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hey weirdos I'm Elina and I'm Ash and this is [Music] morbid hello hello how are you I'm great
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I'm tired but I'm great how are you I'm also tired and great I love that great and tired yeah we did all of the tour
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the book tour we just finished last night and it was so much fun so cool it was the one of the coolest things I feel
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like we've gotten to do yeah you guys were rad as hell thanks for inviting me [ __ ] thanks for coming no problem it
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was so much fun I love and it was awesome but I think my body just like crashed at the end of it it's just like
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okay go to sleep well the thing is that the the thing you have to know about me and Elena which most of you probably
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already know we don't [ __ ] go anywhere ever and we don't socialize with really anyone other than each other
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and like some family and a couple of friends we're very I'm yawning right now sorry uh I literally was yawning I was
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talking uh yeah my social battery my social battery has always been pretty uh no pretty little doesn't hold a lot Ando
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it gets empty real quick mine used to be so much larger and in charger M never was it never was and it's only gotten
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smaller as I've gotten older so I have to pick very carefully what I how I socialize to and this was a great a
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great way to do it it was a great choice and now I'm exhausted as of this recording this [ __ ] sitting
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across from me is a number one won New York Times bestselling author I can't believe that I am so
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happy for you I was I'm shook literally pooping my pants when you got the news it's I still it's I'm like honestly
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speechless about it still it's incredible but thanks so much for supporting me everybody you're the
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you're amazing yay and just know that I accidentally tackled her when she got the news she did she side tackled me
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which was I meant to hug but way more forceful full side tackle uh it's amazing though it's amazing and I can't
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believe it and I can't wait to make more books um and yeah it's crazy hopefully the next one is also on the list I see
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it I see it manifest we all manifested on tour we hell yeah we did and you guys manifested I'm sure of it you did it and
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you're just talented this is cuz you guys did it though and yeah you supported me you bought the book you
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pre-ordered the book you seem to be enjoying the book which makes me pretty pretty happy and I just needed to tell
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you you are appreciated your kind words have been unbelievably appreciated I can't tell you how much it is meant this
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whole time seeing in person has been amazing and appreciated and you are the real ones so I just wanted to tell you
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that she's on the New York Times so I just wanted to thank you cuz you guys made it awesome yay and you're the
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reason for the season you know you are that's I think that's all the happy stuff we have yeah that's all the happy
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stuff and you know I like it um and what we're going to do is we're going to this
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is like um this is a two-parter but it's like a different kind of two-parter where you know it's still sort of well
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not sort of it is still very much spooky season this but this is straight up True
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Crime this is straight up True Crime but it's connected to a spooky thing cuz we
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wanted to give you like a little bit of both this season yeah you got to get both because that's what you're here for
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makes everybody happy it does and I get it so this is one of the bigger ones that we've never covered before I know
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it's actually kind of crazy that we haven't which is shocking so what we're going to do here is we're going to talk
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about the defo family murders those are largely connected to what came after which is the idaville
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horror hoax that is a big old hoax but it's such a big that's almost a true crime in and of itself because it's such
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a massively orchestrated hoax it kind of was right yeah CRI didn't isn't there like Court transcripts about it where
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they I mean there like there I mean that's a one of the biggest hoax is ever like it's huge yeah so what we're going
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to do is in this episode I am purely going to tell you the True Crime tale of the defo murders it's really sad it's
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really brutal trigger warning right off the bat St it's like pretty gruesome it's like gun stuff it's it's rough
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unfortunately like the vi some of the victims are children some of the victims are children so it's just really sad but
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and then in part two of this series Almost it'll be a totally different episode but it's going to be talking
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about the am horror hoax and some of the real stuff that could be associated with
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it we're going to see Ed and Lorraine Warren again in part two they they always they come to stay for spooky
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season they do they just like they really involve themselves so um so yeah today we're going to be talking about
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the defo family murder case so buckle up everybody all righty so when 23-year-old
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Ronald defo Jr borrowed his friend Bobby Kel's car on the night of November 13th
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1974 so this was a while ago it was with the understanding that he was just going to be going down the
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street just a few blocks to his house and he was going to be right back so since he'd gotten out of work that
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afternoon Ronald's had been trying to reach anyone at his house he said he just couldn't get anyone on the phone
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and it was starting to make him nervous he couldn't get a hold of his parents any of his brothers or sisters and he
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was like that's not normal I've been trying to get them I can't so he had told Bobby I'm going to have to go home
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and break a window to get in cuz he was really worried at that point it was late
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damn so he took off in the direction of his house and he was saying I'm just going to go there check on things and
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I'll come right back with your car a bit later Ron came skidding into the parking
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lot of Henry's Bar where he had left um and he had barely made it through the door of the bar when he said Bob you've
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got to help me you've got to help me someone shot my mother and father I can't imagine hearing that no
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so everyone in Henry's Bar was just like what the [ __ ] like none of them knew how
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to respond Henry's regular John alteri said he was hysterical he was shouting everybody come on somebody shot my
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father and mother like hysterical all upset you got to come now okay so of course as he's saying that like you got
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to help me a handful of guys jumped up went out to their cars and they were like we'll follow you there so at the
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time no one knew what to expect cuz they were like are we really going to like walk into dead bodies like what's going
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to happen here but when they got to their destination the scene at 112 Ocean Avenue was eerily quiet oh I immediately
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hate that and it gets worse because it's eerily quiet and then there's just an alarm clock going off from somewhere on
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the second floor of the house oh my entire body just wmed I the sound the feeling of that the
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sound of that was just like oh no I have come home from vacation before and heard
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my alarm clock going off cuz like I forgotten to to put it on to put it off and it's just it when you walk in and
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you just hear a faint alarm and you're like what the [ __ ] there's something about that I don't know yeah I don't
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know I something about something being like so still and quiet and then and then a very normal yeah disrupting it
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yeah a very routine like why and and it's the why hasn't somebody shut that off yes that's the thing and when you
