Amityville Murders
(Albany, NY/77WABC)-Ronald Defeo Jr., whose killing of his parents and his four siblings at the family’s home on Ocean Ave. in Amityville, NY in 1974 prompted the book and several movies “The Amityville Horror,” has died while imprisoned. DeFeo Jr. was 69-years-old.
NY State correction officials say DeFeo Jr. was hospitalized at Albany Medical Center on Feb. 2nd for an undisclosed illness. He died on Friday, Feb. 2nd at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, NY.
DeFeo Jr. was serving six 25 years to life sentences for murdering his parents and four siblings. They were shot and killed while they slept. He unsuccessfully pursued an insanity defense at trial claiming “voices” drove him to kill his family.
A family that lived in the DeFeo home a year after the murders claimed the house was haunted. The house has been the subject of curiosity seekers over-the-years.
DeFeo Jr. unsuccessfully sought a retrial in 1992. He claimed that his 18-year-old sister killed the other five family members and that he then shot her.
