Amityville. The name of this small town thirty kilometers from New York is known not only in the United States, but also far beyond the borders of America. But the prestigious area "for the rich" was not made famous by a successful billionaire or a prominent scientist. Amityville became famous for the Hight Hopes mansion - the sinister house where the American assassin Ronald DeFeo killed his family.
This bloody story, which destroyed the quiet life of the quiet town of Amityville, took place back in the 70s of the twentieth century. Since then, the three-story mansion has become a favorite place for tourists-lovers of the horror genre, as well as for various psychics, mediums, clairvoyants seeking to confirm rumors of supernatural manifestations in this house.
The killer Ronald DeFeo Jr. is alive to this day. While in prison, he gave interviews more than once, giving out the most unexpected versions of the events of that November night. The crime itself, which was committed by Ronald DeFeo, managed to become an "urban legend", acquiring rumors, speculation and "new facts and versions that have appeared." Interest in the "scary" house in Amityville does not wane also because the bloody story became the basis for the book and the plot of several feature films. Now that several decades have passed, the conjectures of writers and directors are firmly intertwined with the official facts of the investigation into the murder of the DeFeo family.
So who was Ronald DeFeo (Jr.)? Could he have committed the murder of several people alone? And what events preceded the fact that Ronald DeFeo Jr., in November 1974, shot his entire family with a rifle belonging to him?
DeFeo's parents
Ronald's future parents were an outwardly beautiful couple, even though they belonged to different "strata of society". Mother, Louise Meri Brigante, came from the family of a successful businessman and dreamed of a career in modeling business... The young beauty was not even twenty years old when she met her peer Ronald Joseph DeFeo (Sr.). The decision to get married provoked a protest from Louise's parents, who completely cut off communication with their daughter and son-in-law. "The ice melted" only when on September 26, 1951, the young couple had their first child - Ronald DeFeo Jr.
After the birth of his grandson, Louise's father, Michael Brigante, hired Ronald Sr. to work in his company, and later, a few years later, helped the DeFeo family acquire a house in the prestigious Amityville.
Childhood in Brooklyn
It is widely believed that it was childhood and parents who first of all influenced how the future "famous" killer Ronald DeFeo grew up. His biography begins in Brooklyn, not the richest New York area. The first years of Ronald DeFeo Jr.'s life can hardly be called cloudless and happy. According to the testimony of relatives and friends of the DeFeo family, the upbringing that the father applied to the eldest son was reduced to severe beatings for any offense. Louise could not or did not want to change anything in relation to father and son, according to rumors, DeFeo Sr. beat her too.
The constant stress and abuse of the father affected appearance and Ronald's health, physical and mental. The boy was withdrawn and also suffered from excess weight.
School and classmates
As is often the case, Ronald DeFeo, who was beaten at home, also became the target of attacks from other children at school. At first, the boy was teased, because of his excess weight, classmates came up with the nickname "pork chop". About whether DeFeo had friends in primary school, nothing is known. The bullying and attacks on Ronald continued for several years. Everything changed when the teenager Ronald not only grew up and got stronger, but also became interested in drugs. Now he has become a "problem" for those around him.
Butch and amphetamines
High schooler Ronald DeFeo's drugs made the teen aggressive. Sometimes he had real fits of mad rage. Of course, no one else dared to tease him with the "chop", especially since drug addiction made him thin. The teenager, who received the new nickname Butch, is now no longer a victim. He fought back the aggressive behavior of Ronald Sr. The slightest excuse was enough to arrange a real fist fight with his father.
Then the parents turned to a psychiatrist for advice in order to somehow curb the aggressive and uncontrollable Butch. A visit to the doctor did not give any results - Ronald Jr. sharply refused the help of a psychiatrist. The family had to find new way managing a drug addicted teenager is money. The youngest DeFeo regularly received expensive gifts and money "for expenses" from his father. Relatives often recalled just a "royal" gift to a fourteen-year-old son from a "loving father" - a motor boat, which cost decent money for that time, about fifteen thousand dollars.
Children of the Defeo family
Despite family problems and the rude aggressive behavior of DeFeo Sr., four more children were born in the family: two daughters, Down Teresa (1956) and Allison Louise (1961) and sons Mark Gregory (1962) and John Matthew (1965).
