David Berkowitz Vs Edmund Kemper Essay

Edmund Kemper/David Berkowitz

The murder cases of Edmund Kemper and David Berkowitz have many differences and a surprising number of similarities. These two cases can be compared and contrasted by looking at how they both had a violent childhood, they both used a gun to kill their victims, and they were both found guilty on many counts of murder.

Edmund Kemper

Edmund Kemper was a serial killer that was born on December 18th, 1948 in Burbank California. During his early years of his life, Kemper was a troubled child. He would dream of killing his mother, along with taking his sister's dolls and chopping off their heads. Before the age of 13, he would convince his sisters to play a game he called “gas chamber.” Gas chamber consisted of his sisters blindfolding him and having them lead him to a chair where he would die a painful death because of the “gas.” At 13, Kemper had killed his family’s cats by slaughtering one and burying the other one alive. After that event, Kemper’s mother forced him to move to his grandparents farm, which was where his killing continued. At the age of 15, Kemper shot and killed both of his grandparents; he shot his grandmother, after an argument, in the kitchen. He shot his grandfather in the driveway when he got home. Kemper was then sent to Atascadero State Hospital.

In the Edmund Kemper cases, he used a gun in 3 out of 8 killings. Meanwhile, in the David Berkowitz cases, he used a gun in all 6 of his murders. Kemper stabbed and strangled 4 of the 8 murders. Kemper killed his own mother by hitting him with a hammer and slicing her throat. Kemper never had any eye witnesses, however it was not the same for Berkowitz. Berkowitz left several people alive, he had many eye witnesses, which led him to eventually be