Yet, there was at least one neighbor, a young boy at the time, who claimed he heard the dog barking for a
prolonged period of time. “Shaggy” did have a penchant for barking at night, but if that were the case and the murders
were committed in exactly the same 3 a.m. time frame, how could one be heard but not the other? It is estimated that
the killings took perhaps 15 minutes to complete, but is likely it took less time than that. Let’s not also forget DeFeo’s
claim his ears were ringing from the sound of the gun shots.
Former Deputy Head of New Scotland Yard's Forensic Firearms Laboratory, Brian J. Heard, who has over 35 years
experience in ballistics said, "the rifle used was designed for deer or black bear hunting, it had a six round tubular
magazine which meant he had to reload at least once. It fires a projectile of 200 grains with a velocity of about 2100
feet per second with a kinetic energy of about 1970 ft lbs. This is an extremely noisy combination and if fired in a
house would result in probable hearing loss for anyone in close proximity. An effective silencer could have been fitted
considerably reducing the noise of the discharge but as the bullet is still traveling well above the speed of sound the
noise of the bullet breaking the sound barrier would still be extremely noisy, well above that caused by a car back firing
as a benchmark".
As is sometimes the case with “false memory”, some neighbors who at first claimed not to hear anything later came
forward to say that upon further consideration, they indeed had heard what sounded like gun shots. There is little
choice in such circumstances than to take their testimony only for what it is worth. One person is neighbor Diana
Ireland who reported later hearing the shots and her testimony was scheduled to appear on the History’s Mysteries
episode on the murders, but for whatever reason it never made it to the finished show and it’s speculated it’s because
there were some credibility issues with her statement.
3. DID DEFEO ACT ALONE?
This is without question the subject that has received the most scrutiny and evoked the most controversy since the
murders were committed and DeFeo has been incarcerated. It been a source of intense scrutiny for amateur sleuths
and conspiracy theorists for decades. It all obviously stems from Herman Race’s initial assertion that the shooting could
not have been carried out alone which was further supported by Deputy Medical Examiner Howard Adelman’s
testimony at the trial that he felt it was impossible for one person to have committed these crimes. “Even if they were
sleeping the report of the weapon that was used is supposed to be so loud that it would have, so to speak, awakened
the dead”, he said.
Assistant D.A. Gerard Sullivan conceded in his book about the case, High Hopes that, ““I wonder about the
questions that were never answered. Did any of the victims wake up? If so, why didn’t any of them defend
themselves? Why were all six found face down in death? Why didn’t’ anyone hear the shots?” This only led to more
rampant speculation that there existed multiple shooters and/or weapons in order to complete the carnage so quickly
as not to allow anyone to escape or at least, attempt to. Further muddying the waters was the deteriorating
relationship between older sister Dawn and their father which began to mirror that of Ronnie’s in some ways. This has
fueled DeFeo’s insistence that his sister played the headlining role in the killings, an idea he first introduced at his trial
and which has seen a number of variations, but one in which he’s been consistent about, especially in recent years as
the
Holzer: That night, when you came home, and the murder took place, did you feel that you were acting under duress?
Did you feel that you were being influenced by anyone? An unseen force?
Ronnie: Well, I?ll be honest with you, when I shot my mother, no, I shot my father first, then I crossed over and went
to my mother?s bed and shot her. After that, I?ll tell you honestly, I couldn?t stop if I wanted to. There was no way I
could stop. I couldn?t put the gun down.
Holzer: When you were actually doing the shooting, did you have a feeling like you were a zombie? Like a machine? As
if you were not in control of yourself?
Ronnie: Oh, there?s no doubt about it. I was out of control after the first two killings.
Holzer: When did it end?
Ronnie: Oh, it ended quick. As far as I remember, I was just standing there with the rifle, and I said, ?Oh,? and it was
over with.
Holzer: How about your sister? Did she do any of the killing with you?
Ronnie: No, I did it all.
-------
Holzer: Did this personality give you new ideas, what you should or shouldn't do?
Ronnie: I did have the idea of killing not only my own family, the Brigante family and DeFeo family that same night.
What made me stop I could not tell you, because to this day I feel I should have killed them all.
...a little later in the interview...
Holzer: Purely logically speaking, was there any reason you should have killed them?
Ronnie: No.
Holzer: So, since you had no reason, do you think something got into you to make you do it?
Ronnie: For what I did, yes. Definitely. Something, there is no doubt about it in my mind.
Holzer: What do you think did it?
Ronnie: To tell you the truth, I don't know, because I loved my family. I tell you, to this day, I did not hate any of
them. None of them. Especially them kids. I shot my brother.
...and shortly thereafter...
Holzer: You know how to define possession. Now, even though you have no belief in the survival of human personality
as you have said, do you feel, from what you know, and what I've said, that there may have been some sort of
possession by an entity other than yourself within you?
Ronnie: Within me, yeah. I would go with that 100%. Apparently, there is.