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Det. Responsible for 'Son of Sam' Arrest Dies at Age 84

Taken in 1977, the picture shows Ed Zigo holding up the .44 calibre revolver used by David Berkowitz in the Son of Sam murders. Zigo caught Berkowitz after tracing a parking ticket back to him

The detective who caught one of America’s most notorious serial killers has died aged 84.

Ed Zigo caught David Berkowitz – aka ‘Son of Sam’ – after tracing him to his New York home through a parking ticket issued to the killer around the time of his last murder.

Berkowitz had killed six people and injured seven more by the time Mr Zigo caught him in 1977.

In 1976 and 1977, New York city was in the grip of panic after a year of indiscriminate and brutal shootings by a killer who identified himself only as ‘Son of Sam’.

After a year police were getting no closer to catching the killer until a witness to one of the ‘Son of Sam’ murders turned up a vital lead.

Speaking to police two days after the murder of 20-year-old Stacy Moskowitz, Cacilia Davis said she had seen a suspicious looking man lurking around the murder scene only hours before.

Crucially she remembered the man ripping a parking ticket off of his car.

Ed Zigo and other detectives then trawled through every parking ticket issued in the area around the time of the murder.

Rambling: One of several bizarre notes sent by Berkowitz taunting poice.

Eventually police stumbled upon a ticket issued to a yellow Ford Galaxie, and followed it straight back to 24-year-old Berkowitz’s home on August 10 1977.

Speaking to the New York Post, Ed Zigo’s son, Ed Zigo III, said it was old fashioned detective work that led his father directly to Berkowitz.

He said: ‘My father’s deductive reasoning was: ‘What is a Jewish guy from Yonkers doing parked in an Italian neighbourhood at two in the morning.’’

The next day, detectives surrounded Berkowitz at his Yonkers home, arresting him as he tried to start his car.

Mr Zigo added: ‘According to my father, he introduced himself and said, ’Hi, David. I’m Detective Zigo.

‘Berkowitz said to him, ’Hi, Ed I’m the Son of Sam’.’

Ed Zigo died of cancer at his home in Lynbrook, Long Island on Saturday.

Berkowitz, a postal worker, began his killing spree in July 1976, with the shooting of 18-year-old Donna Lauria and Jody Valenti, 19.

As the teenagers left their car in Pelham Bay, New York, Berkowitz suddenly appeared, shooting Miss Lauria dead and wounding her friend Miss Valenti.

He struck again in October 1976, wounding a driver and her passenger as he shot up their car as they drove through Queens.