Amityville Horror Killer Ronald Defeo Dies In Prison Aged 69

Amityville Horror Killer Ronald Defeo Dies In Prison Aged 69

Amityville Horror Killer Ronald Defeo Dies In Prison Aged 69. image: Pixabay

Amityville Horror Killer Ronald Defeo Dies In Prison Aged 69.

Amityville Horror killer Ronald DeFeo, who killed his six family members in 1974 on Long Island, New York, has died behind bars, according to an official statement.

DeFeo died Friday while serving a 25 years-to-life sentence at Sullivan Correctional facility in Fallsburg, officials told The New York Post- he was 69-years-old. DeFeo was transferred to Albany Medical Center and pronounced dead at 6:35 p.m.

DeFeo killed his mother Louise, father Ronald Sr, both 43, sisters Dawn, 18 and Allison, 13, as well as brothers Marc, 12, and John, 9, in their home in Amityville, on New York’s Long Island, in November 1974. His horrific crimes later inspired the horror film series of the same name, with the family’s Ocean Avenue home later becoming a hotspot for ghoulish tourists hoping to pick something from the ‘óther side’ up on the gruesome atmosphere.

Amityville Horror Killer Ronald Defeo Dies In Prison Aged 69
In this Nov. 14, 1974, photo, police and members of the Suffolk County Coroner’s Office investigate the murder of six people found shot in Amityville, NY. image: Pixabay

The house – famed for its quadrant-shaped top floor windows said to resemble eyes, has since been remodelled and now looks dramatically different. The murderer, who was 23 at the time of the killings, used a .35 rifle to shoot his loved ones dead as they slept.

Both parents were shot twice, while the siblings were each shot once. All of the victims were found face-down in bed.

DeFeo’s lawyers claimed at his trial that he was insane, and had been hearing voices in his head telling him that his loved ones were plotting against him. He was later convicted of six counts of second-degree murder in 1975 and sentenced to a term of 25 years to life in prison.

DeFeo was scheduled for a parole hearing in July, online DOC records show. In a jailhouse interview in 2006, DeFeo claimed he only killed his father, his mother and his eldest sister, Dawn. The other siblings were murdered by his sister Dawn before DeFeo killed her, he claimed.


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Tony Winterburn

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