Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. The bodies of John Lists wife and three teenage children were found laid out on sleeping bags in the ballroom. March 3 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts library said a book was recently returned with a note apologizing for the tome being 56 years overdue. Dr. Steven Simring, a psychiatrist who examined List after his arrest years later, told Downtown his "sense of neatness" was the result of a compulsive personality. Wikimedia CommonsJohn List with his wife and three children. One tip came from a woman in Richmond, Virginia, who thought her next-door neighbor, Robert Clark, bore a striking resemblance to the bust. Authorities never found the cause of the fire, and a new house was built on the property years later. John List - History, Crime. In 2008, John Walsh, the host of America's Most Wanted, donated the age-progressed bust by Frank Bender that played a pivotal role in List's apprehension to a forensic science exhibit at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington, D.C., whose collection was later moved to Alcatraz East Crime Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. List's home, a. After seeing all his children off to school, John List set his plan in motion. He believed that it was his failure as a man to be unable to provide for his family. He took a new identity and also joined a Lutheran church, where he met his second wife, Delores Miller. March 2 (UPI) -- A Maryland woman scored a $100,000 prize from a scratch-off lottery ticket less than 12 hours after she scored an $11,000 jackpot at a casino. One day in late 1971, John List shot and killed his wife,Helen; his 16-year-old daughter, Patricia; his 15-year-old son, John; his 13-year-old son, Frederick; and his mother, Alma, aged 85. March 3 (UPI) -- A sheep spotted wandering loose on a British highway was given a lift back to its owner by a concerned bus driver on her first day on the job. [15][16], In 1971, as the FBI later discovered, List had traveled by train from New Jersey to Michigan and then to Colorado. However, the marriage was not very good. Helen's mother was in fact ill, and had canceled a visit to Westfield because of it; had she made the trip, List later said, she would have been his sixth victim. Hence, his severe lack of social skills cost him jobs after jobs. In an interview, he stated that he did not kill himself because suicide prevents one from going to heaven. [16] In reporting his death, the New Jersey Star-Ledger referred to him as "The Boogeyman of Westfield. I was shocked to hear about Bobs arrest and what he is charged with, the statement said. [33], A court-appointed psychiatrist testified that List suffered from obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, and that he saw only two solutions to his situation: accept welfare, or kill his family and send their souls to heaven. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Because this is one of the most. John List (murderer) (1925-2008), American mass murderer. Joe Sharkey's DEATH SENTENCE is an account of the life of John Emil List who, in a case that was well known in the 70s, killed his mother, his wife, and their 3 children. List left the bodies of his wife, his mother, Alma, 84, and his children, Patricia, 16, John, 15, and Frederick, 13, and several confessions and apologies in his Westfield home in November 1971 and disappeared for 17 years. "I feel when we get to heaven we won't worry about these earthly things. [12] Alma's body was flown to Frankenmuth, Michigan, and interred at the Saint Lorenz Lutheran Cemetery. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Returning home, he made several calls to explain that the family had gone to North Carolina to visit his wife's ailing mother, and that he was planning to follow by car. ', 'List was being bombarded by stresses,' the doctor added. [8], On November 9, 1971, List murdered his entire immediate family, using his own 9mm Steyr 1912 semi-automatic handgun[9] and his father's Colt .22 caliber revolver. That left his oldest son. After extradition to New Jersey, he was convicted on five counts of first degree murder and sentenced to five consecutive terms of life imprisonment, making him ineligible for parole for nearly 75 years.[2]. All List wanted was to reunite with his wife, mother, and children in the afterlife, where he believed there would be no pain or suffering. On November 9, 1971, after the children left for school, List shot his wife Helen in the back of the head as she was drinking her coffee. Subsequent jobs didnt pan out. 'His wife's behavior, coupled with the loss of his job -- he was threatened with the inability to support his family as he had been trained to do from childhood. His picture was also shown on television, which led one of his neighbours to notify the authorities. From New York, he had traveled overland to Denver, where he began a new life under the name Robert P. Clark, working first as a hotel fry cook and later as an accountant for H&R Block. The alias worked, and he kept it when he moved to Richmond. In a second attempt at love, he was lucky enough to find a business and life partner in Allain, a producer and hairstylist. Then he made a sandwich, drove to the bank, and disappeared for 18 years. During his years on the run, List went by the name Robert Clark. