12. The inspiration for The Amityville Horror, Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered both his mother and father, along with his two brothers and sisters
Ronald DeFeo Jr. (b. 1951 CE) is an American mass murderer, responsible for the deaths of six immediate family members: his mother Louise DeFeo; father Ronald DeFeo Sr.; sisters Dawn and Allison; and brothers Marc and John Matthew. On the evening of November 13, 1974, a panicked DeFeo entered Henry’s Bar in Amityville, Long Island, New York, shouting: “You got to help me! I think my mother and father are shot!”. Police investigation at their shared residence identified the bodies of six members of the DeFeo family, all shot with a .35 caliber lever action Marlin 336C rifle; the parents had been shot twice, whilst the children were killed by a single gunshot.
Initially placed under police protection due to DeFeo’s claim of the murders being mob-related, investigators quickly suspected the truth and he confessed the following day telling detectives: “once I started, I just couldn’t stop. It went so fast”. Charged for the murders of his family members, at trial DeFeo pleaded insanity claiming he killed them all in self-defense after he heard their voices plotting to kill him. Rejecting this defense after psychiatric evaluation, and finding it implausible given the youngest victim, John Matthew, was just 9 years old, DeFeo was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years to life; he currently resides at the Sullivan Correctional Facility, New York, with all requests for parole denied.