The DeFeo Family Murders in Amityville
On the night of November 13, 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were shot and killed at their home at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. Their son Ronald DeFeo Jr. was convicted of the murders.
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The Discovery
On the evening of November 14, 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr., who was 23, ran into a bar in Amityville, on Long Island, and said that someone had killed his parents. Friends went with him to the family home at 112 Ocean Avenue and found Ronald DeFeo Sr., his wife Louise, and four of their children dead. Police found the victims in their beds. They were the parents and the children Dawn, Allison, Mark and John Matthew.
The Investigation
The victims had been shot with a rifle in the early hours of November 13. At first DeFeo told investigators that he suspected a killing by a hired gunman, and he spoke of a man connected to organized crime. Detectives found problems with his account. The next day, after hours of questioning by Suffolk County police, he said that he had committed the killings himself.
The Trial
DeFeo was tried in Riverhead, New York, beginning in October 1975. His lawyer, William Weber, argued that he was legally insane and had acted in response to voices. Prosecutors argued that he knew what he was doing and that he had acted to obtain money from the family. In November 1975 a jury convicted him of six counts of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to six terms of 25 years to life, to be served one after another.
Later Years
DeFeo was imprisoned for the rest of his life. He was refused parole each time he applied, and he died in prison on March 12, 2021. The house was sold in 1975 to George and Kathleen Lutz, who moved out after 28 days and later said that they had experienced supernatural events there. Their account was the basis for the 1977 book The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson and for a series of films. Weber later said that he and the Lutzes had made up the story, and George Lutz denied that. Researchers and skeptics who later examined the claims reported that they found no evidence of supernatural events.
Evidence at the Trial
Psychiatrists for the defense and for the prosecution gave different opinions at the trial about DeFeo's mental condition. In New York the law then asked whether a defendant understood the nature of his acts and whether he knew that they were wrong. Ronald DeFeo Sr. had worked for a Buick dealership owned by his father-in-law. The case was heard in Suffolk County, on Long Island, east of New York City, and it drew substantial coverage in the New York press.
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