Cold Open

It’s just after 6 PM, on November 13th, 1974, in Amityville, Long Island.

Trees and houses whip past as 24-year-old Bobby Kelske presses his foot down on the gas pedal. He’s probably doing twice the speed limit, but Bobby doesn’t care, because this is an emergency.

Just moments ago, Bobby was drinking at a local bar when his best friend, Ronald “Butch” DeFeo, burst in. Butch had appalling news: he had just discovered his mother and father had been shot in their home, and he thought they were both dead. Bobby could hardly believe it. Amityville just isn’t that kind of place. But he and four other men from the bar didn't hesitate to help.

Now, Butch and the other men are packed into Bobby’s car and are racing the short distance to the DeFeo family home.

Bobby pulls up outside the house and doesn't wait for the others as he dashes up the path to the door.

It's unlocked, and heading inside, Bobby finds the large house is dark. The family dog is barking furiously somewhere, but Bobby ignores that and crosses the marble foyer to the stairs.

He takes the steps two at a time, then hurries along the hall toward Butch's parents’ bedroom.

The blinds are down, but there's a wet and metallic edge to the air. Bobby fumbles for the light switch.

And when the bulb flickers on, it reveals a horrifying scene. Butch’s parents, Ronald Senior and Louise, lie face down on the bed. Ronald has a bullet wound in his back and is clearly dead. Louise is mostly covered by an orange blanket. But the garish color only makes her face seem even paler. Bobby checks her pulse. And she, too, is dead.

Hardly daring to breathe, Bobby retreats to the door. He can hear the others coming. So tries to think of what to say to his best friend, Butch, even as he wonders who could possibly have committed such a terrible crime.

It soon becomes clear that the crime is far more terrible than Bobby Kelske realizes. In the home’s other bedrooms, Ronald “Butch” DeFeo’s four siblings also lie dead. This massacre shocks the nation, and in the years to come, the name “Amityville” will become infamous, a byword for horror—and not just because of the horrendous crime that occurred there on November 13th, 1974.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is November 13th, 1974: The Amityville Murders.

Act One

It’s 7 PM, on November 13th, 1974, in Amityville, one hour after two murders were reported at the DeFeo family home.

Detective Caspar Randazzo pushes through a crowd of curious onlookers. Police cars surround the house of 112 Ocean Avenue, and their flashing lights have drawn the neighbors out onto the street.

Detective Randazzo shows his badge to an officer guarding the perimeter, who nods and then allows him through.

The DeFeo house sits on a slight rise. It’s an imposing building, with two quarter-moon windows on the top floor that seem to peer down on Ocean Avenue like unblinking eyes.

Detective Randazzo closes the door behind him and heads up the stairs to inspect the crime scene. When the call first came in, it was thought that only two people had been murdered. But a later search of the house has revealed that there are actually six victims in total: Ronald and Louise DeFeo, and four of their children. All have been shot at close range while sleeping in their beds. Randazzo examines the bodies in turn, but it’s not easy. In some cases, there’s so much blood, it’s hard to find the bullet wounds.

Then, after looking in each bedroom, Detective Randazzo checks the rest of the house. There are no signs of a struggle or a forced entry, and it looks like nothing has been stolen from the property either.

So next, Randazzo speaks to Ronald “Butch” DeFeo, the eldest son, who apparently is the only survivor of the massacre. He finds Butch in the kitchen, being comforted by a friend. He seems understandably distraught but still insists he’s happy to help with the investigation.

Gently, the detective asks Butch to retrace his movements over the previous 24 hours. Butch says he stayed up late watching television before falling asleep. And then, at around 4 AM, he heard his brother in the bathroom. After tossing and turning for a few minutes, he decided to go to work early and left while everyone else was still asleep. Butch says he then left work early to hang out with friends. And over the afternoon, he made multiple calls home, but they all went unanswered. Butch tells the detective that he grew increasingly concerned and went to check on his family, only to find the front door locked. Climbing in through the kitchen window, he then discovered the horrific scene inside.

