The DeFeo Family Murder | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

hey weirdos I'm Elina and I'm Ash and this is [Music] morbid hello hello how are you I'm great
I'm tired but I'm great how are you I'm also tired and great I love that great and tired yeah we did all of the tour
the book tour we just finished last night and it was so much fun so cool it was the one of the coolest things I feel
like we've gotten to do yeah you guys were rad as hell thanks for inviting me [ __ ] thanks for coming no problem it
was so much fun I love and it was awesome but I think my body just like crashed at the end of it it's just like
okay go to sleep well the thing is that the the thing you have to know about me and Elena which most of you probably
already know we don't [ __ ] go anywhere ever and we don't socialize with really anyone other than each other
and like some family and a couple of friends we're very I'm yawning right now sorry uh I literally was yawning I was
talking uh yeah my social battery my social battery has always been pretty uh no pretty little doesn't hold a lot Ando
it gets empty real quick mine used to be so much larger and in charger M never was it never was and it's only gotten
smaller as I've gotten older so I have to pick very carefully what I how I socialize to and this was a great a
great way to do it it was a great choice and now I'm exhausted as of this recording this [ __ ] sitting
across from me is a number one won New York Times bestselling author I can't believe that I am so
happy for you I was I'm shook literally pooping my pants when you got the news it's I still it's I'm like honestly
speechless about it still it's incredible but thanks so much for supporting me everybody you're the
you're amazing yay and just know that I accidentally tackled her when she got the news she did she side tackled me
which was I meant to hug but way more forceful full side tackle uh it's amazing though it's amazing and I can't
believe it and I can't wait to make more books um and yeah it's crazy hopefully the next one is also on the list I see
it I see it manifest we all manifested on tour we hell yeah we did and you guys manifested I'm sure of it you did it and
you're just talented this is cuz you guys did it though and yeah you supported me you bought the book you
pre-ordered the book you seem to be enjoying the book which makes me pretty pretty happy and I just needed to tell
you you are appreciated your kind words have been unbelievably appreciated I can't tell you how much it is meant this
whole time seeing in person has been amazing and appreciated and you are the real ones so I just wanted to tell you
that she's on the New York Times so I just wanted to thank you cuz you guys made it awesome yay and you're the
reason for the season you know you are that's I think that's all the happy stuff we have yeah that's all the happy
stuff and you know I like it um and what we're going to do is we're going to this
is like um this is a two-parter but it's like a different kind of two-parter where you know it's still sort of well
not sort of it is still very much spooky season this but this is straight up True
Crime this is straight up True Crime but it's connected to a spooky thing cuz we
wanted to give you like a little bit of both this season yeah you got to get both because that's what you're here for
makes everybody happy it does and I get it so this is one of the bigger ones that we've never covered before I know
it's actually kind of crazy that we haven't which is shocking so what we're going to do here is we're going to talk
about the defo family murders those are largely connected to what came after which is the idaville
horror hoax that is a big old hoax but it's such a big that's almost a true crime in and of itself because it's such
a massively orchestrated hoax it kind of was right yeah CRI didn't isn't there like Court transcripts about it where
they I mean there like there I mean that's a one of the biggest hoax is ever like it's huge yeah so what we're going
to do is in this episode I am purely going to tell you the True Crime tale of the defo murders it's really sad it's
really brutal trigger warning right off the bat St it's like pretty gruesome it's like gun stuff it's it's rough
unfortunately like the vi some of the victims are children some of the victims are children so it's just really sad but
and then in part two of this series Almost it'll be a totally different episode but it's going to be talking
about the am horror hoax and some of the real stuff that could be associated with
it we're going to see Ed and Lorraine Warren again in part two they they always they come to stay for spooky
season they do they just like they really involve themselves so um so yeah today we're going to be talking about
the defo family murder case so buckle up everybody all righty so when 23-year-old
Ronald defo Jr borrowed his friend Bobby Kel's car on the night of November 13th
1974 so this was a while ago it was with the understanding that he was just going to be going down the
street just a few blocks to his house and he was going to be right back so since he'd gotten out of work that
afternoon Ronald's had been trying to reach anyone at his house he said he just couldn't get anyone on the phone
and it was starting to make him nervous he couldn't get a hold of his parents any of his brothers or sisters and he
was like that's not normal I've been trying to get them I can't so he had told Bobby I'm going to have to go home
and break a window to get in cuz he was really worried at that point it was late
damn so he took off in the direction of his house and he was saying I'm just going to go there check on things and
I'll come right back with your car a bit later Ron came skidding into the parking
lot of Henry's Bar where he had left um and he had barely made it through the door of the bar when he said Bob you've
got to help me you've got to help me someone shot my mother and father I can't imagine hearing that no
so everyone in Henry's Bar was just like what the [ __ ] like none of them knew how
to respond Henry's regular John alteri said he was hysterical he was shouting everybody come on somebody shot my
father and mother like hysterical all upset you got to come now okay so of course as he's saying that like you got
to help me a handful of guys jumped up went out to their cars and they were like we'll follow you there so at the
time no one knew what to expect cuz they were like are we really going to like walk into dead bodies like what's going
to happen here but when they got to their destination the scene at 112 Ocean Avenue was eerily quiet oh I immediately
hate that and it gets worse because it's eerily quiet and then there's just an alarm clock going off from somewhere on
the second floor of the house oh my entire body just wmed I the sound the feeling of that the
sound of that was just like oh no I have come home from vacation before and heard
my alarm clock going off cuz like I forgotten to to put it on to put it off and it's just it when you walk in and
you just hear a faint alarm and you're like what the [ __ ] there's something about that I don't know yeah I don't
know I something about something being like so still and quiet and then and then a very normal yeah disrupting it
yeah a very routine like why and and it's the why hasn't somebody shut that off yes that's the thing and when you
why is that still going like that and and that's the thing they know that there's brothers and sisters in this
house there's four other siblings in this house so hearing somebody shot my mother father and then rolling up and
hearing an alarm blaring from the second floor and no one's shutting it off oh my
God that's hor I'd be like what are we about to walk into so once he had the car in park Bobby kelsky and John alteri
didn't hesitate for a second before rushing straight into the house which like whoa good for them the other people
who showed up were a little more cautious they didn't run right in also good for them yeah Ron on the other hand
waited outside with them and it that's interesting yeah very interesting I wouldn't be outside if I thought my
entire family was dead inside nope definitely not it was alteri who found the bodies in the main bedroom um the
father and mother then they found the two young boys across the hall and alteri was later quoted as saying the
little one was in pajamas and had blood all over him I couldn't see where the Bullet Hole was just I think of like a
little boy in his pajamas in bed covered in blood is oh it's awful so horrific yeah well Al Ty and kelsky searched the
house another bar pap Pon Joey ywt called the police from the phone in the deo's kitchen he told the suffk County
Police dispatcher we have a shooting here there's a guy here he says there's been a shooting and everyone's dead damn
which that's interesting to me that phrasing because Ron you know some people are saying like he's coming into
the bar he says my mom and dad are shot y he's still saying that when they get to the house they're thinking it's just
the mom and dad and then they find like then they find the other two boys John and Mark but then this Patron Joey yck
calls the police from the kitchen and says that Ron came into the bar saying that everybody was shot everybody's dead
so in the commotion story got [ __ ] up somewh it's a weird little thing and that happens a little bit but officer
Kenneth gusi was in his police car just a few blocks away from the house when the call came in um so he was the first
one to hear it over the radio and he went right to the defo house when he pulled in Ron defo was crying
and he told guski that his father and mother were dead uhuh again and before taking any statement from anyone gusy
had defo and Bobby kelsky take him into the house because he was like whoaa like
we got to figure out what's going on here and he had them wait in the kitchen and he off searched the entire house to
make sure that the killer was not still inside the house now upstairs gusy located the main bedroom which was a
very lavishly decorated you know bedroom it had like ornate Furniture there was a
lot of religious statues they were devout Catholic Family um the photos of Louise and Ronald senior's five children
in there um this was a very nice home they were like pretty well off it's a nice area yeah yeah grusi though was not
he could only look at that for so long because he immediately saw two bodies laying face down on the bed Louise on
the left and Ronald senior on the right Louise was covered with the gold bed spread but gusy could see a large hole
in her night gown and the blood had soaked all over the mattress between the I mean it was a brutal scene Ronald
