Where the “Son of Sam” Struck, Young Women Walk in Fear

“Most of my friends are wearing their hair up,” Debby Pannullo said, as she slowed her car for a red light on Northern Blvd in Queens. “My boyfriend wanted me to dye mine, it’s so scary. If I have to go out, I try not to come home late.”

Deputy Inspector Timothy J Dowd heading the special homicide task force on the case said yesterday that the Charter Arms Bulldog revolver - relatively rare compared with .38 or .45 calibers - has a low muzzle velocity, meaning it is more likely to stay in a body than pass through. This makes it attractive to such legitimate users as sky marshals.

“Three women have had their hair cut to here because of the shootings,” said Andy Petrides, proprietor of the salon, pointing to a spot an inch below the hairline of the customer whose hair he was setting. “Even in the past four or five weeks people have come in and said, “Cut my hair. I’m afraid.” I’ve heard of a couple of women who have dyed their hair, and one woman I know went out and bought a wig.”

If women from the neighborhood are beating a path to Mr. Petride’s door, the whole world seems to be driving by the quiet residential corner where Sunday’s shooting took place. The Elephas, the discotheque on Northern Blvd and 211th Street where Miss Placido and Mr. Lupo met shortly before the attack, was closed as usual on Monday and Tuesday. But yesterday it reopened and instituted a safety first system of valet parking. “This place is becoming a national monument.”

Excerpt from June 30, 1977 New York Times