# High Hopes Dashed : The Defeo Family Destruction

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/true-crime-with-bratterstein-7162898/high-hopes-dashed-the-defeo-family-destruction
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/true-crime-with-bratterstein-7162898/high-hopes-dashed-the-defeo-family-destruction.md
Podcast: [TRUE CRIME with Bratterstein](https://stenobird.com/podcast/true-crime-with-bratterstein-7162898)
Published: 2026-07-24T14:40:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bratterstein/episodes/High-Hopes-Dashed--The-Defeo-Family-Destruction-e3mgbqh
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO5372811762.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/true-crime-with-bratterstein-7162898/episodes/high-hopes-dashed-the-defeo-family-destruction
Duration seconds: 2674

## Resource

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering the Defeo family with me today. In November 1974, 23‑year‑old Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. murdered six members of his family in their Amityville, New York home as they slept: his parents, two brothers, and two sisters. DeFeo later admitted he was the killer, but his story shifted over time as he blamed the mob, then claimed the house itself and “voices” pushed him into it, while investigators found all six victims face down in their beds with no signs of a struggle. The crime became infamous because it was later turned into the Amityville Horror myth, but the real case was a brutal familicide, not a haunting. After trial, DeFeo was convicted of six counts of second‑degree murder and sentenced to six consecutive terms of 25 years to life, meaning he would spend the rest of his life in prison. He died in 2021 while still incarcerated, and the house at 112 Ocean Avenue remains one of the most notorious addresses in American true crime.

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## Transcript

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