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Amityville ghost story. Amityville - mysticism or brutal murder? Home lighting and attempted exorcisms

About the nightmarish murder committed in the suburbs of the North American city of Babylon - Amityville (New York State, Suffolk County), many tales are told. The tragic events of 1974 served as the source for writing the novel, based on which several feature thrillers and documentaries were shot. However, the horror of Amityville, whose real story is still not fully revealed, haunts the modern owners of the house. Today in the United States, the term "Amityville" is in circulation, reflecting the cultural and paranormal phenomenon of the events that occurred.

The Amityville Horror: A History

In the United States, rumors about unusual phenomena occurring in the house of Dutch emigrants began to be exaggerated immediately after its completion and the assignment of the address Ocean Avenue 112. Already in the sixties of the last century, after several resales of housing construction, it gained notoriety. Moreover, the young couple who bought the property in 1960 lived in it for no more than six months, constantly complaining about the poltergeist that bothered them. The house was sold only in 1965, since in those years there were no people willing to buy this dwelling for a fairly substantial amount. This time, the buyers were a large, by the standards of that time, couple of spouses Ronaldo and Louise De Feo, who later experienced the horror of Amityville, a plausible story about which still excites the minds of Americans.

In 1974, on the night of November 17-18, a local resident called the Amityville police station and reported that he had seen flashes resembling fire from firearms. A police squad arrived at the address found the living eldest son of the De Feo family, Ronaldo Jr., five corpses of killed and wounded family members from a Marlin 35 caliber shotgun in their beds:

the head of the family, Ronaldo Sr., was killed with two shots at close range;
his wife Louise died from a gunshot to the head;
son Mark (12 years old) died due to a bullet fired in the forehead;
son John (9 years old) was alive at the time of the arrival of the police, but died on the way to the hospital from injuries incompatible with life in the spine;
daughters Don (aged 18) and Alison (aged 13) died instantly from wounds to the skull.

The eldest son almost immediately confessed to the murder, but the investigation lasted almost a year and ended with a sentence in November 1975 of life imprisonment for the convicted Ronaldo Jr. According to the police version, on the evening of November 17, 1974, he stayed up late at the TV. Suddenly, the devil moved into him, whose voice the guy felt before, and gave the order to kill the whole family. Despite the absurdity of the explanation and the recognition of Ronaldo by a psychiatric examination as sane, the police did not find any other intelligible explanations about the reasons for the murder. Lawyers at the trial, wishing to mitigate the severity of the charges, pointed out five nuances that the investigation did not pay due attention to, but which may have saved the defendant from the electric chair:

cause of mother's death unknown- Louise, whom the eldest son in recent years has repeatedly defended from the beatings of Ronaldo Sr.;
the reasons that prompted the murder of brothers and sisters, especially the younger ones, the girls Alison and the boy John, to whom Ronaldo Jr. had a tender brotherly affection, are absolutely unclear;
none of the family members, having heard the rumble of the first shots, did not try to defend themselves or run away– no traces of sleeping pills, drugs or alcohol were found in the bodies of the killed;
all the dead were found lying on their stomachs, with their face buried in a pillow, while the investigation gave an unequivocal conclusion that their bodies did not turn over after death;
to date, it has not been established whether Ronaldo Jr. acted alone or not, - in the case of a single murder, it was necessary to spend at least ten minutes on the crime, but none of the neighbors heard the shots of their thunderous shotgun.

The Amityville Horror:continuation

In December 1975, the young Lutz family moved into 112 Ocean Avenue. From the first days of residence, all its members, especially the youngest daughter Macy, began to feel and observe strange things. Windows and doors opened and closed spontaneously in the house, voices were heard at night, the smell of decaying human flesh was felt in the rooms. Macy's story to her parents that she was talking at night with her "girlfriend" Alison (that was the name of the youngest murdered daughter of De Feo), forced the head of the family, George Lutz, to invite a priest.

