home » Spring » Katie Lutz. Amityville - mysticism or brutal murder? Children of the Defeo family

Katie Lutz. Amityville - mysticism or brutal murder? Children of the Defeo family

March 7, 2018, 12:19

Amityville. The name of this small town thirty kilometers from New York known not only in the USA, but also far beyond the borders of America. But the prestigious area “for the rich” was not made famous by a successful billionaire or a prominent scientist. Amityville became famous for the Hight Hopes mansion - the sinister house where American assassin Ronald DeFeo killed his family.

This bloody history, which destroyed the calm life of the quiet town of Amityville, occurred back in the 70s of the twentieth century. Since then, the three-story mansion has become favorite place visits by tourists who are fans of the horror genre, as well as various psychics, mediums, clairvoyants, seeking to confirm rumors about supernatural manifestations in this house.

The killer, Ronald DeFeo Jr., is still alive today. While in prison, he gave interviews more than once, giving the most unexpected versions of the events of that November night. The crime itself, which Ronald Defeo committed, managed to become an “urban legend”, overgrown with rumors, speculation and “new facts and versions that have emerged.” Interest in the “scary” house in Amityville continues unabated also because the bloody story became the basis for a book and the plot of several feature films. Now that several decades have passed, the conjectures of writers and directors are firmly intertwined with official facts 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. shot his entire family with a rifle he owned in November 1974?

Defeo's parents

Ronald's future parents were outwardly beautiful couple, even though they belonged to different “classes of society.” Mother, Louise Mary Brigante, came from the family of a successful businessman and dreamed of a career in 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 among Louise's parents, who completely interrupted 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 her 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 a very common opinion 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 education that the father applied to his eldest son amounted to severe beatings for any offense. Louise could not or did not want to change anything in relation to father and son; according to rumors, Defeo Sr. beat her too.

The constant stress and abuse of his father took its toll on appearance and Ronald's health, physical and mental. The boy was withdrawn and also suffered from excess weight.

School and classmates

As often happens, 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 excess weight, his classmates gave him the nickname “pork chop.” About whether Defeo had friends in primary school, nothing is known. The bullying and attacks on Ronald continued for several years. Everything changed when teenager Ronald not only grew up and became stronger, but also became interested in drugs. Now he has become a “problem” for those around him.

Butch and amphetamines

The drugs taken by high school student Ronald DeFeo made the teenager aggressive. Sometimes he had real fits of furious rage. Of course, no one dared to tease him with the “chop” anymore, especially since drug addiction made him thin. The teenager, now nicknamed Butch, is no longer a victim. He fought back against Ronald Sr.'s aggressive behavior. The slightest reason was enough to start a real fist fight with my 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 produce results - Ronald Jr. abruptly refused the help of a psychiatrist. The family had to find new way Managing a drug addicted teenager means money. The younger Defeo regularly received from his father expensive gifts and money for expenses. Relatives often recalled a simply “royal” gift to a fourteen-year-old son from a “loving father” - a motor boat, which 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., the family had four more children: two daughters, Dawn Teresa (1956) and Allison Louise (1961) and sons Mark Gregory (1962) and John Matthew (1965).

The killer himself, Ronald DeFeo Jr., is already serving prison term, stated in an interview that not only he, but also his younger sister Down. Her father’s harsh “educational methods” applied to her too. In addition, apparently, Down Teresa also inherited the difficult temper of Ronald Sr. Butch claims that his sister hated their father so much that she once even threatened him kitchen knife during a quarrel. Later, all four children of the Defeo family, along with their parents, would be shot dead. But it is the death of Butch's siblings that is the most controversial. According to close friends and relatives, the children were quite friendly - everyone noticed the affection that “difficult teenager” Ronald Defeo felt for the younger ones.

Prestigious Amityville

The move to the town of Amityville, a quiet place for wealthy families, was preceded by several events that were atypical for the Defeo family life. Tired of beatings and her husband's explosive temper, Louise Brigante decided to leave after the birth of her fourth child, Mark Gregory. This forced Ronald Sr. to change his attitude towards his wife somewhat. To win Louise back, DeFeo even wrote a song for her, which was later sung and recorded for the album by Joe Williams, a popular jazzman at the time. After reconciliation, the spouses changed an old house in Brooklyn for the three-story High Hopes mansion in the town of Amityville. Their fifth and last child was born there.