The killer himself, Ronald DeFeo Jr., already serving a prison sentence, stated in an interview that not only him, but also his younger sister Down had problems with his parents. Her father's harsh "educational methods" extended to her too. In addition, apparently, Down Teresa inherited the heavy temper of Ronald the Elder. Butch claims that her sister hated their father so much that she once even threatened him with a kitchen knife during an argument.
Later, all four children of the Defeo family, along with their parents, will be shot. But at the same time, the death of Butch's brothers and sisters causes the most controversy. According to close friends and relatives, the children were quite friendly - everyone noticed the affection that "difficult teenager" Ronald DeFeo has for the younger ones (photo of the children of Ronald and Louise DeFeo, taken in Amityville).
Prestigious Amityville
The move to the town of Amityville, a quiet place for wealthy families, was preceded by several events atypical for the Defeo family lifestyle. Tired of the beatings and explosive nature of her husband, Louise Brigante decided to leave after birth. fourth child Mark Gregory. This forced Ronald Sr. to somewhat change his attitude towards his wife. To bring Louise back, DeFeo even wrote a song for her, which he later sang and recorded for the album by Joe Williams, a popular jazzman at the time. After reconciliation, the couple changed their old house in Brooklyn for a three-story mansion "Great Hopes" (Hight Hopes) in the town of Amityville. Their fifth and last child was born there.
Their outwardly decent life was now overshadowed by the behavior of their firstborn, DeFeo the Younger. Finally addicted to drugs, seventeen-year-old Butch dropped out of school, relations with his father were getting worse day by day. The matter more and more often came to a showdown "on fists". Even the employment of Ronald in his grandfather's Buick car company, where his father already worked, did not save the situation. Butch did simple assignments, and sometimes did not show up at the office for several days.
Ronald DeFeo, and outside the family home, was distinguished by outrageous behavior. Have young man a lot of hard-hitting "hobbies" appeared besides drugs: buying firearms, promiscuous relationships with women, petty thefts. The latter is more than strange, because Butch did not really need money - his father continued to support him, giving Ronald $ 500 a week.
The last year of the DeFeo family
Developments last months the lives of the DeFeo family before the bloody November night of 1974 seemed to portend a dire denouement. Defeo Jr.'s passion for weapons and hunting began to pose a real danger to others. Even his friends recall the cases when he "jokingly" aimed at someone. Once Ronald took aim at his parents to end the quarrel that had begun between them, and pulled the trigger. The shot at that time did not happen only by accident, the gun misfired.
A week before the shooting of the family in the Hight Hopes mansion, Ronald, who did not hesitate to take and spend family money from home, committed a crime by embezzling money from the company in which he worked. When DeFeo Jr. was instructed to take a large amount, more than 20 thousand, to the bank, Butch simply "did not take the money", saying that he was robbed. Despite the refusal to help the investigation of the "robbery", the police found out that the money was embezzled by Butch and his friend. For this offense, Ronald again received no punishment, but the elder DeFeo was infuriated. Father and son had a big fight, while Ronald Sr. shouted that "the devil is behind" Ronald, to which the son threatened to kill the parent, calling him a "fat freak." These words were later often sounded at the trial from the prosecution.
Murder and investigation
The DeFeo family (parents and four younger children) were brutally murdered on the night of November 13, 1974. Friends and colleagues who saw Ronald that day recall that his day was almost as usual. He came to work unusually early, but explained this by the fact that he suffered from insomnia and decided to leave early, leaving the house at about 4 in the morning. Then Butch acted as if nothing had happened. During the day, he called home several times to find out why his father did not show up for work. And at the same time he was very "surprised" that the house did not answer calls. Butch had a fun evening with his friends, as usual, drinking alcohol and drugs.
After the "party", Ronald went to the family mansion, but soon ran to Henry's Bar, located on the corner of the street, a few meters from the house, shouting that his entire family had been shot.
Police officers who examined the house that evening found six dead bodies lying in their beds. Both parents received two shots from a Marlin 336C hunting rifle, each of the children was killed with one shot. The following seemed strange: all the bodies were lying on their stomachs, dressed in pajamas. None of them woke up and tried to get up, run away or hide. Initially, the detectives decided that all family members had been mixed with sleeping pills, but the examination did not confirm this version.
