RONALD DEFEO, JR.

  At around 6.30 pm on Wednesday,November 13,1974,23 year old Ronald Defeo, jr entered Henry's bar in Amityville and declared 'You got to help me,I think my mother and father are shot.'Defeo and a small group of people went to 112 Ocean Avenue.They searched the house and found that  six members of the family were dead in their beds.The victims were Ronald Defeo,Sr.( 43),Louise Defeo(42),and four of their children Dawn(18),Allison(13),Mark(12) and John Matthew(9).All of the victims had been shot with a .35 caliber rifle at around 3 o'clock in the morning of that day.Ronald defeo,Jr was the eldest son of the family.He was taken to the local police station for his own protection after suggesting to police officers at the scene of the crime that the killing had been carried out by a mob hit man named Tony Mazzeo.However,an interview with Defeo at the station soon exposed serious inconsistencies in his version of events.The following day he confessed to carrying out the killings himself Mazzeo had an airtight alibi.Defeo told detective,'once I started,I couldn't stop.It went so fast.' He admitted that he had taken a bath,redressed, and discarded crucial evidence like blood-stained clothes,the rifle,cartridges on his way to work as usual.On November 21,1975,Defeo was found guilty and judge sentenced him to six concurrent sentences of 25 years to life imprisonment.Ronald Defeo had a volatile relationship with his father,but the motive of the killings remains unclear.

RONALD DEFEO,JR.

RONALD DEFEO WITH HIS SIBLINGS 

DEFEO HOUSE IN AMITYVILLE