The priest himself experienced the horror of Amityville, this time the real story ended with the fact that during the consecration of the house and the exorcism procedure, the reverend lost consciousness, and when he woke up, he fled in disgrace. Three weeks later, the family left the mansion and did not return. Today, the house has an owner who bought it for a fabulous sum - just over a million dollars. They say that occult ceremonies are held in the building, and those who want to get acquainted with the spirits, the apartments are rented out for the night.

March 7, 2018, 12:19

Amityville. The name of this small town thirty kilometers from New York is known not only in the United States, but also far beyond the borders of America. But the prestigious district "for the rich" was glorified by an unsuccessful billionaire or a major scientist. Amityville is best known for the Hight Hopes mansion, the sinister home where American assassin Ronald Defeo murdered his family.

This bloody story, which destroyed the quiet life of the quiet town of Amityville, took place back in the 70s of the twentieth century. Since then, the three-story mansion has become a favorite destination for horror tourists, as well as various psychics, mediums, clairvoyants, who seek to confirm rumors of supernatural manifestations in this house.

The killer Ronald Defeo Jr. is still alive today. While in prison, he gave interviews more than once, giving out the most unexpected versions of the events of that November night. The very crime that Ronald Defeo committed has become an "urban legend", acquiring rumors, conjectures and "new facts and versions that have appeared." Interest in the "scary" house in Amityville is not weakening also because the bloody story has become the basis for the book and the plot of several feature films. Now that several decades have passed, the conjectures of writers and directors are firmly intertwined with the official facts of the investigation into the murder of the Defeo family. So who was Ronald Defeo Jr.? Could he have committed the murder of several people alone? And what events preceded the fact that Ronald Defeo Jr. in November 1974 shot his entire family from his rifle?

Defeo's parents

Ronald's future parents were an outwardly beautiful couple, even though they belonged to different "strata of society." Mother, Louise Meri Brigante, came from a family of a successful businessman and dreamed of a career in the modeling business. The young beauty was not even twenty years old when she met her peer Ronald Joseph Defeo (senior). The decision to get married caused a protest from Louise's parents, who completely cut off communication with their daughter and son-in-law. “The ice melted” only when, on September 26, 1951, the young couple had their first child - Ronald Defeo Jr. After the birth of his grandson, Louise's father, Michael Brigante, hired Ronald Sr. to work for his company, and later, a few years later, helped the Defeo family purchase a house in prestigious Amityville.

Childhood in Brooklyn

It is widely believed that it was childhood and parents that primarily influenced how the future "famous" killer Ronald Defeo grew up. His biography begins in Brooklyn, not the richest New York area. The first years of the life of Ronald Defeo Jr. can hardly be called cloudless and happy. According to the testimony of relatives and friends of the Defeo family, the upbringing that the father applied to the eldest son was reduced to severe beatings for any offense. Louise could not or did not want to change anything in relation to her father and son, according to rumors, DeFeo Sr. beat her too.

The constant stress and abuse of his father took a toll on Ronald's appearance and health, both physically and mentally. The boy was withdrawn and also suffered from excess weight.

School and classmates

As is often the case, Ronald Defeo, who was beaten at home, also became the target of attacks from other children at school. At first, the boy was teased, because of his extra weight, classmates came up with the nickname “pork chop” for him. Whether Defeo had friends in elementary school is not known. The bullying and attacks on Ronald continued for several years. Everything changed when the teenager Ronald not only grew up and got stronger, but also became addicted to drugs. Now he has become a "problem" for others.