Versions of the crime
At the very beginning of the investigation into the brutal murder of members of the DeFeo family, police detectives did not even consider the eldest son as a suspect. After a brief interrogation in the mansion's kitchen, Ronald was taken under police protection as a valuable witness. Of course, for neighbors and all acquaintances, hostility, almost enmity between father and son was not a secret. But all the witnesses confirmed that DeFeo treated the rest of the family, especially the younger children, very warmly, with love. For this reason, it seemed so incredible that a young man could commit such a crime.
Thanks primarily to Ronald's testimony, the detectives have a suspect. They became a close friend of Ronald Sr., who even lived for some time in the Amityville family mansion, an Italian American named Louis Falini. Butch said that his father helped Falini, a member of the local mafia, hide the looted valuables in the basement of DeFeo's house. The police had a version that the Italian shot the whole family as witnesses.
But upon careful examination of the house, an unexpected find appeared - a box from a Marlin 336C rifle belonging to Butch. Under suspicion, Ronald changed his testimony about that terrible night. He claimed that Louis Falini and an unknown accomplice of the mafiosi woke him up at about four in the morning and, threatening with a pistol, took a rifle, from which they killed all family members. After their departure, Butch said, he desperately destroyed the evidence, disposing of the cartridges and weapons. Latest version was completely implausible and caused a lot of questions that Butch could not answer.
The detectives conducting the investigation have no longer doubts that it was Ronald DeFeo who killed his family. And soon Butch himself confessed. The killer described in detail how he single-handedly shot his parents, and then sisters and brothers with his rifle, washed thoroughly, washing away traces of blood, how he hid all the evidence, rifle, cartridges and clothes stained with blood, drowning everything in the Brooklyn sewers.
Ronald's trial
Despite the murderer's confession, all the details of the crime were established for a rather long time; the beginning of the trial took place almost a year after the murder, on September 14. The main argument relied on by Butch's lawyer was the statement about the killer's madness - Ronald argued that he was ordered to shoot his relatives by "voices" that he heard in his own head. But after an examination by a forensic psychiatrist, it was concluded that despite a mild disorder and drug addiction, DeFeo is quite sane.
After that, Ronald was not helped either by cooperation with the investigation, not a word about repentance and regret. Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. was convicted of the murders of six people and received a total of 150 years in prison, 25 for each victim. All subsequent petitions for the release of the "famous" murderer, submitted to date, have invariably been rejected. Today, Ronald DeFeo Jr. (photo below, 2015) is in "Green Heaven" (Beekman city) - one of the correctional institutions in New York State.
A lone psychopath or a gang of murderers?
Most experts in the field of criminology and just outside investigators of the events of that night in 1974 agree that there are still many unexplained facts in the execution of the DeFeo family. In addition to the fact that during the murder none of the neighbors heard a single shot, and all the children after the shots in the parent's bedroom did not even try to get out of bed and leave the house, another circumstance was revealed. A specialist hired by Michael Brigante concluded that the DeFeo family had been shot with at least two guns. This gave rise to the claim that Ronald did not act alone.
but given fact, which surfaced during the trial, did not affect the verdict in any way, and Ronald himself made the first statement on this matter only 10 years later. DeFeo Jr. said that Louise Brigante was involved in the execution of the family. This version was dismissed as ludicrous.
In 2002, the book The Night the DeFeos died was published, the author of which, Rick Osuna, interviewed Ronald. The Amityville story is described here as follows: there were four killers - Ronald, his two friends and Down Teresa, and the sister, according to DeFeo, offered to deal with the family. And it was she, according to Ronald, who shot the younger children, whom it was not originally planned to kill. Thus, Ronald pleaded guilty to only three deaths - of his parents and the "killer sister" Down. In favor of this version, Ronald gave several controversial evidence. By that time it was impossible to interview those very friends who allegedly took part in the murder - the first of them died. And the second was under the program on a different matter.
Amityville Urban Legend
The following owners of the Amityville house contributed to the emergence of a mystic halo around the history of the DeFeo family and the Hight Hopes mansion. Spouses Katie and George Lutz purchased the house almost a year after the crime. A month later, the Lutz family left the mansion in a great hurry, informing the public about unusual phenomena taking place in Hight Hopes. The bad reputation of the mansion was reinforced by the clairvoyants and mediums constantly "conducting research" at the house, they all argued that paranormal phenomena occur at the site of the death of the DeFeo family all the time.
