In the New York village of Amityville sits arguably the most infamous murder-scene house to have ever stood. The Amityville Horror House has been the subject of over twenty movies, and a number of different books and documentaries.
The Amityville Horror House as it looked in 1974, the year of the murders.
On November 13, 1974, the property at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York, was the scene of a gruesome mass-murder. A murder in which six members of the same family were all shot dead while they lay sleeping.
THE HISTORY OF THE AMITYVILLE HORROR HOUSE
According to deeds and information compiled by the Amityville Historical Society, the Ocean Avenue property had once been farmland belonging to the Irelands, one of Amityville’s most prominent and influential families.
On January 14, 1924, Annie Ireland sold the property to John and Catherine Moynahan. The following year, Amityville builder Jesse Perdy constructed the five-bedroom, three-bathroom Dutch Colonial house that still stands there today.
When John and Catherine Moynahan died, their daughter, Eileen Fitzgerald, moved in with her own family. She lived there until October 17, 1960, when John and Mary Riley bought the house. Because of marital problems, the Rileys divorced and sold the house to the DeFeo’s on June 28, 1965.
The DeFeo’s lived in the house for more than nine years until the murders took place on November 13, 1974.
DeFeo Jr. with his four younger siblings.
After the DeFeo’s, George and Kathy Lutz moved into the property and then moved out in 28 days. Their stay was so short that they did not even make a payment on the $60,000 mortgage they had on the house. On August 30, 1976, the Lutz family returned the house to Columbia Savings and Loan.
On March 18, 1977, Jim and Barbara Cromarty purchased the home from the bank. Although plagued by hordes of tourists searching for supernatural phenomena, the Cromartys managed to live there for a decade.
Jim and Barbara Cromarty sat by the pool in 1979.
On August 17, 1987, Peter and Jeanne O’Neil purchased the house from the Cromartys. They made some major changes to the design of the house, which included filling in the swimming pool. On June 10, 1997, Brian Wilson purchased the house for approximately $310,000. Further changes were made to the house, including a sunroom at the back of the house.
In 2017 the house was sold again, selling for $605,000.
Up until the murders in 1974, the house had no major history and was your typical Amityville house.
THE MURDERS
At around 6.30 PM, on the evening of November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. walked into Henry’s Bar in Amityville, Long Island, New York, and declared “You got to help me! I think my mother and father are shot!”
A picture on the wall of the DeFeo family home, Ronald DeFeo Jr. with his father Ronald DeFeo Sr.
DeFeo Jr. and a small group of people went to the house at 112 Ocean Avenue, which was located near the bar, and found that DeFeo’s parents were dead. One of the group, DeFeo’s friend Joe Yeswit, made a call to the Suffolk County Police, who searched the house and found that six members of the same family had all been shot dead in their beds.
The victims were Ronald Jr.’s parents: Ronald DeFeo Sr. (44) and Louise DeFeo (42); and his four siblings: Dawn (18), Allison (13), Marc (12), and John Matthew (9). All of whom had been shot dead with a .35 caliber rifle around 3 AM that very same day.
A newspaper article from the time of the murders.
The parents were killed first, having both been shot twice, while all four children were killed with single shots.
Physical evidence at the scene suggests that his mother and 13-year-old sister Allison were awake at the time of their deaths. All six victims were found lying face-down in their beds. The six victims were later buried at Saint Charles Cemetry in Farmingdale.
The grave of the DeFeo family at Saint Charles Cemetery.
DeFoe Jr. was then taken into police custody for his own protection after suggesting to police that the killings had been carried out by a mob hitman, Louis Falini.
However, the following day he confessed to the killings, while the mob hitman Falini had an alibi, proving he was out of the state at the time.
He admitted that he had taken a bath and changed his clothing, also detailing where he had discarded crucial evidence such as blood-stained clothes and the Marlin rifle and cartridges he had used to carry out the killings. He then went to work as usual.
THE HOUSE AT THE TIME OF THE MURDERS
A lot of photographs of the Amityville Horror House were taken after the murders. This gives a great insight to how the house looked in 1974, compared to today, which you will be able to see later in the article.