senior was uncovered by the like did not have the the blanket over him and was dressed only in box or shorts and his
right leg was kind of like hanging a little bit off the bed and there was a bullet hole in the small of his back and
a trail of blood was leading down onto his boxers and they were both face down face down everyone was face down h now
officer gusy made his way from the parents' room to the room across the hall and he said he could immediately
tell this was like um a young boy's bedroom from the way it was decorated he could see toys and games on the floor
that's so sad and gusy immediately saw the two boys 7-year-old John oh God and 12-year-old Mark lying face down in
their beds just like their parents and he said the blanket covering the boy on the left had been pulled down to his
ankles and gusy could tell his pajamas were soaked through with blood and he could see a very ragged bullet hole in
his lowered back oh my God uh the boy on the right was also uncovered his white T-shirt was pulled up around his chest
and it revealed a bullet hole in his lower back oh so it's interesting how this is all laid out shot in the back
too everybody like lower back yeah now after discovering those four bodies gusy returned to the first floor and called
the station to report what he' just seen and he requested additional assistance more officers he wanted the coroner
there and as he talked the officer could see Ron defo out of the corner of his eye he said and he said Ron was crying
he was crying softly but he said he could tell that he was also listening to what I was saying hate that like it was
one of those things like the and then like the look over to see what's happening and when gusy hung up the
phone defo said immediately that he had sisters that were also in the house uhhuh one on the bedroom on a second
floor on the second floor and what his oldest sister Dawn was in the Attic bedroom and immediately it's like I
don't know if this is just me but like you find your parents you have four other siblings correct four yeah you
don't immediately search for your little siblings when you find your parents dead
thank you because if I found my parents dead my first thought would be my little
sisters and brothers are in danger I need to gather them all up get them the [ __ ] out of this house and then call the
police exactly but instead you left the house left four children in the house with somebody who shot your parents yeah
that doesn't make sense and also you've just heard this officer now say that your two brothers are dead one you would
be losing your mind and two what my first thought wouldn't be well I have two sisters one's on the second floor
and one's in the Attic I'd be like are my sisters okay where are they like what's going on like you'd be like wait
a like are they all right tell me you didn't say anything about them the way he says it is almost like you haven't
found these other two these other two people exactly so gusy heard heard that heard there two sisters raced back
upstairs to Allison's room on the second floor and like the boy's bedroom there were two beds in the room but one was
made up obviously it had not been slept in and then in the other bed guski could
see that and he was joined by another patrol officer at this point um they found the body of 13-year-old Allison
lying face down and there was a pink bed spread covering her up to her shoulders
that's interesting she'd been shot in the side of the face oh my God and a large pool of blood had collected on the
floor next to her bed oh that's awful hers was a very rough one brutal the two officers found the stairs that went to
Don deo's attic bedroom and they went up slowly you know wondering if the killer
could possibly be up there right but instead upstairs they found 18-year-old Dawn like the rest of her family she was
faced down in bed covered by the blanket and shot in the chest H so that tells you something different she's face down
but she was shot in the chest mhm by the look of things nothing had been Disturbed in any of the rooms and there
was no apparent sign of struggle okay if they had to guess both officers said they it looked like someone had entered
the def home in the middle of the night and killed all six of these people in their sleep in the matter of like
seconds yeah otherwise and to this day even though we'll get into everything and like you
know Rond defo did this for sure but there is a question of how the [ __ ] did he do this without anybody running out
of the house or getting away systematically no no one woke up like what why are they all in bed like
they're all where they were shot right so like how did this happen it's that's why there is like
theories and I'm not saying they're like credible I'm just saying like that's why
people do question like was someone else involved here like was there another person like what happened here I only
know that he that Rond defo did it and that like I don't know all the major details or I I know all the major
details I don't know all the little details yeah well the two officers returned to the first floor and gusy
called the station again to report actually we have six bodies in the house um and they said there's no sign of a
shooter can't find anyone just the defos only living family member Ronald defo Jr
sus now over the next few hours you know know homicide detective showed up local
and County various crime scene technicians you know the coroner tons of people are at the Deo house and in the
back of the house they discovered the family sheep dog Shaggy but he was okay Shaggy Shaggy he's very cute um he was
tied to the handle of the back door okay Shaggy did not sleep outside that's not how Shaggy slept Shaggy slept
in the house tied to the handle of the back door he deliberately tied outside okay for what had happened he
was very stressed out yeah of course like barking like crazy going that's all the activity in the house like he was
losing his mind sheep dogs in particular too like something happening to their family it's their job to round everybody
up so he's probably like I can't protect anybody yeah like I need to go get everybody and it is it's amazing what
dogs do for their family like it's wild like we have like just a little side note no it's true like um blanch in
particular our dog blanch is obsessed with John like literally would crawl into his skin I always say she wants to
live inside of his rib cage she does she wants to live inside of him like she loves him so much if you talk to JN she
starts barking yeah she doesn't want you to talk to him but if JN like pretends to tickle me or the girls and like does
it like he'll pretend to do like like a like he I'm coming blanch will sail through the air and like go after him
like like all loyalty ends there and the loyalty to like you are hurting the rest
of my family or what I see that I think you are hurting she goes nuts like she is and then like the same but then the
same goes back if you pretend to hurt John she going to get you like she is loyal to this family she says like ride
or she says Ohana means [ __ ] family baby but she's like you even family you don't [ __ ] with and Sid too yeah and Sid
will lose it like they are so it's like it's wild how dogs just they tell you a lot well because you're their pack yeah
like it's it's just innate it's so crazy like I [ __ ] love dogs dogs are great dogs are so goddamn cool but so so yeah
this is weird this poor dog Shaggy is tied up outside to the handle of the back door so officers searched every
inch of the house and the property looking for any evidence and by all accounts there was very little if
anything to be found it was like nothing had they they had been shot and this person just disappeared and there was
also no signs of a robbery or a home invasion nothing was missing or even out of place so what would the motive be
there was no sign of a struggle to investigators the lack of evidence was very confusing and very strange M and
the defos lived in one of the most expensive houses in Amityville and would have been Prime targets for robbery but
whoever killed the six members of this family appeared to have done so just because for something other than money
there was no or an apparent right you know like and it's it's also weird to me I wonder if people in Amityville are
annoyed by this I associate Amityville with the word like with the idville horror yes so when you hear it in
reference of just like residence of Amityville I'm like oh that's like a real place like I'm just like oh [ __ ] I
was just thinking that as you were saying it it is I was like oh Amityville is a town just a regular town like it's
not like a spooky town it's supposed to just be like a regular town a beautiful Town it probably is so [ __ ] it's
probably so annoying and I'm sorry for yeah and it's like and like this like you know so it's like I always
think an Amityville is so synonymous with like ooh spooky it's like I feel bad like I'm sorry you're real place
isn't it just like a coastal town yeah I think it's just like a a nice town and this this particular and we'll you know
we'll get into it but they had to they had to do a lot to keep people from coming back to this house a lot no I'm
sure got a little Annoying does it I'm sorry does the house still exist today I think it does so but it's been renovated
it looks a little different it's a it is a beautiful home it is yeah there was um
they had a sign out front that said high hopes that was always pointed at like this this really tragic story and like
there's this little sign that says High Hopes outside it just like the defo family had that out it was always this
just a really chilling thing is that in reference to something I think it's just
like you know prosperity and you know all that like you know good luck huh I've never seen anything like that now
while canvasing the neighborhood officers took statements from several neighbors that kind of helped narrow
down the timeline of what happened here according to one neighbor who didn't want to be identified in the Press she
said she had gone to bed around 10:00 p.m. the night before and noticed that all the lights were on in the house the
F house and she described this as very unusual and something I have never noticed before and at 10 p.m. it's like
what yeah she said usually at that late hours of the evening she said there were
there were lights on but the house was only like partially lit up and another neighbor 15-year-old John neth told
officers he'd been woken up by barking of one of the deo's dogs at around 3:00 a.m. okay and he claimed that this was