All this created the mystical urban legend "The Amityville Horror", which inspired writers and screenwriters to create works in the "horror" genre. Moreover, the rights to the adaptation of this story belong to the enterprising George Lutz.
Books and filmography
As already mentioned, the main "character" of the whole story of Defeo Jr. is still alive. He is serving a sentence in prison, was married three times and willingly gives interviews and puts forward new versions. Despite the negative reputation that Ronald DeFeo has earned, his biography became the plot for the book by Rick Osuna, which was mentioned earlier.
Back in 1977, Jay Anson's novel The Amityville Horror was written, based on the stories of the Lutz family about the paranormal at home. The book was a success, but the truly popular story of the DeFeo mansion, and with it Ronald himself, was made into a film adaptation.
The first Amityville Horror movie hit the big screen in 1979. After that, several films were shot - sequels, no longer on the "real" terrible events. In fact, only the 2005 remake of "Horror" was able to repeat the success of the first film.
The phrase is familiar to many thanks to the famous horror movie. Many people are used to thinking that it is completely based on real events, but this is not entirely true.
The real story that took place in the small town of Amityville is really terrible - a young man named Roni Defoe killed his entire family. A 23-year-old guy, early in the morning, cold-bloodedly shot his father, mother and four brothers and sisters from a gun, after which he went to work.
Upon his return, Roni was horrified, rushing to a nearby bar and shouting that his entire family had been killed. However, later the investigation was able to find out that the crime was committed by the man himself.
At first, he denied it and did not give any evidence, and later he still confessed to what he had done. Roni Defoe got six life sentences, and the sentence could not be mitigated despite the fact that the lawyers argued about his mental disabilities.
Defoe himself claimed that some ominous voices ordered him to end all family members.
This was the end of the real story that happened in Amityville in a house on Oceanic Street.
The Lutz family
About a year later, another family named Lutz moved into the terrible house, and a month later they fled from the "hellish place." The couple argued that the ominous house exudes fetid odors, mucus flows down the walls, sounds of crying and screams appear.
In such conditions, they could not live long, and therefore left and left the house empty. From these stories, the story began, which formed the basis of the novel of the same name and several horror films.
Spouses Lutz went to the lawyer Roni Defoe, surnamed Weber, to talk about what was happening in the house. So they hoped that they could help the guy - the court was supposed to mitigate the punishment, since there really was an evil spirit in the house. However, these tricks did not lead to anything, Defoe remained in prison with the same term.
It turned out that this was not the only goal of the couple. Most of all, they wanted to get fame and money, and therefore began to actively tell their story of living in a house on Oceanic Street.
Journalists willingly believed their words, they even invited mediums and psychics into the house. All of them unanimously insisted that an unclean force had settled in the house, which poisons the lives of all its residents.
On the basis of all these sensations, the Lutz couple became widely known, and in addition to it, a considerable financial fortune.
Deception
Many years later, having decided to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the terrible story, the journalists arrived at the famous house. They decided to interview the current residents and find out how they live in the damned place.
To everyone's surprise, the new residents have settled here for a long time, and their life was peaceful and calm. There were no sounds, mucus and smells, did not manifest itself in any way. Previous tenants have noted the same.
Then the journalists went to the lawyer Weber and decided to ask him what the matter was. It was then that the truth seemed to be - it turned out that the Lutz spouses deliberately invented all these creepy details in order to gain fame and money.
So, on tragic story maddened killer and his deceased family completely different people were able to earn a lot of money.
On the evening of November 13, 1974, an excited young man burst into a bar on Ocean Avenue, Amityville, New York. “You have to help me! It seems my mother and father have been shot! " He shouted. The guy, whose name was Ronald DeFeo Jr., was well known here: the town is small, and DeFeo's house was located on the same street as the pub. The police who arrived on call found a gruesome picture: six family members, including four children, were shot to death in their beds. Ronald, the lone survivor, became the prime suspect, and a few days later he confessed. It was only after that he told the police about the voices that forced him to commit murder. And after a while the young couple, who had moved into the same house, left it in horror in the middle of the night, without even having time to collect their things. The DeFeo family cottage has become one of the most sinister and mysterious places in the United States. And the story of the murder of an entire family was overgrown with a huge number of conjectures and legends.
