David Bullock, Serial Killer: Six Murders, Arrest, and 150-Year Sentence

David Bullock, the serial killer who terrorized Manhattan over the winter of 1981–82, was a 21-year-old male prostitute who shot six people dead in 30 days and is serving a minimum of 150 years in prison after pleading guilty to all six murders.¹ He killed between December 5, 1981, and January 4, 1982, using a .38 caliber handgun in five of the slayings and a sawed-off shotgun in the last. He had been on probation for stealing a bicycle when the killings began.²

The Six Murders

The first victim was James Weber, a 42-year-old actor with the Light Opera of Manhattan. His body was found on the morning of December 5, 1981, near a building at the northern tip of Central Park with a single bullet wound to the head.³

On December 13, Bullock killed Edwina Atkins, 23, a prostitute he knew. He had told her about the Weber killing, and he later said he shot her because “she knew too much.” He fired through a pillow and set her apartment on fire.⁴

Two days later, on December 15, he shot Stephen Glenn Hassell, 29, at Hassell’s apartment overlooking the South Street Seaport. Bullock said Hassell had picked him up for sex and that there was “no particular reason” for the killing other than “to amuse myself.”⁴

On December 22, Bullock shot Herberto Morales, 50, in Morales’s apartment after returning from a Christmas party. He told the court he killed Morales because Morales was “messing with the Christmas tree,” adding that he had been “in the Christmas spirit.”⁴

His roommate, Michael Winley, 29, was shot shortly before Christmas. Bullock said Winley had “crossed” him “too many times,” and he dumped the body in the Harlem River.¹

The last killing came on January 4, 1982. Eric Michael Fuller, 28, was shot in Mount Morris Park during a robbery attempt, this time with a sawed-off shotgun.⁴

Bullock also admitted firing at random people on four other occasions during the same period, though he said he did not know whether he had hit anyone.²

How Police Caught Him

Investigators linked several of the shootings through the .38 caliber handgun used in five of the six killings. Bullock surfaced as a suspect through his known connection to Edwina Atkins, the victim he had told about the Weber murder before shooting her.² He was arrested on January 14, 1982, ten days after the final killing.⁴

Guilty Plea and 150-Year Sentence

On October 26, 1982, Bullock pleaded guilty to six counts of second-degree murder in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan before Justice Burton B. Roberts. The hearing ran two hours, and Bullock spent over an hour describing the killings in detail. He smiled and occasionally chuckled as he spoke.⁴

Asked why he killed, Bullock said shooting people was “fun” and that it “makes me happy.” He also said he liked it because of the power it gave him over his victims. Psychiatrists who examined him found no mental illness, and he expressed no remorse.¹

On November 29, 1982, Justice Roberts imposed six consecutive terms of 25 years to life, a minimum of 150 years in prison. At the plea hearing, Roberts had told Bullock the sentence would “guarantee you never get out of jail as long as you shall live.”⁴ At sentencing he added, “God will give you the rest.” Bullock smiled several times as the sentence was read.¹

1
UPI Archives. Mass Killer Smiles as He Gets 150 Years in Jail
2
University of Virginia Law Library. David Bullock
3
UPI Archives. A Man Found Shot to Death in Central Park
4
The New York Times. Man Pleads Guilty to 6 Murders, Says Killing Makes Me Happy