Case #10: The Amityville Murders Part 1 - The Background

The Amityville House

Ronald DeFeo Sr. was born and raised in Brooklyn. A life of hard work seemed to finally pay off for him, and he and his family moved out of the city to Long Island. The house they bought had two stories plus an attic, as well as a boathouse on the Amityville River. DeFeo had a wife and four children. Things seemed perfect on the surface. However, it seemed that there were deeper issues at root. Ronald DeFeo Sr. was described as being hot-tempered. The person who seemed to bear the brunt of his anger was his eldest son, Ronald "Butch" DeFeo Jr. For the sake of ease, I am going to refer to him as Butch from here on out. Butch was described as being overweight and sullen. He was often picked by his classmates. Ronald would tell Butch to stick up for himself at school. At home seemed to be another matter altogether. 

The DeFeo family

Ronald had no tolerance for talking back and allegedly liked to keep his son on a leash. But, it appeared that things were beginning to change as Butch got older. He was starting to get bigger and stronger. As time went by, the father and son would often come to blows. Reportedly, Ronald Sr. didn't have the best interpersonal skills. However, it was noted that Butch seemed particularly problematic. His temper was apparently highly irregular. Ronald and his wife sent Butch to therapy, but it reportedly didn't work. Eventually, Butch's parents employed a different tactic. They just started buying him whatever he wanted. 

Whenever Butch asked for something, he got it. However, there were also times where he didn't feel like asking for money, so he would just steal it. By the time Butch turned 17, he began turning to hard drugs and petty theft. It was also noted that Butch's violent behavior was becoming more psychotic. One alleged incident involved a hunting trip Butch took with some friends. Butch had pointed a gun at one of his friends, someone he had known for years. 

When Butch turned 18, he got a job at his grandfather's Buick dealership. It seemed like a job where little to nothing was expected of him. This apparently included whether or not he showed up for work at all. 

Along the way, he was having more and more altercations with his father. These altercations were also growing more and more violent. There was one incident where Butch's parents got into a fight. Butch grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun from his room and charged into the altercation with no warning. He pointed the gun at his father and yelled: "Leave that woman alone! I'm going to kill you, you fat fuck! This is it." However, for whatever reason, the gun didn't go off. All Ronald Sr. could do is stare in disbelief. Butch just seemed to lower the gun and walk away, completely indifferent to the fact that he just tried to kill his own father. 

Ronald "Butch" DeFeo Jr.

Weeks before the murder, Butch decided the money he "earned" from his "job." He devised a scheme to defraud his father. He was sent on an errand to deposit some money in the bank ($1,800 in cash and $20,000 in checks). He arranged to be "robbed" by an accomplice. He had left for the bank with another accomplice at 12:30 pm. The two returned two hours later. When they gave Butch's father (who was at the dealership) the story they had come up with, he was furious. The police were called. They asked to speak to Butch. Instead of faking being cooperative, Butch immediately became tense and irritable. When the police began to believe he was lying, he became downright violent. 

On the Friday before the murders, the police asked Butch to look at some mugshots to finger the fictional thief. At first, Butch agreed. However, at the last moment, Butch pulled out. Word had gotten back to Ronald, Sr. and he confronted his son. Once again, Butch threatened to kill him before running to his car and speeding off.  

That was some of the background behind the DeFeo family (in particular Ronald, Sr. and Ronald "Butch" Jr.) as well as the events that led up to the murders. The next post is going to cover the murders and Butch's trial. 

Source: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20081219094155/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/family/amityville/3.html 

 

   

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