Ron DeFeo, nicknamed Butch, was a difficult teenager. At school he was teased as a fat man, and until high school, when he became addicted to hard drugs, the boy was really chubby. However, the solid physique in a sense played into the hands of Ron: DeFeo Sr. was subject to outbursts of anger and often beat family members. Once he hit little Ron against the wall when he decided that he had left the table ahead of time. The mother of the family, Louise, also got it. But the eldest son grew up, matured, and learned to resist his father. Dealing with him with the help of fists was now not easy, and therefore the family appeased Ron with money and presents. V adolescence he received as a gift an expensive motor boat worth fifteen thousand dollars.
9-year-old DeFeo Jr. (pinterest.com)
The DeFeo family in the fashionable Amityville was not popular: they moved here from Brooklyn and, no matter how hard they tried to support high level life, in the eyes of the locals, they still remained newcomers with proletarian roots. Defeo Sr. was able to buy a luxurious house in the colonial Dutch style with the support of Louise's father, Michael Brigante. He also got a son-in-law at a Buick manufacturing company based in Brooklyn. When Ron Jr. grew up, his father took him to the office. True, his employee was unimportant: the guy showed up at the office once a week, mainly to pick up his salary. In addition, the parents gave Ronald pocket money - $ 500 a week.
Despite the more than decent content, Butch did not have enough money. He suffered from drug addiction and by the age of 20 had probably tried all the substances he could get, including heroin. When Ron ran out of funds, he simply took them from family budget... Once he even decided to steal. His father instructed him to pick up cash from the office in the amount of about 2 thousand dollars, as well as a check for 20 thousand. Ron persuaded his friend to simulate a robbery, but he could not answer the questions of the police who arrived to figure it out, giving himself away.
Family portrait. (pinterest.com)
Despite serious behavioral problems, DeFeo Sr. continued to buy off his son, but the situation in the family only worsened. Father was tough man and despotic, unnerved not only his son, but also the eldest daughter, Don. He did not allow the girl to move in with her boyfriend, and, according to Butch, the sister hated Ronald Sr. no less than himself. He said that he once found them in the kitchen for a quarrel, while Don was holding a knife in her hand and threatening her father. Butch himself once pointed a gun at him, called him a fat bastard and pulled the trigger, but there was a misfire. By the way, in addition to expensive cars, boats, women and drugs, Buch had another passion - weapons.
On November 13, 1974, at about 6 pm, Ronald walked into a bar near his home. He drank with friends and told them that early in the morning, when he went to work, he forgot the keys at home, and during the day he tried several times to call his family, but no one answered the phone. Then he decided to go home, visit his family, and at about 6:30 pm he burst into the bar, shouting that his mother and father had been shot.
The cops called by the owner of the bar found a horrifying picture at 112 Ocean Drive: both parents, as well as four of DeFeo's children, were found murdered in their beds. The only surviving member of the family was Ronald. He was taken to the police station, where he said that on November 13 he left home very early, around 4 am, because he could not sleep, and went to work. Then he told them the same story as his friends: how he called home, how no one answered the phone, and how he climbed into the mansion through the window in the evening because he forgot the keys, went up to his parents' bedroom, where he found them dead. He also told the cops that for some time a friend of his father's, an Italian Louis Falini, lived in the house, who hid jewelry in the basement. Probably, in this way Butch wanted to give the investigation a version of the robbery.
But literally the next day, it became clear that something was wrong with Ronald's testimony. In his bedroom, a package of 35 caliber Marlin 336C rifle cartridges was found - all family members were killed with this weapon. In addition, there were discrepancies with the chronology. The detectives gave DeFeo another interrogation, and he shattered. Ronald admitted that he "started shooting and could not stop."
The same house. (pinterest.com)
Despite Butch's confession, there were oddities in the case that the investigation could not explain. The main question is why none of the family members woke up from the sound of rifle shots and tried to escape? In addition, the neighbors did not hear the shots. According to experts, one killer would have taken at least 10 minutes to bypass all the bedrooms, reload the gun and shoot six people. Then a version arose that Ron was not alone, but with accomplices, but no evidence could be found. Later, much later, DeFeo gave an interview in which he said that in fact the murders were committed by his sister Don, and he, maddened by the reprisals against his brothers and sister, shot her too. There were traces of gunpowder on Don's nightgown, but they were most likely there because Ronald shot her in the head at close range.