Their outwardly decent life was now overshadowed by the behavior of their first-born Defeo Jr. Finally addicted to drugs, seventeen-year-old Butch dropped out of school, and his relationship with his father became worse day by day. Things increasingly came to a showdown with fists. Even Ronald's employment at his grandfather's Buick car manufacturing company, where his father already worked, did not save the situation. Butch carried out simple assignments, and sometimes did not appear in the office for several days. Ronald DeFeo had outrageous behavior outside the family home. U young man Quite a few unpleasant “hobbies” have appeared besides drugs: buying firearms, promiscuous relationships with women, petty theft. The latter is more than strange, because Butch didn’t really need money - his father continued to support him, giving Ronald $500 weekly.

The last year of the Defeo family

Events last months The life of the Defeo family, before the bloody November night of 1974, seemed to foreshadow a terrible outcome. Defeo Jr.'s passion for weapons and hunting began to pose a real danger to others. Even his friends recall times when he would “jokingly” aim at someone. One day, Ronald took his parents at gunpoint to stop a quarrel that had started 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 in the Hight Hopes mansion, Ronald, who did not hesitate to take and spend family money from the house, committed a crime, embezzling money from the company where he worked. When Defeo Jr. was assigned to take a large sum, more than 20 thousand, to the bank, Butch simply “didn’t deliver the money,” saying that he had been robbed. Despite refusing to help investigate the “robbery,” the police found out that Butch and his friend had embezzled the money. Ronald again did not receive any punishment for this offense, but this infuriated the elder Defeo. Father and son had a big fight, with Ronald Sr. shouting 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 in court by 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 went almost as usual. He arrived at work unusually early, but explained this by the fact that he suffered from insomnia and decided to leave early, leaving the house around 4 am. Then Butch acted as if nothing had happened. He called home several times throughout the day to find out why his father didn't show up for work. And at the same time I was very “surprised” that they didn’t answer calls at home. Butch spent the evening having fun with his friends, as usual, drinking alcoholic drinks 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. Police officers searching the house that evening found six dead bodies lying in their beds. Both parents were shot twice hunting rifle Marlin 336C, 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 or tried to get up, run away or hide. Initially, detectives decided that all family members were given sleeping pills, 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 under 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 members, especially the younger children, very warmly and with love. For this reason, it seemed so incredible that a young man could commit such a crime. Thanks primarily to Ronald's testimony, detectives now have a suspect. He became a close friend of Ronald Sr., who even lived for some time in the Amityville family mansion, an American of Italian descent named Louis Falini. Butch stated that his father helped Falini, who was a member of the local mafia, to hide the stolen valuables in the basement of Defeo’s house. The police had a version that the Italian shot the entire family as witnesses. But after a thorough inspection of the house, an unexpected find appeared - a box from a Marlin 336C rifle belonging to Butch. Having come under suspicion, Ronald changed his testimony about that scary night. He claimed that Louis Falini and an unknown mafia accomplice woke him up at about four in the morning and, threatening him with a pistol, took a rifle, with which they killed all members of the family. After they left, Butch said, he destroyed the evidence in desperation, getting rid of the shell casings and weapons. Latest version was completely implausible and raised many questions that Butch could not answer. The detectives conducting the investigation no longer had any doubt 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 with his rifle, washed himself thoroughly, washing away traces of blood, how he hid all the evidence, the rifle, shell casings and clothes stained with blood, drowning everything in a Brooklyn sewer.

Ronald's trial

Despite the confession of the killer, all the details of the crime took quite a long time to establish; the trial began almost a year after the murder, on September 14. The main argument that Butch’s lawyer relied on was the statement about the killer’s insanity - Ronald claimed that he was ordered to shoot his relatives by “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 completely sane. After this, neither cooperation with the investigation nor words about repentance and regret helped Ronald. Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. was convicted 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 been consistently rejected. Today, Ronald DeFeo Jr. (photo below, 2015) is in Green Heaven (Beekman), one of the correctional institutions in New York State.