When asked who he thinks could be responsible, Butch mentions that his father had ties to organized crime and says that Ronald Senior had a falling-out with a hitman who stayed with the family a few years ago. Detective Randazzo takes down the name and underlines it. He’s just found himself a prime suspect.

And concerned that Butch might still be a target, Randazzo takes the young man back to police headquarters. He has no reason to doubt Butch’s story, and after taking his statement, he finds a cot for Butch to sleep on.

But just as Detective Randazzo is ready to go home after a long shift, a police officer returns from the crime scene with some newly discovered evidence— and it turns the investigation on its head.

The officer shows Randazzo a gun box containing cartridges and labels that suggest a rifle was stored inside. The officer reveals that this box was found in Butch’s bedroom. The rifle has not been found yet, but a forensics expert has matched the wounds on the victims to the bullets used in it.

So soon, the two police officers are shaking Butch awake to read him his rights. Butch then goes back into the interview room—but this time, it isn’t to give a witness statement. It’s for questioning as a suspect. And under closer scrutiny, Butch's original story falls apart. At first, Butch claims that his family must have been murdered during the day while he was at work. But the officers point out that they were murdered in their beds, meaning the shooting almost certainly took place at night.

Then, when detectives reveal that Butch’s gun and bullets are a match to the murder weapon, Butch changes his tune. And then tells the officers that he was awoken with a gun to the head and that the hitman he named earlier made Butch watch as he murdered his family with Butch’s own weapon. It’s a far-fetched tale, and it doesn’t take long for the officers to pick holes in that story, either.

So eventually, after hours of questioning, Butch confesses. On November 15th, two days after the killings, detectives charged Butch with the murder of his parents and four siblings.

It will seem to everyone like an open-and-shut case. But the story of the Amityville murders will be far from over. Butch DeFeo’s trial will command the attention of the entire country. And what happens after that will make the town famous all across the world.

Act Two

It’s October 14th, 1975, in Suffolk County, New York, eleven months after the arrest of Ronald “Butch” DeFeo.

45-year-old Gerard Sullivan rises from his chair and smooths down his suit jacket. As an experienced prosecutor, he knows it’s important to set a good first impression for the jury — and today’s trial is the biggest of his career so far. If he’s successful, he will be bringing Butch DeFeo to justice for killing his parents and siblings. But the murders have drawn intense media interest, and Gerard knows that every word he says will be picked apart in tomorrow’s newspapers.

So turning to the jury, Gerard begins to outline the prosecution’s case carefully. He shows them the confession that Butch gave to officers, less than two days after the bodies were discovered. He describes how Butch admitted shooting his family in the early hours of November 13th, 1974, before calmly changing out of his blood-soaked clothes, washing up, and trimming his beard. Then, he dressed for work, wrapped his stained clothing and the murder weapon in a pillowcase, and then tossed them in a storm drain. Shortly after, police officers found the rifle and some of the bloody clothes, and ballistic tests confirmed that the gun found was the one used to shoot the DeFeos.

Gerard concludes his opening statement with a short summary. The prosecution has a confession, and they have a murder weapon. As far as Gerard is concerned, it’s an air-tight case.

But now it’s the turn of Butch’s defense—and right from the start, his attorney takes the courtroom by surprise. He admits that Butch is indeed the killer—he has no intention of even trying to persuade the jury that Butch didn’t shoot his parents and siblings. But just because he killed them, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s guilty. Instead, the defense attorney claims that Butch is innocent by reason of insanity.

This unexpected plea forces Gerard to rethink his approach to the trial. He thought it’d be easy to convince the jury that Butch was a murderer. But now, he must also persuade the jury that Butch was sane when he committed the crime—and that’s a more difficult task. Because when Butch himself takes to the stand, he plays the part of a madman. During his incarceration, he’s grown his beard long and unruly. He has a blank expression, and when shown a picture of his mother, Butch swears that he’s never seen her before in his life. At one point, he even claims that when he has a gun in his hand, he turns into God. But Gerard is convinced it’s all an act. The hours of graphic police interviews he’s studied have convinced him that Butch is a cold-blooded killer.