Removal of bodies. (pinterest.com)
Another oddity was that all family members were lying on their stomachs at the time of the murder. This was especially surprising given that the middle son, 12-year-old Mark, recently suffered a spinal injury, moved in a wheelchair and had to sleep exclusively on his back. The police suggested that Ron had pumped the whole family with sleeping pills, but this version was denied after testing. In addition, the experts who examined the corpses stated that the bodies were not touched, turned over or transferred - that is, they were all really killed in such positions.
And the last, probably the most important issue, there was a motive. Ron's hatred of his father was known, and so was the tense atmosphere in the family. But DeFeo loved brothers and sisters. In any case, witnesses who were interrogated by the police told about this.
Parents' bedroom. (pinterest.com)
Butch's trial began almost a year later - on October 14, 1975. His lawyer, William Weber, tried to convince the court of his client's insanity. According to DeFeo, shortly before the crime, he began to hear voices that ordered him to kill the family, and insisted that "something terrible" had settled in their house. However, the version of insanity was refuted by forensic psychiatrist Harold Zolan, who stated that DeFeo did not suffer from any disorder, and his hallucinations could be caused by taking drugs. The judge drew attention to the fact that DeFeo tried to get rid of the evidence, and, therefore, gave an account of his actions. On November 21, 1975, DeFeo was sentenced to 150 years in prison - 25 years for the murder of each of six people. But the story did not end there.
A year after the monstrous incident in the quiet Amityville, Defeo's house was bought by a married couple. George and Katie Lutz moved into a mansion with three children in December 1975, but did not spend a month in the new nest. Allegedly, after 28 days, they hastily left the house in the middle of the night, light, without any belongings and valuables.
George and Katie Lutz. (pinterest.com)
The Lutz spouses then said that during these four weeks strange things were happening in the mansion: noises, sounds, tapping, footsteps were heard, occasionally someone from the family felt touched, and sometimes there was an eerie smell of decomposing meat in the rooms. The subsequent events described by Katie and George were so incredible and frightening that it is extremely difficult to believe in them. However, all this is perfectly demonstrated in the film "Amityville Horror", filmed based on this supposedly real story.
After the escape of the Lutz couple, the house gained notoriety, but at the same time it turned into a tidbit for all sorts of psychics and demonologists, many of whom came to personally verify its sinister aura, and, possibly, to communicate with the spirits that lived here. However, skeptics are convinced that all these hoaxes were inflated with one single purpose - to convince the investigation that the house is indeed a "cursed place", and the voices with which DeFeo raved were not inventions, but the machinations of an evil spirit. This theory is supported by the fact that lawyer Weber knew George Lutz before the couple moved to Amityville. Weber and Lutz probably came up with a creepy haunted house story together, and then the couple just played their part. In addition, Lutz signed a contract with a film studio that wanted to film their story. Under this agreement, all rights to subsequent paintings with the title "Amityville Horror" belong to their family. Magicians, psychics, and exorcists were supposed to have a share.
A still from the Amityville Horror movie. (pinterest.com)
Those who believe in a "bad house", a cursed place and spirits turned out to be much more than skeptics. The mansion at 112 Ocean Drive, Amityville has become a tasty morsel for all lovers of mysticism and who want to cash in on the tragedy of the DeFeo family. Ronald Jr is alive. He is currently serving his sentence in Green Heaven, New York, and has even gotten married three times.
The Amityville Horror is a fatal 1924 Amityville mansion located in southern New York at 112 Ocean Avenue. For 50 years of its existence, this building has not stood out among many others. The house gained its ominous fame thanks to the egregious and brutal events that formed the basis of many famous fiction and documentary works.
On the morning of November 13, 1974, the DeFeo family was exterminated in this house. Parents and their children were shot in their own beds. Ronald DeFeo Sr. was killed with two shots. Louise DeFeo survived her husband by only a few seconds - she was shot next. After that, the killer left the parent's bedroom on the second floor of the house and went to the children's room. The boys Mark and John were shot at point-blank range. 12-year-old Mark died instantly, and 9-year-old John was less fortunate - he had an interrupted spinal cord. Two girls - 13-year-old Alison and 18-year-old Don - were shot in the head. Ronald DeFeo Jr., the only survivor of the massacre, was arrested on suspicion of murder.
