The Amityville Horror

The Amityville horror is my chosen topic which I am going to write about for my report. I have chosen this particular topic as the field of criminology is one I find really interesting and hope to study it further at university. I have recently seen the film of the ‘Amityville Horror’ and found it intriguing so I thought I would study it further. In this report I intend to cover ‘the murderer’, ‘the murder’ and the theory behind the crime.

Ronald Defeo JR was born and raised in Brookln. He and his family moved to 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island. He lived with his mother, father, 2 younger brothers and his younger sister. His father was a very hot tempered man, known for his bouts of rage and violence. Ronald Defeo JR - also known as Butch - bore the brunt of most of his fathers temper and expectations.

At the age 14, Butch had had enough of being bullied at home and at school and began to get violent. Ronald Defeo SR was giving into Butch’s outbursts and bought him a $14,000 speedboat to cruise the Amityville river.

At age 17 Butch’s anger and aggression was getting worse. He was forced to leave his parochial school and began using serious drugs such as heroin and LSD along with dabbling in petty thievery.

As he grew older he grew stronger and his violent behaviour became increasingly more psychotic. One afternoon when hunting with friends he pointed a loaded rifle at a young man he had known for years and began yelling at him. The young man’s face turned white and he left quickly afterwards. Later that day Butch asked him ’innocently’ why he had left in such a hurry earlier that day as if nothing had happened.

At age 18 Butch was given a job at his grandfather’s Buick dealership. There was very little expected of him. Half of the time he didn’t even turn up.

One night when his father and mother were arguing Butch went up to his room, got his gun and pointed it in his fathers face yelling “ Leave that woman alone. I am going to kill you, you fat fuck!” He then pulled the trigger but mysteriously it never went off. Butch walked off with casual indifference to the fact that he had just tried to murder his father. Butch went to work one day and left at noon as usual, He went to his girlfriends house and said to her something was wrong at home as he had tried phoning but there was no . He then went shopping with his girlfriend and went to meet his friends in the local pub at 6pm. Once he had had a drink he said to his friend he had to go home. He returned to the pub not long after saying “ My mum and dad are dead someone has shot them” Butch and his friends returned to the house and called the police. When questioned Butch was asked if he knew anyone that could have done it - he replied “ Louis Falini”. Falini was a notorious mafia hit man whom Butch claimed had a grudge against his family as the result of an argument between them a few years ago.

Butch was not considered a suspect at his time. On November 15 at 2:30 am a new discovery was made. When going over Butch’s room again, Detective Shirvell found 2 boxes with guns inside and one of them just happened to be the same gun as the murder weapon. After being questioned again for some time Butch’s crudely constructed story began to crumble. Butch finally confessed saying “ It all started so fast. Once I started I