Revisiting the Amityville Murders

June 05, 2009

Every now and again it is nice to take a break from the rigmarole of daily crime news to revisit a case from history. Such cases serve as a reminder that the evil deeds we see committed today were just as prevalent in years past. That being said, I have chosen the Amityville murders as the subject of today's criminal blast from the past.

Founded in the 1700s, Amityville, N. Y., was originally known as Huntington West Neck. That name stuck until 1846 when local residents held a town meeting to discuss alternative names. The origins of the name Amityville are unclear. Several versions dot the pages of history, including one in which a participant at a meeting reportedly exclaimed, "What this meeting needs is some amity.'' Another version claims a prominent mill owner named Samuel Ireland stood up and declared that they should name the village after his boat, Amity. Regardless of its origins, the one-time Indian tribal land was henceforth known as the town of Amityville.

In June 1965, Ronald and Louise DeFeo purchased a home on 112 Ocean Ave. Their Dutch Colonial home stood two-and-a-half stories high and boasted a private boathouse on the Amityville River. As a symbol of the family's happiness and good fortune, Ronald placed a sign in the front yard that read "High Hopes." Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing that the family's happiness would be short-lived. 

Known as a pleasant and mild mannered man to friends and associates, Ronald was better known by his children as a strict authority figure. Behind closed doors, his callous actions invoked turbulent fights between him and Louise. The eldest child, Ronald DeFeo Jr., often bore the brunt of his father's temper. 

In addition to experiencing a troubled home life, the younger DeFeo was a frequent victim of schoolyard taunts. His shy demeanor and rotund build made him an easy target for bullies. He was anything but popular with fellow classmates.

As young Ronald matured into adolescence, he developed a muscular physique, and he was no longer an easy target for anyone, including his father. He was no longer intimidated by the authority of his parents, and shouting matches that normally would have sent him running turned into violent confrontations. 

In his late teens, Ronald began using heroin and LSD. As most drug users do, he began to commit crimes to support his habit. Over time, his behavior became increasingly erratic, and he often lapsed into fits of degenerate psychosis. During one particular event, Ronald broke up an argument between his parents by confronting his father with a loaded 12-gauge shotgun. Without hesitation, Ronald pulled the trigger, but, miraculously, the gun did not fire. The shell was a dud. The father was frozen with fear as his son lowered the gun and walked out of the room. If anything, the incident should have served as an indication of what was yet to come.

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, Nov. 14, 1974, the young man's downward spiral took a turn for the worse. As the rest of the family slept peacefully in their beds, Ronald sat in his room preparing to rid himself of a nuisance. He grabbed a .35-caliber Marlin rifle from his closet and set off silently down the hallway.

Take the Amityville Quiz and test your knowledge of the case

When he reached his parents' bedroom, Ronald quietly pushed open the door. Hesitating only for a moment, he raised the rifle and haphazardly fired multiple shots. The first two bullets struck his father, ripping through his chest and exiting out his back. Louise jumped up, her eyes still trying to focus, and then two bullets tore through her chest. His parents now lay motionless in pools of blood. As Ronald made his way out of his parents' room, he found it odd that the rifle blasts had not awakened his siblings.

Making his way down the hall, Ronald stopped at the entrance to his two younger brothers' room. John and Mark were fast asleep and never expected the two bullets that quickly took their lives. Ron stood above his brothers for a moment, watching to make certain they were both dead. Mark remained motionless, apparently killed instantly, whereas John twitched and jerked as his life expired. Yet again, the gunshots had not roused the remaining members of the family. 

Ronald silently crept towards the room his sisters shared.

As he entered Dawn and Allison's room, Allison began to stir. She looked up and saw the rifle just inches from her face before her brother fired, killing her instantly. With little hesitation, Ronald quickly aimed the rifle at Dawn's head and fired a single shot. The blast blew off the entire left side of her face.

During the next 15 hours, Ronald acted as if nothing had happened. He disposed of his clothes and the murder weapon and then made various stops around town, eventually driving to a bar on the corner of Merrick Road and Ocean Avenue. There, Ronald drank a few beers and then told people he was going home. A few minutes later, he rushed back into the bar and exclaimed that his parents had been murdered. A man named Joey Yeswit, placed the 911 call.

Yeswit told the dispatcher, "We have a shooting here. Uh, DeFeo… I don't know what happened. Kid come running in the bar. He says everybody in the family was killed."

