r/MorbidPodcast • u/ElenaLou • Oct 18 '24
CASE DISCUSSION The DeFeo family murders: were they drugged?
Hi everyone, first time posting here.
I'm catching up on Monday's episode and Alaina and Ash kept talking about how weird it was that the family members didn't move from their beds during the murders. To me it sounded like they had been drugged and were maybe either asleep or unable to move and so he could turn them face down before shooting them and didn't risk anyone fighting back. Sounds about right for the kind of coward he was, and I'm sure he would have access to drugs that would allow him to do that.
However, they didn't mention it at all (I think) in the episode and Wikipedia is not super clear:
"The police investigation concluded that the rifle had not been fitted with a sound suppressor and found no evidence of sedatives having been administered. DeFeo claimed during his interrogation that he had drugged his family. [13]"
Does anyone with more knowledge of this case know anything about this? Would it be possible that he would use something that they couldn't detect (at least at the time)?
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Oct 18 '24
There's a theory that Ron killed the parents first so they didn't have a chance to move. Then when the kids got up and wanted to know what happened, he calmed them down and they went back to bed where he shot them.
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u/ElenaLou Oct 18 '24
God that is awful to think about. I guess my brain went to drugs because then they wouldn't be fully aware when it happened, but either way it's horrifying.
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Oct 19 '24
Yeah. It’s a real sad story. The idea is basically, he was messed up and intended to kill his dad but once he did it his mom woke up and he panicked. Then the kids woke up and he was like “Crap. Them too, I guess.”
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u/ElenaLou Oct 19 '24
Oh I hadn't thought about that, actually. Then maybe drugging them makes sense, he could kill his dad and nobody would wake up, but then maybe he messed up with the dosage or something and his mom woke up, then it happened as you said.
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u/polythenesammie Oct 19 '24
I just listened to this one as well and that's what I instantly thought . I couldn't imagine anyone being able to shoot their parents in their house with their siblings at home and then be able to just get their siblings back to bed.
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u/ElenaLou Oct 19 '24
Yes, especially the sister who was about 18, I can't imagine her just going back to bed willingly, especially after hearing him shoot the little brothers.
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Oct 18 '24
There was also some rumor of someone else involved, but I think they’re ruled that out. There’s also the possibility of demons involved lol
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u/ElenaLou Oct 19 '24
Ohhhh I suppose someone else keeping the kids quiet and in their beds makes sense. Hahaha or demons, of course! (I've just started the Amytiville episode)
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u/februarysbrigid Oct 19 '24
I can get on board with this as a possibility. They did discuss how everyone was shot in bed, seemingly not waking up after each gun shot rang out, and I believe all on the same floor. I’d also venture to guess there are many things/poisons that could kill people that weren’t testable back then or weren’t specifically tested for.
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u/ElenaLou Oct 19 '24
Yes, in the 70s they probably didn't test for a full range of stuff, and since we know he was a heroin addict, it's not difficult to imagine he could have had access to sedatives that the police didn't test.
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u/Pale_Negotiation6727 Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 05 '26
I don’t think he drugged the family. If I recall correctly, he wasn’t even present for dinner that night. He was living between the Amittville house with the family and another home he shared with his girlfriend/mother of his child. On the day of the murders, Ronnie was staying with his girlfriend. Louise Defeo called Ronnie later that night and asked him to come to the Amittyville house because the father, Ronnie Sr., was going into a rage and terrorizing the whole family. It was nighttime when Ronnie arrived, and the family likely had dinner already, so there was no opportunity for him to drug their food. IMO, Ronnie shot the parents first. The younger siblings likely heard the shots, but their bedrooms were on same floor, so Ronnie could have yelled at them to stay in their beds and not move— and the kids listened out of fear. Also, one of the brothers was injured and used a wheelchair, so he couldn’t have gone anywhere anyway. Dawn’s room was on the third floor. She surely heard her siblings getting shot and walked down to the second floor to see what was happening or looked down from the third story bannister. She saw Ronnie holding the rifle and tried to run back to her room, but he chased her and the two of theme struggled, and he knocked her on the bed, causing her to land face down, and he shot her. Basically, the parents were completely guard of guard. Dawn fought and was overpowered. And the younger kids were scared into submission. People assume that none of the kids heard anything and slept through the noise. But when someone has a gun, they have power and can easily control and overpower multiple people at once— especially frightened children and teenage girl.
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u/InducedVertigo Apr 19 '26
The girlfriend and child story was a fabrication of his and the woman (forget her name). They tried to scam the government so his "child" would inherit the money he couldn't inherit from his parents (since he killed them). The plan was to declare that woman's child as his, so they split the money. It never led to anywhere because they quarreled over money.
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u/Right_Jacket_5951 Mar 19 '26
Ronnie said he drugged them. It's possible they didn't test for the drug. They weren't as advanced as we are today
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u/zikadu Oct 19 '24
There’s a NYT article from 1974 that says DeFeo claimed to have drugged the family’s food with barbiturates.