The Amityville horrors have been a source of media coverage for years now whether it be through written means, Netflix films, or interviews. However, despite what you may think, the murders are not actually what is covered most. Instead, what is covered are the people that lived in the house for a month before having to move out for personal safety reasons due to the unforeseen events that happened in the house during their stay. Some examples include being watched from windows, knives being knocked down in the kitchen, and even levitating from their beds whilst they slept.
Sounds like your average horror movie, right?
One thing’s for sure, the news of the suspicious events that took place definitely grabbed the media’s attention. Interviews and communications between the public and the Lutz family grew until eventually a novel and series of films were made detailing everything believed to have happened within the house. Despite this case leaving a few people with skeptically raised eyebrows, it did bring further to light the original case that sparked the whole event in the first place: the DeFeo family murders within the house years prior.
This case makes the investigation of the Lutz’ experience all the more prominent as some of the details of their experience match eerily with what had happened in the past, bringing a sense of credibility to the mystery. It could be made up, or just very thoroughly researched, but that conclusion is yours to make. For now, let’s look over the events that actually took place.
On the night of November 13th, 1974, Ronald DeFeo took a .35 caliber rifle and shot six members of his family while they slept in their beds. Following the murders, Ronald confessed to his crimes and was soon after sentenced to six life sentences, one for each murder.
This event is the most straightforward part of the case, but the mystery comes when we look at why Ronald was driven to commit these murders. Despite Ronald having a story, this story seemed to change, which would, of course, make the majority of people suspicious. These stories started with Ronald committing all of the murders, changing to his mother committing the majority before he murdered her, or even that a hitman by the name of Louis Falini killed them. If that wasn’t enough, there was also no sign of a struggle and no evidence that any of the family members were drugged, which is strange considering that the noise of a shotgun would have definitely woken everyone in the house.
Despite how suspicious this all sounds, there is a motive as to why Ronald would commit these murders himself as his family life was far from pleasant. His father was abusive and domineering, and with his mother’s influence fading into the background he grew to be a troubled young man with a drug habit.
If this is enough motivation to lead Ronald to kill his entire family, then that would make the direction the court took the right one, but there are still many other options to consider.
With all the evidence to consider, what do you think is the truth?
