THE DEFEO FAMILY
Name: DeFeo family
The DeFeo family is the family that was murdered in the house that later served
as the setting for the best-selling book The Amityville Horror (1977). On
November 14, 1974, 23 year-old Ronald "Butch" DeFeo, Jr. shot and killed his
entire family in their home: his father, mother, two brothers and two sisters.
Shortly after the murders, George and Kathy Lutz moved into the DeFeo house.
They left 28 days later, claiming the house was haunted. Author Jay Anson
detailed their story in a book billed as nonfiction. The book was a bestseller
and was turned into a movie (1979) that spawned an entire franchise, making it
one of the most famous ghost stories in U.S. history. In 1979 William Weber,
DeFeo's defense attorney, claimed the whole thing was a hoax concocted "over
many bottles of wine." Subsequent occupants never experienced supernatural
goings-on, and skeptics dismiss the case out of hand as an elaborate hoax, but
true believers maintain that the Amityville case is proof of the supernatural.
Butch DeFeo was convicted of the murders and is still serving his sentence in a
New York prison.
Name: DeFeo family
The DeFeo family is the family that was murdered in the house that later served
as the setting for the best-selling book The Amityville Horror (1977). On
November 14, 1974, 23 year-old Ronald "Butch" DeFeo, Jr. shot and killed his
entire family in their home: his father, mother, two brothers and two sisters.
Shortly after the murders, George and Kathy Lutz moved into the DeFeo house.
They left 28 days later, claiming the house was haunted. Author Jay Anson
detailed their story in a book billed as nonfiction. The book was a bestseller
and was turned into a movie (1979) that spawned an entire franchise, making it
one of the most famous ghost stories in U.S. history. In 1979 William Weber,
DeFeo's defense attorney, claimed the whole thing was a hoax concocted "over
many bottles of wine." Subsequent occupants never experienced supernatural
goings-on, and skeptics dismiss the case out of hand as an elaborate hoax, but
true believers maintain that the Amityville case is proof of the supernatural.
Butch DeFeo was convicted of the murders and is still serving his sentence in a
New York prison.