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why is that still going like that and and that's the thing they know that there's brothers and sisters in this
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house there's four other siblings in this house so hearing somebody shot my mother father and then rolling up and
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hearing an alarm blaring from the second floor and no one's shutting it off oh my
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God that's hor I'd be like what are we about to walk into so once he had the car in park Bobby kelsky and John alteri
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didn't hesitate for a second before rushing straight into the house which like whoa good for them the other people
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who showed up were a little more cautious they didn't run right in also good for them yeah Ron on the other hand
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waited outside with them and it that's interesting yeah very interesting I wouldn't be outside if I thought my
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entire family was dead inside nope definitely not it was alteri who found the bodies in the main bedroom um the
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father and mother then they found the two young boys across the hall and alteri was later quoted as saying the
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little one was in pajamas and had blood all over him I couldn't see where the Bullet Hole was just I think of like a
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little boy in his pajamas in bed covered in blood is oh it's awful so horrific yeah well Al Ty and kelsky searched the
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house another bar pap Pon Joey ywt called the police from the phone in the deo's kitchen he told the suffk County
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Police dispatcher we have a shooting here there's a guy here he says there's been a shooting and everyone's dead damn
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which that's interesting to me that phrasing because Ron you know some people are saying like he's coming into
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the bar he says my mom and dad are shot y he's still saying that when they get to the house they're thinking it's just
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the mom and dad and then they find like then they find the other two boys John and Mark but then this Patron Joey yck
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calls the police from the kitchen and says that Ron came into the bar saying that everybody was shot everybody's dead
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so in the commotion story got [ __ ] up somewh it's a weird little thing and that happens a little bit but officer
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Kenneth gusi was in his police car just a few blocks away from the house when the call came in um so he was the first
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one to hear it over the radio and he went right to the defo house when he pulled in Ron defo was crying
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and he told guski that his father and mother were dead uhuh again and before taking any statement from anyone gusy
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had defo and Bobby kelsky take him into the house because he was like whoaa like
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we got to figure out what's going on here and he had them wait in the kitchen and he off searched the entire house to
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make sure that the killer was not still inside the house now upstairs gusy located the main bedroom which was a
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very lavishly decorated you know bedroom it had like ornate Furniture there was a
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lot of religious statues they were devout Catholic Family um the photos of Louise and Ronald senior's five children
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in there um this was a very nice home they were like pretty well off it's a nice area yeah yeah grusi though was not
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he could only look at that for so long because he immediately saw two bodies laying face down on the bed Louise on
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the left and Ronald senior on the right Louise was covered with the gold bed spread but gusy could see a large hole
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in her night gown and the blood had soaked all over the mattress between the I mean it was a brutal scene Ronald
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senior was uncovered by the like did not have the the blanket over him and was dressed only in box or shorts and his
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right leg was kind of like hanging a little bit off the bed and there was a bullet hole in the small of his back and
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a trail of blood was leading down onto his boxers and they were both face down face down everyone was face down h now
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officer gusy made his way from the parents' room to the room across the hall and he said he could immediately
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tell this was like um a young boy's bedroom from the way it was decorated he could see toys and games on the floor
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that's so sad and gusy immediately saw the two boys 7-year-old John oh God and 12-year-old Mark lying face down in
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their beds just like their parents and he said the blanket covering the boy on the left had been pulled down to his
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ankles and gusy could tell his pajamas were soaked through with blood and he could see a very ragged bullet hole in
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his lowered back oh my God uh the boy on the right was also uncovered his white T-shirt was pulled up around his chest
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and it revealed a bullet hole in his lower back oh so it's interesting how this is all laid out shot in the back
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too everybody like lower back yeah now after discovering those four bodies gusy returned to the first floor and called
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the station to report what he' just seen and he requested additional assistance more officers he wanted the coroner
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there and as he talked the officer could see Ron defo out of the corner of his eye he said and he said Ron was crying
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he was crying softly but he said he could tell that he was also listening to what I was saying hate that like it was
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one of those things like the and then like the look over to see what's happening and when gusy hung up the
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phone defo said immediately that he had sisters that were also in the house uhhuh one on the bedroom on a second
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floor on the second floor and what his oldest sister Dawn was in the Attic bedroom and immediately it's like I
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don't know if this is just me but like you find your parents you have four other siblings correct four yeah you
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don't immediately search for your little siblings when you find your parents dead
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thank you because if I found my parents dead my first thought would be my little
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sisters and brothers are in danger I need to gather them all up get them the [ __ ] out of this house and then call the
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police exactly but instead you left the house left four children in the house with somebody who shot your parents yeah
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that doesn't make sense and also you've just heard this officer now say that your two brothers are dead one you would
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be losing your mind and two what my first thought wouldn't be well I have two sisters one's on the second floor
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and one's in the Attic I'd be like are my sisters okay where are they like what's going on like you'd be like wait
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a like are they all right tell me you didn't say anything about them the way he says it is almost like you haven't
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found these other two these other two people exactly so gusy heard heard that heard there two sisters raced back
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upstairs to Allison's room on the second floor and like the boy's bedroom there were two beds in the room but one was
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made up obviously it had not been slept in and then in the other bed guski could
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see that and he was joined by another patrol officer at this point um they found the body of 13-year-old Allison
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lying face down and there was a pink bed spread covering her up to her shoulders
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that's interesting she'd been shot in the side of the face oh my God and a large pool of blood had collected on the
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floor next to her bed oh that's awful hers was a very rough one brutal the two officers found the stairs that went to
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Don deo's attic bedroom and they went up slowly you know wondering if the killer
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could possibly be up there right but instead upstairs they found 18-year-old Dawn like the rest of her family she was
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faced down in bed covered by the blanket and shot in the chest H so that tells you something different she's face down
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but she was shot in the chest mhm by the look of things nothing had been Disturbed in any of the rooms and there
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was no apparent sign of struggle okay if they had to guess both officers said they it looked like someone had entered
