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April 17, 2019

William Weber: Attorney In it for Profit

We have all heard the infamous story of the Amityville horror, the alleged “haunted” house along the south shore of Long Island, New York. The reason for its boom in publicity started with the Lutz family incident and their claims that the house was haunted, although that isn’t where the story actually began. On November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his entire family with a .35- caliber Marlin rifle as they slept. This started an investigation since DeFeo had gone to work after the crime and acted as if he had no idea what had happened. He claimed that he went home from work and found his family members dead, after which he ran to the nearest bar screaming for help. Although he acted as if he had nothing to do with the murder, the town already had  suspicions about him because of his background. As a kid, DeFeo was abused by his father and bullied in school, which resulted in a troubled childhood. He had quite the history with alcohol and drug abuse, several arrests due to violent fights he had gotten himself into, and as a child, had once pulled a gun on his father, but it jammed.1

The Amityville house where the DeFeo family was murdered

It didn’t take long for him to become the prime suspect, and he was quickly arrested and taken into custody. DeFeo’s trial began October 14, 1975, close to a year after the murder, and William Weber had been put on the case as his defense attorney. DeFeo claimed he had heard voices in his head telling him to kill his family. With that information, Weber decided to use a strategy that he believed would give DeFeo a lot less time in jail. Weber insisted on an insanity plea, promising DeFeo that he would be out in five years. He believed this was the best approach, considering DeFeo’s wide range of different versions of the story, which proved that he must have been insane. Unfortunately, this plan did not work, for the jury believed that even though he wasn’t mentally stable, he was completely aware of the situation and motivated by a self-centered attitude. The jurors found DeFeo guilty on November 21, 1975, and sentenced him to six consecutive life sentences.2

Mugshot of Ronald Defeo’s Arrest
Courtesy of Wikipedia

Not long after his imprisonment, films, novels, and documentaries came out about the murder incident. The Lutz family had moved into the house a little over a year after the murder, but they only stayed for twenty-eight days, leaving in the middle of the night with just a few days worth of clothes. They completely abandoned the Amityville house, never wanting to step foot in it again, and didn’t even want to reclaim any of the belongings they left behind. In September of 1977, The Amityville Horror: A True Story started the supernatural phenomenon when it took into account the Lutz family and their experiences.3

With this book, the story rapidly gained publicity, and started a controversy over whether the haunting was a hoax. William Weber wanted to use this popularity to his advantage. He began by using the popularity to try and open DeFeo’s case again. However, for an unknown reason it was never filed and DeFeo continues to be incarcerated at a correctional facility in Fallsburg, New York. Weber then reached out to the Lutz family, attempting to convince them to partner up on a book deal on the DeFeo case for a large advance. He often spoke with them although he was reluctant to work with them, but once they had heard he was planning to split the royalties with DeFeo, they cut Weber out of any future deals and were no longer on speaking terms. As he carried on by himself, the Lutz family sued the writer Weber enlisted to write the book for an invasion of privacy, settling the suit in 1979—causing the plan to fall through.4

This upset Weber, who was prepared to call out the family, claiming “it was was all a lie” while at the same time wanting to take credit for some of the creativity in it. Going to the press, he explained that the entire story was created over a bottle of wine between Mr. and Mrs. Lutz, even though they still claimed to have some sort of supernatural experience. It was only with his help that they started to exaggerate the details with the murder evidence that Weber had provided them. He eventually sued the Lutz family for $60 million, stating they were “stealing ideas.” The suit settled for $2,500. Even though William Weber’s plans to make a large profit didn’t go the way he wanted them to, he still managed to get a total profit of $15,000 for his connections with the book and movie.5

  1. Mike Mayo, “DeFeo, Ronald, Jr.” American Murder, (2008): 23- 52.
  2. Ric Osuna, The Night the DeFeos Died: Reinvestigating the Amityville Murders (Xlibris Corp, 2002), 84-92.
  3. Jay Anson, The Amityville Horror (New York : Pocket Star Books, 2005), 67.
  4. New York Times. 2006. s.v. “George Lutz, 59; Found Horror in Amityville.”
  5. Patricia D. Netzley,. “Amityville Haunting” The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena, 2006.

Tags from the story

Amityville

Ronald DeFeo Jr

William Weber

Recent Comments

Paola Arellano

This is quite an interesting story that I want to say I was familiar with in the past. Moreover, this article really helped clear out a lot of missing pieces which is why I find it to be very nicely written. It is always awful to hear about insane people who can commit crimes such as this and then for our culture to turn it into a popular story that receives money kind of makes me sick to my stomach. The pain that this family suffered is probably just as bad and for the whole world to see it could even be embarrassing. I’m just glad this guy was locked up.

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22/04/2019

6:35 am

Tala Owens

The ‘Amityville Horror’ always creeps me out. I didn’t know about the attorney for this case trying to give money to DeFoe after everything he did he was still trying so hard to get the case open. It’s sad that the Lutz family had deal with a man who listened to something that they were fearful of and used it to make a profit off of and at the same time give the man who started it all a cut.

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22/04/2019

6:35 am

Hamza Bourouz

I knew about “the Amityville horror story” but mainly through the movie. i enjoyed reading your article as it provides a considerable amount of information about the story. i had no idea about the story of the attorney who wanted to profit from the horrible event. I am not quite a believer in the super natural, I think mental health was a primary cause of this unforunate event.

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23/04/2019

6:35 am

Diego Terrazas

The attorney is a heartless man. He disregarded the death of those innocent people and the traumatic experiences of the Lutz family in an attempt to make profit. Such exploitation, in my opinion should not be forgiven or overlooked. I am glad Defeo was locked up and did not plead insanity. In my opinion, Weber is just as cold hearted.

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23/04/2019

6:35 am

Montserrat Moreno Ramirez

Most people, including myself, knew the title “Amtyville Horror” from the movie. When I was little i used to love this kind of stories, and reading about one of them from a different angle, such as how the attorney was willing to profit with a family that was suffering from certain paranormal situation is crazy. I guess that talks about how living people are sometimes even more cruel that the dead.

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29/04/2019

6:35 am

Kaleb Werku

I have never been a fan of horror movies or scary topics in general so this is completely new to me. It is always disturbing to hear someone committing murder, let alone their flesh and blood. I knew he had a difficult childhood, but that still doesn’t justify his actions. As for the Lutz family, I think all paranormal stories are exaggerated but that doesn’t mean what happened wasn’t real. I do believe in spirits or ghost as they are commonly known as.

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21/08/2019

6:35 am

Rosa Robledo Martinez

I never been a fan of “horror” stories let alone movies. As I read this story it really opened my eyes about certain aspects of crime. I just don’t understand how someone can kill their whole entire family, and act like nothing ever happened. I also comprehend that this man did have a terrible childhood and even as a child he got a hold of gun that could’ve almost killed his father. I just feel like nothing can justify what he did to his family. I think this time justice was served and now he is actually serving time that he deserves, although he may spend the rest of his life incarcerated nothing can bring back the lives of his family.

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21/08/2019

6:35 am

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