Butch and amphetamines

Drugs taken by high school student Ronald Defeo made the teenager aggressive. Sometimes he had real bouts of frenzied rage. Of course, no one else dared to tease him with a “chop”, especially since drug addiction made him thin. The teenager, who received the new nickname Butch, is no longer a victim. He rebuffed the aggressive behavior of Ronald Sr. The slightest excuse was enough to arrange a real fistfight with his father. Then the parents turned to a psychiatrist for advice in order to somehow curb the aggressive and uncontrollable Butch. A visit to the doctor did not give any results - Ronald Jr. abruptly refused the help of a psychiatrist. The family had to find a new way to manage a drug addicted teenager - money. The younger Defeo regularly received expensive gifts and money "for expenses" from his father. Relatives often recalled simply a “royal” gift to a fourteen-year-old son from a “loving father” - a motor boat that cost decent money for that time, about fifteen thousand dollars. Children of the Defeo family Despite family problems and the rude aggressive behavior of Defeo Sr., four more children were born in the family: two daughters, Down Teresa (1956) and Allison Louise (1961) and sons Mark Gregory (1962) and John Matthew (1965).

The killer Ronald Defeo Jr., already serving a prison term, stated in an interview that not only he had problems with his parents, but also his younger sister Dawn. The harsh "educational methods" of her father extended to her too. In addition, apparently, Dawn Teresa inherited the heavy temper of Ronald Sr. Butch claims that his sister hated their father so much that she once even threatened him with a kitchen knife during an argument. Later, all four children of the Defeo family, along with their parents, will be shot dead. But at the same time, the death of Butch's siblings is the most controversial. According to close friends and relatives, the children were quite friendly - everyone noticed the affection that the "difficult teenager" Ronald Defeo feels for the younger ones.

Prestigious Amityville

Moving to the town of Amityville, a quiet place for wealthy families, was preceded by several events that are not typical of the Defeo family lifestyle. Tired of the beatings and explosive nature of her husband, Louise Brigante decided to leave after the birth of her fourth child, Mark Gregory. This made Ronald Sr. somewhat change his attitude towards his wife. To bring Louise back, DeFeo even wrote a song for her, which was subsequently sung and recorded for the album by Joe Williams, a popular jazzman at the time. After reconciliation, the couple changed their old house in Brooklyn to a three-story mansion "Great Hopes" (Hight Hopes) in the town of Amityville. Their fifth and last child was also born there.

Their outwardly decent life was now overshadowed by the behavior of their first-born Defeo Jr. Completely addicted to drugs, seventeen-year-old Butch dropped out of school, his relationship with his father was getting worse day by day. The matter more and more often came to a clarification of the relationship "on the fists." Even the employment of Ronald in his grandfather's Buick car manufacturing company, where his father already worked, did not save the situation. Butch ran simple errands and sometimes didn't show up at the office for days at a time. Ronald Defeo was notable for outrageous behavior outside the family home. The young man had a lot of unpleasant "hobbies" in addition to drugs: buying firearms, promiscuity with women, petty theft. The latter is more than strange, because Butch did not really need money - his father continued to support him, allocating $ 500 to Ronald weekly.

The last year of the Defeo family

The events of the last months of the life of the Defeo family, before the bloody November night of 1974 happened, seemed to portend a terrible denouement. Passion for weapons and hunting Defeo Jr. began to pose a real danger to others. Even his friends recall cases when he "jokingly" aimed at someone. Once Ronald took aim at his parents in order to stop the quarrel that had begun between them, and pulled the trigger. The shot that time did not happen only by accident, the gun misfired. A week before the shooting of the family at the Hight Hopes mansion, Ronald, who was not shy about taking and spending family money from home, committed the crime of embezzling money from the company where he worked. When Defeo Jr. was instructed to take a large amount, more than 20 thousand, to the bank, Butch simply “did not take the money”, saying that he was robbed. Despite refusing to help investigate the "robbery", the police found out that Butch and his friend had embezzled the money. For this offense, Ronald again did not receive any punishment, but this infuriated the elder Defeo. Father and son had a big fight, while Ronald Sr. shouted that "the devil is behind" Ronald, to which the son threatened to kill his parent, calling him a "fat freak." These words were then often heard at the trial from the prosecution. Murder and investigation The Defeo family (parents and four younger children) were brutally murdered on the night of November 13, 1974. Friends and colleagues who saw Ronald that day recall that his day passed almost as usual. He came to work unusually early, but explained this by the fact that he suffered from insomnia and decided to leave the house early, leaving the house around 4 in the morning. Butch then acted like nothing had happened. During the day, he called home several times to find out why his father did not show up for work. And at the same time, he was very “surprised” that they did not answer calls at home. Evening Butch had fun with friends, as usual, drinking alcohol and drugs. After the "party" Ronald went to the family mansion, but soon ran to "Henry's Bar", located on the corner of the street, a few meters from the house, shouting that his entire family had been shot. The police officers who searched the house that evening found six dead bodies lying in their beds. Both parents received two shots from a Marlin 336C hunting rifle, each of the children was killed with one shot. The following seemed strange: all the bodies were lying on their stomachs, dressed in pajamas. None of them woke up and did not try to get up, run or hide. Initially, the detectives decided that sleeping pills had been added to all family members, but the examination did not confirm this version.