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the def home in the middle of the night and killed all six of these people in their sleep in the matter of like
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seconds yeah otherwise and to this day even though we'll get into everything and like you
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know Rond defo did this for sure but there is a question of how the [ __ ] did he do this without anybody running out
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of the house or getting away systematically no no one woke up like what why are they all in bed like
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they're all where they were shot right so like how did this happen it's that's why there is like
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theories and I'm not saying they're like credible I'm just saying like that's why
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people do question like was someone else involved here like was there another person like what happened here I only
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know that he that Rond defo did it and that like I don't know all the major details or I I know all the major
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details I don't know all the little details yeah well the two officers returned to the first floor and gusy
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called the station again to report actually we have six bodies in the house um and they said there's no sign of a
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shooter can't find anyone just the defos only living family member Ronald defo Jr
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sus now over the next few hours you know know homicide detective showed up local
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and County various crime scene technicians you know the coroner tons of people are at the Deo house and in the
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back of the house they discovered the family sheep dog Shaggy but he was okay Shaggy Shaggy he's very cute um he was
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tied to the handle of the back door okay Shaggy did not sleep outside that's not how Shaggy slept Shaggy slept
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in the house tied to the handle of the back door he deliberately tied outside okay for what had happened he
00:17:04
was very stressed out yeah of course like barking like crazy going that's all the activity in the house like he was
00:17:10
losing his mind sheep dogs in particular too like something happening to their family it's their job to round everybody
00:17:16
up so he's probably like I can't protect anybody yeah like I need to go get everybody and it is it's amazing what
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dogs do for their family like it's wild like we have like just a little side note no it's true like um blanch in
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particular our dog blanch is obsessed with John like literally would crawl into his skin I always say she wants to
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live inside of his rib cage she does she wants to live inside of him like she loves him so much if you talk to JN she
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starts barking yeah she doesn't want you to talk to him but if JN like pretends to tickle me or the girls and like does
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it like he'll pretend to do like like a like he I'm coming blanch will sail through the air and like go after him
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like like all loyalty ends there and the loyalty to like you are hurting the rest
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of my family or what I see that I think you are hurting she goes nuts like she is and then like the same but then the
00:18:20
same goes back if you pretend to hurt John she going to get you like she is loyal to this family she says like ride
00:18:28
or she says Ohana means [ __ ] family baby but she's like you even family you don't [ __ ] with and Sid too yeah and Sid
00:18:36
will lose it like they are so it's like it's wild how dogs just they tell you a lot well because you're their pack yeah
00:18:44
like it's it's just innate it's so crazy like I [ __ ] love dogs dogs are great dogs are so goddamn cool but so so yeah
00:18:52
this is weird this poor dog Shaggy is tied up outside to the handle of the back door so officers searched every
00:19:00
inch of the house and the property looking for any evidence and by all accounts there was very little if
00:19:07
anything to be found it was like nothing had they they had been shot and this person just disappeared and there was
00:19:14
also no signs of a robbery or a home invasion nothing was missing or even out of place so what would the motive be
00:19:21
there was no sign of a struggle to investigators the lack of evidence was very confusing and very strange M and
00:19:27
the defos lived in one of the most expensive houses in Amityville and would have been Prime targets for robbery but
00:19:35
whoever killed the six members of this family appeared to have done so just because for something other than money
00:19:41
there was no or an apparent right you know like and it's it's also weird to me I wonder if people in Amityville are
00:19:48
annoyed by this I associate Amityville with the word like with the idville horror yes so when you hear it in
00:19:57
reference of just like residence of Amityville I'm like oh that's like a real place like I'm just like oh [ __ ] I
00:20:02
was just thinking that as you were saying it it is I was like oh Amityville is a town just a regular town like it's
00:20:09
not like a spooky town it's supposed to just be like a regular town a beautiful Town it probably is so [ __ ] it's
00:20:15
probably so annoying and I'm sorry for yeah and it's like and like this like you know so it's like I always
00:20:21
think an Amityville is so synonymous with like ooh spooky it's like I feel bad like I'm sorry you're real place
00:20:29
isn't it just like a coastal town yeah I think it's just like a a nice town and this this particular and we'll you know
00:20:35
we'll get into it but they had to they had to do a lot to keep people from coming back to this house a lot no I'm
00:20:41
sure got a little Annoying does it I'm sorry does the house still exist today I think it does so but it's been renovated
00:20:47
it looks a little different it's a it is a beautiful home it is yeah there was um
00:20:52
they had a sign out front that said high hopes that was always pointed at like this this really tragic story and like
00:20:59
there's this little sign that says High Hopes outside it just like the defo family had that out it was always this
00:21:04
just a really chilling thing is that in reference to something I think it's just
00:21:09
like you know prosperity and you know all that like you know good luck huh I've never seen anything like that now
00:21:16
while canvasing the neighborhood officers took statements from several neighbors that kind of helped narrow
00:21:22
down the timeline of what happened here according to one neighbor who didn't want to be identified in the Press she
00:21:28
said she had gone to bed around 10:00 p.m. the night before and noticed that all the lights were on in the house the
00:21:34
F house and she described this as very unusual and something I have never noticed before and at 10 p.m. it's like
00:21:40
what yeah she said usually at that late hours of the evening she said there were
00:21:44
there were lights on but the house was only like partially lit up and another neighbor 15-year-old John neth told
00:21:51
officers he'd been woken up by barking of one of the deo's dogs at around 3:00 a.m. okay and he claimed that this was
00:21:59
and and he said it was very unusual at that time of night the dog did not bark in the middle of the night and he said
00:22:05
that the Barking actually went on for about 20 minutes oh that's so sad stopped so that's upsetting that's
00:22:12
really sad and given that he was The Only Living member of the defo family and the only obvious person who stood to
00:22:19
gain from the deaths of his parents investigators quickly turned to Ronald to say what was going on what were you
00:22:26
doing and in their interview with Bobby kelsky you know Ronald's friend Bobby kelsky they learned that Ronald was what
00:22:33
kelsky described as a gun buff he owned several guns and know I'm only saying uh
00:22:39
because because of what happen in Ronald's bedroom investigators found a 22 caliber semi-automatic rifle a 12
00:22:46
gauge shotgun 22 caliber Bank revolver a ton of ammunition but according to kelsky
00:22:54
statement to police Ronald's 35 caliber Marlin rifle look to be missing H remember that rifle
00:23:02
okay now a little past 8:00 p.m. that night County detectives Gasper Ren Randazzo excuse me and Gerard galof sat
00:23:11
down they all have very interesting last names they do um Gerard galof sat down with Ronald for what would be the first
00:23:18
of many interviews with Rono uh Ron told detectives I'll do whatever I have to do
00:23:23
I'll help you in any way I can okay and what's funny is like um i i i i prod you to go like watch an
00:23:32
interview with him yeah because you can see how he comes off as like he's got this New York accent and he's like you
00:23:41
know like one of those guys you know I'm just talking to you I'm just talking to
00:23:44
you about stuff you see how he would come off as very like oh I'll just help you I'm just here to help I I'll
00:23:51
cooperate anyway I'm just good guy over here you know like it's just I'm obsessed with what you're doing here he
00:23:57
comes off that way yeah and you could see how if he continued that act and somehow got through it he could probably
00:24:03
get away with this that's so scary now when they asked who he thought could be responsible for the murders they were
00:24:09
expecting him to say I have no [ __ ] clue who would kill my entire family I don't know I could not think of anybody
00:24:16
that would murder my entire family Well Ron could think of someone I just need a
00:24:20
side note here he was 23 when this all happened and I need you all to go look at his buug shop because you could tell
00:24:25
me this man is like 45 and I'd be like yeah yeah he is he that's a rough he he was lived a rough life oh did he yeah
00:24:34
okay so I totally had to interrupt him sorry well Ron knew of somebody who he thought would kill his whole family tell
00:24:40
me everything uh he thought of a guy named Tony maio he said he was the best suspect for this according to Ron a
00:24:47
