They even took him to a police station for his protection. (New York Daily News), Weapons taken from the DeFeo home are pictured here after DeFeo Jr. was taken into custody for the horrific murder of his six family members. After a night that particularly frightened two of the children, the Lutzes said they had called a priest they had been in contact with throughout the ordeal, who encouraged them to go somewhere else the following night, just to get some rest (since obviously none of them had been sleeping very well). Six family members were wiped out in a gruesome mass murder that inspired one of the scariest movies ever made: The Amityville Horror. Here, we meet Ronnie (Paul Ben-Victor: Tombstone 1993, Daredevil 2003) and Louise (Diane Franklin: Amityville II: The Possession 1982, Better Off Dead 1985) DeFeo and their family.There are the two eldest children, 24-year-old son Butch (John Robinson: Lords . The house as depicted in the Amityville horror movies. In four parts, "The Making of a Haunting: The Amityville Murders" covers the true history behind the scary stories told in the book and film series The Amityville Horror. It seemed as if the family were kind, loving people. Ronald DeFeo Sr. managed an auto dealership, a job that certainly couldnt support the familys lavish lifestyle. The trial of Ronald DeFoe Jr. started on October 14, 1975. Theyre inextricably intertwined, and each is chilling in its own way. The killer died while serving his 25 years-to-life sentence on March 12, 2021. Twenty-eight days later the family fled the house, claiming it was haunted. DeFeo actually reported the murders himself, initially telling police that when he arrived home from work the evening of Nov. 13., he discovered that someone had broken into the house and killed every member of his family. DeFeo initially claimed to the authorities that he believed his family had been targeted by the mob. Menu. (adsbygoogle=window.adsbygoogle||[]).push({}); Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, 10050 Cielo Drive The Manson Murder House, The Home Alone House In Winnetka, Illinois: Then And Now. If It doesn't take an "investigative The Lutz family barely escapes 112 Ocean Ave. The body of Ron Defeo's sister, Dawn, 18. spare bedroom, I wanted to be sure. Was there a second shooter? In general, he spent most of his time doing drugs or drinking, getting into fights, and arguing with his parents. 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. A police department diver enters the swimming pool at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald DeFeo in Amityville, N.Y. on Nov. 14, 1974, where they were searching for the gun used to kill the entire DeFeo family. The Ocean Avenue (DeFeo home) basement is where was this alleged spare bedroom? Inside the house, there were life-sized portraits of the family hung on the walls. The sunroom was recently added to the back of the house. This is the story of the real Amityville Horror. Their Dutch Colonial home had a swimming pool and a nearby boat dock. On the Nov. 13, 1974, 23-year-old Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. committed the grisly act of murdering his entire family as they slept in their home in Amityville, New York. But what transpired in his head is an entirely different nightmare. The Lutz family claimed to smell strange odors, see green slime oozing out of the walls and keyholes and experience cold spots in certain areas of the house. At his trial, DeFeo claimed that "voices" in the house commanded him to kill. Yet, the CRI's findings regarding the location of this photo matching the DeFeo basement is a significant fact. I There, the shocked bargoers were greeted by a truly horrific scene. According to the first chapter of Ansons book, the furniture that had been in the house when Ronald DeFeo, Jr. committed the murders reportedly came with the house when the Lutzes bought it. They passed. the woman in the photo is not in the same position as Dawn, or any of the other Ric Osuna spent approximately three years investigating the Amityville case. But there also might not have been; the jurys still out on this one. The Story Of Claw Shaw, The Only Person Ever Put On Trial For JFK's Assassination, 23 Chilling Photos Taken By History's Most Depraved Serial Killers Before And After They Killed Their Victims, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, Listen above to the History Uncovered podcast, episode 50: The Amityville Murders, also available on. He would later be sentenced to six consecutive sentences of 25 years to life in prison. It appeared that, like the DeFeo victims, this female had been . final diagram is what I believe to be the layout of the DeFeo According to The New York Times, one of their neighbors described them as a nice, normal family.. No gunshots were heard by neighbors. Don Jacobsen/Newsday RM via Getty ImagesRonald DeFeo Jr. was just 23 years old when he killed his family. February 24, 2023 | 3:17pm. It had been previously owned by four other families since the murders, one of which had the address changed to 108 Ocean Ave. (The house originally stood at 112 Ocean Ave.). At his trial, DeFeo claimed tha. (Dan Godfrey/ New York Daily News), A Suffolk County policeman uses mine detector as he sweeps through dead leaves of the Amityville home. Though the crime has often been an afterthought throughout the years thanks in part to the popularity of The Amityville Horror its even more horrifying than anything that Hollywood could ever dream up. Here, police remove one of the bodies from the home the following night. The Amityville Murders // 251 Going West: True Crime True Crime In November of 1974, a 23-year-old man ran into a bar on Long Island and exclaimed to the patrons that his mother and father had been murdered, only for them to find that his entire family had been massacred in their picturesque colonial-style house. During his trial in November of 1975, DeFeo claimed that voices told him to commit the murders; additionally, a psychiatrist testifying for the defense said that DeFeo had a dissociative disorder, which meant that he would have experienced the murders as if he was outside his body or "watching" it happen, rather than experiencing them as he committed them himself. On Nov. 13, 1974 Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his entire family inside their Amityville home. The FBI definition of a serial murder is the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events but the DeFeo murders occurred during the same event, not separate ones. On March 18, 1977, Jim and Barbara Cromarty purchased the home from the bank. However, the following day he confessed to the killings, while the mob hitman Falini had an alibi, proving he was out of the state at the time. The swarming flies, the demonic pig, the ooze seeping through the walls and floorboards the house once located