Versions of the crime

At the very beginning of the investigation into the brutal murder of members of the Defeo family, police detectives did not even consider the eldest son as a suspect. After a brief interrogation in the kitchen of the mansion, Ronald was taken into police protection as a valuable witness. Of course, for neighbors and all acquaintances, hostility, almost enmity between father and son was not a secret. But all the witnesses confirmed that DeFeo treated the rest of the family, especially the younger children, very warmly, with love. For this reason, it seemed so incredible that a young man could commit such a crime. Thanks primarily to Ronald's testimony, the detectives also had a suspect. They became a close friend of Ronald Sr., who even lived for some time in the Amityville family mansion, an American of Italian origin named Louis Falini. Butch said that his father helped Falini, who is a member of the local mafia, hide the stolen valuables in the basement of the Defeo house. The police had a version that the Italian shot the whole family as witnesses. But upon careful inspection of the house, an unexpected find appeared - a box from a Marlin 336C rifle owned by Butch. Under suspicion, Ronald changed his testimony about that terrible night. He claimed that Louis Falini and an unknown accomplice of the mafia woke him up at about four in the morning and, threatening with a pistol, took a rifle from which they killed all family members. After they left, Butch said, in desperation, he destroyed the evidence, getting rid of the shells and weapons. The latest version was completely implausible and raised many questions that Butch could not answer. The detectives who conducted the investigation had no last doubts that it was Ronald Defeo who killed his family. And soon Butch himself confessed. The killer told in detail how he single-handedly shot first his parents, and then his sisters and brothers from his rifle, washed himself thoroughly, washing off traces of blood, how he hid all the evidence, a rifle, cartridge cases and clothes stained with blood, drowning everything in the Brooklyn sewer.

Trial of Ronald

Despite the confession of the killer, all the details of the crime were established for quite a long time, the beginning of the trial took place almost a year after the murder, on September 14th. The main argument relied on by Butch's lawyer was the statement about the insanity of the killer - Ronald claimed that he was ordered to shoot his relatives by the "voices" that he heard in his own head. But after an examination by a forensic psychiatrist, it was concluded that despite a mild disorder and drug addiction, Defeo was quite sane. After that, neither cooperation with the investigation, nor a word about remorse and regret helped Ronald. Ronald Joseph Defeo Jr. was found guilty of the murders of six people and received a total of 150 years in prison, 25 for each victim. All subsequent petitions for the release of the "famous" killer, filed to date, have invariably been rejected. To date, Ronald Defeo Jr. (photo below, 2015) is in Green Heaven (Beekman), one of the correctional facilities in New York State.

A lone psychopath or a gang of killers?

