Nothing much had ever happened in Amityville until the small hours of the morning on November 
13th 1974.
At around 3AM Ronald Defor Jr - Butch to his friends & family - finished watching the late movie
and loaded his.35 Marlin rifle with murder on his mind (for the record, the film was a 
bullet-strewn Burt Lancaster thriller called Castle Keep).

Twenty three year old Butch had been drinking heavily and he was an occasional heroin user.
He had also racked up a conviction for stealing outboard motors. He was, as a local reporter 
would point out "hell bent on becoming a loser"

Car salesman Ronald Sr, Butch's dad was shot twice in the back and his wife Louise was fatally 
wounded with two bullets through the chest, Brothers John & wheelchair-bound Mark were both 
killed with shots to their torsos.

Butch killed his sister Allison, 13, by blasting her in the face and Dawn, 18 died from a wound 
behind her left ear, 

Butch aside, the only survivor was the Defoe family dog, "Shaggy".

After a nine week trial the following year, Ronald "Butch" Defoe Jr was found guilty on all 
six counts of second degree murder.

Butch tried a variety of defences during the trial, ranging from Mob hitmen to demonic possession, 
but it did him no good - he was sentenced to six consecutive 25 year terms. The sentence should 
have been the end to a shocking chapter in this pretty Long Island town's otherwise unblemished 
history. 

Actually, the murders and the blockbusting film they inspired - The Amityville Horror - were 
simply the beginning of 25 years of hoaxes, accusations, lawsuits and straight-to-video sequels.

In the summer of 1975, the house on Ocean Drive was sold. A couple named George & Kathy Lutz 
fell in love with the place, despite it's horrific, recent past. 
In fact the "horror house" reputation worked to their advantage - they bought 112 for the 
knockdown price of $80,000. 

It's unclear how the family could afford even this amount.