The DeFeo Murders and the Amityville Horror, Part 2 - He Confessed, Then Asked for This

True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews · Oct 29, 2026 · 16m

Ronald "Butch" DeFeo Jr. died on March 12, 2021, forty-five years into six consecutive life sentences for killing his parents and four siblings at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville. In all that time, the story of who held the rifle never stopped changing.

He started with a mob hitman. Within hours he confessed. He told detectives where to find the Marlin and the pillowcase full of spent shells, and then he asked about his father's life insurance. His defense lawyer tried insanity. On the witness stand, DeFeo told the jury: "I killed them all in self-defense." And: "When I got a gun in my hand…