Lone psychopath or gang of killers?

Most experts in the field of criminology and just outside researchers of the events of that night in 1874 agree that there are still many unexplained facts in the shooting 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 parents’ 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 rise to the claim that Ronald did not act alone. However this fact, which surfaced during the trial, did not in any way affect the verdict, and Ronald himself made the first statement on this matter only 10 years later. DeFeo Jr. said that Louise Brigante took part in the shooting of the family. This version was rejected 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 told here as follows: there were four killers - Ronald, his two friends and Dawn Teresa, and the sister, according to DeFeo, suggested killing the family. And it was she, according to Ronald, who shot the younger children, whom it was not originally planned to kill. Thus, Ronald pleaded guilty to only three deaths - his parents and his “killer sister” Dawn. Ronald provided several controversial evidence in favor of this version. By that time, it was impossible to interview the very friends who allegedly took part in the murder - the first of them died. And the second one was under the witness protection program in a different case.

Amityville urban legend

The following owners of the house in Amityville contributed to the emergence of an aura of mysticism around the history of the Defeo family and the Hight Hopes mansion. Couples Kathy and George Lutz purchased the house almost a year after the crime. A month later, the Lutz family left the mansion in great haste, informing the public about unusual phenomena taking place in Hight Hopes. The bad reputation of the mansion was reinforced by clairvoyants and mediums constantly “conducting research” on the house; they all claimed that paranormal phenomena were constantly occurring at the site of the death of the Defeo family. All this created the mystical urban legend “The Amityville Horror,” which inspired writers and screenwriters to create works in the horror genre. Moreover, the rights to film this story belong to the enterprising George Lutz.

Books and filmography

As already mentioned, the main “character” of the entire story, Defeo Jr., is still alive. He is serving a sentence in prison, has been married three times and willingly gives interviews and puts forward new versions. Despite the negative reputation that Ronald DeFeo has earned, his biography became the subject of the book by Rick Osuna, which was mentioned earlier.

Back in 1977, Jay Anson’s novel “The Amityville Horror” was written, the plot was based on the stories of the Lutz family about the paranormality of the house. The book was a success, but the truly popular story of the Defeo mansion, and with it Ronald himself, was made into film adaptations. The first Amityville Horror film burst onto the big screen in 1979. Afterwards, several films were made - sequels, no longer based on the “real” ones. terrible events. In fact, only the remake of “Horror,” released in 2005, was able to repeat the success of the first film.

In the city of Amityville in 1974, an emergency occurred. On November 13, the entire Defeo family was killed at 112 Ocean Avenue. The parents were shot while sleeping in bed, and two sons and two daughters were also shot with them. Their eldest son Ronald remained unharmed; he was arrested, convicted and imprisoned.

Newspaper article about events in Amityville

What was suspicious was that all the bodies were lying face down on the beds, as if something was holding them while they were being shot. The children were not awakened by gunshots from previous murders, although a rifle is a fairly noisy weapon. After the tragedy, the house was not sold for a long time. The previously quiet area of Long Island was shocked by the horrific massacre. In 1975, the Lutz family moved into the house. The husband, wife and three children said that their abode was Hell's house. As if the demons that pushed Ronald Jr. to kill were not heard by him, but were actually in the house. The new owners called the church minister to bless the house, but something threw him away, leaving blisters on his hands, and he heard a cry of “Get out!”

Less than a month later, the family could not stand it any longer and fled without taking anything with them. The public quickly learned of the horrors that tormented them.

Life of the Defeo family

As we have already described above, police officers found the Defeo family shot in the house - six people sleeping peacefully in their bed. Ronald and Louise, sons Mark and John and daughters Dawn and Allison. Their son Ronald Jr. was unharmed. Police determined the murders were committed around 3:00 a.m. with a .35 caliber Marlin rifle. The Defoe family was well known; their children studied with their neighbors at the Amityville school. Neighbors watched in horror as police took away Ronald Jr., who was later tried and accused of killing all six family members.

