You’ve seen the movies. You know the house with the "eye" windows and the stories of walls bleeding slime. But behind the Hollywood ghosts and the "Amityville Horror" franchise is a much grimmer reality. It’s the story of a 23-year-old auto mechanic named Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr., known to his friends as "Butch."
The real story isn't about demons. Honestly, it’s about a deeply troubled young man, a house full of secrets, and a brutal mass murder that happened on a cold November night in 1974.
The Night Everything Changed at 112 Ocean Avenue
On November 13, 1974, around 6:30 PM, Butch DeFeo burst into Henry’s Bar in Amityville, New York. He was hysterical. He screamed that his parents had been shot.
A group of bar patrons followed him back to the large, Dutch Colonial home at 112 Ocean Avenue. What they found inside was a nightmare. Ronald DeFeo Sr. and Louise DeFeo were dead in their bed. But it wasn't just the parents. As police searched the house, they found the bodies of the four younger children: Dawn (18), Allison (13), Marc (11), and John (9).
All six victims were found face-down in their beds. They had been shot with a .35 Marlin lever-action rifle.
The scene was weirdly calm. No signs of a struggle. No neighbors heard the shots, even though the rifle didn't have a silencer. This mystery—how one man could kill six people without anyone waking up or running—is what eventually fueled the supernatural legends.
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The Many Versions of Butch DeFeo
Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. was a complicated guy. He wasn't exactly a "model citizen" before the murders. He had a history of drug use—heroin and LSD—and a violent temper. He and his father fought constantly. In one incident a year before the killings, Butch reportedly pointed a 12-gauge shotgun at his father and pulled the trigger, but the gun misfired.
When the police first questioned him about the murders, Butch had a story ready. He blamed a mob hitman named Louis Falini. He claimed he was a witness and was terrified for his life.
But the story fell apart fast.
Detectives found an empty gun box for a .35 Marlin in his room. By the next day, Butch confessed. He told investigators, "Once I started, I just couldn't stop. It went so fast."
The Trial and the "Voices"
The trial began in 1975, and it was a circus. His lawyer, William Weber, tried for an insanity defense. This is where the famous "voices" come in. Butch claimed he heard voices in the house telling him that his family was plotting against him.
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The prosecution had a different take. They argued that while Butch had a personality disorder, he knew exactly what he was doing. They pointed to the fact that he showered, changed his clothes, and disposed of the evidence after the murders. That’s not the behavior of someone who doesn't understand reality.
He was eventually convicted on six counts of second-degree murder. The judge, Thomas Stark, sentenced him to six consecutive terms of 25 years to life.
Beyond the Haunting: The Forensic Reality
People love to talk about the "Amityville Horror" haunting, which started after George and Kathy Lutz moved into the house a year later. But if you look at the facts of the Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. case, the "supernatural" elements start to look like a cover-up for a more human tragedy.
- The Drug Theory: There were long-standing rumors that Butch drugged his family's dinner with barbiturates to keep them from waking up. While some early reports suggested this, later autopsies didn't find evidence of sedation.
- The Accomplice Theory: Many researchers, including investigative journalist Ric Osuna, believe Butch didn't act alone. The logistics of shooting six people in separate rooms without anyone waking up are tough. Butch himself changed his story in later years, claiming his sister Dawn helped him or even killed the younger siblings before he killed her.
- The Family Dynamic: Neighbors and friends described the DeFeo household as "volatile." Ronald Sr. was allegedly abusive and overbearing. Butch was the "black sheep" who felt he was being cut out of the family's wealth.
What happened to Butch?
Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. spent the rest of his life behind bars. He stayed at the Sullivan Correctional Facility for decades. He tried for parole multiple times, but he was always denied. He also tried to get his conviction overturned by claiming his lawyer "forced" him into the insanity defense to make money off a book deal.
Butch died on March 12, 2021, at the Albany Medical Center. He was 69 years old.
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He took the full truth of what happened that night to his grave. Even now, years after his death, people still argue about his motives. Was it a drug-fueled breakdown? A cold-blooded play for insurance money? Or was he truly broken by the environment he grew up in?
Actionable Insights for True Crime Researchers
If you're looking into the DeFeo case or the Amityville legacy, don't just rely on the movies. The fiction has largely swallowed the facts.
- Check the Trial Transcripts: The most accurate information about the murders comes from the 1975 trial records, not the Jay Anson book.
- Separate the Families: Remember that the "haunting" (Lutz family) and the "murders" (DeFeo family) are two separate events. Many of the paranormal "facts"—like the house being built on an Indian burial ground—have been debunked by historians.
- Focus on the Ballistics: The mystery of the "silent" shots is still the most fascinating part of the forensic case. Look into the acoustics of the 112 Ocean Avenue house if you want to understand how it might have happened.
The legacy of Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. is a reminder that real-life horror is often much more disturbing than anything you’ll see on a cinema screen. It wasn't a "demon" that destroyed the DeFeo family; it was a cycle of violence and a young man who reached a breaking point.
To get a clearer picture of the case, you can look up the FBI Vault files on DeFeo or read Ric Osuna's The Night the DeFeos Died for a deep dive into the accomplice theories.