So to prove it, Gerard calls a psychiatrist as an expert witness. The psychiatrist states that Butch has antisocial personality disorder—a diagnosis that means that Butch does suffer from mental illness, but is also aware of his actions, so he would have understood what he did was wrong. In response, the defense calls their own psychiatrist—and he claims that Butch’s diagnosis is more serious. He says that Butch committed the murders while in a state of psychosis, that he has no memory of killing his family, and that he cannot be held criminally responsible for the murders.

When the defense attorney finishes questioning their expert and sits down, it’s time for Gerard to cross-examine him. He knows he has to discredit the evidence, or Butch might walk free. But rather than discuss the killings themselves, he focuses his line of attack on Butch’s actions after the murders. The defense psychiatrist cites the fact that Butch didn’t try to hide the bodies as a sign of his insanity. After all, anyone in their right mind would have tried to get rid of the bodies to cover their tracks.

But Gerard instantly spots a flaw in that logic. He points out that Butch did try to hide the evidence of his involvement in the killings—he drove across the city to hide his clothing and the murder weapon in a storm drain. The psychiatrist then tries to backpedal, but by the end of his testimony, Gerard can see members of the jury are shaking their heads. And he’s thrilled. Gerard has dismantled the opposition’s star witness. And from there, the defense never recovers.

After a five-week trial, Butch will be found guilty of all six murders. He’ll spend the rest of his life in prison—but Ronald “Butch” DeFeo’s crimes will live on in the public consciousness long after his conviction, thanks to a series of mysterious events that occurred in the DeFeo family home long after the killings occurred.

Act Three

It’s December 18th, 1975, in Amityville, Long Island, two weeks after Ronald “Butch” DeFeo was sentenced to life in prison.

28-year-old George Lutz smiles at his wife, Kathleen, as he parks his car on the driveway of 112 Ocean Avenue. From the backseat, George’s three stepchildren cheer and pile out of the tightly-packed vehicle, rushing to the front door of their new home.

A few weeks ago, George and Kathleen bought this five-bedroom house for the bargain price of $80,000. It had a boathouse and a swimming pool. Ordinarily, they never could have afforded it. But the real estate broker admitted that the property had been the site of the brutal Amityville Murders two years earlier. And that made the property hard to sell and worthless on the market. But George and Kathleen aren’t too bothered about the property’s dark past. There’s no sign of the murders in the house now, and they’ve already arranged for it to be blessed by a priest.

But their time on Ocean Avenue doesn’t last long. After just four weeks, the Lutz family moves out—with a dramatic story to tell.

They say that soon after they moved in, they began smelling strange, foul odors in the house and felt sudden cold spots. They heard disembodied voices and footsteps in empty rooms. Swarms of flies gathered in one bedroom. Doors and windows opened and shut on their own. They even claim that green slime oozed from the walls and keyholes.

So, the Lutzes move in with Kathleen’s mother and never set foot in 112 Ocean Avenue again. But two months later, George and Kathleen sell the rights to their story to a publishing house, and author Jay Anson is hired to write an account of the alleged haunting. The Amityville Horror is published in September 1977 and becomes an immediate bestseller. Despite many of the book’s claims being challenged or debunked, Hollywood soon comes calling, and in 1980, a movie adaptation of the book brings the story to an even wider audience.

Over the next few decades, more than 30 sequels and spin-offs will be made. But as the horror story becomes a box office staple, the crime which originally inspired it will be almost forgotten. Instead, “Amityville” will become shorthand for a cursed home possessed by evil spirits and demonic influences, a far cry from the quiet New York suburb that was the scene of six gruesome real-life murders on November 13th, 1974.

Outro

Next on History Daily. November 14th, 1994. The first Channel Tunnel passenger train departs London and arrives in Paris less than three hours later.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Mollie Baack.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Lauren Sudworth.

Edited by Scott Reeves.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.