Six people died at 112 Ocean Avenue. That’s the only part of this entire saga that isn't up for debate. Long before the bleeding walls and the cinematic jumpscares, there was a real, gritty, and deeply depressing crime scene in a quiet suburb of Long Island. When people go searching for an Amityville crime scene photo, they usually expect to find something supernatural. They want to see the "ghost boy" on the stairs or some shadow lurking in the hallway. But the actual police evidence tells a much darker, more human story of a family mass murder that took place on November 13, 1974.
The reality of that night is chilling because of its silence. Ronald "Butch" DeFeo Jr. used a .35-caliber Marlin lever-action rifle to kill his parents and four siblings while they slept. No one heard the shots. No one struggled. When the police walked in the next day, they found the victims facedown in their beds. It’s heavy stuff.
What the original police photos actually show
If you look at the authentic Amityville crime scene photo archives from the Suffolk County Police Department, you won’t find anything "spooky" in the traditional sense. You’ll see the mundane details of 1970s domestic life interrupted by extreme violence.
There's the photo of the exterior of the house, those iconic quarter-moon windows looking out like eyes. Then there are the interior shots. The bedrooms were neat. The victims were found in their pajamas. Ronald DeFeo Sr. and Louise DeFeo were killed in their bed. Then Butch moved to the rooms of his siblings: Dawn, Allison, Marc, and John Matthew.
The most unsettling thing about these images isn't blood or gore—though there is certainly enough of that—it’s the positioning. All six victims were found lying on their stomachs. For years, this fueled theories that they were drugged or that there was a second shooter, because how do you shoot six people with a loud rifle without any of them waking up? Toxicological reports eventually debunked the drugging theory. They just... didn't wake up. Or they were paralyzed by fear. Honestly, the clinical nature of the black-and-white police photography makes the tragedy feel much more "real" than any movie ever could.
✨ Don't miss: Is Pope Leo Homophobic? What Most People Get Wrong
The "Ghost Boy" photo: A massive point of contention
We have to talk about the 1976 infrared photo. You’ve seen it. It’s the grainy, black-and-white image of a young boy with glowing eyes peeking out from a doorway. This is often what people are actually looking for when they search for an Amityville crime scene photo, even though it wasn't taken by the police during the investigation.
It was captured by Gene Campbell, a professional photographer who was part of an investigation led by Ed and Lorraine Warren. This was two years after the murders, while the Lutz family—who had famously fled the house after 28 days—were claiming the home was infested by demons.
A lot of people think that boy is the ghost of John Matthew DeFeo. However, many researchers, including the late Rick Moran, pointed out that the "ghost" looks remarkably like Paul Bartz, another investigator who was in the house that night. The plaid shirt matches what Bartz was wearing. The "glowing eyes" are a common byproduct of infrared film reflecting off the retina in the dark. It’s a classic case of pareidolia or just a simple accidental capture of a living person. But in the world of paranormal lore, facts often play second fiddle to a good scare.
Why the DeFeo murders get overshadowed by the haunting
It’s kinda weird how we’ve collectively decided that a "haunting" is more interesting than a mass murder. Butch DeFeo changed his story a dozen times over the decades. First, it was a mob hit. Then, it was his sister Dawn who did the killing and he just finished it. Later, he claimed he heard voices in the house commanding him to kill.
🔗 Read more: How to Reach Donald Trump: What Most People Get Wrong
That last bit is what the Lutzes and the movie industry ran with.
But if you look at the court records and the crime scene analysis, the "voices" defense didn't hold up in front of a jury. William Weber, DeFeo’s defense attorney, later admitted that he and the Lutzes "created this horror story over many bottles of wine." They needed a way to make the story marketable. The real crime scene was about a troubled young man with a history of drug abuse and a volatile relationship with his father.
The impact of 112 Ocean Avenue today
The house is still there. It has a different address now to discourage tourists, and the famous windows have been changed. But the fascination with the Amityville crime scene photo persists because it represents the bridge between true crime and the supernatural.
Experts in forensic psychology often point to the DeFeo case as a prime example of how local tragedies become modern myths. When we look at those old crime photos, we are looking at the end of a family. The fact that the Lutz family moved in and claimed the house was evil provided a sort of "comforting" excuse for the horror—it’s easier to blame demons than to accept that a son could systematically execute his entire family.
💡 You might also like: How Old Is Celeste Rivas? The Truth Behind the Tragic Timeline
Assessing the evidence yourself
If you are digging into this case, you should distinguish between three types of imagery:
- Suffolk County Police Evidence: High-contrast, gritty, shows the reality of the .35-caliber rifle's impact. These are historical documents.
- The Warren Investigation Photos: Taken in 1976. This includes the "Ghost Boy" and various shots of the basement "Red Room" (which was actually just a small closet behind the stairs).
- Film Stills: Often mistaken for real photos, especially from the 1979 original or the 2005 remake.
The real evidence is found in the trial transcripts. When you read the testimony of the first officers on the scene, like Detective Gerard Gozaloff, the picture becomes much clearer. They didn't find a portal to hell. They found a house that smelled of gunpowder and a kid in a bar down the street screaming that his parents had been shot.
Practical steps for further research
If you're genuinely interested in the history of the Amityville case, don't just rely on creepy YouTube thumbnails. Start with the book The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson for the "legend" side, but then immediately pivot to The Amityville Murder Conspiracy by Ric Osuna for the factual breakdown of the DeFeo trial.
Visit the Suffolk County historical archives if you can, or look for verified archival websites that host the trial evidence. Understanding the timeline of the 1974 murders versus the 1976 haunting claims is the only way to separate the tragedy from the tall tale.
Look closely at the floor plans of the house. You'll see that the layout makes the "second shooter" theory plausible but physically difficult. Check the autopsy reports—they are public record. They show that the victims died almost instantly. The more you look at the hard data, the more the "ghosts" start to fade, leaving behind a much more haunting human story.