It's been exactly 40 years since the notorious New York City serial killer was taken into custody.
Convicted serial killer David Berkowitz has revealed that he wishes he could tell his younger self to stop what he was doing and put an end to his infamous 1970s killing spree before it even began.
From July 1976 to July 1977, Berkowitz targeted unsuspecting men and women across three of the five boroughs in eight shootings that left six dead, seven wounded and a city in terror.
On top of his deadly actions, Berkowitz taunted police in a series of letters to newspapers, writing: “I am a monster. I am the ‘Son of Sam.'"
But the .44 caliber killer no longer identifies with the infamous nickname, telling CBS News that he doesn’t feel he’s the same person who committed such atrocities four decades ago.
“As far as I am concerned, that was not me. That was not me. Even the name — I hate that name. I despise that name, that moniker,” Berkowitz said during the interview, set to air on Friday, 40 years to the day since he was captured.
“The ‘Son of Sam,' that was a demon," he said.
Read: How 'Son of Sam' David Berkowitz Went From Following the Devil to God
Now 64, Berkowitz reflected on what he would tell his 23-year-old self before he first set out to take a life in the interview with CBS News anchor Maurice DuBois.
“Ugh, turn around before it’s too late, because destruction is coming,” Berkowitz said he would tell himself.
CBS News Anchor Maurice DuBois spoke to Inside Edition’s Les Trent about the chilling conversation he had with Berkowitz.
“To sit face-to-face with somebody like that is at once disconcerting, it’s chilling; it’s unnerving," DuBois told Trent. "At the same time there’s some humanity there."
When asked whether he believes Berkowitz is truly sorry for his crimes, DuBois said he’d let the viewers decide for themselves.
“He says it and he’s written it and he repeats it here,” DuBois said. “I’d like you to be the judge when you watch this.”
They spoke in Shawangunk Correctional Facility’s prison chapel, a space in which Berkowitz finds comfort as a converted Christian.
“It is, it’s a place of refuge,” Berkowitz said.
Now a minister who counsels other inmates, Berkowitz credited his life-changing turnaround to his finding God.
“If I had not become a Christian," he told Inside Edition in a 1993 jailhouse interview, "I may have died a long time ago."
Watch: 'Son of Sam' Victim 40 Years Later: 'I Didn't Realize I was Shot in the Head'