On November 19, 1975, Ronald DeFeo Jr. was found guilty of the murder of 6 people and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Despite the fact that the killer is forever hidden behind bars, in this case, a lot remains unclear, including the motive for the crime.
Why did Ronald kill his mother, whom he had defended so many times before from his father's beatings? Why did he kill his brothers and sisters? Neighbors and family acquaintances claimed that Ronald was very attached to little Alison and his younger brother John.
Another strange fact was that none of the family members tried to defend themselves or flee, although loud shots from the hard drive, with some frequency, rang out in the house for about 5 minutes. All the dead were lying face down, as if chained to the floor by some unknown force. The investigation concluded that the bodies did not roll over, and the blood tests of the victims did not reveal traces of sleeping pills.
To understand what is happening, let's go back to 1644. In the area that is now called Long Island, there was a very difficult relationship between the Dutch settlers and the Indian tribes. The cause of the conflicts was the territory on which the Dutch colony was located. Takapausha, the leader of the Massapekua Indians, argued that these lands were leased to the colonies for use, and not given away irrevocably. Opponents were of the opposite opinion.
Every day the situation only worsened and the Dutch decided to put an end to this dispute. For a good reward, this problem was entrusted to Captain John Underhill, who was on the heels of the bloody glory of a cruel and fearless thug. Since he did not consider the Redskins as people at all, the Indians were afraid of him like fire.
First, John and his squad captured seven Indians, whom he subjected to sophisticated, accusing the unfortunate of stealing pigs. Then he lured into a trap and killed about twenty more Indians. Their bodies were buried in a mass grave at Fort Nack.
When a year later, a road was laid on the Fort Knack site, which passed next to the mass grave, it was decided to move the buried to another place. The remains of 24 people were removed from the ground. Considering that the Indians were not the first to be buried here, the bones were noticeably lacking, but they were never found.
How does this relate to the events unfolding in the Amityville house? The old Indian burial was a mile from the mansion, and according to Ronald's testimony, the Indian spirit ordered him to kill all his relatives. After all that happened, the damned mansion was put up for sale, but the story did not end there either ...
A little later, George Lutz and his wife Katie bought this house at a very low price. Unlike other buyers, the history of this place did not scare them in the least.
On December 18, 1975, they moved into a new home with their two sons, a little daughter and a dog. But inexplicable sounds at night, the constant smell of rotting meat and other mystical phenomena forced the Lutz family to flee the mansion exactly 4 weeks later, leaving all their belongings in it. Who is the owner of the Amityville horror now is unknown.
Amityville photo from the murder scene
An emergency happened in the city of Amityville in 1974. On November 13, the entire DeFeo family was murdered at 112 Ocean Avenue. The parents were shot asleep in bed, two sons and two daughters were also shot with them. Their eldest son Ronald remained unharmed, he was arrested, convicted and sent to prison.
Newspaper article about the events in Amitville
It was suspicious that all the bodies were lying face down on the beds, as if they were being held by something while they were being shot. The children were not awakened by the shots of the previous killings, although the rifle is quite a noisy weapon. After the tragedy, the house was not sold for a long time. The previously quiet area of Long Island was shocked by the horrific massacre. In 1975, the Lutz family moved into the house. A husband, wife and three children said that their abode was a Hell's house. As if the demons that pushed Ronald Jr. to murder were not heard by him, but were actually in the house. The new owners called the minister of the church to consecrate the house, but something threw him away, leaving blisters on his hands, and he heard the cry "Get out!"
Less than a month later, the family broke down and fled without taking anything with them. The public quickly became aware of the horrors that tormented them.
The life of the DeFeo family
As we have already said above, the police officers found the Defeo family shot in the house - six people peacefully sleeping in their bed. Ronald and Louise, sons Mark and John and daughters Dawn and Allison. Their son, Ronald Jr. is unharmed. Police determined that the killings were carried out around 3:00 am with a .35 caliber Marlin rifle. The Dafoe family was well known, their children studied with neighbors at the Amityville school. Neighbors watched in horror as the police took away Ronald Jr., who was later tried and charged with the murder of all six family members.
