'Son of Sam'-Sniper's motivation may be hatred for law enforce

NEW YORK -- "Son of Sam" says he is feeling the sniper's "anger and rage toward law enforcement" and suggested cops look at the Hannibal Lecter movie for clues to the killer's behavior.

David Berkowitz, the serial killer who terrorized New York in summer 1977, wrote Fox News from a New York state prison to say he shares a unique bond with the "Beltway Sniper."

"It is as if I am reliving a nightmare," wrote Berkowitz, 49, in a three-page letter. "The past -- my past -- is so painful for me to deal with. It is a time I'd prefer to forget. Now it is all coming back in all its ugliness and horror."

In a fascinating killer-to-killer analysis, Berkowitz wrote, "For more than a week now I have been feeling this person's anger and rage toward law enforcement."

He said the sniper is probably a know-it-all who believes he can trick the police and FBI -- just like the fictional Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a serial killer who is also a cannibal.

"If you think about it, the Hannibal series is about a killer who is always trying to outsmart the FBI," Berkowitz wrote. "He's trying hard to stay one step ahead of the law. And now, in a sense, this is happening in real life."

The typed letter noted that the killings started Oct. 2, just before the latest Hannibal Lecter movie, "Red Dragon," opened in theaters nationwide.

Locked into character

"I've been wondering if this is a psychopathic person, if he has locked into this Hannibal character and is playing his role?" mused Berkowitz, who said he has never seen any Hannibal Lecter movies.

Prison officials confirmed the authenticity of the letter, which Berkowitz wrote to a Fox reporter hours after receiving a letter from her. It bears Berkowitz's distinctive signature and a return address of Sullivan Correctional Facility, where he is serving six 25-years-to-life sentences.

The letter marked the first time Berkowitz has spoken publicly since he was denied parole -- at his own request -- in July. During his parole hearing, Berkowitz said he was a "soldier of the devil" when he killed six New Yorkers.

Sharing similarities

Like the "Beltway Sniper," Berkowitz teased investigators with messages to cops during his shooting spree.

Now balding and soft-spoken, the former Yonkers postal worker says he found God in prison and has been a model inmate for 13 years. He comes up for parole again in 2004.

The sniper letter is curious because Berkowitz dismisses as "practically useless" the criminal profilers who have tried to draw a bead on the "Beltway Sniper." He also warns he has no real insight into what is driving the sniper. "I'm sure everyone in America has his or her own theories," he wrote.

But Berkowitz then claimed he has an uncanny feeling that the sniper is driven by hatred for law enforcement officials. He said the victims are merely props in the shooter's hunt for recognition and notoriety.

Even a quarter-century after his outburst of deadly violence, Berkowitz said he still bears a particularly heavy burden over the sniper shootings.

"My heart is heavy over the loss of innocent lives," he wrote. "I have been praying for those who are now suffering the loss of a loved one."