DeFeo family

The three-story Dutch colonist's house at 112 Ocean Avenue was near the river and had quite a lot in it. American dream came to life: beautiful house, big family, wealth. But Ronald DeFeo was angry, prone to rages. He often threatened both Louise and his children. Ronald Jr. often got it because bad mood father. The boy grew fat and his friends made fun of him. His father humiliated him at home. As Ronald Jr. grew up, he became stronger and no longer tolerated his father's bullying. At the age of 17, under the influence of some drugs, he got involved in petty theft. He was later kicked out of school for drug use. His behavior was unstable and there were outbursts of psychosis. Having a hot temper, he participated in fist fighting matches. Even the father noticed that his son's aggressive behavior was abnormal.

The father and his wife Louise wanted to take the young man to a psychiatrist, but he refused help. They indulged their son in every possible way so as not to cause an outburst of anger and to calm him down. At age 14, he was given $14,000 for a cruise on the Amityville River. As soon as the teenager asked for money, they immediately gave it to him. In the family, Ronald Jr. was allowed everything; he was given a job at a car dealership, where he came only for a salary. The son's disputes with his father became more frequent and more dangerous. One day, when Defeo's parents had an argument, the son took a shotgun, went downstairs and shot at his father, but missed. Ronald Sr. froze, and his son seemed not at all bothered by the fact that he had almost shot his father. Shortly before the family's murder, their relationship deteriorated. Unsatisfied with his earnings, the son planned a robbery with his friend. The father exposed his deception, and the son decided to take revenge. When the police questioned the son, he became aggressive and enraged. The father already knew that Ronald Jr. had stolen the money. The police asked their son to help them identify the thief, but he refused. The father demanded an answer as to why he did not want to help the authorities. They fought again, but that was not the end.

House at 112 Ocean Avenue

November 13 was a wonderful quiet night. The entire DeFeo family went to bed, except for Ronald Jr., who sat thoughtfully in his room. He decided to solve all his problems once and for all. Armed with a .35 caliber Marlin rifle, he purposefully walked towards his parents' bedroom. He first killed his father with two shots in the back. The first bullet tore the kidneys and went into chest, the next one shot through the neck. He also shot his mother twice. The shots tore through her chest and lungs. Then Ronald Jr. went to his little brothers. It looks like the shots didn't wake them up.

Standing between the beds in the boys' room, he shot each of them at point-blank range. Mark died immediately, John's spinal cord was severed, he twitched for a few seconds, then fell silent. He then shot the Donne and Allison sisters in the head. It all happened at 3:00 am, in less than fifteen minutes. Ronald killed his entire family in cold blood, then collected their bloody clothes and weapons, wrapped them in a pillowcase, got into his car and drove to Brooklyn, throwing the contents down the drain. After that, he calmly went to work.

Photographs taken in the house during the investigation

He later said himself: “If I had not killed my family, they would have killed me. When the weapon was in my hand, there was no doubt who I was. I'm God".

At trial, the lawyer tried to prove Ronald Jr.'s insanity. He claimed that he heard the voices of demons. He was examined by forensic psychiatrist Harold Zolan. He determined that although DeFeo was using heroin and LSD, he was aware of what he was doing that night. He was convicted of second-degree murder in November 1975. He is now serving six 25-year sentences in Green Haven Prison, all of his appeals have been rejected, and he will remain there for life.

Photos of Ronald DeFeo after his arrest

Many people continue to have questions:

How could the children not hear the first shots?
Why were the dead lying face down?
Why didn't the neighbors hear the shots of a powerful rifle?

It was assumed that Ronald had planned everything in advance and slipped drugs into the food during lunch. It was believed that the house muffled the sounds of gunfire, but many who were in the house later reported that street noise could be clearly heard from inside. Although the sound of such a rifle can be heard a mile away, the neighbors heard only DeFeo's dog barking that night. Ronald continues to change his testimony, which is unlikely to shed light on those terrible events.

The police take out dead bodies from home

Arrested Ronald DeFeo

Realtors warned the Lutz family about a terrible murder, but the young family could not resist buying a house in a prestigious area. They hoped that all the troubles that frightened them in the new house would disappear as soon as the priest consecrated the house. But on the way, the hood of the priest’s car flew open, breaking his window. The right door opened and the car stalled. The priest asked for help. The windshield wipers were flying back and forth like crazy and wouldn't stop.