faction of the New York mafia had a grudge against his family because of his family's involvement in mob related
00:24:54
activity oh and he just immediately gave that up he was just like bada boop I'm like uh
00:24:59
he believed maio a supposed Mafia Hitman had likely killed his family in order to
00:25:04
send a message now this sounds like what like you know we're like excuse me what you're
00:25:12
bringing the mob into here but they weren't totally out of the realm of possibility when it was brought up it
00:25:17
seemed unlikely but it wasn't one of those like you know anybody else who says that that you like the mob did it
00:25:24
like really because according to the suffk police department's organized Crime Control Bureau Ronald defo
00:25:30
senior's uncle Peter defo was a captain in The veto geneves crime family that's kind of a big [ __ ] deal and had been
00:25:39
known to police as a member of the geneves organization as early as 1934 holy [ __ ] now that's interesting I find
00:25:47
that [ __ ] so fascinating very interesting um but at the time of the murders Peter defo was 74 years old
00:25:54
right and he hadn't been involved in criminal activity for nearly a decade at that point he had kind of retired he's
00:25:59
like Uncle June yeah he's just you know I'm I'm just over here yeah I'm just Peter defo okay I don't I'm not into
00:26:04
this so any connection between him and the murders was seeming pretty unlikely because like why I don't think a 74y old
00:26:11
man could kill six men I mean call me crazy like things happen but also like what a 74y old man killing six members
00:26:17
of a family and like well and even if you say like okay maybe it wasn't him maybe he did something that caused them
00:26:23
to go after the family that still doesn't jive really because this is an Italian family we're talking
00:26:30
about the Italian mafia Italian mob there is a code of conduct and one of those very specific things in that code
00:26:38
of conduct for the Italian mob is you do not kill children no kids so this doesn't fit like it's just not something
00:26:45
that would happen because like you know that is a thing that's a real thing so in his statement to police Ron explained
00:26:52
that the day before the murders he stayed home from work because he wasn't feeling well uhhuh after sleeping for
00:26:57
most of the day he woke up early the next morning around 4:00 a.m. and he said when he woke up he saw his brother
00:27:03
Mark's wheelchair in front of the bathroom door I know like I'm like this poor kid
00:27:09
didn't have a chance to even get out of bed that's so sad um and the light was on in the bathroom so he assumed his
00:27:14
brother was in the bathroom instead of waiting he said he used another bathroom then decided to go into work early
00:27:20
because he was up and why not okay after work he went to Henry's Bar and had a few drinks with his friends like he
00:27:26
normally did and while he was there he called the house several times but didn't get an answer cuz you always call
00:27:33
your house multiple times when you're out drinking with your friends of course you do after a while he said he became
00:27:38
concerned and borrowed Kel's car to go by the house and check on everyone M which is when he discovered his parents
00:27:45
bodies in their bedroom and didn't bother to check if anybody else was okay yep got it exctly did not bother to
00:27:50
check on his [ __ ] siblings yeah he said he had to force the kitchen window lock and since all he said all the doors
00:27:57
were locked and he didn't have a key to the house now back at Henry's he gathered all his friends he returned to
00:28:03
the house but he never went inside again now to the detectives deo's narrative was a little confusing cuz also um how
00:28:11
did the person get out of the house that did this to your entire family if all the doors are locked and there's no sign
00:28:16
of forced entry yeah just wondering it's a problem uh they thought it was a pretty Meandering narrative that he was
00:28:22
giving and both the detectives found it difficult to follow at points they were like wait what like kind of like us were
00:28:28
like what you did what yeah and while Ron talked detective galof watched his body language and he said he definitely
00:28:35
had some interesting body language and he said but he also noticed some marks on his
00:28:40
arms and when he asked about the marks defo confessed that he was a regular heroin user oh okay and had shot up at a
00:28:48
friend's house earlier that afternoon oh but Ron was very clear that he didn't want the detectives to get the wrong
00:28:54
idea about him he wasn't an addict he said he explained he was a chippy shooter and only used drugs
00:29:01
casually I don't think you can use heroin casually that's just me uh but it was an interesting note they just were
00:29:08
like okay that's an interesting cuz when you add that into it you got to look at
00:29:11
a different Avenues here So eventually the conversation got back around to the family supposed mob connections and the
00:29:18
man Ron believed was responsible for the murders Tony Maia according to Deo he had been doing some work for his
00:29:24
grandfather's car dealership a few weeks earlier and was on his way to the bank to deposit several thousand when he was
00:29:31
held up by two gunmen all of a sudden this is coming out okay and when he told his father about the robbery Ronald
00:29:38
senior didn't believe him and got angry with him that this is what he's telling everybody apparently according to him
00:29:44
his father said not only do I have to worry about you as far as this phony robbery but I've also got to lose a good
00:29:50
friend because Ronald had explained that Tony Mao and his father had been friends
00:29:55
but the robbery had caused a riff between the men because his father believed maio was the guy responsible
00:30:01
even though he didn't believe it happened thank you this ended their friendship and made the defo was a
00:30:06
target for a Hitman according to Ron defo Jr did he like think about this at all no I don't you didn't run this by
00:30:14
anyone apparently not I mean I'm glad you did but now at the time the detectives found Ron to be very
00:30:20
cooperative and the confusing parts of his story could be chocked up they said to now that they know he's using heroin
00:30:28
they were like you know he could be under the influence also because he's admitted that he shot up like this
00:30:33
afternoon essentially yeah and also he's under a lot of stress he just lost his whole family so if it's a little
00:30:39
confusing or a little strange we at least have to look at it with a benefit of the doubt kind of situation the
00:30:45
statement you know and and that's the thing the statement could have ended there he gave his statement told a
00:30:51
little bit of a wild tale but it could have just ended there but Ron just could not help it he just wanted to add more
00:30:58
details what we will learn is when someone's just wanting to add detail after detail they're probably [ __ ]
00:31:04
lying cuz you just it's just the way it is so he explained that while he did own
00:31:09
three rifles his father had actually taken them away from him a few weeks earlier and he'd actually sold one of
00:31:16
them but he couldn't recall the caliber of the gun or the manufacturer wouldn't that be so convenient though he just
00:31:22
happened to sell the uh one one gun and also first all why the [ __ ] would you ever do that second of all why did they
00:31:31
find the guns that were taken away from you in your bedroom yeah that doesn't make any sense it's a little weird uh he
00:31:37
also told them about a cash box that his father kept hidden in their bedroom uh Tony maio he said had helped them carve
00:31:44
The Hiding Place in the floor where the box was kept that's kind of sick so if they checked and the box was missing or
00:31:50
empty Tony your killer killer is Tony over here cuz he was he knew where that cash box was Tony M
00:31:58
okay so does Tony mazio exist yeah actually so they and they were like so you just kind you kind of just know what
00:32:07
happened then like you seem like you're just telling us like this you know what I bet you'll find an empty cash box and
00:32:13
I bet it's him yeah and you just you didn't go straight to Tony Tony Mao's house when you assumed that he killed
00:32:17
your whole family no definitely not now eventually deo's eagerness to cooperate crossed over from very useful if you
00:32:25
know exhaustive but it then it got necessarily detailed and started to border on suspicious yeah like we're as
00:32:33
he talk down that lane it's like we something's weird here he rambled on about his recent criminal past and how
00:32:40
what landed him on parole oh he onle he was on Parole he said I don't want you to think I'm hiding anything from you
00:32:47
that's why he said he was telling all the details okay and the interview process went on until nearly 2:30 a.m.
00:32:53
damn and when the detectives asked where defa wanted to sleep that night he said
00:32:56
he couldn't stay with family because he was worried The Hitman might find him mhm so they allowed him to sleep on a
00:33:02
cot in the homicide division cuz they were like well we'll protect you I guess he spent the night there yeah he spent
00:33:09
the night there cuz they were like they didn't know where else to bring him because he was like I can't go anywhere
00:33:13
The Hitman will find me can you protect me and they were like okay so they just set up a cot for him in like one of the
00:33:20
holding cells and were like you can stay here that's insane so for Ron this was preferable because it would allow him
00:33:27
you know to stay up to date on the investigation as well oh uh cuz he could hear everything yep while detectives
00:33:33
looked into deo's Claim about familial mob ties the medical examiner had begun the autopsies on the six unfortunate
00:33:41
victims Ronald and Louise Deo were each shot twice Ronald in the lower back which had pierced his kidney and
00:33:49
shattered part of his spine oh God Louise was shot in the side and the chest which broke ribs and punctured one
00:33:56
of her lungs wow according to the medical examiner Dr Howard Adelman both could have remained alive anywhere from
00:34:03
a matter of seconds to a few minutes wow I just bled internally and based on her
00:34:09
body position when she was found in the trajectory of the bullets Adelman did theorized that Louise had been shot had
00:34:15
been shot second and had partially risen out of bed when her husband was shot oh
00:34:20
God that's horrific yeah it breaks my [ __ ] heart like that John and Mark defo were each shot
00:34:27
one time in the back at close range Adelman theorized that the killer had stood between the boys beds and fired in
00:34:34
quick succession shooting each and roughly the same part of the back the bullets destroyed several organs before