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. List, Patricia List, place of death: Trenton, New Jersey, United States, education: University Of Michigan, Ann Arbor. But the jury has also seen evidence that List planned both the killings and his escape so carefully that he had been gone for a month before the crime was discovered. "There has been no communication from any family member of John List. "I was hungry," he told Downtown, adding with a chuckle, "that's just the way it was.". According to trial testimony, Helen had pressured List into marriage by falsely claiming that she was pregnant, then insisted that they marry in Maryland, which did not require the premarital syphilis test mandated in most other states at the time. Officers entered through an unlocked window leading to the basement and discovered the family's bodies. Born in 1925 in a conservative Lutheran family, single child John List was a fairly shy, odd and obsessed with military books child from Michigan. For the economist, see, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, Dupont de Ligonns murders and disappearance, "Wanted: A Killer Disappears Into Another Life", "John List, famous murderer The Crime Library", "Breeze Knoll: The John List Murder House", "John E. List, 82, Killer of 5 Family Members, Dies", "In Hiding for 18 Years, a Wanted Man Is Caught by the FBI and a TV Posse", "Prosaic Life of Suspect in '71 New Jersey Murders", "Real Estate Assessment Data for 13919 Sagewood Trace", "Notorious AMW Fugitive John List Dead at 82", "Frank Bender, 'Recomposer' of Faces of the Dead, Dies at 70", "John List Bust Remembered as Sculptor Faces Death", "The List Murders Stun Westfield In 1971", "Slaying Suspect Saw 2 Choices, Doctor Testifies", "I Know That What Has Been Done Is Wrong", "Killer of Family Gets 5 Life Terms: Court: Judge sentences accountant who murdered his mother, wife and children 18 years ago to the maximum sentence", "Judge Sentences Family Killer to Life in Prison", "The boogeyman of Westfield, a ghost story that won't end", "How Profitable Sequels Succeed: They Just Bring 'em Back Alive", "The Watcher's Grisly John Graff Murder Sequence Is Based on True Story of a Family Massacre. Delores and John divorced in 1989, probably following his arrest on 1 June. He was arrested in 1989 after a former neighbor recognized him from a profile on the syndicated TV show America's Most Wanted. John Sr. shot him nine more times before dragging him into the ballroom with the rest of his family. In 1971, John List lost his job at the bank at age 46. By 1971, he was still leaving for work every morning, but unknown to his family he was unemployed and unable to pay the bills. [16], List died of complications from pneumonia aged 82 on March 21, 2008, while imprisoned at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey. British bus driver stops to give loose sheep a lift. List, who grew up in a strict Lutheran community in Bay City, Mich., was 'immersed in his religion,' he said. They'll either have forgiven me or won't realize, you know, what happened," List told Downtown's Connie Chung in an interview at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, where he is serving five life sentences. Joseph Vought, Ludwig "Lou" Silbermann, Jerome Kendall, George Corbett,. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. [32][34] Welfare was an unacceptable option, he reasoned, because it would expose him and his family to ridicule and violate his authoritarian father's teachings regarding the care and protection of family members. She is famous for Second wife of murderer John list. Their faces were covered. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. When authorities entered the Westfield, New Jersey house on December 7, 1971, they heard organ music piped through the intercom system. He made himself a sandwich, closed out his bank accounts, and cheered for his only surviving son, John, at his high school soccer game. He then drove his son back to the house and emptied both the guns on him, shooting him in his head and chest repeatedly. He became increasingly depressed. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. With his first wife, John Frederick had had a son, William George, who happened to be the same . The undertaker keeps the remains for a year and if nobody comes to claim them, they are put in a concrete vault and buried in a grave (at the state cemetery) on Cedar Lane in Trenton.". This article is about the murderer. John List's confession to his 2nd wife revealed in new episode of 'Father Wants Us Dead' podcast Published: Jun. Bender gave him a hawk nose, grizzled eyebrows, and horn-rimmed glasses. They were shot methodically one by one. Forensic artist Frank Bender uses photographs to sculpt an aged bust of mass murderer John List. Robbins is one of Pitt-Bradford's . BAY CITY, MI Before killing his mother, wife, and three teenage children in his 19-room New Jersey mansion, John E. List began life in Bay