True Crime Friday: Ronald DeFeo Jr., the Amityville Horror Family Annihilator Killer
Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr., was born September 26, 1951. Known as Butch, he was a mass murder and a family annihilator. In 1974, DeFeo was sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison. He murdered his entire family which consisted of his parents, two brothers and two sisters in Amityville, New York. He died in prison in March of 2021 at the age of sixty-nine. There have been movies and books based upon this tragedy of which one is well known as The Amityville Horror. The movie is about a house being haunted by the ghost of people that were murdered, and then a new family moves into the house and the paranormal begins.
The Early Childhood of Ronald DeFeo Jr.
The childhood of Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. was said to have been horrible. He was the eldest child of Ronald DeFeo and was bullied by his father. It was also said that since he was overweight, he was bullied at school. His father abused the entire family, including his wife. His father owned a car dealership and Butch eventually went to work for his controlling Dad. His father forced his son into boxing matches where he would beat him senselessly under the guise of harmless playing. His Dad was controlling and maintained control over his wife and kids. The children had all the material things in life but lacked the emotional support they needed from their parents. Butch began to take drugs which altered his state of mind. While taking these drugs he also loss a significant amount of weight.The Victims of Ronald DeFeo Jr.
- Ronald DeFeo, 43
- Louise DeFeo, 43
- Dawn DeFeo, 18
- Allison DeFeo, 13
- Marc DeFeo, 12
- John DeFeo, 9
He shot his entire family with a 35-caliber rifle. After killing his entire family DeFeo took a bath. He later went to work. After work he went into a local bar near his home where he screamed that someone had murdered his family. Three patrons of the bar went to the house with DeFeo where the bodies were found. One of the patrons called the police. The address 112 Ocean Avenue is now infamous because of this case. Butch was taken to the police station for his own protection because he reported that he thought the mob had killed his family. This story may have been believed but for one thing, Louis Falini, the mob boss Butch accused of murdering his family was in jail at the time of the murders. Butch story started to unravel quickly.
During Butch’s interview his story was not adding up for the investigators. There were very serious inconsistencies in his version of events. Butch eventually confessed to murdering his family. DeFeo told detectives: "Once I started, I just couldn't stop. It went so fast." Once Butch went to prison, the house was put on the market. Because of the murders the house sold for $80,000 dollars, which was way below the market value in that area of Long Island, New York.
The house was eventually purchased by the Lutz family. George and Kathy Lutz claimed that the house was haunted by the previous tenants. During their time in the house, they claimed that they witnessed swarms of flies, oozing slime from walls, demonic voices and saw a demonic pig. The Lutz family fled the property only 28 days after purchasing it. It was suspected that George Lutz lied about the paranormal activities at the house to make money off the tragedy.
After a decade of no one living in the house it was purchased by James and Barbara Cromarty who changed the street address to keep curious visitors away. Since purchasing the property, Cromarty’s has reported no strange occurrences or paranormal events.