The True Amittyville Horror Story
It was Wednesday November 13, 1974 that a home on Ocean Ave would literally become the final resting place for six members of the De Feo family. One by one they were all shot dead as they laid in their beds sleeping. The man responsible for their deaths, Ronald “Butch” De Feo Jr. son and brother to the victims that were killed that November night.
Ronald DeFeo Jr also known as Ronnie, was raised in a middle class family and was the oldest of four children. Despite being raised in a financially stable family, Ronnies relationship with his parents, most notably with his father, would eventually lead him to live a life full of hate and rebellion. The older Defeo was a very controlling and temperamental man, who would verbally and physically abuse Ronnie and his siblings.
During the trial for the murder of his family, Ronnie would be diagnosed by Dr. Harold Zolan as a person who suffered from antisocial personality disorder. Antisocial personality disorder is characterized as being a mental health condition in which a person has a long pattern of manipulating, exploiting, or violating the rights of others. In chapter 3 of “Serial Murders and Their Victims” we learn that people with ASPD experience fighting during childhood, theft, excessive drug and alcohol abuse and reckless regard for the safety of self or others just to name a few. In the course of the interview Ronnie admits to being an alcoholic, stating that he began drinking scotch at the age of 15. We also learn that about 5 to 6 months prior to the murders he was drinking up to a fifth os scotch a day. While at the same time being using drugs such as heroin and LSD. All these being symptoms commonly found in people with personality disorder...
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...d and two; that his mother was shot only after she reached for a gun. This leads me to believe that there is a possibility Ronnie may have had suffered a brief moment of psychosis. In chapter 3 of “Serial killers and their Victims” psychosis is defined as; a severe form of mental disease in which the individual suffers from a severe break with reality and may experience dangerous behavior (p73). Many may believe that Ronnie is just a pathological liar and that nothing he says is credible. I on the other hand believe to an extent that not only did Ronnie suffer from a severe break in reality but that he also may have been delusional and at one point even hallucinated. I speculate that Ronnie was delusional in the sense he felt he needed to kill his father before his father got a chance to killing him.
Works Cited
serial killers and their victims. Eric W. Hickey
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In the Article, it talk about how the “fact that a person with the genes and brain of a psychopath could end up a non-violent, stable and successful scientist made Fallon reconsider the ambiguity of the term (article; page 1)”. In the book, Ronson talked about Tony. The book explained how Tony was at going to a bar and saw a homeless guy. He decided to kick and beat up the guy but didn’t plan to kill him. Not all people that are called a psychopath is a murder because there are many psychopaths out there; one of them is born naturally with that disorder and the other one is someone that did something harsh or committed a
In order to gain an understanding of antisocial personality disorder and treatments used in working with the disorder, is is important to examine changes in the diagnostic criteria and personality traits associated with antisocial personality disorder over time. However, the disorder was not actually listed and defined until the DSM-III in 1980. Prior to that ASD was lumped in with psychopathy and sociopathy. Around the 1970’s psychopathy became the focus at attempts of standardization. Robert Hare developed a diagnostic tool, the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) (Pickersgill, 2012). This helped advance the understanding of psychopathology however, it should be used more as a tool for classifying rather than diagnosing the disorder. Hare’s research and development of the PCL-R set up the foundation for
On the day of June 20, 2000, a family of five, husband, wife, and three children, was awaken by two masked men. Earlier that morning the two bandit had just robbed a grocery store leaving the owner and one of the worker died. Little did the robbery know there was an another employee in the store. That employee was in the bathroom and once he heard the shot he called 911. He alert the dispatcher that two gunmen as in the store and that he believe the owner and the other employee had been shot. The dispatcher radio the information out to her officer. Officers arrived to the scene and discovered two bodies on the floor. The surviving employee was rescue and was able to describe the vehicle the gunmen had left in. Some officer remain at that scene
The day was November 22, 1963 in the city of Dallas,Texas with thousands of John F. Kennedy supporters crowding the sidewalks waiting to see the beloved man. John F. Kennedy was scheduled to ride through downtown Dallas in a topless car. As thousands of fans of JFK watched him stroll through the streets, in just a split second a great day would be flipped upside down as one of the most devastating date in history. It all began when John entered his car and started the parade at approximately 11;45 am. He went through the streets of Dallas into he turned the corner and started heading down Elm Street. At about 12:05pm there was a shot from a building window that went straight through Kennedy’s neck and into his back. At this exact moment November 22, 1963 will be known as an historic event. Overall JFK was a beloved president with millions of followers, he was assassinated by a man of the name Lee Harvey
Once the effects of the alcohol wore off you went back to being your level minded self correct? Your mother was an alcoholic and she was often too intoxicated to save you from the beatings your father gave you. At age six you were orphaned to a family where the abuse continued only this time it was sexual. This abuse continued well into your teenage years. But my concern is, Mr.McNeil, did you or did you not continue this cycle of abuse with your own children?” I all that was said McNeil looked around the room, took a deep breath, wiped the falling tear with his forearm and said “I NEVER laid a hand on my children,