00:34:41
exiting out the abdomen and becoming lodged in the Box Springs of the bed the bullets yeah oh my God Adelman was
00:34:48
almost certain neither boy had woken up before being killed oh which I guess is a good thing cuz they didn't wake up to
00:34:55
know what was happening they just were shot in their sleep and never became conscious no he didn't think that they
00:35:01
could have woken up like when the parents were killed they didn't hear the shots that's the thing that's what
00:35:06
doesn't really make sense I don't know a lot about guns is it possible he used a
00:35:10
silencer I don't think so it's a it's I don't think they had any evidence that referenced a silencer okay cuz I'm like
00:35:17
did anybody like in the neighborhood report hearing gunshots cuz an assault rifle is loud that's the thing by
00:35:23
everything I could find the gun was not fitted for a silencer there was no Sil involved they never found a silencer
00:35:30
your gun like specifically you have to like get it fitted for one it did not huh this is what makes no [ __ ] sense
00:35:38
and this is the parts of this that make people go what the [ __ ] happened in that
00:35:42
house because like you like we were talking about neighbors heard the dog barking they didn't hear the gunshots
00:35:49
and why is everyone on their stomach everyone's not sleeping on their stomach did he turn them around so so as not to
00:35:56
see their faces a lot of them were sh shot in the back and a lot of them were shot while in bed and the shot went
00:36:02
through to the box spring I mean like it was like they it's like they were ordered to do that or something the only
00:36:08
thing that you can think of though is like like in the middle of the night like or like remember like when you had
00:36:13
fall asleep in in the car and like your parents would carry you up to your bed maybe he turned them over and they just
00:36:18
didn't wake up but like he had already shot the parents on the same floor that's the part in fact across the hall
00:36:27
like John and markk were in a room across the hall from their parents who just got shot four times total with with
00:36:34
a rifle and that's and like I was just saying rifles are [ __ ] loud they're loud so it doesn't make sense that John
00:36:42
and Mark wouldn't hear it it doesn't make sense that the neighbors didn't Alison wouldn't hear it she's on the
00:36:48
same floor she's on the second floor as well even you would hear that from she probably hear it too but the ones on the
00:36:53
same floor how that is weird how it doesn't make sense and no one's really been able to figure it out it's one of
00:37:00
these like enduring Mysteries but luckily neither boy John and Mark seem to have woken up they seem to have which
00:37:08
again very strange that they were both on their stomachs yeah it's just not a not everybody everybody sleeps I don't
00:37:14
sleep on my stomach no I can't so Allison on the other hand had likely seen her killer as she Rose from her bed
00:37:23
like she it seemed like she heard something but like again it's very strange because her wound indicated that
00:37:30
she had turned around just in time to see her killer fire the bullet entered her cheek and it lacerated her brain
00:37:38
before exiting through her skull and lodging in the wall behind the bed oh my God Allison saw her kill her yeah like
00:37:46
that's horrific and she must have died like very quickly though if it went through her brain through her brain just
00:37:51
like and again she was found in the bed but like he doesn't say anything nobody said say anything about like carrying
00:37:58
them back to bed or anything like that so I'm like what is this do they know like around what time everybody was shot
00:38:05
they don't have like um not exact times yeah it's not weird that they would be in bed because it was night time it was
00:38:10
bedtime like they would be in bed such a mom it was bed time it was bedtime everyone was in their pajamas like you
00:38:16
know I wonder if he ordered them to face down but he obviously never brings that
00:38:21
up in his stories but it's even weirder but what but the medical examiner thought the boys were sleeping the boys
00:38:27
it's seems wor sleeping and I but I don't I don't know it's like this is what's so weird it doesn't make sense
00:38:34
none of it makes sense every time you think you could figure it out you're like why though and even if he had
00:38:38
ordered them to stay down I feel I mean Dawn is 18 the he obviously got rid of the parents first but like I feel like
00:38:46
Don could have like potentially overtaken him somehow you know and it doesn't sound like there's evidence that
00:38:51
she tried too yeah I mean he's got a rifle which is terrifying so but there's other guns in the house if he's holding
00:38:57
a rifle at you and saying turn around I guess like you know I'm not going to argue
00:39:02
with a rifle point it at me no I can understand that for like the first couple but like then the rest of them
00:39:10
are hearing the shots why aren't they running hearing the shots yeah they're waiting until he gets to their bedroom
00:39:17
and then well okay so maybe so he gets rid of the parents immediately like that makes sense like they couldn't do
00:39:22
anything the two boys were sleeping sometimes kids don't [ __ ] wake up like it's crazy to think that like with
00:39:28
a assault rifle shot they wouldn't wake up yeah but maybe he walked in their room and ordered them to turn around and
00:39:36
he just boom boom and then Allison wakes up because she's here she's heard all of
00:39:40
that and that's why she's up and he shoots her essentially in the face and then who knows maybe don did try to get
00:39:48
past him and he ordered her back up the stairs with the assault rifle like why didn't any of the neighbors hear
00:39:53
gunshots that I they heard a dog barking that I can't explain like it just I'm so
00:39:59
confused I don't I mean I know this is like a nice area yeah maybe people heard things and just didn't want to say that
00:40:05
they did but why like people were found dead by gunshots like it's not like you'd be like weird to be like oh I
00:40:12
heard maybe they something that I didn't know was a gunshot they maybe they just
00:40:15
didn't want to be involved at all but they were they were offering information they were saying I heard the dog barking
00:40:21
they were saying like let me tell you about this family they were saying I saw lights on it is bizarre it just doesn't
00:40:28
make sense it really doesn't it's so strange but Don's wounds were the most horrific I would say yeah the killer had
00:40:38
stood about 2 feet away from her according to the medical examiner as she slept shooting her in the back of the
00:40:45
neck just below her left ear wow and according to the autopsy report the left side of her face had collapsed and brain
00:40:54
particles mixed with the blood saturating on her pillow wow she had a very disfiguring injury yeah and nobody else
00:41:02
really did aside I guess from Allison yeah and she was shot right in the back of the neck and it's again face down and
00:41:09
from what the medical examiner was thinking was sleeping why how can you know if somebody's sleeping probably
00:41:15
just because of the trajectory and what they're looking at they're saying like there was no movement you know like they
00:41:21
didn't try to move away from the bullet like which your in natural instinct is to move away from something that's going
00:41:28
to hurt you so if you're not moving away from it they assume you have to be in an
00:41:32
unconscious state but then if you're in bed and you know he's coming there's not really any way out of
00:41:38
that so maybe she just cowered in bed but she didn't even do that what do you head was on her
00:41:45
pillow and she was shot right in the back of the neck if she had cowered it would have like potentially like skimmed
00:41:51
another side or like moved that's what they do like seeing where the bullet goes in and how there's no like movement
00:41:57
to get away from it will tell you that that person wasn't conscious I don't know cuz her head was right on her
00:42:04
pillow yeah and if she's trying to she was sleeping on her side no she was she was face down as well cuz she was shot
00:42:12
right in the back of the neck but I think what happened was it like went out her just the ex okay all right the way
00:42:18
it had hit like collapsed to the side of her face kind of thing I don't know I'm trying yeah I
00:42:25
people have been trying for decades I think it's just like it doesn't make sense that's why this is such a like
00:42:32
strange case because not only is the crime horrific and when you look at it there's really no [ __ ] real motive
00:42:39
for this there's also just these weird parts of like what and like the family's a little mysterious when you really dig
00:42:46
into it and it's like oh really then you got those like you know that there's not
00:42:50
mob ties but it's like you know like somewhere in that family there's like mob ties and it's like history this has
00:42:56
nothing to do with the mob but it's like that's it's just like a weird layer on top of it m it's all very strange but
00:43:03
all six members of the Deo family had died from quote massive hemorrhaging due to bullet wounds yeah now when the news
00:43:10
of the murders hit the press the next morning everyone in Amityville were stunned they were stunned that such a
00:43:17
brutal crime was happening in that small town it's a very idealic town like we said everyone described the defos as a
00:43:23
nice normal family who were always willing to lend a hand when someone else was in need one of the neighbors said
00:43:29
like Ronald Deo senior drove her to work every day when her car died one neighbor
00:43:34
told a reporter of Ronald and Louise they could not do enough for their children the whole world was oriented
00:43:39
around their children wow they were very involved in their Community as well according to most like all the good
00:43:45
things while the neighbors had nothing but kind words to say about the victims most people were decidedly less uh
00:43:52
enthusiastic about Ronald defo Jr yeah uh according to oneor Ronald was part of a crowd that would drink and then get
00:44:00
into fights but the next day they'd apologize okay she recalled an instance in recent months where Ronald had gotten
00:44:07
into an argument while at a bar with some friends and he had broken a pool queue in half because he was angry yikes
00:44:13
now neighbors referred to him as creepy always lurking around it was theorized that because it was a big Italian family
00:44:20
the firstborn son is usually like the air you know and just supposed to carry look to as an important part of the
00:44:26
