Ronald DeFeo, Jr.
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Ronald Joseph DeFeo Junior (born September 26, 1951) is an American murderer. He was tried and convicted for the 1974 killings of his father and mother, two brothers and two sisters. The case is notable for being the real life inspiration behind the book and film versions of The Amityville Horror.
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[edit] The murder of the DeFeo family
At around 6:30 on the evening of November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo Junior burst into Henry's Bar in Amityville, Long Island, New York and declared: “You got to help me! I think my mother and father are shot.” DeFeo and a small group of people went to 112 Ocean Avenue, which was located not far from the bar, and found that DeFeo's parents were indeed dead. One of the group, Joe Yeswit, made an emergency 911 call to Suffolk County Police, who searched the house and found that six members of the same family were dead in their beds. [1]
The victims were Ronald DeFeo Senior, 43, Louise DeFeo, 42, and four of their children, Dawn, 18, Allison, 13, Mark, 11, and John Matthew, 9. All of the victims had been shot with a .35 caliber lever action Marlin rifle at around three o'clock in the morning of that day. A total of eight shots had been fired, with DeFeo's parents both being shot twice while the children had all been killed with single shots.
Ronald DeFeo Junior was the eldest son of the family, and was also known as "Butch". He was taken to the local police station for his own protection after suggesting to police officers at the scene of the crime that the killings had been carried out by a mob hit man named Louis Falini. However, an interview with DeFeo at the station soon exposed serious inconsistencies in his version of events, and the following day he confessed to carrying out the killings himself. He told detectives: "Once I started, I just couldn’t stop. It went so fast."
DeFeo's trial began on October 14, 1975. He and his defense lawyer William Weber mounted a defense of insanity, with DeFeo claiming that voices in his head had urged him to carry out the killings. The insanity plea was supported by the psychiatrist for the defense, Doctor Daniel Schwartz. The psychiatrist for the prosecution, Doctor Harold Zolan, maintained that although DeFeo had an antisocial personality disorder and was an abuser of heroin and LSD, he was aware of his actions at the time of the crime. On November 21, 1975, DeFeo was found guilty on six counts of second-degree murder. On December 4, 1975, Judge Thomas Stark sentenced Ronald DeFeo Junior to six consecutive sentences of 25 years to life. DeFeo is currently held in Green Haven Correctional Facility, Beekman, New York, and all of his appeals to the parole board to date have been turned down.
[edit] Controversies surrounding the case
All six of the victims were found lying face down in their beds with no signs of a struggle or sedatives having been administered, leading to claims that someone in the house would have been woken up by the noise of the gunshots. Neighbors did not report hearing any gunshots being fired. The police investigation concluded that the victims had been asleep at the time of the murders, and that the rifle had not been fitted with a silencer. Police officers and the medical examiner who attended the scene were initially puzzled by the rapidity and scale of the killings, and considered the possibility that more than one person had been responsible for the crime. Ronald DeFeo has given several accounts of how the killings were carried out, all of them inconsistent.
On November 30, 2000, Ronald DeFeo gave an interview to Ric Osuna, the author of The Night the DeFeos Died, which was published in 2002. DeFeo claimed that he had committed the murders "out of desperation" with his sister Dawn and two unnamed friends. He claimed that after a furious row with his father, he and his sister planned to kill their parents, and that Dawn murdered the children in order to eliminate them as witnesses. He said that he was enraged on discovering his sister's actions, knocked her unconscious on to her bed and shot her in the head. Attempts to contact the two alleged accomplices have failed, since one died in January 2001 and the other is said to have entered a witness protection program. Ronald DeFeo Junior had a stormy relationship with his father, but why the entire family was killed remains unclear. The prosecution at his trial suggested that the motive for the murders was to collect on the life insurance policies of his parents. [2] [3][4]
Joe Nickell notes that given the frequency with which Ronald DeFeo has changed his story over the years, any new claims from him regarding the events that took place on the night of the murders should be approached with caution. [5]
[edit] The book and film versions linked to the murders
Jay Anson's novel The Amityville Horror was published in September 1977. The book is based on the 28-day period during December 1975 and January 1976 in which George and Kathy Lutz and their three children lived at 112 Ocean Avenue. The Lutz family fled the house, claiming that they had been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there.
[edit] External links
- The Ronald Defeo Information and Discussion Board
- The Story of Ronald DeFeo Jr at thenightexposed.com
- Injustices of Amityville
- The Night Exposed Message Boards
- The Official Amityville Horror Website
- The case at Court TV's Crime Library
- The Amityville Murders website
- Amityville Crime Scene Photos - WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC, MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME
- Transcript of 911 emergency call to Suffolk County Police reporting the shootings.
- 112 Ocean Avenue from Google Maps
