Ronald DeFeo ..The Amityville Murderer

November 14, 1974 is marked in history as the night of one of the most horrific murders in our country’s history. Ronald DeFeo Jr. was the murderer of his six family members, killing them at point blank range in the middle of the night with .35 caliber shot gun. He first walked into his parent’s room. Following the 3 shots he fired into his parents, he headed to his little brothers’ room. After the quit massacre in there, he finished his family off by killing his two little sisters as well. Proceeding this horrific event, he calmly took a shower got dressed, dumped off the shot gun shells and his bloody clothes into a storm drain, and headed to work.

He claimed to have attempted to reach his family all day, calling and going by the house. The cars were in the driveway and the door was locked, no one was answering the phone either. Around 6 p.m. he decided to break into the house through the kitchen window since he was concerned about his family. He discovered the bodies and ran to the local bar and said his parents had been shot! At first everyone believed that he had no connection with the murders, and the thought never crossed anyone’s mind that he had in fact murdered his entire family. At first he said the mob did it because his family had had a mix up with them a few years back, but his story began to unravel as the police found the gun box in his room. He was taken to prison and awaited his trial. At the trial, the question was and still remains, “Was he mentally stable at the time he killed his family?” The psychiatrist firmly believed that he was insane at the time, but the jury did not buy it. He is still serving his 6 consecutive life sentences in New York.

So what state of mind was Ronald really in during his murdering spree? Doctors to this day believe he was insane. He claimed to have heard voices and other schizophrenic symptoms that led him to killing his entire family. How can you put someone away for life (6x) if he was mentally ill? That question can be answered very easily: he was NOT insane, he was pissed off. He felt such resentment towards his father because he used to beat him and treat him horribly. This resentment grew further into resenting his entire family. One night he decided he wanted to be freed from his burdening family, so he killed them all. He knew what he was doing. He was in the state of mind of a serial killer, not a psychopath (and yes, there’s a difference).

Yes he was messed up in the head for murdering his entire family, but that should not excuse his crime. His father basically produced the pent up anger machine from childhood. I believe this goes back to the idea that killers are not born, they are produced. He was not born with a genetic disposition that was only maintained by killing his family. There was nothing wrong with his brain! He was a cold-blooded killer who knew exactly what he was doing.

www.amityvillemurders.com/