot of a Bronx restaurant.” A man fitting the description of Savino’s shooter “was found murdered near his home, less than two miles from the earlier shooting.”
History wouldn’t have been rewritten if not for an eagle-eyed, Berkowitz-obsessed YouTuber named Manny Grossman, who requested all of the NYPD’s files on the “Son of Sam” investigation, and located the initial incident report about Savino’s shooting.
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Grossman, 51, alerted the NYPD on May 18 to the possible Berkowitz link.
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He contacted Bronx homicide detective Rob Klein via LinkedIn, not expecting a response. “He gets back to me and I tell him the story very briefly and within 15 minutes he answers me back, takingit extremely seriously and asking me all sorts of questions, and he picked up the case immediately,” Grossman said.
Grossman met with detectives May 20, and presented his evidence.
- The composite sketch Savino worked with police on perfectly captured Berkowitz’s likeness.
- The modus operandi was the same for the Savino shooting and Son of Sam’s victims: mostly woman, parked in cars, shot at random.
- The Savino shooting happened less than a mile from where Berkowitz once lived, on Coligni Avenue in New Rochelle.
- Berkowitz abruptly moved the day before Savino was shot, and his former landlord told detectives he was behaving irrationally in the days before, complaining to her about her barking dogs. His nickname “Son of Sam” referred to a demon he thought lived in the black Labrador retriever owned by his neighbor, Sam Carr.
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On Monday, cops traveled to Rockland County to speak with Savino at her home. Cops on Wednesday visited Shawangunk Correctional Facility in upstate Ulster County, where Berkowitz, 70, is serving 25 years to life for six murders, sources said.
Berkowitz continually denied shooting Savino in the interview, but a sources said the detective was able to “trip him up on one aspect of [the shooting], because when . . . talking to him about this case, he said, ‘Well, no, I didn’t do that one because I only ever used the .44 Bulldog.’”
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The cop replied, “‘But Dave, I didn’t tell you what caliber she was shot with. So how do you know she wasn’t shot with a .44?”
Berkowitz said he merely assumed she wasn’t shot with a .44-caliber Bulldog because the gun model is rare.
Despite his denials, authorities believe there’s enough probable cause to directly connect Berkowitz to Savino’s shooting and request the case to be formally closed.
Cops can’t charge Berkowitz with Savino’s attempted murder, as the statute of limitations has expired
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Police long believed Berkowitz’s first attack happened the morning of July 29, 1976, when he fired point-blank at Donna Lauria, 18, and her friend, Jody Valenti, 19, with the .44-caliber revolver as they sat in Valenti’s double-parked Oldsmobile in the Bronx.
Lauria was killed, but Valenti — like Savino — survived.
In a macabre twist, cops now think Berkowitz purchased the more powerful .44-caliber gun because Savino survived the .32-caliber attack.
“He shot this woman five times and she lives,” said the police source. “So he buys the .44 in June and then he shoots Lauria and Valentiin July.”
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Berkowitz —whose subsequent nine month reign of terror left six dead, and seven wounded, and a city paralyzed by fear — has been in prison since his arrest on Aug. 10, 1977.
Berkowitz often sent chilling and boastful letters to cops and journalists, signed “Son of Sam.” He was finally collared when cops traced a parking ticket to his car parked near the scene of his last murder in Brooklyn.
As NYPD Detective John Falotico slapped the cuffs on him, the curly-haired Berkowitz cracked, “Well, you got me. How come it took you such a long time?”
He became parole eligible in 2002. Berkowitz, who has become a Christian and dedicated his life to the mentorship of new inmates since being locked up, was denied parole for the 12th time last month.
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Savino spoke to NYPD detectives in 1976, after she was released from the hospital a month after the shooting. But detectives never established a link to the Son of Sam.
Savino maintains the incident was never fully investigated by Bronx prosecutors, as her late husband, the Bronx Republican Party leader, was one of the Democratic district attorney’s political rivals.
Fearing for her safety, she moved to the United Kingdom, and lived under an assumed name.
“NYPD Detectives are dedicated to investigating cases thoroughly and diligently. Detectives will continually review a case if there are unanswered questions or if new evidence emerges,” the department said in a statement.
“Son of Sam” survivor Robert Violante, blinded in a July 31, 1977, said he understands the pain Savino endured all these years.
“It’s a horrible thing that this even happened. Being a victim myself, how can I not feel for the person (Savino),” said Violante, 66, a retired postal worker living in Bay Ridge.
