The Dutch Colonial at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville was the scene of a family massacre before dawn on November 13, 1974. Ronald Joseph DeFeo Sr., 43, and five other members of the DeFeo family were found shot in their beds; investigators reported each victim had been shot in the back with a rifle, with no signs of a struggle and no neighbors reporting hearing gunfire.

Their eldest son, Ronald Butch DeFeo Jr., burst into a neighborhood bar later that day saying his parents had been shot. He was arrested the next day and eventually confessed, at times saying he couldn’t stop and at other times claiming voices compelled him. Ballistics tied a rifle he said he had discarded to the killings. DeFeo Jr. was tried beginning October 14, 1975; the jury rejected an insanity defense and on November 21, 1975 found him guilty on six counts of second-degree murder and imposed life sentences.

Are there details from that night or the investigation that readers remember or can add to the record?