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

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

The deadly house, built in 1924 in the village of Amityville, New York, is called the “Amityville Horror.” The mansion, in no way different from the others, was made famous by terrible bloody incidents, which later became the source for feature films and documentaries.

A November morning in 1974 was deadly for the Defeo family. The eldest son, Ronald, shot his parents and also younger brothers and sisters. He was found guilty of murdering six people and sentenced to life in prison. But, although the case was closed, many questions remained unanswered.

The basis for committing the crime was completely incomprehensible. It was established that Ronald’s relationship with his father was quite strained, but he always stood up for his mother in situations where her husband allowed himself to be assaulted and loved his sisters and brothers very much - this was stated by everyone who was familiar with this family.

Surprisingly, none of the relatives took any action to defend themselves or even escape. According to the initial version, the killer used sleeping pills to euthanize the victims, however, this was refuted by forensic examination.

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

But the most unnatural thing was that the bodies of the dead were placed face down and their position was not changed by the killer. It's hard to believe that before they died, 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. Because of the terrible incident, buyers avoided 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 of hiding the history of their future home from their children and immediately asked if they would object to living in the bedrooms in which people were killed. This fact did not frighten the children and soon the family moved into the mansion.

But the housewarming party turned into a living hell, and after living 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 organize their life, nightmares were not long in coming. It all started with the creaking of floorboards and the knocking of doors, followed by the appearance of a disgusting smell of decomposition, which could not be eliminated.

At night, the sounds of footsteps could be heard from the stairs, and once water began to flow from the walls. Green colour slime. How longer family stayed in creepy house, the more the spouses were inclined to think that this purchase had become 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 between the children more and more often.

One day, sleeping Katie, having flown up to the ceiling and hanging there, began to slowly describe circles in the air. The woman “hovered” for several minutes. The husband, who woke up at this time, was completely unable to move.

The next morning he immediately told the priest everything. This did not surprise him at all, 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 filled with laughter, whispers and the sounds of footsteps, the temperature in the room first rose, and then dropped sharply - as if the house had become a freezer.

Lighting the house and attempts at exorcism

The parents were especially concerned about the appearance of an imaginary friend of their four-year-old daughter, who regularly communicated with her. However, none of the family members were ever able to see this friend, although she allegedly also lived in the mansion.

And one day 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 moving in, everyone began to sleep face down.

The spouse, who denies everything mystical, nevertheless turned to the clergyman for the ritual of consecration.

There were no difficulties with its implementation and almost all the rooms were illuminated, but when it came to the one where the boys were killed, due to an incident that remained unknown, God’s servant was forced to hastily leave the house. He gave no explanation, but insisted 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 did not intend to get rid of the mansion: having decided to expel the ghosts that had filled it, they turned to the Warren couple, widely known researchers of mystical phenomena.

The mediums appeared accompanied by a film crew from a news channel 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 cursed 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 famous specialists visited the damned house. All of them were unanimous in the opinion that only an exorcism session would get rid of the evil that had settled in the house, but this ritual would endanger the life of the clergyman performing it. The owners chose not to take risks by abandoning the house.

How did the Amityville Horror begin?

What started 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 leader’s assurances, it turned out that he gave the territory to the Dutch not forever, but for temporary land use.

Ultimately, they set their goal to finally get rid of the obstacle in the face of the Indians and turned to Captain John Underhill, a man famous for his atrocities during the extermination of another Indian tribe. Then he burned 400 people. The very name of this monster, for whom the destruction of Indians was commonplace, horrified the latter.

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

Even after a year, this piece of land, stained with blood, was still red. Workers involved in laying the road discovered buried remains, but 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, claimed that he was under the influence of the spirit of the leader of the Indian tribe, which forced him to commit a crime.

Is this true or not - who knows? But, apparently, the Lutz family was lucky... What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments.

P.S.: Don’t be lazy and look at this one documentary, which is called "The Whole Truth About the Amityville Horror":

In the state of New York, the house where one of the most terrible and mysterious murders of the last century was committed, and then mystical events began to occur, which inspired the creation famous book and horror films. It's about about the Amityville home where 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo was found to have killed six members of his family on November 13, 1974.