and and he said it was very unusual at that time of night the dog did not bark in the middle of the night and he said
that the Barking actually went on for about 20 minutes oh that's so sad stopped so that's upsetting that's
really sad and given that he was The Only Living member of the defo family and the only obvious person who stood to
gain from the deaths of his parents investigators quickly turned to Ronald to say what was going on what were you
doing and in their interview with Bobby kelsky you know Ronald's friend Bobby kelsky they learned that Ronald was what
kelsky described as a gun buff he owned several guns and know I'm only saying uh
because because of what happen in Ronald's bedroom investigators found a 22 caliber semi-automatic rifle a 12
gauge shotgun 22 caliber Bank revolver a ton of ammunition but according to kelsky
statement to police Ronald's 35 caliber Marlin rifle look to be missing H remember that rifle
okay now a little past 8:00 p.m. that night County detectives Gasper Ren Randazzo excuse me and Gerard galof sat
down they all have very interesting last names they do um Gerard galof sat down with Ronald for what would be the first
of many interviews with Rono uh Ron told detectives I'll do whatever I have to do
I'll help you in any way I can okay and what's funny is like um i i i i prod you to go like watch an
interview with him yeah because you can see how he comes off as like he's got this New York accent and he's like you
know like one of those guys you know I'm just talking to you I'm just talking to
you about stuff you see how he would come off as very like oh I'll just help you I'm just here to help I I'll
cooperate anyway I'm just good guy over here you know like it's just I'm obsessed with what you're doing here he
comes off that way yeah and you could see how if he continued that act and somehow got through it he could probably
get away with this that's so scary now when they asked who he thought could be responsible for the murders they were
expecting him to say I have no [ __ ] clue who would kill my entire family I don't know I could not think of anybody
that would murder my entire family Well Ron could think of someone I just need a
side note here he was 23 when this all happened and I need you all to go look at his buug shop because you could tell
me this man is like 45 and I'd be like yeah yeah he is he that's a rough he he was lived a rough life oh did he yeah
okay so I totally had to interrupt him sorry well Ron knew of somebody who he thought would kill his whole family tell
me everything uh he thought of a guy named Tony maio he said he was the best suspect for this according to Ron a
faction of the New York mafia had a grudge against his family because of his family's involvement in mob related
activity oh and he just immediately gave that up he was just like bada boop I'm like uh
he believed maio a supposed Mafia Hitman had likely killed his family in order to
send a message now this sounds like what like you know we're like excuse me what you're
bringing the mob into here but they weren't totally out of the realm of possibility when it was brought up it
seemed unlikely but it wasn't one of those like you know anybody else who says that that you like the mob did it
like really because according to the suffk police department's organized Crime Control Bureau Ronald defo
senior's uncle Peter defo was a captain in The veto geneves crime family that's kind of a big [ __ ] deal and had been
known to police as a member of the geneves organization as early as 1934 holy [ __ ] now that's interesting I find
that [ __ ] so fascinating very interesting um but at the time of the murders Peter defo was 74 years old
right and he hadn't been involved in criminal activity for nearly a decade at that point he had kind of retired he's
like Uncle June yeah he's just you know I'm I'm just over here yeah I'm just Peter defo okay I don't I'm not into
this so any connection between him and the murders was seeming pretty unlikely because like why I don't think a 74y old
man could kill six men I mean call me crazy like things happen but also like what a 74y old man killing six members
of a family and like well and even if you say like okay maybe it wasn't him maybe he did something that caused them
to go after the family that still doesn't jive really because this is an Italian family we're talking
about the Italian mafia Italian mob there is a code of conduct and one of those very specific things in that code
of conduct for the Italian mob is you do not kill children no kids so this doesn't fit like it's just not something
that would happen because like you know that is a thing that's a real thing so in his statement to police Ron explained
that the day before the murders he stayed home from work because he wasn't feeling well uhhuh after sleeping for
most of the day he woke up early the next morning around 4:00 a.m. and he said when he woke up he saw his brother
Mark's wheelchair in front of the bathroom door I know like I'm like this poor kid
didn't have a chance to even get out of bed that's so sad um and the light was on in the bathroom so he assumed his
brother was in the bathroom instead of waiting he said he used another bathroom then decided to go into work early
because he was up and why not okay after work he went to Henry's Bar and had a few drinks with his friends like he
normally did and while he was there he called the house several times but didn't get an answer cuz you always call
your house multiple times when you're out drinking with your friends of course you do after a while he said he became
concerned and borrowed Kel's car to go by the house and check on everyone M which is when he discovered his parents
bodies in their bedroom and didn't bother to check if anybody else was okay yep got it exctly did not bother to
check on his [ __ ] siblings yeah he said he had to force the kitchen window lock and since all he said all the doors
were locked and he didn't have a key to the house now back at Henry's he gathered all his friends he returned to
the house but he never went inside again now to the detectives deo's narrative was a little confusing cuz also um how
did the person get out of the house that did this to your entire family if all the doors are locked and there's no sign
of forced entry yeah just wondering it's a problem uh they thought it was a pretty Meandering narrative that he was
giving and both the detectives found it difficult to follow at points they were like wait what like kind of like us were
like what you did what yeah and while Ron talked detective galof watched his body language and he said he definitely
had some interesting body language and he said but he also noticed some marks on his
arms and when he asked about the marks defo confessed that he was a regular heroin user oh okay and had shot up at a
friend's house earlier that afternoon oh but Ron was very clear that he didn't want the detectives to get the wrong
idea about him he wasn't an addict he said he explained he was a chippy shooter and only used drugs
casually I don't think you can use heroin casually that's just me uh but it was an interesting note they just were
like okay that's an interesting cuz when you add that into it you got to look at
a different Avenues here So eventually the conversation got back around to the family supposed mob connections and the
man Ron believed was responsible for the murders Tony Maia according to Deo he had been doing some work for his
grandfather's car dealership a few weeks earlier and was on his way to the bank to deposit several thousand when he was
held up by two gunmen all of a sudden this is coming out okay and when he told his father about the robbery Ronald
senior didn't believe him and got angry with him that this is what he's telling everybody apparently according to him
his father said not only do I have to worry about you as far as this phony robbery but I've also got to lose a good
friend because Ronald had explained that Tony Mao and his father had been friends
but the robbery had caused a riff between the men because his father believed maio was the guy responsible
even though he didn't believe it happened thank you this ended their friendship and made the defo was a
target for a Hitman according to Ron defo Jr did he like think about this at all no I don't you didn't run this by
anyone apparently not I mean I'm glad you did but now at the time the detectives found Ron to be very
cooperative and the confusing parts of his story could be chocked up they said to now that they know he's using heroin
they were like you know he could be under the influence also because he's admitted that he shot up like this
afternoon essentially yeah and also he's under a lot of stress he just lost his whole family so if it's a little
confusing or a little strange we at least have to look at it with a benefit of the doubt kind of situation the
statement you know and and that's the thing the statement could have ended there he gave his statement told a
little bit of a wild tale but it could have just ended there but Ron just could not help it he just wanted to add more
details what we will learn is when someone's just wanting to add detail after detail they're probably [ __ ]
lying cuz you just it's just the way it is so he explained that while he did own
three rifles his father had actually taken them away from him a few weeks earlier and he'd actually sold one of
them but he couldn't recall the caliber of the gun or the manufacturer wouldn't that be so convenient though he just
happened to sell the uh one one gun and also first all why the [ __ ] would you ever do that second of all why did they
find the guns that were taken away from you in your bedroom yeah that doesn't make any sense it's a little weird uh he
also told them about a cash box that his father kept hidden in their bedroom uh Tony maio he said had helped them carve
The Hiding Place in the floor where the box was kept that's kind of sick so if they checked and the box was missing or
empty Tony your killer killer is Tony over here cuz he was he knew where that cash box was Tony M
okay so does Tony mazio exist yeah actually so they and they were like so you just kind you kind of just know what
happened then like you seem like you're just telling us like this you know what I bet you'll find an empty cash box and
I bet it's him yeah and you just you didn't go straight to Tony Tony Mao's house when you assumed that he killed
your whole family no definitely not now eventually deo's eagerness to cooperate crossed over from very useful if you
know exhaustive but it then it got necessarily detailed and started to border on suspicious yeah like we're as
