Six members of a suburban New York family have been found shocked to death in their beds.

It appears that all of them were murdered while asleep.

Police investigating the case say they have no suspect, no weapon, and no leads.

They say there was no sign of robbery or struggle at the Amityville Long Island home.

Killed were auto dealer Ronald Defeo, his wife, and four of their children.

The only survivor of the family, 23-year-old Ronald Butch Defeo Jr.,

was said to have discovered the bodies,

and police said that for his safety, they're holding him in protective custody.

On a quiet residential street in a small village on the south shore of Long Island, New

York, a large Dutch colonial home sat perched along the Amityville River. It was the kind

of home that most people dreamed of owning, a sprawling three-story building with a

boathouse and a manicured yard, situated in a neighborhood that was safe, quiet, and, by

most people's standards, ideal

for raising a family.

At around 6.30 in the evening of November 13, 1974, a young man burst through the front

door of Henry's bar, a small establishment in the village of Amityville, New York.

He was panicked out of breath and visibly shaking. The few patrons

inside, mostly blue-collar workers having a drink after a long shift, were startled by the

intrusion. The young man screamed that someone had broken into his family's home and shot his mother

and father. He begged someone to call the police. The young man was 23-year-old Ronald Joseph Tafayo Jr., known as Butch to virtually everyone

that knew him.

And the home he was referring to was 112 Ocean Avenue, in nearby Amityville.

...