The kitchen of the house in 1974.
The dining room in 1974.
The basement of the Amityville Horror House.
Allisons bedroom, she was murdered in her bed.
The staircase of the property.
The bedroom of Ronald DeFeo, you can see the distinctive ‘eye’ window(s) which were later removed from the house.
THE MURDER TRIAL
The trial of Ronald DeFoe Jr. started on October 14, 1975. His defence lawyer, William Weber, mounted an affirmative defence of insanity. DeFoe claiming he killed his family in self-defence because he heard their voices plotting against him.
The insanity plea was supported by the psychiatrist for the defense, Dr. Daniel Schwartz. The psychiatrist for the prosecution, Dr. Harold Zolan, maintained that although DeFeo was an abuser of LSD and heroin, who also had an antisocial personality disorder, he was aware of his actions at the time of the crime.
Ronald DeFeo Jr. being lead away in handcuffs.
On November 21, 1975, DeFoe was found guilty of six counts of second-degree murder. The judge sentenced DeFoe to six concurrent life sentences of 25 years to life. DeFoe is currently housed at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York.
Ronald DeFeo during an interview in 2014.
[title_mod title_name=”THE CONTROVERSY” title_background_color=”#fc64aa” title_color=”#ffffff”]
A lot of controversies surrounded the DeFeo murders, the police investigation concluded that a suppressor had not been fitted to the rifle, this lead to speculation that someone should have been woken by the gunshots. No gunshots were heard by neighbors.
Since being convicted, DeFeo has changed his story multiple times. In 1986, DeFeo claimed his sister Dawn killed their father and then their distraught mother killed all of his siblings before he killed his mother.
He stated that he took the blame because he was afraid to say anything negative about his mother to her father, Michael Brigante Sr., and his father’s uncle, out of fear that they would kill him. His father’s uncle was Peter DeFeo, a caporegime in the Genovese crime family.
Peter DeFeo was the granduncle of Ronald Defeo Jr. This is him pictured with his nephew Frank Aquilino, he would go on to be an actor who had a part in Goodfellas.
In 1990, Ronald DeFeo Jr. filed a 440 motion, a proceeding to have his conviction vacated. In support of his motion, DeFeo asserted that Dawn and an unknown assailant, who fled the house before he could get a good look at him, killed their parents and Dawn subsequently killed their siblings. He claimed the only person he killed was Dawn and that it was by accident as they struggled over the rifle.
THE BOOKS AND MOVIES
In 1977, Jay Anson’s book ‘The Amityville Horror’ was released. The book is based on the 28-day period during December 1975 and January 1976 when George and Kathy Lutz and their three children lived at 112 Ocean Avenue.
The house as depicted in the Amityville horror movies.
The Lutz family left the Amityville horror house, claiming that they had been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there and that the home was a real-life haunted house.
In 1979, the film-adaptation of The Amityville Horror was released, it became the highest-grossing independent film of all time, holding the record until 1990. This was followed by many sequels and other movies that had no connection to the original movie other than its reference to the town of Amityville.
Some of the few Amityville movies that have been released over the years.
At last count, there were at least 28 movies that referenced Amityville.
THE AMITYVILLE HORROR HOUSE TODAY
The Amityville Horror House today has undergone quite a transformation; it has even changed its address from 112 Ocean Drive to 108 Ocean Drive in an attempt to stop people from visiting the house.
This is something that we have seen at other murder properties, such as 10050 Cielo Drive, where the Mason Murders took place. The owners of the Amityville Horror House have had to put up with tourists, ghost hunters, and all sorts of other folks trying to find the property.
The Amityville Horror house in 2017, painted white with a sunroom added to the back of the house.
The ‘eye windows’ on the top floor have long been removed and replaced with square ones.
The stairwell now looks a lot brighter than it did in 1974.
The living room of the property.
The sunroom was recently added to the back of the house.
The back of the house looking down to the boathouse.
The bedroom of Ronald DeFeo as it looks today. The windows of the bedroom have long been removed.