he talk down that lane it's like we something's weird here he rambled on about his recent criminal past and how
what landed him on parole oh he onle he was on Parole he said I don't want you to think I'm hiding anything from you
that's why he said he was telling all the details okay and the interview process went on until nearly 2:30 a.m.
damn and when the detectives asked where defa wanted to sleep that night he said
he couldn't stay with family because he was worried The Hitman might find him mhm so they allowed him to sleep on a
cot in the homicide division cuz they were like well we'll protect you I guess he spent the night there yeah he spent
the night there cuz they were like they didn't know where else to bring him because he was like I can't go anywhere
The Hitman will find me can you protect me and they were like okay so they just set up a cot for him in like one of the
holding cells and were like you can stay here that's insane so for Ron this was preferable because it would allow him
you know to stay up to date on the investigation as well oh uh cuz he could hear everything yep while detectives
looked into deo's Claim about familial mob ties the medical examiner had begun the autopsies on the six unfortunate
victims Ronald and Louise Deo were each shot twice Ronald in the lower back which had pierced his kidney and
shattered part of his spine oh God Louise was shot in the side and the chest which broke ribs and punctured one
of her lungs wow according to the medical examiner Dr Howard Adelman both could have remained alive anywhere from
a matter of seconds to a few minutes wow I just bled internally and based on her
body position when she was found in the trajectory of the bullets Adelman did theorized that Louise had been shot had
been shot second and had partially risen out of bed when her husband was shot oh
God that's horrific yeah it breaks my [ __ ] heart like that John and Mark defo were each shot
one time in the back at close range Adelman theorized that the killer had stood between the boys beds and fired in
quick succession shooting each and roughly the same part of the back the bullets destroyed several organs before
exiting out the abdomen and becoming lodged in the Box Springs of the bed the bullets yeah oh my God Adelman was
almost certain neither boy had woken up before being killed oh which I guess is a good thing cuz they didn't wake up to
know what was happening they just were shot in their sleep and never became conscious no he didn't think that they
could have woken up like when the parents were killed they didn't hear the shots that's the thing that's what
doesn't really make sense I don't know a lot about guns is it possible he used a
silencer I don't think so it's a it's I don't think they had any evidence that referenced a silencer okay cuz I'm like
did anybody like in the neighborhood report hearing gunshots cuz an assault rifle is loud that's the thing by
everything I could find the gun was not fitted for a silencer there was no Sil involved they never found a silencer
your gun like specifically you have to like get it fitted for one it did not huh this is what makes no [ __ ] sense
and this is the parts of this that make people go what the [ __ ] happened in that
house because like you like we were talking about neighbors heard the dog barking they didn't hear the gunshots
and why is everyone on their stomach everyone's not sleeping on their stomach did he turn them around so so as not to
see their faces a lot of them were sh shot in the back and a lot of them were shot while in bed and the shot went
through to the box spring I mean like it was like they it's like they were ordered to do that or something the only
thing that you can think of though is like like in the middle of the night like or like remember like when you had
fall asleep in in the car and like your parents would carry you up to your bed maybe he turned them over and they just
didn't wake up but like he had already shot the parents on the same floor that's the part in fact across the hall
like John and markk were in a room across the hall from their parents who just got shot four times total with with
a rifle and that's and like I was just saying rifles are [ __ ] loud they're loud so it doesn't make sense that John
and Mark wouldn't hear it it doesn't make sense that the neighbors didn't Alison wouldn't hear it she's on the
same floor she's on the second floor as well even you would hear that from she probably hear it too but the ones on the
same floor how that is weird how it doesn't make sense and no one's really been able to figure it out it's one of
these like enduring Mysteries but luckily neither boy John and Mark seem to have woken up they seem to have which
again very strange that they were both on their stomachs yeah it's just not a not everybody everybody sleeps I don't
sleep on my stomach no I can't so Allison on the other hand had likely seen her killer as she Rose from her bed
like she it seemed like she heard something but like again it's very strange because her wound indicated that
she had turned around just in time to see her killer fire the bullet entered her cheek and it lacerated her brain
before exiting through her skull and lodging in the wall behind the bed oh my God Allison saw her kill her yeah like
that's horrific and she must have died like very quickly though if it went through her brain through her brain just
like and again she was found in the bed but like he doesn't say anything nobody said say anything about like carrying
them back to bed or anything like that so I'm like what is this do they know like around what time everybody was shot
they don't have like um not exact times yeah it's not weird that they would be in bed because it was night time it was
bedtime like they would be in bed such a mom it was bed time it was bedtime everyone was in their pajamas like you
know I wonder if he ordered them to face down but he obviously never brings that
up in his stories but it's even weirder but what but the medical examiner thought the boys were sleeping the boys
it's seems wor sleeping and I but I don't I don't know it's like this is what's so weird it doesn't make sense
none of it makes sense every time you think you could figure it out you're like why though and even if he had
ordered them to stay down I feel I mean Dawn is 18 the he obviously got rid of the parents first but like I feel like
Don could have like potentially overtaken him somehow you know and it doesn't sound like there's evidence that
she tried too yeah I mean he's got a rifle which is terrifying so but there's other guns in the house if he's holding
a rifle at you and saying turn around I guess like you know I'm not going to argue
with a rifle point it at me no I can understand that for like the first couple but like then the rest of them
are hearing the shots why aren't they running hearing the shots yeah they're waiting until he gets to their bedroom
and then well okay so maybe so he gets rid of the parents immediately like that makes sense like they couldn't do
anything the two boys were sleeping sometimes kids don't [ __ ] wake up like it's crazy to think that like with
a assault rifle shot they wouldn't wake up yeah but maybe he walked in their room and ordered them to turn around and
he just boom boom and then Allison wakes up because she's here she's heard all of
that and that's why she's up and he shoots her essentially in the face and then who knows maybe don did try to get
past him and he ordered her back up the stairs with the assault rifle like why didn't any of the neighbors hear
gunshots that I they heard a dog barking that I can't explain like it just I'm so
confused I don't I mean I know this is like a nice area yeah maybe people heard things and just didn't want to say that
they did but why like people were found dead by gunshots like it's not like you'd be like weird to be like oh I
heard maybe they something that I didn't know was a gunshot they maybe they just
didn't want to be involved at all but they were they were offering information they were saying I heard the dog barking
they were saying like let me tell you about this family they were saying I saw lights on it is bizarre it just doesn't
make sense it really doesn't it's so strange but Don's wounds were the most horrific I would say yeah the killer had
stood about 2 feet away from her according to the medical examiner as she slept shooting her in the back of the
neck just below her left ear wow and according to the autopsy report the left side of her face had collapsed and brain
particles mixed with the blood saturating on her pillow wow she had a very disfiguring injury yeah and nobody else
really did aside I guess from Allison yeah and she was shot right in the back of the neck and it's again face down and
from what the medical examiner was thinking was sleeping why how can you know if somebody's sleeping probably
just because of the trajectory and what they're looking at they're saying like there was no movement you know like they
didn't try to move away from the bullet like which your in natural instinct is to move away from something that's going
to hurt you so if you're not moving away from it they assume you have to be in an
unconscious state but then if you're in bed and you know he's coming there's not really any way out of
that so maybe she just cowered in bed but she didn't even do that what do you head was on her
pillow and she was shot right in the back of the neck if she had cowered it would have like potentially like skimmed
another side or like moved that's what they do like seeing where the bullet goes in and how there's no like movement
to get away from it will tell you that that person wasn't conscious I don't know cuz her head was right on her
pillow yeah and if she's trying to she was sleeping on her side no she was she was face down as well cuz she was shot
right in the back of the neck but I think what happened was it like went out her just the ex okay all right the way
it had hit like collapsed to the side of her face kind of thing I don't know I'm trying yeah I
people have been trying for decades I think it's just like it doesn't make sense that's why this is such a like
strange case because not only is the crime horrific and when you look at it there's really no [ __ ] real motive
for this there's also just these weird parts of like what and like the family's a little mysterious when you really dig
into it and it's like oh really then you got those like you know that there's not
mob ties but it's like you know like somewhere in that family there's like mob ties and it's like history this has