family line yeah of but according to those that knew him Ronald Deo Jr was like not the ideal Heir he was a mess
00:44:34
like just a mess he was always in trouble always getting into things he would go out partying and then he would
00:44:39
bring those parties back to the Deo house late at night always causing issues there was a lot of theories about
00:44:46
you know his relationship with his father which seemed to not be a good relationship was probably his dad was
00:44:53
probably disappointed yes and I think they also had like a very volatile relationship ship where it got physical
00:44:58
a lot between the two of them they would get into like a fist fight like essentially that should never happen no
00:45:04
it's awful now for their part a spokesperson for local law enforcement told reporters the murders were a real
00:45:11
neat job indicating that there was very little evidence left at the scene and very few leads to work with they were
00:45:18
like there's literally nothing very clean MH there was no signs of struggle robbery leading investigators to believe
00:45:24
the motive had just been murder yeah like murder they were either going after one of the people and the rest were
00:45:30
collateral or it was all of them it was just so while defo slept in the homicide
00:45:36
unit that night investigators got word from the medical examiner that all of the defos had been killed with a 35
00:45:42
caliber Marlin rifle imagine that exactly the model and caliber Bobby kelsky had mentioned when police
00:45:49
interviewed him at the scene and the only gun that Ronald defo could not account for like you really you only
00:45:56
lost that one only that one a little bit later they got word from one of the technicians that upon a second search of
00:46:03
the house they discovered a box for a 35 caliber Marlin rifle like a box of a like to hold the gun yeah hidden in
00:46:10
rondao's closet I got to go the gun they couldn't find at the very least the Box indicated
00:46:18
that defo had owned the same model gun used in the MERS until that point investigators had given Ron the benefit
00:46:24
of the doubt you know losing your whole family in one night you know he might be
00:46:28
under the influence there's a lot going on yeah many factors here but now they were starting to wonder uh if they just
00:46:34
had their suspect in custody already willingly literally around 9 the next morning November 15th detective galof
00:46:42
and several other homicide detectives returned to the office and woke up Ron who immediately asked whether they'd
00:46:48
found Tony maio yet okay galof told him uh well we got people out looking for Tony Mao but he said to tell you the
00:46:56
truth I think you're the guy we want damn just like like woke him up and said hit hit him defo was like what are you
00:47:04
talking like incredulous insisted Tony maio was the guy they wanted but the detectives read him his rights and took
00:47:11
him into custody for the murder of his parents brothers and sisters yeah when he was asked whether he wanted to speak
00:47:16
to to his lawyer Ron said he waved his right to counsel and he said he was willing to cooperate H Ron began the
00:47:24
second interview by insisting that his family had been killed by the New York mob but by then galof and the other
00:47:30
investigators had assembled and presented the evidence that strongly indicated that uh Ron was involved was
00:47:36
Ron at one point he claimed that he was just uh smoking pot in the basement when
00:47:42
it happened and he didn't hear anything well that doesn't make sense and then later he claimed he heard the
00:47:49
gunshots like he he came up with so many different things but before that goof said let's go back to the day before and
00:47:56
let's start over yeah and then he said let's start with supper okay now being confronted by all the evidence and the
00:48:03
fact that they were like we pretty much know you were involved seemed to flip a little switch and run but before then he
00:48:09
was crying he was upset he was I will do nothing but cooperate here whatever I can do but now it's like he took off a
00:48:18
mask and his true failings came out cuz he so the so galof said let's start with
00:48:23
supper and he said my mother was a lousy and they were like oh and and she said she cooked up some brown stuff in a bowl
00:48:32
it looked like [ __ ] and it smelled like [ __ ] nice and they were like fun nice to
00:48:36
speak of your recently deceased and murdered mother that way yeah and these unkind comments about his mother seemed
00:48:42
wildly inappropriate to the investigator sudden they were like wow okay but Rome
00:48:47
was just getting started he wasn't done oh no when they asked him about John and
00:48:51
Mark his little brothers he said my brothers is a couple of [ __ ] pigs and he said I often use the bathroom that
00:48:58
they used on the second floor and I go in there and sometimes there's toilet paper hanging out of the bowl I mean
00:49:04
yeah they were like seven and 12 12 that checks yeah kids are gross a lot and it's like try following up a bathroom
00:49:11
after a kid yeah exactly and also they're your little brothers who were shot in their beds and you're just
00:49:17
talking about them calling them you're just calling them [ __ ] pigs and like what they just were murdered and his
00:49:23
feelings about his sisters were not any better uh about Dawn and this is like terrible
00:49:30
just so everybody knows he said he said that fat [ __ ] Dawn oh my God and then he
00:49:35
talked about the kind of music that she listened to over and over and he used a racial slur over and over oh um that the
00:49:43
one you're thinking over and over he said she listened to that music all day and all night and I can't even tell her
00:49:49
to turn it down because if I tell her to turn it down I get my [ __ ] ass kicked
00:49:54
okay so now he's referring again to the allegations that Ronald Deo sen was abusive to his family okay now he
00:50:03
claimed that now after this he claimed that Dawn shot all the family members including the kids and then he shot her
00:50:10
in a rage about it okay and then he also claimed he shot Don in self-defense because she was going to shoot him with
00:50:17
a rifle okay yeah after ranting about his mother and the rest of the family and claiming that Don did it no she didn't
00:50:25
actually she did maybe not I don't know I shot her but then whatever Ron launched into a big long rant about his
00:50:31
father who he referred to as a cheap bastard and he talked about his grandfather kind of equally the same way
00:50:38
as unkind yeah and the other members of the family uh when he was finally done giving his uh brutally honest roast
00:50:46
opinion of his family defo still hadn't confessed to The Murders At this point but it was pretty clear uh but to Goff
00:50:53
and the others it seemed like he was uh pretty ready to do that without saying a
00:50:57
word the detectives got up from the table and left the room and were replaced by Dennis Rafferty who was a
00:51:03
hom homicide detective with the Amityville police raffy spent the next 6 and a half hours with Ron and during
00:51:09
this he completely confessed to the murders of the family okay it was clear that Ron hated his family like it was
00:51:16
very clear he was acting all broken up before but suddenly when that evidence was presented it was like mask off they
00:51:23
all suck ass let me tell you about all of them he especially hated his father yeah um he fought with his father
00:51:30
constantly but it seemed like his motive was not that completely at least his motive was money okay according to defo
00:51:38
his parents had a life insurance policy worth $200,000 okay in 2024 money that's over
00:51:44
a million dollars over $1.2 million actually damn and as the only surviving member of the family Ron would have been
00:51:51
the beneficiary of that policy uhhuh on the night of the murders Ronald woke up on the couch a little before 3:00 a.m.
00:51:58
he went up to his bedroom loaded his rifle and went room by room shooting and killing his whole family 300 a.m. yep he
00:52:06
told rafy I just started and it went so fast I couldn't stop he just woke up and
00:52:11
just in that moment decided to kill them mhm okay when he killed everyone in the
00:52:16
house Ron collected the shell casings and his bloody clothing into a pillowcase he took a shower he trimmed
00:52:23
his beard and then he left the house he threw the right into a pond down the street and eventually he ditched the
00:52:30
pillowcase and other evidence in a storm drain in Brooklyn on his way to work then he just went to work what the [ __ ]
00:52:37
when he was finished giving his confession raffy asked whether def would sign a sworn statement that what he told
00:52:42
them was true but he refused and he told the detectives he would not because he feared his grandfather Michael bante
00:52:50
would see it okay and it's like he's going to hear about it uhhuh now using the two diagrams Ron had drawn for them
00:52:59
detectives were able to locate the gun and the pillowcase full of shells and other evidence which were brought back
00:53:04
to the precinct and defo identified them as his belongings meanwhile the clothing
00:53:10
Ronald was wearing was taken as evidence and he was charged and booked with six counts of second deegree murder and he
00:53:16
was taken into custody and held in detention until a grand jury was going to be convened in the coming days now
00:53:22
Dave found an interesting tidbit here that first-degree murder at the time was reserved for those who killed a police
00:53:28
officer or a prison guard oh so it had nothing to do with melesa For Thought yeah it was just like that was at the at
00:53:34
the moment that was what that in 74 we have come across this before I I'm fairly certain of it but I always find
00:53:41
it interesting yeah that is interesting now the news of Ronald's arrest shocked Amityville almost as much as the murders
00:53:48
had shocked Amityville deo's friend Glenn Hoffman told a reporter I can't believe it I can't believe it even even
00:53:54
if they say it's true he could have been set up for it you you don't know what's
00:53:59
involved okay for many Ron's CLA original claim of Mafia involvement seemed more plausible than a son and a
00:54:07
and a brother murdering his entire family for no [ __ ] reason I mean yeah that is hard to swallow even his
00:54:12
probation officer William Benjamin was stunned and said nothing indicated he could have resorted to violence of this
00:54:18
kind that's kind of crazy now defo was arranged in the first district court on November 15th where his defense attorney
00:54:26
Leonard Simmons requested a psychiatric examination he told the judge I have doubts about the defendant's ability to
00:54:33
help in his own defense Simmons also claimed that defo had bruises on his body which implied that he'd been abused
00:54:39