DeFeo family
The Dutch colonist's three-story house on 112 Ocean Avenue was near the river and contained quite a few. The American dream came true: a beautiful home, a big family, wealth. But Ronald DeFeo was angry, prone to outbreaks of rabies. He often threatened both Louise and his children. Ronald Jr. was often hit by bad mood father. The boy grew fat, friends mocked him. His father humiliated him at home. As Ronald Jr. grew up, he became stronger and could no longer tolerate his father's bullying. At the age of 17, under the influence of some drugs, he got involved in petty theft. He was later kicked out of school for drug use. His behavior was unstable, there were outbreaks of psychosis. Having a hot temper, he participated in fist fights matches. Even the father noticed that his son's aggressive behavior was abnormal.
The father and his wife Louise wanted to show the young man to a psychiatrist, but he refused help. The son was indulged in every possible way so as not to cause outbursts of anger, to calm him down. At the age of 14, he was given $ 14,000 for a cruise on the Amityville River. As soon as a teenager just asked for money, he was immediately given. Everything was allowed in the family of Ronald Jr. The disputes between the son and the father became more frequent and more dangerous. Once, when DeFeo's parents had a fight, the son took a shotgun, went downstairs and shot his father, but did not hit. Ronald Sr. froze, and his son did not seem in the least worried that he almost shot his father. Shortly before the murder of the family, their relationship deteriorated. Unhappy with his earnings, the son planned a robbery with his friend. The father exposed his deception, and the son decided to take revenge. When the police questioned his son, he became aggressive and enraged. The father already knew that Ronald Jr. had stolen the money. The police asked their son to help them identify the thief, but he refused. The father demanded an answer why he did not want to help the authorities. They quarreled again, but it was not the end.
House on Ocean Avenue 112
November 13th was a lovely quiet night. The whole DeFeo family went to bed, except for Ronald Jr., who sat thoughtfully in his room. He decided to solve all his problems once and for all. Armed with a .35 caliber Marlin rifle, he purposefully walked towards his parents' bedroom. With two shots in the back, he first killed his father. The first bullet tore through the kidneys and exited chest, the next shot in the neck. He also shot his mother twice. The shots tore through her chest and lungs. Then Ronald Jr. went to the little brothers. The shots didn't seem to wake them up.
Standing between the beds in the boys' room, he shot each of them point-blank. Mark died immediately, John's spinal cord was torn apart, he twitched for a few seconds, then fell silent. He then shot sisters Donn and Allison in the head. It all happened at 3:00 in the morning, in less than fifteen minutes. Ronald murdered his entire family in cold blood, then collected the bloody clothes and weapons, wrapped them in a pillowcase, got into the car and drove to Brooklyn, throwing the contents down the drain along the way. After that, he calmly drove to work.
Photos taken in the house during the investigation
Later he himself said: “If I had not killed my family, they would have killed me. When the weapon was in my hand, there was no doubt who I was. I'm God".
At the trial, the lawyer tried to prove Ronald Jr.'s insanity. He claimed that he heard the voices of demons. He was examined by forensic psychiatrist Harold Zolan. He found that although DeFeo was using heroin and LSD, he was aware of what he was doing that night. He was convicted of second-degree murder in November 1975. Now he is serving six terms of 25 years in Green Havin prison, all his applications were rejected, he will remain there for life.
Photos of Ronald DeFeo after his arrest
Many people continue to be bothered by the questions:
- how could the children not hear the first shots?
- why did the killed lie face down?
- why did the neighbors not hear the shots of the powerful rifle?
It was assumed that Ronald planned everything in advance and added drugs to his food during lunch. It was believed that the house was muffled by the sounds of gunfire, but many who were in the house later reported that the street noise was clearly audible from the inside. Although the sound of such a rifle can be heard from a mile away, the neighbors heard only the barking of DeFeo's dog that night. Ronald continues to change his testimony, which is unlikely to be able to shed light on those terrible events.
Police carry dead bodies out of the house
Arrested Ronald DeFeo
Realtors warned the Lutz family about the gruesome murder, but the young family could not resist buying a house in a prestigious area. They hoped that all the troubles that frighten them in the new house would disappear as soon as the priest consecrated the house. But on the way, the hood of the priest's car swung open, breaking his glass. The right door opened, the car stalled. The priest asked for help. The windshield wipers flew back and forth like crazy, didn't stop.