Most experts in the field of criminology and just third-party researchers of the events of that night in 1874 agree that there are still many unexplained facts in the execution of the Defeo family. In addition to the fact that during the murder, none of the neighbors heard a single shot, and all the children after the shots in the parent's bedroom did not even try to get out of bed and leave the house, another circumstance was revealed. A specialist hired by Michael Brigante concluded that the Defeo family was shot with at least two guns. This gave grounds to state that Ronald did not act alone. However, this fact, which emerged during the trial, did not affect the verdict in any way, and Ronald himself made the first statement on this matter only 10 years later. Defeo Jr. said that Louise Brigante took part in the execution of the family. This version was dismissed as ridiculous. In 2002, the book The Night the DeFeos died was published, the author of which, Rick Osuna, interviewed Ronald. The Amityville story is presented here as follows: there were four killers - Ronald, his two friends and Dawn Teresa, and the sister, according to DeFeo, offered to deal with the family. And it was she, according to Ronald, who shot the younger children, who were not originally planned to be killed. Thus, Ronald pleaded guilty to only three deaths - the parents and the "killer sister" Down. Ronald cited some controversial evidence in favor of this version. By that time, it was impossible to interview those very friends who allegedly took part in the murder - the first of them died. And the second was under the witness protection program in a different case.

Amityville urban legend

The following owners of the Amityville home contributed to the emergence of a halo of mysticism around the history of the Defeo family and the Hight Hopes mansion. Husband and wife Cathy and George Lutz bought the house almost a year after the crime. A month later, the Lutz family left the mansion in a big hurry, informing the public about the unusual phenomena taking place in Hight Hopes. The infamous reputation of the mansion was reinforced by clairvoyants and mediums constantly "conducting research" at home, they all claimed that paranormal phenomena occur at the place of the death of the Defeo family constantly. All this created the mystical urban legend "The Amityville Horror", which inspired writers and screenwriters to create works in the "horror" genre. Moreover, the film rights to this story belong to the enterprising George Lutz.

Books and filmography

As already mentioned, the main "character" of the entire history of Defeo Jr. is still alive. He is serving a sentence in prison, was married three times and willingly gives interviews and puts forward new versions. Despite the negative reputation that Ronald Defeo deserved, his biography became the plot for the book by Rick Osun, which was mentioned earlier.

Back in 1977, Jay Anson's novel The Amityville Horror was written, based on the stories of the Lutz family about the paranormality of the house. The book was a success, but the film adaptations made the story of the Defeo mansion, and with it Ronald himself, really popular. The first movie, The Amityville Horror, hit the big screen in 1979. After that, several films were made - sequels, no longer based on "real" terrible events. In fact, only the remake of Horror, released in 2005, could repeat the success of the first film.

Hello everyone, friends! Vladimir Raichev is with you, please tell me, do you like horror films and everything connected with them? I sometimes like to tickle my nerves with some quality film. And recently I came across an article called "The Real Horror of Amityville."

A few years ago, I don't even remember exactly when it was, I watched a movie of the same name and thought it was a fictional story about a house where terrible events took place, but it turned out that the film was based on real events. Here is the trailer:

The deadly house, built in 1924 in the village of Amityville, which is located in New York, is called nothing more than the "Amityville Horror". The mansion, in no way different from the others, was made famous by terrible bloody incidents, which later became a source for feature and documentary films.

November morning in 1974 was fatal for the Defeo family. The eldest son, Ronald, shot his parents and younger brothers and sisters with a shotgun. He was convicted of the murders of six people and sentenced to life in prison. But, although the case was closed, many questions remained unanswered.

The basis for the commission of the crime was completely incomprehensible. It has been established that Ronald's relationship with his father was rather strained, but he always stood up for his mother in situations where the husband allowed himself to be beaten and loved his sisters and brothers very much - everyone who was familiar with this family stated this.

Surprisingly, none of the relatives took any action to protect themselves or at least escape. According to the original version, the killer used sleeping pills to put the victims to sleep, however, this was refuted by the forensic examination.

At the same time, none of the neighbors heard the shots, although according to the information provided by the manufacturer, when shooting, this weapon rumbles so that the sound propagates over a distance of approximately one kilometer.

But the most unnatural thing was that the bodies of the dead were located face down and their position was not changed by the killer. It is hard to believe that before death everyone rested in the arms of Morpheus in this position.

