Would You Live in a House Where Somebody Was Murdered?
Tags: Mystery, True Crime, Crime, Murder, History

Photo by Brittney In Beta on Unsplash

Your real estate agent walks you into a gorgeous home. It ticks every box on your checklist. There’s just one thing. Something small, your real estate agent says.

Somebody was violently killed inside.

A lot of people have immediate reservations about buying a home that was once a crime scene. These are called stigmatized homes, and they can present quite a challenge for real estate professionals and homeowners. Then, there are some cases where these homes have had no problem finding new purpose, no matter the heinous crime committed inside.

As you’ll see from these homes, each takes a different journey post-murder.

Amityville & the DeFeo Family Murders

Perhaps the most famous stigmatized property is the home in Amityville, New York, in which six members of the DeFeo family were murdered in 1974. Robert DeFeo Jr., 23, shot and killed his parents and siblings in their suburban Dutch Colonial home.

Three years later, the Lutz family moved in. The fruit of their very short stay? The Amityville Horror, a book alleging that the house was haunted. An attorney who worked with the Lutz family admitted that they all concocted the story together. The Lutz family holds tightly to the claims, which have spawned over 20 films and television shows of varying quality.

In 2016, the Long Island home hit the market for $850,000. It sold the next year for $605,000. Several families have lived in the home since the murders, and the address has been changed at the request of one owner. Clearly, the murders have had some impact on the home’s ability to sell but not enough to completely deter buyers.

The Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart

In 2006, Cassie Jo Stoddart was stabbed repeatedly by two classmates in her uncle’s home. She was housesitting for her family and was ambushed by the two boys. In the wake of Cassie’s murder, the family struggled to cope not only with their loss but also the fact that the murder occurred in the house.

The Idaho home has had a difficult time on the market. While fresh paint, new carpet, and no sign of any crime are present in the room where it happened, the property has been a hard to sell. According to Realtor.com, the split-level home is listed at $258,000. It’s waiting for the buyer who can envision the home as a place to make new memories, not envision the terror that occurred inside.

The Murder of Shanann Watts & Her Children

In 2018, Chris Watts killed his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two daughters, Bella and Celeste. At least one of the murders took place in the family’s Frederick, Colorado, home. A neighbor’s security camera showed Chris dragging the body of his dead wife out of the garage and into his truck, which obscures the specifics of his actions. He can also be seen bringing his daughters to the truck.

The home stands today as an empty mausoleum, a reminder to the neighborhood of what happened behind closed doors.

Of the homes on this list, the Watts family home may provide the most convincing argument as to why people might reconsider buying a stigmatized home. It’s not because of ghosts or violent memories. It’s because of the living.

The person who buys this home will undoubtedly contend with strangers pulling up to the home to gawk, sometimes leaving behind stuffed animals in tribute of the children killed. Some will walk up to the door and take photos of the interior.

As of November 2020, the fate of the house was still in limbo. The house was placed for auction after the murders, but no buyers came forward. The Watts family bought the home in 2013 for nearly $400,000. Little has changed about the exterior of the home since the murders, and right now the home has a $6 million lien in place by Shanann’s parents.

The Borden Family Home

In 1892, the bodies of Andrew and Abby Borden were found inside their Fall River, Massachusetts, home. They’d been hacked to death, and their daughter Lizzie was the prime suspect. Lizzie was later acquitted at trial, and the identity of the killer remains unknown.

The house in which the murders took place still stands. In fact, the house is an active bed and breakfast where people flock in the hopes of seeing ghosts during their overnight stay. Tours are also available.

Brownsville Building Demolished After Triple Murder

One building in Brownsville, Texas, no longer stands after a brutal triple murder that occurred inside an apartment.

In 2003, John Rubio and Angela Camacho killed Camacho’s three children: Julissa (3), John (1), and Mary Jane (2 months). A book by Laura Tillman called The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts tells the story of the family, the apartment building, and its legacy.

A park now stands where the building loomed. Tres Angeles Park features three trees in honor of the three children killed. Many locals fought to have the building demolished, the memory of the three children now associated with a green park rather than a drab, dilapidated building.

The Brownsville apartment building, Google Images

The Los Feliz Murder

A Los Angeles home with four bedrooms and a view of downtown has struggled to find new residents for decades. The Spanish Revival home was built in the 1920s, and in 1959 it became the site of a murder.

That year, Dr. Harold Perelson beat his wife, Lillian, to death with a hammer. He tried to kill one of his daughters, but she survived. Perelson than overdosed on barbiturates and died. The murders occurred before Christmas, and for years wrapped presents sat in the home untouched by time.

In 2016, the home was finally emptied following the murder-suicide. It was listed for $2.75 million at some point, but it reportedly sold this month for $2.35 million.

Buying a Murder House Is Complicated

While a lot of people don’t believe that a violent death inside a home means that the home will be haunted by ghosts for eternity, there are other reasons to consider not buying one of these houses. Morbid curiosity is always going to exist, and it will draw people to visit these homes long after the crime. Of course, people who don’t mind the extra attention might be able to find a good bargain.