Ronald Defeo Jr., the man who murdered his parents and four siblings, in the house at 112 Ocean Avenue, and inspiring the novel and movie The Amityville Horror is dead at the age of 69. Defeo died in the Sullivan Correctional Facility while serving six life sentences.
On Wednesday, November 13, 1974, 23-year-old DeFeo entered a local bar and in a panic revealed that his entire family had been slain. It did not take long for him to be arrested and charged. When police entered the house they found a shocking scene, each family member lay dead in their beds, each from a gunshot wound received while they slept. The children, aging from 9 to 18, were the most heartbreaking sight.
During his trial, DeFeo claimed insanity and that voices made him do it. While he admitted to being on LSD and other drugs at the time of the murders, the court deemed him sane and fit to stand trial. On November 21, 1975, just over a month after the trial began DeFeo was convicted and sentenced to 6 consecutive life sentences.
The next family that moved into the home, the Lutz family, only stayed 28 days before fleeing and leaving all of their belongings behind claiming that they were plagued by terrible paranormal activity. They became the subject of the novel The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, published in September of 1977 which went on to inspire the 1979 supernatural horror film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder.
Want to know more about Ronald “Butch” Defeo Jr.? We highly recommend you check out “Shock Docs: Amityville Horror House” (review), now on discovery+, which dives deep into the case.
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