Tragedy of the Lutz family

There were more than enough oddities in this case, but, nevertheless, the murderer was convicted and after the funeral of the victims, the ill-fated mansion was put up for sale. Due to a terrible incident, buyers bypassed the house, however, George and Kathy Lutz - a family with three children, expressed a desire to purchase it, since the cost was just a penny.

Interestingly, the parents did not even think to hide the history of their future home from the children and immediately asked if they objected to living in the bedrooms in which people were killed. This fact did not frighten the children, and soon the family moved to the mansion.

But the housewarming turned into a living hell and having lived in the new house for only a month, they fled from there without looking back, leaving all their property behind.

As soon as the family began to improve their life, nightmares did not take long. It all started with the creaking of floorboards and the knocking of doors, followed by the appearance of a disgusting smell of decay, which could not be eradicated.

At night, the sound of footsteps came from the stairs, and one day green slime flowed from the walls. The longer the family stayed in the creepy house, the more the couple were inclined to think that this purchase was a real problem for them.

Soon George began to hear wild melodies every night, as if published by a brass band. His wife was constantly tormented by terrible dreams, and quarrels broke out more and more often between the children.

One day, sleeping Katie, flying up to the ceiling and hanging there, began to leisurely describe circles in the air. The “floating” of a woman took place within a few minutes. The husband who woke up at this time was completely unable to move.

The next morning he immediately told the priest everything. Togo was not at all surprised, he just could not understand why the family continued to live in this devilish house? The couple already realized that the purchase was a mistake.

But when they decided to leave, the house seemed to guess their intention: it was all filled with laughter, whispers and the sound of footsteps, the temperature in the room first increased, and then dropped sharply - as if the house had become a freezer.

Home lighting and attempted exorcisms

Of particular concern to parents was the appearance of a fictitious girlfriend in their four-year-old daughter, who regularly communicated with her. However, none of the family members has ever managed to see this friend, although she also allegedly lived in the mansion.

And once the mother heard strange words from her daughter that their family would spend their whole lives here. But the most surprising thing was that after the check-in, everyone began to sleep in a position down on their faces.

Denying all mystical spouse, however, turned to the clergyman for the ritual of consecration.

No difficulties arose with its conduct and almost all the rooms were lit, but when it came to the one where the boys were killed, due to an incident that remained unknown, the servant of God was forced to hastily leave the house. He offered no explanation, insisting that this room should never be a bedroom.

Katie and her family temporarily moved in with her mother, who lived in a nearby town. But the family was not going to get rid of the mansion: having decided to expel the ghosts that filled it, they turned to the Warren couple, well-known researchers of mystical phenomena.

The mediums arrived accompanied by a TV news crew and the President of the Society for the Study of Mystical Phenomena. But this led to chilling consequences: the mediums were subjected to the devilish influence of the accursed house, and the TV presenter, ignorant of mysticism, lost consciousness and, to tell the truth, the whole event turned out to be useless.

In addition to the Warrens, other equally well-known specialists visited the cursed house. All of them were unanimous in the opinion that only an exorcism session would save the evil that had settled in the house, but this ritual would endanger the life of the clergyman conducting it. The owners chose not to risk abandoning the house.

How did the Amityville Horror begin?

What initiated the horrific events taking place in the house? Their roots go back to ancient times.

In 1644, on the land later called Long Island, a conflict broke out between colonists from Holland and a tribe of Indians. According to the assurances of the leader, it turned out that he had given the territory to the Dutch not forever, but for temporary land use.

Ultimately, they set as their goal the final deliverance from the obstacle in the face of the Indians and turned to Captain John Underhill, a man who became famous for his atrocities in the extermination of another Indian tribe. Then he burned 400 people. The very name of this monster, for which the extermination of the Indians was a common thing, horrified the latter.

For a generous monetary reward, the captain agreed to help. First, he subjected to public torture, and then executed seven Indians accused of theft. After setting up an ambush, he dealt with twenty more Indians, the bodies who were buried in a common grave.

Even after a year, this patch of ground, stained with blood, still remained red. Workers involved in laying the road found the buried remains, the other dead could not be found.

