Amityville Horror Crime Scene Photos: The DeFeo Murders

Faline · #1 ● 10-16-2009, 02:38 AM

On November 13, 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were murdered inside their home at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. The victims were Ronald DeFeo Sr. and his wife Louise, along with four of their children: Dawn, Allison, Marc, and John. Each had been shot with a .35-caliber Marlin rifle. Ronald DeFeo Jr., the oldest son and only member of the immediate family left alive, initially claimed that someone else had killed his family. Investigators soon became suspicious of his story, and by the following day he confessed to carrying out the murders.

The bodies were discovered after DeFeo Jr. entered Henry's Bar in Amityville at around 6:30 that evening and told people that he believed his parents had been shot. Several men from the bar returned to the house with him to investigate. After entering the home and discovering members of the family dead, one of the men contacted police. Officers searched the house and found all six victims in their beds. According to Suffolk County Police, each was lying face down, and investigators reported no obvious signs of a struggle. The unusual scene raised questions because several rifle shots had been fired inside the house, yet neighbors did not report hearing the gunfire.

DeFeo later changed his explanation of what happened several times, but he was ultimately convicted of six counts of second-degree murder in 1975 and received six sentences of 25 years to life. He remained imprisoned until his death in 2021. The murders later became closely connected with the story of The Amityville Horror after the Lutz family moved into the same house and claimed to experience paranormal activity. Those supernatural claims have remained controversial, but the murder of the DeFeo family itself was very real and became one of the most notorious crimes associated with Long Island.