nothing to do with the mob but it's like that's it's just like a weird layer on top of it m it's all very strange but
all six members of the Deo family had died from quote massive hemorrhaging due to bullet wounds yeah now when the news
of the murders hit the press the next morning everyone in Amityville were stunned they were stunned that such a
brutal crime was happening in that small town it's a very idealic town like we said everyone described the defos as a
nice normal family who were always willing to lend a hand when someone else was in need one of the neighbors said
like Ronald Deo senior drove her to work every day when her car died one neighbor
told a reporter of Ronald and Louise they could not do enough for their children the whole world was oriented
around their children wow they were very involved in their Community as well according to most like all the good
things while the neighbors had nothing but kind words to say about the victims most people were decidedly less uh
enthusiastic about Ronald defo Jr yeah uh according to oneor Ronald was part of a crowd that would drink and then get
into fights but the next day they'd apologize okay she recalled an instance in recent months where Ronald had gotten
into an argument while at a bar with some friends and he had broken a pool queue in half because he was angry yikes
now neighbors referred to him as creepy always lurking around it was theorized that because it was a big Italian family
the firstborn son is usually like the air you know and just supposed to carry look to as an important part of the
family line yeah of but according to those that knew him Ronald Deo Jr was like not the ideal Heir he was a mess
like just a mess he was always in trouble always getting into things he would go out partying and then he would
bring those parties back to the Deo house late at night always causing issues there was a lot of theories about
you know his relationship with his father which seemed to not be a good relationship was probably his dad was
probably disappointed yes and I think they also had like a very volatile relationship ship where it got physical
a lot between the two of them they would get into like a fist fight like essentially that should never happen no
it's awful now for their part a spokesperson for local law enforcement told reporters the murders were a real
neat job indicating that there was very little evidence left at the scene and very few leads to work with they were
like there's literally nothing very clean MH there was no signs of struggle robbery leading investigators to believe
the motive had just been murder yeah like murder they were either going after one of the people and the rest were
collateral or it was all of them it was just so while defo slept in the homicide
unit that night investigators got word from the medical examiner that all of the defos had been killed with a 35
caliber Marlin rifle imagine that exactly the model and caliber Bobby kelsky had mentioned when police
interviewed him at the scene and the only gun that Ronald defo could not account for like you really you only
lost that one only that one a little bit later they got word from one of the technicians that upon a second search of
the house they discovered a box for a 35 caliber Marlin rifle like a box of a like to hold the gun yeah hidden in
rondao's closet I got to go the gun they couldn't find at the very least the Box indicated
that defo had owned the same model gun used in the MERS until that point investigators had given Ron the benefit
of the doubt you know losing your whole family in one night you know he might be
under the influence there's a lot going on yeah many factors here but now they were starting to wonder uh if they just
had their suspect in custody already willingly literally around 9 the next morning November 15th detective galof
and several other homicide detectives returned to the office and woke up Ron who immediately asked whether they'd
found Tony maio yet okay galof told him uh well we got people out looking for Tony Mao but he said to tell you the
truth I think you're the guy we want damn just like like woke him up and said hit hit him defo was like what are you
talking like incredulous insisted Tony maio was the guy they wanted but the detectives read him his rights and took
him into custody for the murder of his parents brothers and sisters yeah when he was asked whether he wanted to speak
to to his lawyer Ron said he waved his right to counsel and he said he was willing to cooperate H Ron began the
second interview by insisting that his family had been killed by the New York mob but by then galof and the other
investigators had assembled and presented the evidence that strongly indicated that uh Ron was involved was
Ron at one point he claimed that he was just uh smoking pot in the basement when
it happened and he didn't hear anything well that doesn't make sense and then later he claimed he heard the
gunshots like he he came up with so many different things but before that goof said let's go back to the day before and
let's start over yeah and then he said let's start with supper okay now being confronted by all the evidence and the
fact that they were like we pretty much know you were involved seemed to flip a little switch and run but before then he
was crying he was upset he was I will do nothing but cooperate here whatever I can do but now it's like he took off a
mask and his true failings came out cuz he so the so galof said let's start with
supper and he said my mother was a lousy and they were like oh and and she said she cooked up some brown stuff in a bowl
it looked like [ __ ] and it smelled like [ __ ] nice and they were like fun nice to
speak of your recently deceased and murdered mother that way yeah and these unkind comments about his mother seemed
wildly inappropriate to the investigator sudden they were like wow okay but Rome
was just getting started he wasn't done oh no when they asked him about John and
Mark his little brothers he said my brothers is a couple of [ __ ] pigs and he said I often use the bathroom that
they used on the second floor and I go in there and sometimes there's toilet paper hanging out of the bowl I mean
yeah they were like seven and 12 12 that checks yeah kids are gross a lot and it's like try following up a bathroom
after a kid yeah exactly and also they're your little brothers who were shot in their beds and you're just
talking about them calling them you're just calling them [ __ ] pigs and like what they just were murdered and his
feelings about his sisters were not any better uh about Dawn and this is like terrible
just so everybody knows he said he said that fat [ __ ] Dawn oh my God and then he
talked about the kind of music that she listened to over and over and he used a racial slur over and over oh um that the
one you're thinking over and over he said she listened to that music all day and all night and I can't even tell her
to turn it down because if I tell her to turn it down I get my [ __ ] ass kicked
okay so now he's referring again to the allegations that Ronald Deo sen was abusive to his family okay now he
claimed that now after this he claimed that Dawn shot all the family members including the kids and then he shot her
in a rage about it okay and then he also claimed he shot Don in self-defense because she was going to shoot him with
a rifle okay yeah after ranting about his mother and the rest of the family and claiming that Don did it no she didn't
actually she did maybe not I don't know I shot her but then whatever Ron launched into a big long rant about his
father who he referred to as a cheap bastard and he talked about his grandfather kind of equally the same way
as unkind yeah and the other members of the family uh when he was finally done giving his uh brutally honest roast
opinion of his family defo still hadn't confessed to The Murders At this point but it was pretty clear uh but to Goff
and the others it seemed like he was uh pretty ready to do that without saying a
word the detectives got up from the table and left the room and were replaced by Dennis Rafferty who was a
hom homicide detective with the Amityville police raffy spent the next 6 and a half hours with Ron and during
this he completely confessed to the murders of the family okay it was clear that Ron hated his family like it was
very clear he was acting all broken up before but suddenly when that evidence was presented it was like mask off they
all suck ass let me tell you about all of them he especially hated his father yeah um he fought with his father
constantly but it seemed like his motive was not that completely at least his motive was money okay according to defo
his parents had a life insurance policy worth $200,000 okay in 2024 money that's over
a million dollars over $1.2 million actually damn and as the only surviving member of the family Ron would have been
the beneficiary of that policy uhhuh on the night of the murders Ronald woke up on the couch a little before 3:00 a.m.
he went up to his bedroom loaded his rifle and went room by room shooting and killing his whole family 300 a.m. yep he
told rafy I just started and it went so fast I couldn't stop he just woke up and
just in that moment decided to kill them mhm okay when he killed everyone in the
house Ron collected the shell casings and his bloody clothing into a pillowcase he took a shower he trimmed
his beard and then he left the house he threw the right into a pond down the street and eventually he ditched the
pillowcase and other evidence in a storm drain in Brooklyn on his way to work then he just went to work what the [ __ ]
when he was finished giving his confession raffy asked whether def would sign a sworn statement that what he told
them was true but he refused and he told the detectives he would not because he feared his grandfather Michael bante
would see it okay and it's like he's going to hear about it uhhuh now using the two diagrams Ron had drawn for them
detectives were able to locate the gun and the pillowcase full of shells and other evidence which were brought back
to the precinct and defo identified them as his belongings meanwhile the clothing
Ronald was wearing was taken as evidence and he was charged and booked with six counts of second deegree murder and he
was taken into custody and held in detention until a grand jury was going to be convened in the coming days now
Dave found an interesting tidbit here that first-degree murder at the time was reserved for those who killed a police
officer or a prison guard oh so it had nothing to do with melesa For Thought yeah it was just like that was at the at