by investigators while in custody judge Donald opin refused the defense's request for a psychiatric examination
00:54:47
and refus bail wow nearly a year went by before between the arrest and the trial
00:54:53
damn yeah most of it was like pre-trial hearing the defense teams repeated and unsuccessful attempts to get Ron's
00:55:00
confession G thrown out yeah they wanted to get it thrown out on the grounds that
00:55:03
it was obtained through cotion mhm during this whole period the prosecution called on a lot of the detectives who
00:55:09
were involved in the interview process and Dennis rafy said it was a tricky situation we started out dealing with a
00:55:15
guy who was the sole survivor of a family Massacre but the more we questioned him the more holes there were
00:55:20
in his account and he kept changing things until finally he started crying put his head on my shoulder and told me
00:55:27
it just started it went so fast I just couldn't stop damn like what are you going to do and RAF explains um they
00:55:35
began to suspect AO was lying when he went from telling them he'd heard nothing that night to then changing his
00:55:41
story several times to say he heard multiple gunshots and that he had even seen his brother Jon's toes twitching at
00:55:48
one point when he discovered them cuz then he went back and said well I did discover the bodies of my siblings and I
00:55:54
saw John was alive what yeah and Rafford he said that indicated to me that he was there right
00:56:01
after the shooting took place right and when rafy pointed that out Deo changed his story again and said a Hitman came
00:56:09
to do it the mob story again and that the Hitman actually made him watch everything at gunpoint and that's why he
00:56:16
saw his brother John's toes twitching and you would totally be super down to then tell the cops everything yeah and
00:56:23
they he said so rafy had said to him they wouldn't walk out without making you a piece of it they must have made
00:56:29
you they must have made you do one of the shootings like right that's how Hitmen work like that's how the mob
00:56:35
Works you're not leaving here unless you have blood on your hands so you'll shut
00:56:38
your mouth you won't go and talk to the police it was at that point that defo broke down and confessed to the murders
00:56:43
okay now defo on the other hand claimed that while he was in custody the detectives beat him until he finally
00:56:49
told them everything that they wanted to hear about how quote I supposedly killed
00:56:53
every member of my family okay according to deo's testimony investigators started
00:56:59
abusing him at the house next to the defo home which they had set up as a command post at first and continued
00:57:06
abusing him until he through he him being placed under arrest okay so according to him they think this man
00:57:14
just lost his entire family and they started beating the [ __ ] out of him yeah that makes sense now he claimed they
00:57:19
refused to let him eat or sleep during interrogation and they denied him his request for an attorney even though he
00:57:25
had waved his right and they gave him a cop to sleep on defo told judge Stark I fell down they stomped on my stomach
00:57:32
then my back and my legs they put a telephone book on my head and hit me with blackjacks and then finally put a
00:57:39
shopping bag over my head and slam my head into either the wall or the filing cabinet totally considering that the
00:57:46
prosecution's case rested almost entirely on the confession the claim that it was obtained illegally it was
00:57:51
taken very seriously I'm sure and you have to take that seriously and the prosecution had to prove that it was um
00:57:58
the problem for defo though was that his claims were extraordinary and so they very much needed to be backed up by
00:58:05
evidence of this supposed beating but the only injury anyone saw at the time of his arraignment was a small mostly
00:58:12
healed Cut Above his eye and in the rebuttal the prosecutor Gerard Sullivan called on one of deo's school friends
00:58:20
who told the judge that he had been at the house about a week before the murder and had seen Ronald and his father get
00:58:26
into a fist fight oh and he said during that fist fight he got that minor injury
00:58:30
above his eye that's really sad which is sad now judge Stark later wrote I found
00:58:37
that deo's testimony was largely untruthful his testimony was that he was given no food or drink not permitted to
00:58:43
sleep for over 24 hours it would seemed totally unreasonable and unbelievable his failure to complain to the district
00:58:50
court judge on November 15th about the alleged extreme police brutality the previous day nor to mention it in any
00:58:57
documents supporting his pre-trial motions was a factor leading me to believe it never occurred yeah cuz also
00:59:02
that if he in there after first of all I don't think the cops would beat the [ __ ]
00:59:07
out of him a day before he has to stand before a judge yeah it's not a good look
00:59:11
and a judge would notice that and do something about it most complain about it yeah he would say they beat the [ __ ]
00:59:18
out of me this is why I'm here right this is so he so um this was the biggest factor in Stark's decision and after
00:59:25
considering the evidence testimony he ruled that the confession was given voluntarily it was going to be
00:59:30
admissible in the trial okay so with the pre-trial hearings out of the way Ron deo's murder trial began on October 6th
00:59:37
1975 in the Supreme Court of New York in the opening statements jard Sullivan laid out the states theory that Deo had
00:59:44
murdered his family because of his quote deteriorating relationship with his parents and because of another separate
00:59:50
and distinctive reason a thirst for money Sullivan told the jury the prosecution would PR proved Beyond a
00:59:56
reasonable doubt that Ron had commit hadn't committed the murders impulsively but had in fact acted on a methodical
01:00:03
plan that began with tying the dog outside MH because that's a big part of this you tied the [ __ ] dog up exactly
01:00:11
you didn't just walk up there and start shooting you tied the dog up that shows a plan in action and it ended with him
01:00:19
calmly and methodically picking up exhausted bullets and casings taking off his Blood Stained clothing
01:00:26
trimming his beard and getting rid of all of that in a Brooklyn storm drain also the thought of him just trimming
01:00:32
his beard in the house where all of his family lay dead because of him is [ __ ] horrifying chilling to the Bone
01:00:41
meanwhile the dog is tied up outside barking his ass off because you tied him up because you planned it that's so
01:00:48
scary in his opening remarks the defense attorney William Weber who is a real piece of work uh told the jury they
01:00:54
would prove that defo confession was beaten out of him and that he was not mentally competent when the slayings
01:01:00
took place which is like um what where did that come from okay Weber assured the jury that defo would take the stand
01:01:06
and quote tell you the truth about what happened at that house that night I doubt it and they would also call
01:01:11
multiple psychiatrists who would testify that Ronald defo Jr was not of sound mind and thus couldn't be held
01:01:17
responsible for whatever had happened that night okay the prosecution had a relatively straightforward tail to tell
01:01:23
it was the one that most people were already familiar with with because it had a lot of press coverage um the
01:01:28
medical examiner testified you know to the extent of the victim's wounds including the fact that at least two of
01:01:34
the victims Louise and Dawn had been conscious and aware before they were shot I think also Allison they believed
01:01:41
was possibly conscious okay um in the days that followed several investigators detailed their experiences at the crime
01:01:48
scene and their interactions with defo before and after his arrest detective galof for example told the jury about
01:01:55
his various interviews with defo and Ron's disclosure that he was an active heroin user who had injected drugs as
01:02:03
recently as the day of the murders now the most important testimony came from those investigators who had taken
01:02:09
multiple statements from Rond defo in his testimony Dennis rafy told the jury that Ron had given multiple accounts
01:02:16
ranging from him simply discovering some of the bodies to his hearing the shots and then eventually his confession that
01:02:23
he acted alone in killing all six members of his family by then the detective explained that they already
01:02:30
strongly suspected that he was the murderer right based on the inconsistency in his stories and the
01:02:35
various pieces of evidence that they got from the scene which included the ammunition tons of it and the box for
01:02:41
the Marlin rifle that was used in the murders and hidden yeah so raf's testimony was backed up by the other
01:02:48
detectives present during this time including Lieutenant Robert Dunn who told the jury I got up and left the room
01:02:54
in awe of the hor of what I had just heard Dunn who was a member of the organized crime unit explained that he
01:03:01
was called in by the local authorities because of that whole claim about the Tony Mao thing the members of the mafia
01:03:07
involved however they investigated that claim and he said there's absolutely no ties to that whatsoever yeah finally dun
01:03:15
also refuted the claim that defo was mistreated and abused while in police custody and he said as far as he knew
01:03:20
and saw he gave his confession completely voluntarily right now the states case against was strong and
01:03:27
supported by evidence but Sullivan nonetheless anticipated an insanity defense and was prepared with witnesses
01:03:34
to combat that claim okay in her testimony for the prosecution deo's Aunt Phyllis predo so deo's aunt told the
01:03:42
jury Ronald's history of mental illness was a hoax perpetrated in order to keep Ron from being sent to
01:03:49
Vietnam oh yeah according to her [ __ ] thickens it does in to the aunt about a year before the Murder She was quote
01:03:59
introduced to a man who claimed to have been paid $5,000 to keep Ron out of the US
01:04:05
Army oh [ __ ] this was among several examples where Ronald senior seemingly paid or otherwise compensated
01:04:13
individuals to keep his son out of trouble or to get him out of trouble that he had already been in yeah on
01:04:19
November 6th Rond defo Jr took the stand to testify on his own behalf that must have been something and he wanted to
01:04:26
provide support for that Insanity defense according to his testimony defo told Weber and the jury that he felt
01:04:32
quote Duty bound to kill anyone he considered a threat and he saw nothing wrong with killing his entire family
01:04:39
