“Dawn, by contrast, was the only one who had gunpowder residue on the shoulder of her nightgown. That, forensic experts will tell you, would suggest she fired the rifle.”
—Rick Moran, Fortean Times, 2004

The SCPD lab reports state that what was found on Dawn’s nightgown were “gunpowder particles”:

And, as Moran suggested, here is an expert to tell us exactly what that means:

So why does Moran continue to think Dawn was killed by a different weapon? He is most likely confusing the fact that on one of the bullets (Item #33 below, which struck Louise, the mother) there was not enough evidence to conclude it came from the same rifle as the others.

This bullet was, however, confirmed to have come from a .35 Marlin. They just couldn’t tell for certain if it matched the same .35 Marlin which was used against everyone else.

In other words, there could have been another gun used on Louise, but only if it was a second .35 Marlin rifle – and this is only possible with Louise, not Dawn.

“More important is DeFeo’s first statement to the police. He told officers he had not killed anyone, except Dawn; she was killed with his handgun, which was never retrieved.”
—Rick Moran, Fortean Times, 2004

Ronnie’s first statement to the police is displayed here on this website. You can read it for yourself. Nowhere does Ronnie claim to have killed Dawn in this statement. Far from it. He blamed the murders on a supposed mafioso. It would be almost an entire year later before Ronnie would give a version of the story which ended with him killing Dawn (after she killed the kids). And even then – when it was told during this September 29th examination by a psychiatrist – DeFeo never mentioned killing Dawn with a handgun. He has never claimed to have killed Dawn with a handgun – not in any version he’s given to date! In every scenario he’s given (where he kills Dawn) its always done with the same Marlin rifle that was used against the rest of the family.

And of course the police lab results confirm that Dawn was killed by the same .35 Marlin rifle that was used against everyone else.

“While he was in custody Butch’s grandfather came to see him, alone. Shouts were heard and Butch sported some facial wounds. Grandpa DeFeo was heard screaming that he did not want the family disgraced publicly and that Butch was to confess to the crimes … all of them. This was good news for both the police and District Attorney, and neither pursued original admissions. Why tie a dead girl to the crimes when you have a confession to the contrary?”—Rick Moran, Fortean Times, 2004

Trouble with this statement is that Ronnie had already confessed long before anyone visited him in custody. Here’s the timeline according to High Hopes:

• 6:35pm — 911 call made from the house
• 6:40pm — Police arrive; Ronnie implicates alleged mafioso
• 8:00pm — Ronnie taken to “First Squad” for questioning (for his own safety)
• 8:20pm — Police begin to take Ronnie’s first statement
• 10:25pm — Ronnie signs his first statement
• 10:45pm — Ronnie is taken to the Fourth Precinct
• 11:15pm — Ronnie is interviewed by police detectives
• 2:30am — Interview ends; Ronnie is taken to the Homicide building next door
• 3:00am — Ronnie falls asleep on a cot in a file storage room
• 8:45am — Ronnie is awakened by detectives; he is now the main suspect
• 8:50am — Ronnie is questioned by detectives in a marathon session
• 4:00pm — Ronnie confesses to the crimes
• 8:00pm — Ronnie phones his uncle

The DeFeo family did not know where Ronnie was until Thursday evening, after the confession – so once again, Moran’s version of the story just doesn’t match the official records. And besides the official police timeline, we must ask why Ronnie’s grandfather would bother to hire a private investigator if he already knew Ronnie was guilty and told him to confess? How would Ronnie’s confession keep the family name from being disgraced? How would the case against Ronnie be any easier if Dawn was not involved? Would the SCPD risk losing their case by initiating a grand conspiracy to hide all evidence of Dawn’s involvement, including Ronnie’s “missing” statements?

Furthermore, if such a conspiracy was in effect, then their lab results (showing everyone was killed by the rifle) were faked. These lab reports indicate that one of the bullets that hit Louise (the mother) couldn’t be determined to have come from the same rifle as the others. If they were faking the reports to incriminate Ronnie, they why didn’t they fix this point and say the 2nd bullet that hit Louise definitely came from the same rifle?

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