the moment that was what that in 74 we have come across this before I I'm fairly certain of it but I always find
it interesting yeah that is interesting now the news of Ronald's arrest shocked Amityville almost as much as the murders
had shocked Amityville deo's friend Glenn Hoffman told a reporter I can't believe it I can't believe it even even
if they say it's true he could have been set up for it you you don't know what's
involved okay for many Ron's CLA original claim of Mafia involvement seemed more plausible than a son and a
and a brother murdering his entire family for no [ __ ] reason I mean yeah that is hard to swallow even his
probation officer William Benjamin was stunned and said nothing indicated he could have resorted to violence of this
kind that's kind of crazy now defo was arranged in the first district court on November 15th where his defense attorney
Leonard Simmons requested a psychiatric examination he told the judge I have doubts about the defendant's ability to
help in his own defense Simmons also claimed that defo had bruises on his body which implied that he'd been abused
by investigators while in custody judge Donald opin refused the defense's request for a psychiatric examination
and refus bail wow nearly a year went by before between the arrest and the trial
damn yeah most of it was like pre-trial hearing the defense teams repeated and unsuccessful attempts to get Ron's
confession G thrown out yeah they wanted to get it thrown out on the grounds that
it was obtained through cotion mhm during this whole period the prosecution called on a lot of the detectives who
were involved in the interview process and Dennis rafy said it was a tricky situation we started out dealing with a
guy who was the sole survivor of a family Massacre but the more we questioned him the more holes there were
in his account and he kept changing things until finally he started crying put his head on my shoulder and told me
it just started it went so fast I just couldn't stop damn like what are you going to do and RAF explains um they
began to suspect AO was lying when he went from telling them he'd heard nothing that night to then changing his
story several times to say he heard multiple gunshots and that he had even seen his brother Jon's toes twitching at
one point when he discovered them cuz then he went back and said well I did discover the bodies of my siblings and I
saw John was alive what yeah and Rafford he said that indicated to me that he was there right
after the shooting took place right and when rafy pointed that out Deo changed his story again and said a Hitman came
to do it the mob story again and that the Hitman actually made him watch everything at gunpoint and that's why he
saw his brother John's toes twitching and you would totally be super down to then tell the cops everything yeah and
they he said so rafy had said to him they wouldn't walk out without making you a piece of it they must have made
you they must have made you do one of the shootings like right that's how Hitmen work like that's how the mob
Works you're not leaving here unless you have blood on your hands so you'll shut
your mouth you won't go and talk to the police it was at that point that defo broke down and confessed to the murders
okay now defo on the other hand claimed that while he was in custody the detectives beat him until he finally
told them everything that they wanted to hear about how quote I supposedly killed
every member of my family okay according to deo's testimony investigators started
abusing him at the house next to the defo home which they had set up as a command post at first and continued
abusing him until he through he him being placed under arrest okay so according to him they think this man
just lost his entire family and they started beating the [ __ ] out of him yeah that makes sense now he claimed they
refused to let him eat or sleep during interrogation and they denied him his request for an attorney even though he
had waved his right and they gave him a cop to sleep on defo told judge Stark I fell down they stomped on my stomach
then my back and my legs they put a telephone book on my head and hit me with blackjacks and then finally put a
shopping bag over my head and slam my head into either the wall or the filing cabinet totally considering that the
prosecution's case rested almost entirely on the confession the claim that it was obtained illegally it was
taken very seriously I'm sure and you have to take that seriously and the prosecution had to prove that it was um
the problem for defo though was that his claims were extraordinary and so they very much needed to be backed up by
evidence of this supposed beating but the only injury anyone saw at the time of his arraignment was a small mostly
healed Cut Above his eye and in the rebuttal the prosecutor Gerard Sullivan called on one of deo's school friends
who told the judge that he had been at the house about a week before the murder and had seen Ronald and his father get
into a fist fight oh and he said during that fist fight he got that minor injury
above his eye that's really sad which is sad now judge Stark later wrote I found
that deo's testimony was largely untruthful his testimony was that he was given no food or drink not permitted to
sleep for over 24 hours it would seemed totally unreasonable and unbelievable his failure to complain to the district
court judge on November 15th about the alleged extreme police brutality the previous day nor to mention it in any
documents supporting his pre-trial motions was a factor leading me to believe it never occurred yeah cuz also
that if he in there after first of all I don't think the cops would beat the [ __ ]
out of him a day before he has to stand before a judge yeah it's not a good look
and a judge would notice that and do something about it most complain about it yeah he would say they beat the [ __ ]
out of me this is why I'm here right this is so he so um this was the biggest factor in Stark's decision and after
considering the evidence testimony he ruled that the confession was given voluntarily it was going to be
admissible in the trial okay so with the pre-trial hearings out of the way Ron deo's murder trial began on October 6th
1975 in the Supreme Court of New York in the opening statements jard Sullivan laid out the states theory that Deo had
murdered his family because of his quote deteriorating relationship with his parents and because of another separate
and distinctive reason a thirst for money Sullivan told the jury the prosecution would PR proved Beyond a
reasonable doubt that Ron had commit hadn't committed the murders impulsively but had in fact acted on a methodical
plan that began with tying the dog outside MH because that's a big part of this you tied the [ __ ] dog up exactly
you didn't just walk up there and start shooting you tied the dog up that shows a plan in action and it ended with him
calmly and methodically picking up exhausted bullets and casings taking off his Blood Stained clothing
trimming his beard and getting rid of all of that in a Brooklyn storm drain also the thought of him just trimming
his beard in the house where all of his family lay dead because of him is [ __ ] horrifying chilling to the Bone
meanwhile the dog is tied up outside barking his ass off because you tied him up because you planned it that's so
scary in his opening remarks the defense attorney William Weber who is a real piece of work uh told the jury they
would prove that defo confession was beaten out of him and that he was not mentally competent when the slayings
took place which is like um what where did that come from okay Weber assured the jury that defo would take the stand
and quote tell you the truth about what happened at that house that night I doubt it and they would also call
multiple psychiatrists who would testify that Ronald defo Jr was not of sound mind and thus couldn't be held
responsible for whatever had happened that night okay the prosecution had a relatively straightforward tail to tell
it was the one that most people were already familiar with with because it had a lot of press coverage um the
medical examiner testified you know to the extent of the victim's wounds including the fact that at least two of
the victims Louise and Dawn had been conscious and aware before they were shot I think also Allison they believed
was possibly conscious okay um in the days that followed several investigators detailed their experiences at the crime
scene and their interactions with defo before and after his arrest detective galof for example told the jury about
his various interviews with defo and Ron's disclosure that he was an active heroin user who had injected drugs as
recently as the day of the murders now the most important testimony came from those investigators who had taken
multiple statements from Rond defo in his testimony Dennis rafy told the jury that Ron had given multiple accounts
ranging from him simply discovering some of the bodies to his hearing the shots and then eventually his confession that
he acted alone in killing all six members of his family by then the detective explained that they already
strongly suspected that he was the murderer right based on the inconsistency in his stories and the
various pieces of evidence that they got from the scene which included the ammunition tons of it and the box for
the Marlin rifle that was used in the murders and hidden yeah so raf's testimony was backed up by the other
detectives present during this time including Lieutenant Robert Dunn who told the jury I got up and left the room
in awe of the hor of what I had just heard Dunn who was a member of the organized crime unit explained that he
was called in by the local authorities because of that whole claim about the Tony Mao thing the members of the mafia
involved however they investigated that claim and he said there's absolutely no ties to that whatsoever yeah finally dun
also refuted the claim that defo was mistreated and abused while in police custody and he said as far as he knew
and saw he gave his confession completely voluntarily right now the states case against was strong and
supported by evidence but Sullivan nonetheless anticipated an insanity defense and was prepared with witnesses
to combat that claim okay in her testimony for the prosecution deo's Aunt Phyllis predo so deo's aunt told the
jury Ronald's history of mental illness was a hoax perpetrated in order to keep Ron from being sent to
Vietnam oh yeah according to her [ __ ] thickens it does in to the aunt about a year before the Murder She was quote
introduced to a man who claimed to have been paid $5,000 to keep Ron out of the US
