In the pre-dawn hours of November 13, 1974, 23-year-old Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. entered his family’s home at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville and fatally shot his parents and four siblings while they slept. In the early hours he reported the crime to bystanders—but investigations soon exposed his involvement. He was arrested, tried, and convicted on six counts of second-degree murder, receiving consecutive sentences of 25 years to life. The grisly massacre would later fuel the legend of a haunted house and a cultural obsession with Amityville’s dark legacy.