mityville
A
The Beginning
After a brief courtship, Big Ronnie and Louise got married. Since the Louise's family disapproved Big Ronnie, they cut all ties with the newlyweds until September 26, 1951, when Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr. was born.
Growing up, Butch DeFeo had it hard. Because Butch was the first born and a boy, his father expected more from him. And Big Ronnie was not afraid to discipline Butch in the cruelest fashion. One minute, he would hug his son; the next minute, he would throw him across the room.
Butch was not an only child for long. On July 29, 1956, Louise gave birth to a daughter, Dawn Theresa DeFeo. Years after Louise gave birth to Allison Louise DeFeo, Marc Gregory DeFeo, John Matthew DeFeo. By this time, the family had moved from their Brooklyn apartment to the affluent Long Island South Shore community of Amityville.
At 6:30 p.m., Ronald DeFeo Jr., known by the locals as “Butch,” opened the door to the bar and yelled, “You got to help me! I think my mother and father are shot.”
Butch got to his feet and called for others at the bar to follow Bobby and him back to the house. The six men piled into Butch’s 1970 blue Buick Electra 225. Butch climbed in the back while Bobby took the wheel.
The house was quiet, except for the barking of Shaggy, the DeFeos’ sheepdog. The men checked the house, finding the bodies one by one. Seeing more than he had wanted, Altieri left the room and rejoined the others on the ground floor. There, Joe Yeswoit called 911, giving details to an emergency operator.
After a lengthy trial, Butch DeFeo was found guilty of killing his father, mother, two brothers, and two sisters, "the most heinous and abominable crime," according to Judge Thomas Stark.
During a meeting with Ric Osuna, author of The Night the DeFeos Died, Butch DeFeo confessed that, along with his sister Dawn DeFeo, he and one of his friends actually committed the murders out of desperation.
Today, Butch DeFeo has once again decided to blame the entire crime on his sister, even though the evidence clearly supports Butch's involvement. Nevertheless, evidence also supports the claims that more than one gun and killer were involved in the DeFeo murders.
As for Dawn, the post mortem examination discovered that she had "unburned" powder burns on her nightgown, which lent further credence to Butch's claims of his sister's involvement. Substantial evidence exists to support the story Butch DeFeo shared with author Ric Osuna and Geraldine DeFeo.
The Night of the Crime