How are these events related to each other? The Indian burial was located not far from the ill-fated house, and Ronald Defeo, who killed his loved ones, assured that he was under the influence of the spirit of the leader of the Indian tribe, which forced him to commit a crime.

True or not - who knows? But, apparently, the Lutz family is still lucky ... What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments.

P.S.: Do not be lazy and watch this documentary called "The Whole Truth About the Amityville Horror":

Amityville. The name of this small town thirty kilometers from New York is known not only in the United States, but also far beyond the borders of America. But the prestigious district "for the rich" was glorified by an unsuccessful billionaire or a major scientist. Amityville is best known for the Hight Hopes mansion, the sinister home where American assassin Ronald Defeo murdered his family.

So who was Ronald Defeo Jr.? Could he have committed the murder of several people alone? And what events preceded the fact that Ronald Defeo Jr. in November 1974 shot his entire family from his rifle?

Defeo's parents

After the birth of his grandson, Louise's father, Michael Brigante, hired Ronald Sr. to work for his company, and later, a few years later, helped the Defeo family purchase a house in prestigious Amityville.

Childhood in Brooklyn

The constant stress and abuse of his father took a toll on Ronald's appearance and health, both physically and mentally. The boy was withdrawn and also suffered from excess weight.

School and classmates

Butch and amphetamines

Then the parents turned to a psychiatrist for advice in order to somehow curb the aggressive and uncontrollable Butch. A visit to the doctor did not give any results - Ronald Jr. abruptly refused the help of a psychiatrist. The family had to find a new way to manage the drug addicted teenager - money. The younger Defeo regularly received expensive gifts and money "for expenses" from his father. Relatives often recalled simply a “royal” gift to a fourteen-year-old son from a “loving father” - a motor boat that cost decent money for that time, about fifteen thousand dollars.

Children of the Defeo family

Despite family problems and the rough aggressive behavior of Defeo Sr., four more children were born in the family: two daughters, Dawn Teresa (1956) and Allison Louise (1961) and sons Mark Gregory (1962) and John Matthew (1965).

Later, all four children of the Defeo family, along with their parents, will be shot dead. But at the same time, the death of Butch's siblings is the most controversial. According to close friends and relatives, the children were quite friendly - everyone noticed the affection that the “difficult teenager” Ronald Defeo feels for the younger ones (photo of the children of Ronald and Louise Defeo, taken in Amityville).

Prestigious Amityville

Ronald Defeo was notable for outrageous behavior outside the family home. The young man had a lot of unpleasant "hobbies" in addition to drugs: buying firearms, promiscuity with women, petty theft. The latter is more than strange, because Butch did not really need money - his father continued to support him, giving Ronald 500 dollars a week.

The last year of the Defeo family

A week before the shooting of the family at the Hight Hopes mansion, Ronald, who was not shy about taking and spending family money from home, committed the crime of embezzling money from the company where he worked. When Defeo Jr. was instructed to take a large amount, more than 20 thousand, to the bank, Butch simply “did not take the money”, saying that he was robbed. Despite refusing to help investigate the "robbery", the police found out that Butch and his friend had embezzled the money. Again, Ronald did not receive any punishment for this offense, but this infuriated the elder Defeo. Father and son had a big fight, while Ronald Sr. shouted that "the devil is behind" Ronald, to which the son threatened to kill his parent, calling him a "fat freak." These words were then often heard at the trial from the prosecution.

Murder and investigation

The Defeo family (parents and four younger children) were brutally murdered on the night of November 13, 1974. Friends and colleagues who saw Ronald that day recall that his day passed almost as usual. He came to work unusually early, but explained this by the fact that he suffered from insomnia and decided to leave the house early, leaving the house around 4 in the morning. Butch then acted like nothing had happened. During the day, he called home several times to find out why his father did not show up for work. And at the same time, he was very “surprised” that they did not answer calls at home. Evening Butch had fun with friends, as usual, drinking alcohol and drugs.