The current owner of the house at 108 Ocean Avenue (previously numbered 112) expects to get $850,000 for it. For this money, the buyer is offered a three-story mansion with five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a garage for two cars and a boat house.

Meanwhile, with the death of six members of the Defeo family and the imprisonment of Ronald, the misfortunes of the house did not end. At the end of November 1974, it was purchased by the Lutz couple and their three sons. Already on January 14, they left the house in a hurry, leaving most of their things there. According to them, throughout their short stay in this house they were terrorized by various supernatural phenomena. Based on these events, the novel “The Amityville Horror” was written in 1977, a horror film of the same name was released in 1979, a prequel about the Defeo family was released in 1982, and a remake was released in 2005. Since the mid-70s, paranormal experts and journalists have been actively interested in the house, finding more and more confirmation of its mystical aura.

However, this did not stop the house from finding new residents. The last deal to sell the property was concluded in 2010, when it was purchased for 950 thousand dollars (three times more than it cost in the 90s) by the spouses Caroline and David D'Antonio. David died last year, and Carol, who is now president Historical Society Amityville, decided to say goodbye to this creepy property.

Amityville. The name of this small town thirty kilometers from New York is known not only in the USA, but also far beyond the borders of America. But the prestigious area “for the rich” was not made famous by a successful billionaire or a prominent scientist. Amityville became famous for the Hight Hopes mansion - the sinister house where American assassin Ronald DeFeo killed his family.

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

The killer, Ronald DeFeo Jr., is still alive today. While in prison, he gave interviews more than once, giving the most unexpected versions of the events of that November night. The crime itself, which Ronald Defeo committed, managed to become an “urban legend”, overgrown with rumors, speculation and “new facts and versions that have emerged.” Interest in the “scary” house in Amityville continues unabated also because the bloody story became the basis for a 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. shot his entire family with a rifle he owned in November 1974?

Defeo's parents

Ronald's future parents were an outwardly beautiful couple, even though they belonged to different “classes of society.” Mother, Louise Mary Brigante, came from the 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 among Louise's parents, who completely interrupted 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 her 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

Constant stress and abuse from his father took a toll on Ronald's appearance and health, both physical and mental. The boy was withdrawn and also suffered from excess weight.

School and classmates

As often happens, 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 excess weight, his classmates gave him the nickname “pork chop.” It is not known whether DeFeo had friends in elementary school. The bullying and attacks on Ronald continued for several years. Everything changed when teenager Ronald not only grew up and became stronger, but also became interested in drugs. Now he has become a “problem” for those around him.

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 produce 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 a simply “royal” gift to a fourteen-year-old son from a “loving father” - a motor boat, which 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., the family had four more children: two daughters, Dawn Teresa (1956) and Allison Louise (1961) and sons Mark Gregory (1962) and John Matthew (1965).

The killer himself, Ronald DeFeo Jr., while already serving a prison sentence, stated in an interview that not only he, but also his younger sister Dawn had problems with his parents. Her father’s harsh “educational methods” applied to her too. In addition, apparently, Down Teresa also inherited the difficult 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, would be shot dead. But it is the death of Butch's siblings that is the most controversial. According to close friends and relatives, the children were quite friendly - everyone noticed the affection that “difficult teenager” Ronald Defeo felt for the younger ones (photo of the children of Ronald and Louise Defeo, taken in Amityville).

Prestigious Amityville

The move to the town of Amityville, a quiet place for wealthy families, was preceded by several events that were atypical for the Defeo family life. Tired of beatings and her husband's explosive temper, Louise Brigante decided to leave after the birth of her fourth child, Mark Gregory. This forced Ronald Sr. to change his attitude towards his wife somewhat. To win Louise back, DeFeo even wrote a song for her, which was later sung and recorded for the album by Joe Williams, a popular jazzman at the time. After reconciliation, the couple exchanged their old house in Brooklyn for the three-story High Hopes mansion in the town of Amityville. Their fifth and last child was born there.

