THE SEVENTH BODY

 

Explanation by Maxwell

 

 

 

When I first read about the alleged seventh body found in the DeFeo home, I was obviously skeptical.

 

From page 371 of the The Night The DeFeos Died (first edition)…

 

ACCORDING TO FRIENDS AND RELATIVES OF THE DEFEOS, THE FAMILY HAD A SPARE BEDROOM IN THE BASEMENT.

 

Who were these “friends and relatives”? 

 

And where was this alleged “spare bedroom”?

 

I was hoping for clarification in the second and third editions, but no such luck.

 

So, I decided to look into this matter further.

 

Here is part of the infamous “seventh body” picture…

 

 

…note how the top of the baseboard heater bends outward, and also note how narrow the opening is.

 

Now look at these pictures of baseboard heaters from the basement of the DeFeo home…

 

 

 

…not only do the tops not bend outward, but the openings are much larger than the opening in the “seventh victim” picture.

 

We know that one “criminologist” is such an idiot that he actually thinks that the picture of the couch (taken on 11-13-74) is a RECENT picture, and that the “mystery victim” was supposed to be in a bed where the couch was…

 

 

  But, I’d like to know exactly where another “criminologist” thinks this “spare bedroom” was.

 

Here’s a diagram of the basement…

 

 

…the east third had the pool table, a TV, a couch, and several tables and chairs.  The middle third was empty, except for the stairs, and some shelving along the south wall.  That leaves only the west third. 

 

While the house is large, much of its square footage comes from the fact that it is three stories.  The actual “footprint” isn’t much larger than an average home.  So, the west third of the basement isn’t all that large. 

 

Here are three pictures of the west third of the basement…

 

Picture A

 

 

Picture B

 

 

Picture C

 

 

…while it was apparent that there couldn’t have been room for a “spare bedroom”, I wanted to be sure.

 

With only these three pictures to go on, it was difficult to visualize the exact layout…especially since I thought that the concrete block walls were limited to exterior walls.

 

But then I noticed a few things in the following picture of the northwest corner of the house…

 

 

…the number “one” shows how the foundation is comprised of concrete block walls that appear to include interior walls.   The number “two” shows what appears to be a dryer vent flap.

 

If you refer to picture A, the photographer is facing north.  In picture B, the photographer is facing southeast.  In picture C, the photographer is facing southwest.

 

To help illustrate this, look in the lower left corner of picture A…you can see a piece of orange machinery with a yellow stripe painted on a spout. 

 

Now look in the lower right corner of picture B…you can see this same piece of machinery.

 

This final diagram is what I believe to be the layout of the DeFeo basement on 11-13-74…

 

 

...as you can see, there would have been no room for a “spare bedroom”.  And if there wasn’t room for a spare bedroom, then there couldn’t have been a “seventh body”.