But as he sits in a prison in upstate New York and revisits the now infamous "Amityville Horror" slayings, a thin, balding and at times agitated DeFeo tells the same story he has told for years.

"How can one person go through the house and kill six people the way they think they were killed?" asks DeFeo in "First Person Killers: Ronald DeFeo, Jr.," a documentary set to air on A&E tonight at 9.

Throughout the three decades DeFeo has spent in prison, intrigue in the murders and the house where they were committed has never abated, propelled largely by those hoping to profit.

One family who moved into the DeFeo home after the crime claimed the house was haunted. Books were written. Movies were made. And remade.

Although DeFeo has claimed in court that he did not act alone, he has never told his full story on camera, said filmmaker Sarah Teale, 44, of Manhattan.

"I just wanted to hear him out," Teale said.

Much of the film takes place in Green Haven Correctional Facility, where DeFeo, now 55, is serving a 25-years-to-life sentence. (He has been denied parole several times.) In a visiting room, DeFeo re-creates the haunting details of the murders to Dr. Steven Hoge, a psychiatrist from Bellevue Hospital Center.

"When I saw his body getting ready to make a move, I just pulled the trigger," DeFeo says about killing his father.

The film features interviews with retired detectives, a medical examiner, DeFeo's judge, a juror. There are photos of the victims, the murder weapon and other evidence, along with footage of the family's funeral.

But DeFeo is clearly the star.

He details the abuse his father inflicted on him, how it fueled his heroin habit and made him feel like a "dog on a long leash."

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