Ronald DeFeo had outrageous behavior outside the family home. The young man developed many unpleasant “hobbies” besides drugs: buying firearms, promiscuous relationships with women, petty theft. The latter is more than strange, because Butch didn’t really need money - his father continued to support him, giving Ronald $500 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, seemed to foreshadow a terrible outcome. Defeo Jr.'s passion for weapons and hunting began to pose a real danger to others. Even his friends recall times when he would “jokingly” aim at someone. One day, Ronald took his parents at gunpoint to stop a quarrel that had started 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 in the Hight Hopes mansion, Ronald, who did not hesitate to take and spend family money from the house, committed a crime, embezzling money from the company where he worked. When DeFeo Jr. was tasked with taking a large sum, more than 20 thousand, to the bank, Butch simply “didn’t deliver the money,” saying that he had been robbed. Despite refusing to help investigate the “robbery,” the police found out that Butch and his friend had embezzled the money. Ronald again did not receive any punishment for this offense, but this infuriated the elder Defeo. Father and son had a big fight, with Ronald Sr. shouting 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 in court by 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 went almost as usual. He arrived at work unusually early, but explained this by the fact that he suffered from insomnia and decided to leave early, leaving the house around 4 am. Then Butch acted as if nothing had happened. He called home several times throughout the day to find out why his father didn't show up for work. And at the same time I was very “surprised” that they didn’t answer calls at home. Butch spent the evening having fun with his 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.

Police officers searching the house that evening found six dead bodies lying in their beds. Both parents were shot twice with a Marlin 336C hunting rifle, and each child 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 or tried to get up, run away or hide. Initially, detectives decided that all family members were given sleeping pills, but the examination did not confirm this version.

Versions of the crime

Thanks primarily to Ronald's testimony, detectives now have a suspect. He became a close friend of Ronald Sr., who even lived for some time in the Amityville family mansion, an American of Italian descent named Louis Falini. Butch stated that his father helped Falini, who was a member of the local mafia, to hide the stolen valuables in the basement of Defeo’s house. The police had a version that the Italian shot the entire family as witnesses.

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

The detectives conducting the investigation no longer had any doubt 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 with his rifle, washed himself thoroughly, washing away traces of blood, how he hid all the evidence, the rifle, shell casings and clothes stained with blood, drowning everything in a Brooklyn sewer.

Ronald's trial

After this, neither cooperation with the investigation nor words about repentance and regret helped Ronald. Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. was convicted 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 been consistently rejected. Today, Ronald DeFeo Jr. (photo below, 2015) is in Green Heaven (Beekman), one of the correctional institutions in New York State.

Lone psychopath or gang of killers?

Most experts in the field of criminology and just outside researchers of the events of that night in 1974 agree that there are still many unexplained facts in the shooting 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 parents’ 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 rise to the claim that Ronald did not act alone.

However, this fact, which emerged during the trial, did not in any way affect the verdict, and Ronald himself made the first statement on this matter only 10 years later. DeFeo Jr. said that Louise Brigante took part in the shooting of the family. This version was rejected 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 told here as follows: there were four killers - Ronald, his two friends and Dawn Teresa, and the sister, according to DeFeo, suggested killing the family. And it was she, according to Ronald, who shot the younger children, whom it was not originally planned to kill. Thus, Ronald pleaded guilty to only three deaths - his parents and his “killer sister” Dawn. Ronald provided several controversial evidence in favor of this version. By that time, it was impossible to interview the very friends who allegedly took part in the murder - the first of them died. And the second one was under the program for a different matter.

Amityville urban legend

The following owners of the house in Amityville contributed to the emergence of an aura of mysticism around the history of the Defeo family and the Hight Hopes mansion. Couples Kathy and George Lutz purchased the house almost a year after the crime. Within a month, the Lutz family left the mansion in great haste, informing the public about unusual phenomena taking place in Hight Hopes. The bad reputation of the mansion was reinforced by clairvoyants and mediums constantly “conducting research” on the house; they all claimed that paranormal phenomena were constantly occurring at the site of the death of the Defeo family.

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

Books and filmography

The first Amityville Horror film burst onto the big screen in 1979. Afterwards, several films were made - sequels, no longer based on “real” terrible events. In fact, only the remake of “Horror,” released in 2005, was able to repeat the success of the first film.

Views