at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island has been a staple of Hollywood for decades. The answer may never be known. Its 108 Ocean Avenue now. Ronald DeFeo, Jr.s lawyer, William Weber, has said that he met the Lutzes, who were interested in developing the demonism aspect of the case, reported the New York Times in 1992. . isnt much larger than an average home. So, the west third Watch all you want. Ronald DeFeo Jr., the convicted killer whose 1974 murders spawned the "Amityville Horror" franchise, died last week while serving a 25 years-to-life prison term, officials said Monday . Husband and wife Ronald DeFeo, Sr. and Louise DeFeo had both been shot twice with a .35 caliber Marlin 336C rifle; the four children, meanwhile Dawn, Allison, Marc, and John Matthew were each shot once. The psychiatrist for the prosecution, Dr. Harold Zolan, maintained that although DeFeo was an abuser of LSD and heroin, who also had an antisocial personality disorder, he was aware of his actions at the time of the crime. you refer to picture A, the photographer is facing north. "This crime did not happen the way it is commonly accepted," he said. Husband and wife Ronald DeFeo, Sr. and Louise DeFeo had both been shot twice with a .35 caliber . After an interview with Ronald exposed some inconsistencies in his story, he eventually confessed to the murders. The Night the DeFeos Died: Reinvestigating the Amityville Murders is not designed in any way to serve as a mouthpiece for Butch DeFeo, who the author describes as a "liar." Any direct quotes from DeFeo are always verified (or discredited) by other sources when there is no evidence to support them. On the night of November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. took a high-powered rifle and murdered his entire family as they slept. The woman in the photo appears to have been beaten up, No part(s) of this site may be duplicated or used without permission. Like the "Bloody Shoe Photo," the "Seventh Body Photo" is another picture in Ric Osuna's book "The Night the DeFeos Died" which seems to be included (in a later edition) as a means of spurring some interest (sales) in a book that, frankly, wasn't selling too well. It began with the 1977 novel The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson that was made into a film in 1979.. Official Films. The trial began in September of 1975 and ended that November. hence the black eye and bloody nose. The family was comprised of Ronald DeFeo Sr. and Louise DeFeo, and their five children: Ronald Jr., Dawn, Allison, Marc, and John Matthew. Then, he prepared for the discovery of his familys bodies. I think my mother and father are shot!. The book is based on the claims of paranormal experiences by the Lutz family, [1] but has led to controversy and lawsuits over its truthfulness. Here mass murders committed by Ronald DeFeo, Jr. DeFeo actually reported the murders himself, interview George Lutz gave to Ghost Village, William Weber, has said that he met the Lutzes, took real-life incidents and transposed them. They lived in an affluent part of Long Island called Amityville. "People are very creative and the Internet allows them to pull up items that they think are facts, when in fact, they're not facts," said Detective Lt. Gerard Pelkofsky, Homicide Chief for the Suffolk County Police Department. As with the "Bloody Shoe While the infamous house was on the market for $850,000 in 2016 after last being sold for significantly more in 2010, it was sold for $605,000 - over $200,000 less than its initial asking price - in February 2017. He died while serving his sentence 25 years to life at Sullivan Correctional Facility in New York on March 12, 2021, according to Newsday. The Amityville Horror house in 2017, painted white with a sunroom added to the back of the house. Ronald DeFeo, the 'Amityville Horror' murderer who killed his six family members in 1974 on New York's Long Island, has died in prison. "Ghosts and demons never dwelled in the Amityville house," says author Ric Osuna. Thirty-seven years later a claim that new evidence has been unearthed is raising new questions. Hes a mass murderer. Executive producers . Peter DeFeo was the granduncle of Ronald Defeo Jr. DeFeo began trial on Oct. 14, 1975 where his lawyer mounted a case claiming that he was insane and killed his family in self-defense from the voices in his head. He remained in prison until the day he died at age 69 in 2021. Ronald DeFeo Jr. (1974) AP Photo/Richard Drew. On Jan. 14, 1976, George, Kathleen (often called "Kathy"), their three kids (Kathys from a previous marriage), and the family dog, Harry, left the house, never to return. To The murders were popularized in several novels and films, including The Amityville Horror: A True Story. "It's a very tragic story," said Amityville resident Peter Stein. The furniture from the previous owners is . Ronald DeFeo during an interview in 2014. The newest revelations to emerge are those . Photo," Maxwell examines the picture to determine if it "It's a very famous case for Suffolk County. Thank you Helix for sponsoring! The house would later become entangled in the Amityville horror imbroglio which was featured in the Hollywood movie, The Amityville Horror. 1. Since the grisly murders, the story has been published in books and movies with varying accounts. Heres a diagram With the "seventh body" mystery solved, Ryan Katzenbach and the producers of Shattered Hopes decided that the "bloody shoe" mystery was the next to be investigated in hopes of finding any answer. The most financially successful film was released in 2005 and starred Ryan Reynolds. DeFeo, 69, died Friday while serving a sentence at Sullivan . The parents were killed first, having both been shot twice, while all four children were killed with single shots. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. On November 13, 1974, the estate was the scene of mass murder. Amityville II: The Possession was based on a book that detailed the DeFeo murders, and Amityville 3-D was based on an investigation into the house by paranormal researcher Stephen Kaplan. Another thing that puzzled them was that none of the neighbors had heard gunshots despite the fact that DeFeo did not use a gun silencer. "How could a person walk through a three-story Dutch colonial and shoot six different victims, on two separate levels and no one got out of bed, no one put up a struggle?" Big Ronnie was also reportedly an abusive and violent man. DeFeo was found guilty of six counts of second-degree murder. The Lutzes repeatedly denied that their story was a hoax; additionally, Daniel Lutz, who was 9 when his mother and stepfather moved their family into the house, maintained in a 2013 documentary that what the Lutzes said they experienced while living there absolutely happened possibly because George dabbled in the occult. 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