By the end of the evening, investigators had discovered the six bodies. All victims were found lying on their stomachs with their heads resting on their arms.

It did not take investigators long to determine that Ronald was involved in the killings. Ballistics tests showed that the family members had been murdered with a .35 caliber firearm, the same type of weapon Ronald was known to own. Based upon this and other evidence, police questioned Ronald for several hours. While he initially denied any involvement, he eventually broke down and confessed.

"It all started so fast. Once I started, I just couldn't stop. It went so fast," he said.

On Oct. 14, 1975, Ronald DeFeo Jr. went to trial for the murder of his entire family. Surprisingly, he took the stand to testify in his defense. When asked by prosecutors whether he killed his family, Ronald replied:

"I killed them all. Yes, Sir. I killed them all in self-defense… As far as I'm concerned, if I didn't kill my family, they were going to kill me. And as far as I'm concerned, what I did was self-defense and there was nothing wrong with it. When I get a gun in my hand, there's no doubt in my mind who I am. I am God."

On Nov. 21, 1975, Ronald DeFeo Jr., was found guilty of six counts of second-degree murder. Two weeks later, he was sentenced to serve six consecutive 25-year prison terms.

Despite Ronald's conviction, the story does not end there.

During the summer of 1975, George and Kathy Lutz bought the DeFeo house for $80,000. They lived in the house for roughly 28 days before abruptly abandoning it, leaving all of their possessions behind. The couple went public and reported various horrors that had occurred in the house, saying that they were constantly tormented while living in it.

For months, residents of Amityville witnessed bizarre strangers come to the home. Some reportedly wore suits and carried notebooks, while others wore black robes and wielded scepters. One of the more prominent visitors was Dr. Stephen Kaplan. After conducting his investigation, he claimed the Lutzes' story was a hoax. Other investigators soon discovered that the Lutzes were holding contracts for book and movie deals. Needless to say, everyone quickly became suspicious of the couple and their horror stories.

Despite the misgivings raised, The Amityville Horror was published by Prentice-Hall in 1977. The book included a series of intervallic scenes evocative of several successful horror films, most notably The Exorcist. Nonetheless, its jacket emblazoned with the words "True Story," the book was placed in the true crime sections of bookstores around the world. Additionally, hordes of curiosity seekers descended on Amityville to view the infamous house. 

Not long after the book was released, Hollywood released the Amityville Horror movie starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder. Since that time, eight other films about the story have been made.

The real Amityville house still stands today. The current residents have yet to complain about any poltergeists or ghosts. The house number has been changed, the home has been repainted and the windows, the infamous eyes at the top of the house, have been replaced in an effort to disguise the house from curiosity seekers. In addition, citizens of Amityville, tired of the tragic story that has overshadowed their town, often tell tourists that the house was torn down.

Many myths and theories remain about the murders in Amityville. Some theorize that Ronald was a sociopathic killer, while others speculate that he must have been possessed by the devil. In the end, only Ronald knows the real reason he committed the heinous crime.

Ronald DeFeo Jr. remains behind bars at the Green Haven Correctional Facility in Beekman, N. Y. To date, all of his appeals have been denied.

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Related Link:
Investigation Discovery: Quiz Central: Amityville
Investigation Discovery: Strange and Supernatural
Investigation Discovery: Quiz Central: Ghost Hunters

Photo Credits: Amityville-house: Associated Press; Ronald Defeo Jr: Associated Press; George and Kathy Lutz: Getty Images

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission from Discovery Communications. All quotes must include a link back.

Comments

[Dan Nolte]

Always nice to see an article about the Amityville case. Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation floating around the Net about this matter. This information then gets twisted and confused and ends up on every 12-year old's Amityville Horror website. It looks like you have gotten some of that misinformation into your article.

The story of Ronnie DeFeo pointing a loaded gun at his father come from Ronnie, himself -- a known habitual liar. There is nothing to back up this claim. Ronnie said the whole family witnessed this, but strangely no one ever told a friend or relative about it? It honestly seems like this was made up by Ronnie in an attempt to paint himself as a battered son on the breaking point. Its laughable at how he's portrayed as a "cool hand Luke" type, calmly walking away after the gun misfires, leaving everyone else stunned.