which he claimed was done in self-defense okay even the seven-year-old yeah that makes sense he
01:04:44
said quote when I have a gun in my hand i'm God according to defo he woke up on the couch the night of the murders and
01:04:51
saw his sister Dawn standing before him in the living room with the rifle in her
01:04:54
hands and she told him that she was going to kill everyone okay so he said I took the rifle away from her and she
01:05:01
just disappeared and I walked a few feet into my parents' bedroom and I just started to shoot that doesn't make any
01:05:07
sense what when he was cross-examined by Sullivan defo reiterated that he had killed all six members of his family but
01:05:15
then later in his testimony to the prosecution he claimed he believed his sister Dawn had killed his
01:05:22
brothers okay according to defo Don was constantly at odds with their parents and their arguments did frequently
01:05:30
escalate to Violent confrontations between her and their father this is according to Ron def okay he said on the
01:05:36
stand he said I should have let them kill each other o I believe this was not a happy household all the time sad but
01:05:44
it's all you know this is all just coming from his mouth as well yeah so you have to take it with a bit of a
01:05:50
grain of salt in defense of his Insanity plea Ronald told the jury he frequently
01:05:54
heard voices in the house coming from the house which is where we get the next The Haunting and had command
01:06:01
hallucinations that instructed him to act out violently he said for months before the incident I heard voices and
01:06:08
whenever I looked around there was no one there so it must have been God talking to me probably not when Weber
01:06:14
asked if he thought anyone in the courtroom had been trying to kill him he replied yeah Phyllis predo my aunt who
01:06:20
was sitting out there that's new it's new information yeah so upon redirection C said is there anyone else you think is
01:06:27
trying to kill you and he said you so he's really trying for that Insanity defense yeah it seems that
01:06:35
Phyllis proo wasn't the only witness the prosecution had planned to undermine deo's claims of insanity they also
01:06:42
called out a former cellmate of his a cellmate that he had apparently boasted about his plan defense to oh gosh
01:06:51
according to John Kramer who shared a cell next to defo in the Sick Bay uh Ron had told him about his plan to
01:06:58
plead insanity and boasted that he was quote bigger than Charles Manson oh please cranmer told the the jury he was
01:07:06
in the cell next to me in the Sick Bay area of the jail and he kept telling me all these things even after I told him I
01:07:11
didn't want to hear anything or get involved Sullivan also subpoenaed several of the guards at the jail who
01:07:18
testified that defo had asked them how the mentally ill inmates acted when they were locked up I always wonder why
01:07:25
inmates will do that cuz I'm like do you not think that these people have like that they're not going to rat on you do
01:07:31
you think they that's a literal job like do you think they have any loyalty to you do you just think do you think at
01:07:38
all do you think so one of the guards James deito basically when defo had asked him like how do they act he said
01:07:45
he told him inmates burned things pretended to forget the names of prisoners and guards whom they knew sat
01:07:51
on a shelf in the cell and feigned suicide attempts okay and according to DeVito right after I told him those
01:07:58
things he began doing them all and yelling at me to enter them in the log book but I considered them silly and
01:08:04
refused to make any entries except for the in incident when he tried to set the cell on fire oh my God now towards the
01:08:11
end of the trial Sullivan called Dr Harold zolon to testify as to his experience evaluating Ron following his
01:08:18
arrest zolon testified that he diagnosed defo with an antisocial personality I could see but he added that the
01:08:26
diagnosis did not affect his ability to tell right from wrong right and insisted
01:08:31
he quote was aware of what he was doing when he killed his parents and four brothers and sisters y zolon further
01:08:37
said if he was in any paranoid psychosis there would be no compulsion for him to
01:08:42
hide the signs of his wrongdoings such as trying to destroy the evidence or lie to the police right on November 19th the
01:08:50
trial came to a close after each side gave their closing remarks and in his statement Gerard Sullivan went over all
01:08:56
the evidence all the testimony for the jury and reminded them that defo had confessed to the crime but only recently
01:09:03
had started claiming that he was mentally ill when he killed his family yeah rather than Insanity Sullivan
01:09:08
restated the state's belief that defo callously calmly and coldly planned the execution of his family carried them out
01:09:16
and then went about carefully taking the murder rifle and the used cartridges and
01:09:20
his Blood Stained clothing and hiding them in an obscure Brooklyn storm drain to cover up his role in The Murders he
01:09:27
reminded the jury that noome was denying that defo was sick only that he wasn't so impaired that he didn't know what he
01:09:33
was doing was wrong MH now William Weber on the other hand said while his client
01:09:38
had committed the murders he had only done so because he was insane at the time and was heavily influenced by
01:09:43
psychedelic psychotic delusions excuse me also he continued to assert that Deo had only confessed after being beaten
01:09:51
and abused by investigators now at the time Ron deo's trial was the longest criminal trial
01:09:58
held in suffi County oh wow uh lasting nearly a month and a half after almost three days of deliberation the jury
01:10:05
emerged before a little before noon on November 21st and announced that they had reached a unanimous decision finding
01:10:13
Ron Deo guilty on all six counts of second degree murder suffi County district attorney Henry O'Brien said in
01:10:21
a statement to the Press I'm extremely pleased the members of this jury realize the vi ious Ness of the defendant and
01:10:26
have removed a menace to our community when asked for comment on the verdict defense attorney William Weber shook his
01:10:32
head and said I'm glad I wasn't a member of that jury what does that even mean okay you are the defense attorney though
01:10:42
that's an even worse position I'm like I don't really get it because you lost so
01:10:46
for the jurors it really all came down to his attempts to hide the evidence andal his guilt after committing the
01:10:52
murders that's what it would be for me yeah like the spent shells clothing heeded his beard he was of
01:10:59
sound mind he knew what he was doing um one of the jurors said that was a major sign of guilt he knew what he was doing
01:11:05
yep on November 4th Ronald Ron was back before Judge Thomas Stark for sentencing
01:11:10
and at the time Sullivan urged the court to show to not show any Mercy in handing
01:11:15
down deo's sentence describing the crime as an event so appalling and cataclysmic
01:11:20
that it is without equal it's true it's a Annihilation mhm like the judge Stark couldn't ignore the extent that defo
01:11:28
went to to conceal his criminal acts and deflect the guilt onto innocent people as well he trying to get someone else to
01:11:34
go down for this right he said I stated my intention to impose life sentences with the longest minimum period possible
01:11:40
I then impose six sentences of life imprisonment each with a minimum of 25 years to run consecutively with respect
01:11:48
to each other damn so he handed down six life sentences to him so I think that's
01:11:52
what he deserved so I found this article by Marvin and Scott from Long Island um
01:11:57
we'll include it somewhere but he had followed the story closely and he' spoken via letters to defo a lot and one
01:12:03
of the letters with defo defo said he admitted there was absolutely no voices in the house even though he had claimed
01:12:10
on the understand that there was he said there was no insanity and he wrote there
01:12:15
was no demon you know who the demon is I'm the demon oh that's even scarier now and he also claimed later
01:12:23
that there was never a question of sanity and everyone knew it he said his defense attorney William Weber
01:12:30
capitalized on that and he wanted to get book deals and a movie going about the case so he encour he wanted that
01:12:36
Insanity defense the [ __ ] and he actually tried to get a new trial later based on his claims of this with the
01:12:42
previous defense but he didn't get one now in the years that followed Ronald defo and his defense attorney William
01:12:49
Weber did file multiple appeals and petitions for parole at various points maintain his innocence and claims of
01:12:56
mental illness even though later they would abandon that yeah but each of the attempts was denied by the appeal ports
01:13:03
in the uh courts in the parole board and ultimately defo would spend the rest of
01:13:07
his life in New York's prison system until his death on March 12th 2021 I was going to say but no one knows how he
01:13:15
died how old was he he was 69 and there's they don't know how he died at all they know how he died I we
01:13:24
don't know how he died it's undisclosed do you you can't find it anywhere do you think it's just to add
01:13:33
to the I don't know I mean I don't know why anybody would want to do that but but I I don't know that's bizar yeah I
01:13:41
don't know if someone took him out or what and under normal circumstances this you know rondao's postconviction life
01:13:49
would probably have just like faded Into Obscurity like resurfacing every now and
01:13:54
then you know as one does sure but a few years after his conviction deo's crimes
01:13:59
and his defense would become the basis for one of America's most Sensational and controversial paranormal stories you
01:14:07
know what I'm talking about the idville horror we're talking about Kathy and George George L that's what it is like
01:14:15
what's George like basic white man names yep so they it ensured that his legacy went much further than his death which
01:14:23
yeah but next we will be talking about the wild tale that is the Amityville Horror all that surrounds losing walls
01:14:34
yep the bleeding walls yep we'll be talking about it all we'll talking about the the Ed and Lorraine Warren of it all
01:14:42
we'll talk about all the things associated with it because there's so many things it's going to get Wily as
01:14:47
[ __ ] next time see you then see you then so we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird but not weird
01:14:55
that you annihilate your entire family because what the [ __ ] is up with that that's really [ __ ] up that's way too
01:15:00
weird I hate that [Music] [Music] [Music]