After the "party" Ronald went to the family mansion, but soon ran to "Henry's Bar", located on the corner of the street, a few meters from the house, shouting that his entire family had been shot.

The police officers who searched the house that evening found six dead bodies lying in their beds. Both parents received two shots from a Marlin 336C hunting rifle, each of the children was killed with one shot. The following seemed strange: all the bodies were lying on their stomachs, dressed in pajamas. None of them woke up and did not try to get up, run or hide. Initially, the detectives decided that sleeping pills had been added to all family members, but the examination did not confirm this version.

Versions of the crime

Thanks primarily to Ronald's testimony, the detectives also had a suspect. They became a close friend of Ronald Sr., who even lived for some time in the Amityville family mansion, an American of Italian origin named Louis Falini. Butch said that his father helped Falini, who is a member of the local mafia, hide the stolen valuables in the basement of the Defeo house. The police had a version that the Italian shot the whole family as witnesses.

But upon careful inspection of the house, an unexpected find appeared - a box from a Marlin 336C rifle owned by Butch. Under suspicion, Ronald changed his testimony about that terrible night. He claimed that Louis Falini and an unknown accomplice of the mafia woke him up at about four in the morning and, threatening with a pistol, took a rifle from which they killed all family members. After they left, Butch said, in desperation, he destroyed the evidence, getting rid of the shells and weapons. The latest version was completely implausible and raised many questions that Butch could not answer.

The detectives who conducted the investigation had no last doubts that it was Ronald Defeo who killed his family. And soon Butch himself confessed. The killer told in detail how he single-handedly shot first his parents, and then his sisters and brothers from his rifle, washed himself thoroughly, washing off traces of blood, how he hid all the evidence, a rifle, cartridge cases and clothes stained with blood, drowning everything in the Brooklyn sewer.

Trial of Ronald

After that, neither cooperation with the investigation, nor a word about remorse and regret helped Ronald. Ronald Joseph Defeo Jr. was found guilty of the murders of six people and received a total of 150 years in prison, 25 for each victim. All subsequent petitions for the release of the "famous" killer, filed to date, have invariably been rejected. To date, Ronald Defeo Jr. (photo below, 2015) is in Green Heaven (Beekman), one of the correctional facilities in New York State.

A lone psychopath or a gang of killers?

Most experts in the field of criminology and just third-party researchers of the events of that night in 1974 agree that there are still many unexplained facts in the execution of the Defeo family. In addition to the fact that during the murder, none of the neighbors heard a single shot, and all the children after the shots in the parent's bedroom did not even try to get out of bed and leave the house, another circumstance was revealed. A specialist hired by Michael Brigante concluded that the Defeo family was shot with at least two guns. This gave grounds to state that Ronald did not act alone.

However, this fact, which emerged during the trial, did not affect the verdict in any way, and Ronald himself made the first statement on this matter only 10 years later. Defeo Jr. said that Louise Brigante took part in the execution of the family. This version was dismissed as ridiculous.

In 2002, the book The Night the DeFeos died was published, the author of which, Rick Osuna, interviewed Ronald. The Amityville story is presented here as follows: there were four killers - Ronald, his two friends and Dawn Teresa, and the sister, according to DeFeo, offered to deal with the family. And it was she, according to Ronald, who shot the younger children, who were not originally planned to be killed. Thus, Ronald pleaded guilty to only three deaths - the parents and the "killer sister" Down. Ronald cited some controversial evidence in favor of this version. By that time, it was impossible to interview those very friends who allegedly took part in the murder - the first of them died. And the second was under the program for a different case.

Amityville urban legend

All this created the mystical urban legend "The Amityville Horror", which inspired writers and screenwriters to create works in the "horror" genre. Moreover, the film rights to this story belong to the enterprising George Lutz.

Books and filmography

The first movie, The Amityville Horror, hit the big screen in 1979. After that, several films were made - sequels, no longer based on "real" terrible events. In fact, only the remake of Horror, released in 2005, could repeat the success of the first film.