The first victim is generally thought to be the father, Ronald. He was likely asleep. The trajectory of the bullets show that his wife was in the act of lifting and turning her upper body from bed to face the killer when she was shot. The next victim was likely Allison, the youngest daughter. Allison did not share a room with Dawn, but had her own room right across for her parents on the 2nd floor. As you wrote, she was staring down the muzzle of the rifle when shot.

Next stop was the boys' room. The older boy had a hip injury, which (according to some reports) made it likely that he slept on his back. It is said that he needed help if he wanted to turn over in bed. And yet he was found shot in the back. And with all the commotion, I think its likely the other boy (in the same room) was forced to lay face down in bed. The crime scene photos I've seen show him on top of the covers, but I'm not sure if he was shot that way or if the police removed the covers to get a shot of the body and bullet hole.

Personally, I think the boys were turned face-down in order to make it easier for Ronnie to kill them -- forcing them to turn over in bed meant that Ronnie didn't have to look them in the face. I don't know if its worth noting, but I find it very interesting how the 2 boys were shot in the back and the 2 girls were shot in the head. I wonder what a psychologist would make of that.

As for Dawn -- the last victim -- she remains a mystery. Although her bedroom was up on the 3rd level, surely she should have awoken with all the commotion. In his initial confessions, Ronnie told police that Dawn did wake up and shout down to see what was going on. Ronnie said he calmed her down and assured her it was all okay (only to go up and kill her later). But Dawn was found in what looked to be a natural sleeping position -- seemingly unlikely under the circumstances. Some have taken this to mean that Dawn was involved in the killings -- a story Ronnie has told at one time, himself. But then again, aside from blaming the murders on Dawn, Ronnie has also claimed that his family was shot by the mafia, a small time criminal, an unknown assailant, and even his mother!

The mystery surrounding Dawn is likely to remain, but I find it very unlikely for her to be involved in Ronnie's insanity.

Other tidbits: Ronnie DeFeo is one of the few people left alive out of all this. Many investigators (including Stephen Kaplan, Hans Holzer and Ed Warren) are dead. George & Kathy Lutz are dead. Jay Anson (the author of "The Amityville Horror") is dead. Paul Hoffman (the man who was originally set to write a book about DeFeo and the Lutzes) is dead.

Then again maybe that's not so odd, seeing as this November will mark the 35th anniversary of the DeFeo murders. Ronnie DeFeo is due to come before the parole board once again later this year. His first parole hearing was in 1999, and he is scheduled for one every other year. Transcripts of all his parole hearings (which are very eye-opening) are available for free public viewing at www.amityvillefaq.com/truthboard

[Kevin]

I got 7 out of 8 on the quiz! The only thing I got wrong was about the movie poster.

There's a useful article about the Amityville "Horror" at snopes.com.

[Sheila]

Thank you, David, for telling the story. And I, too, thought it was true.
The idea of having history crime stories is a really good one, as is offering the quiz (such a novice at crime that I aborted the idea of taking it, however). I'll be back!

[angie]

Great article but there were a few incorrect facts which I believe Dan cleared up. I totally agree with you Dan. I have studied this case for years and it is still somewhat a mystery but some of it can be explained as you have said. Can't believe it's been 35 years today!!

[Laura]

Do you have the 2009 transcripts from Ronnie's parole hearing?

[Andi]

How can 8or9 shots from a gun was not heard? How come it took 15hrs for ronald to tell friends in a pub, what was going on in the 15 hrs, could a son really do this to his family? At
3 15 am shots at that time would waken people up, was the family shot in the basement ? Alot of questions but no answers?

[sierra]

omg thats sad

[Mo]

question.... why wasnt dawns boyfriend ever investigated? he suddenly moved to florida...question... what happened to dawns night gown...didnt it disappear from the evidence lock up? all those shots...and no one woke... no neighbors checked out anything... so many unanswered possiblities to this. personally I dont think he did it or at least did it alone.....i think he walked in on something already in progress. but you know parole boards.... self rightious people making sure the big and bad never walk the streets... in their oppionion of course. i think this should have been reopened and investigated with a true unbiased non paid off jury.

[london knight]

okay you guys my name is london knight i am the 2ed leading exspert on Amityville in america today, you can see my bio on line, i am the author of america most proclamed haunted places,
look the true crime here was the murder of the family.
defeo jr. did kill his whole family on his own,,, dawn had nothing to do with it.
if you would take the time and look up the docs you will see that.
this case is one of the most heart braking do to the kids

[Allison]

Where do you do to see the autopsy photos?