Army oh [ __ ] this was among several examples where Ronald senior seemingly paid or otherwise compensated
individuals to keep his son out of trouble or to get him out of trouble that he had already been in yeah on
November 6th Rond defo Jr took the stand to testify on his own behalf that must have been something and he wanted to
provide support for that Insanity defense according to his testimony defo told Weber and the jury that he felt
quote Duty bound to kill anyone he considered a threat and he saw nothing wrong with killing his entire family
which he claimed was done in self-defense okay even the seven-year-old yeah that makes sense he
said quote when I have a gun in my hand i'm God according to defo he woke up on the couch the night of the murders and
saw his sister Dawn standing before him in the living room with the rifle in her
hands and she told him that she was going to kill everyone okay so he said I took the rifle away from her and she
just disappeared and I walked a few feet into my parents' bedroom and I just started to shoot that doesn't make any
sense what when he was cross-examined by Sullivan defo reiterated that he had killed all six members of his family but
then later in his testimony to the prosecution he claimed he believed his sister Dawn had killed his
brothers okay according to defo Don was constantly at odds with their parents and their arguments did frequently
escalate to Violent confrontations between her and their father this is according to Ron def okay he said on the
stand he said I should have let them kill each other o I believe this was not a happy household all the time sad but
it's all you know this is all just coming from his mouth as well yeah so you have to take it with a bit of a
grain of salt in defense of his Insanity plea Ronald told the jury he frequently
heard voices in the house coming from the house which is where we get the next The Haunting and had command
hallucinations that instructed him to act out violently he said for months before the incident I heard voices and
whenever I looked around there was no one there so it must have been God talking to me probably not when Weber
asked if he thought anyone in the courtroom had been trying to kill him he replied yeah Phyllis predo my aunt who
was sitting out there that's new it's new information yeah so upon redirection C said is there anyone else you think is
trying to kill you and he said you so he's really trying for that Insanity defense yeah it seems that
Phyllis proo wasn't the only witness the prosecution had planned to undermine deo's claims of insanity they also
called out a former cellmate of his a cellmate that he had apparently boasted about his plan defense to oh gosh
according to John Kramer who shared a cell next to defo in the Sick Bay uh Ron had told him about his plan to
plead insanity and boasted that he was quote bigger than Charles Manson oh please cranmer told the the jury he was
in the cell next to me in the Sick Bay area of the jail and he kept telling me all these things even after I told him I
didn't want to hear anything or get involved Sullivan also subpoenaed several of the guards at the jail who
testified that defo had asked them how the mentally ill inmates acted when they were locked up I always wonder why
inmates will do that cuz I'm like do you not think that these people have like that they're not going to rat on you do
you think they that's a literal job like do you think they have any loyalty to you do you just think do you think at
all do you think so one of the guards James deito basically when defo had asked him like how do they act he said
he told him inmates burned things pretended to forget the names of prisoners and guards whom they knew sat
on a shelf in the cell and feigned suicide attempts okay and according to DeVito right after I told him those
things he began doing them all and yelling at me to enter them in the log book but I considered them silly and
refused to make any entries except for the in incident when he tried to set the cell on fire oh my God now towards the
end of the trial Sullivan called Dr Harold zolon to testify as to his experience evaluating Ron following his
arrest zolon testified that he diagnosed defo with an antisocial personality I could see but he added that the
diagnosis did not affect his ability to tell right from wrong right and insisted
he quote was aware of what he was doing when he killed his parents and four brothers and sisters y zolon further
said if he was in any paranoid psychosis there would be no compulsion for him to
hide the signs of his wrongdoings such as trying to destroy the evidence or lie to the police right on November 19th the
trial came to a close after each side gave their closing remarks and in his statement Gerard Sullivan went over all
the evidence all the testimony for the jury and reminded them that defo had confessed to the crime but only recently
had started claiming that he was mentally ill when he killed his family yeah rather than Insanity Sullivan
restated the state's belief that defo callously calmly and coldly planned the execution of his family carried them out
and then went about carefully taking the murder rifle and the used cartridges and
his Blood Stained clothing and hiding them in an obscure Brooklyn storm drain to cover up his role in The Murders he
reminded the jury that noome was denying that defo was sick only that he wasn't so impaired that he didn't know what he
was doing was wrong MH now William Weber on the other hand said while his client
had committed the murders he had only done so because he was insane at the time and was heavily influenced by
psychedelic psychotic delusions excuse me also he continued to assert that Deo had only confessed after being beaten
and abused by investigators now at the time Ron deo's trial was the longest criminal trial
held in suffi County oh wow uh lasting nearly a month and a half after almost three days of deliberation the jury
emerged before a little before noon on November 21st and announced that they had reached a unanimous decision finding
Ron Deo guilty on all six counts of second degree murder suffi County district attorney Henry O'Brien said in
a statement to the Press I'm extremely pleased the members of this jury realize the vi ious Ness of the defendant and
have removed a menace to our community when asked for comment on the verdict defense attorney William Weber shook his
head and said I'm glad I wasn't a member of that jury what does that even mean okay you are the defense attorney though
that's an even worse position I'm like I don't really get it because you lost so
for the jurors it really all came down to his attempts to hide the evidence andal his guilt after committing the
murders that's what it would be for me yeah like the spent shells clothing heeded his beard he was of
sound mind he knew what he was doing um one of the jurors said that was a major sign of guilt he knew what he was doing
yep on November 4th Ronald Ron was back before Judge Thomas Stark for sentencing
and at the time Sullivan urged the court to show to not show any Mercy in handing
down deo's sentence describing the crime as an event so appalling and cataclysmic
that it is without equal it's true it's a Annihilation mhm like the judge Stark couldn't ignore the extent that defo
went to to conceal his criminal acts and deflect the guilt onto innocent people as well he trying to get someone else to
go down for this right he said I stated my intention to impose life sentences with the longest minimum period possible
I then impose six sentences of life imprisonment each with a minimum of 25 years to run consecutively with respect
to each other damn so he handed down six life sentences to him so I think that's
what he deserved so I found this article by Marvin and Scott from Long Island um
we'll include it somewhere but he had followed the story closely and he' spoken via letters to defo a lot and one
of the letters with defo defo said he admitted there was absolutely no voices in the house even though he had claimed
on the understand that there was he said there was no insanity and he wrote there
was no demon you know who the demon is I'm the demon oh that's even scarier now and he also claimed later
that there was never a question of sanity and everyone knew it he said his defense attorney William Weber
capitalized on that and he wanted to get book deals and a movie going about the case so he encour he wanted that
Insanity defense the [ __ ] and he actually tried to get a new trial later based on his claims of this with the
previous defense but he didn't get one now in the years that followed Ronald defo and his defense attorney William
Weber did file multiple appeals and petitions for parole at various points maintain his innocence and claims of
mental illness even though later they would abandon that yeah but each of the attempts was denied by the appeal ports
in the uh courts in the parole board and ultimately defo would spend the rest of
his life in New York's prison system until his death on March 12th 2021 I was going to say but no one knows how he
died how old was he he was 69 and there's they don't know how he died at all they know how he died I we
don't know how he died it's undisclosed do you you can't find it anywhere do you think it's just to add
to the I don't know I mean I don't know why anybody would want to do that but but I I don't know that's bizar yeah I
don't know if someone took him out or what and under normal circumstances this you know rondao's postconviction life
would probably have just like faded Into Obscurity like resurfacing every now and
then you know as one does sure but a few years after his conviction deo's crimes
and his defense would become the basis for one of America's most Sensational and controversial paranormal stories you
know what I'm talking about the idville horror we're talking about Kathy and George George L that's what it is like
what's George like basic white man names yep so they it ensured that his legacy went much further than his death which
yeah but next we will be talking about the wild tale that is the Amityville Horror all that surrounds losing walls
yep the bleeding walls yep we'll be talking about it all we'll talking about the the Ed and Lorraine Warren of it all
we'll talk about all the things associated with it because there's so many things it's going to get Wily as
[ __ ] next time see you then see you then so we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird but not weird
that you annihilate your entire family because what the [ __ ] is up with that that's really [ __ ] up that's way too
weird I hate that [Music] [Music] [Music]

On the evening of November 13, 1974, twenty-three-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr. burst through the door of Henry’s Bar in Amityville, Long Island, frantically yelling for help and telling the patrons that someone had killed his parents. When a small group returned to the house with DeFeo, they discovered that not only had his parents, Louise and Ronald Sr., been killed, but so had his four brothers and sisters—all shot to death in their beds with a .35 caliber rifle.

During a police interview that night, investigators became suspicious of Ronald DeFeo. Not only was his story of a mob hit difficult to believe, but he seemed incapable of keeping certain aspects of his story straight during the interview. The next day, DeFeo broke down and confessed to the murders, explaining that he had hated his father and telling investigators, “Once I started [shooting], I just couldn’t stop.”

Ronald DeFeo’s trial was one of New York’s biggest news stories of 1975 and attracted considerable attention due to his attempt to mount an insanity defense and his frequent outbursts in the courtroom. In the end, the defense was unsuccessful and DeFeo was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison. DeFeo’s conviction should have been the end of the story, but it turned out it was only the beginning of what would eventually become one of the most notorious supernatural claims in American history.

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!!

References Carter, A.J., Soper Susan , Dallas Gatewood, and Sam Washington. 1974. "DeFeo son is accused." Newsday, November 15: 3.

Incantalupo, Tom, and Sam Washington. 1974. "A quiet drink turns into an invitation to disaster." Newsday, November 14: 3.

—. 1974. "Six in Amityville family slain, each in bed, 1 bullet in back." Newsday, November 14: 1.

New York Times. 1974. "Six in family found slain in bedrooms in L.I. home." New York Times, November 14: 97.

Smith, Don. 1975. "Attack mounted on DeFeio's insanity plea." Newsday, October 25: 16.

—. 1975. "Cellmate says DeFeo had insanity plan." Newsday, November 11: 6.

—. 1975. "Cop quotes DeFeoL 'I... couldn't stop'." Newsday, September 24: 4.

—. 1975. "Cop: DeFeo altered story." Newsday, October 22: 9.

—. 1975. "DeFeo charges police beat him into confessing." Newsday, September 27: 13.

—. 1975. "DeFeo defended as psychotic killer." Newsday, November 19: 17.

—. 1975. "DeFeo guilty of family murder." Newsday, November 22: 3.

—. 1975. "Doctor: DeFeo knew it was wrong." Newsday, November 13: 19.

—. 1975. "Family clash is cited in DeFeo trial." Newsday, October 15: 22.

—. 1975. "I killed a dozen others, DeFeo says." Newsday, November 7: 21.

—. 1975. "'I left the room in awe of the horror'." Newsday, October 23: 17.

Smith, Don, and Sam Washington. 1975. "DeFeo a heroin user, cop testifies." Newsday, October 18: 16.

Stark, Thomas M. 2021. Horrific Homicides: A Judge Looks Back at the Amityville Horror Murders and Other Infamous Long Island Crimes. New York, NY : Archway Publishing.

Sullivan, Gerard, and Harvey Aronson. 1981. High Hopes: The Amityville Murders. New York, NY: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan.

Vecsey, George. 1974. "L.I. slayings suspect had used drugs." New York Times, November 16: 18.

—. 1974. "Neighbors recall DeFeos as 'nice, normal family'." New York Times, November 15: 80.

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Brief Summary

Elina and Ash discuss the DeFeo family murders and Ronald DeFeo Jr.'s confession, leading to the Amityville Horror hoax.

Key points

The Defo Family Murders. The hosts introduce a chilling true crime story about the Defo family murders.
A Gruesome Discovery. Officers discover the bodies of the Defo family in a shocking scene.
The Mystery Deepens. Questions arise about how the murders occurred without anyone waking up.
Unusual Events Before the Murders. Neighbors reported strange occurrences leading up to the tragic events.
The Confusing Narrative of Ronald Defoe. Ronald's story about the night of the murders raises many questions.
The Horrific Details of the Murders. The autopsy reveals the brutal nature of the killings.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's like pretty gruesome.

Elina warns about the graphic nature of the upcoming story.

4:42WatchOct 14, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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