City. In addition to the financial distress, his eldest daughter wanted to become an actress, which was not acceptable by John owing to his Conservative upbringing. Discover The 33 Scariest Animals In The World, From The Deep Sea To The Tropical Skies, The Story Of Caril Ann Fugate And Charles Starkweather's Natural Born Killing Spree, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. The Rev. The jury finally found John List guilty and a judge sentenced him to five life terms in a New Jersey prison. He lined up the four bodies in the ballroom (he said his mother's body was too heavy to move), put music on the internal intercom, and cleaned up meticulously. The 14th and final defense witness was the defendant's brother John . On November 9, 1971, he killed his wife, mother, and three children at their home in Westfield, New Jersey, and then disappeared; he had planned the murders so meticulously that nearly a month passed before anyone suspected that anything was amiss. He is from American. When police officers entered the home on Dec. 7, 1971, they heard organ music on an intercom system and found the bodies of Mr. List's wife, Helen, 46; his daughter, Patricia, 16; his sons. There, he eventually became director of accounting services. He also thought his children were steering off the godly course as his son wanted to be an actor. Cindy wrote a book about her family, "The Cash Family Scrapbook." Cindy married three times, and shares a daughter, Jessica, with her first husband, Cris Brock. [44], In 2022, NJ Advance Media released "Father Wants Us Dead," a podcast serial on the events.[45]. $1 Million - $5 Million. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. An aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. YouTubeThe List house burned down several months after the List family bodies were discovered there. They separated in 1973 and he moved . After driving John Frederick home, List shot him repeatedly because, as misfire evidence showed, his son attempted to defend himself. John Emil List was born in Michigan, in 1925, the only child of John and Alma List. In an interview in 2008, parents told a reporter in New Jersey that children will not walk past that property, nor do they even want to live on the same street. His mother, Alma was overprotective and dominating that would forbid him to go outside and play with the other children because he might get sick. He was finally apprehended in Virginia on June 1, 1989, after the story of his murders was broadcast on the television program America's Most Wanted. Interview statement on List's confession to his second wife. He died on March 21, 2008 in Trenton, New Jersey, USA. If you want to get the most Any streaming system that wants to deliver live audio must have microphones. Bradford Patricia Colosimo (23 years), director of arts programming Jon Draeger (35 years), associate professor of chemistry Andrea Robbins (40+ years), instructor of chemistry and algebra, Division of Physical and Computational Sciences. Because syphilis is not infectious in its later phases, she did not pass it on to John List or her children, although she suffered several miscarriages during her first marriage. The two met at a Christian religious gathering. This is not the man I know. List assumed a new identity, remarried, and eluded justice for nearly 18 years. He says he wanted to spare them the shame of losing their New Jersey mansion and to make sure they got to heaven. [12], The murders were not discovered until December 7, nearly a month later, due in part to the family's reclusive tendencies, and in part to notes sent by List to the children's schools and part-time jobs claiming that the children would be visiting their ailing maternal grandmother in North Carolina for a few weeks. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. During that time, he was associated romantically with a number of celebrities, including a nine-year affair with actress Merle Oberon. He then called his childrens school to grant them leave to visit their grandmother in South Carolina. He had been fired from all his jobs due to his cold demeanor and his inability to be social with his co-workers. Hopefully they would go to heaven, and then maybe I would have a chance to later confess my sins to God and get forgiveness.". Salary in 2022. In 1950, John List was recalled to active military service. A new house was built on the site in 1974. John List died in prison in 2008 at age 82. Psychologists theorized that List would wear the same spectacles he wore as a younger man to remind him of more successful days. Minnesota officer removes jar from raccoon's head. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. National Park Service: 'Never push a slower friend down' in a bear encounter, March 2 (UPI) -- The National Park Service offered some sage advice for park visitors who encounter bears: "Never push a slower friend down. John packed off his children to school and loaded both of his handguns. It took Johns fingerprints to match with the military records to convince the authorities that he was John List. A nationwide manhunt was launched. Expert psychologists believed rather that List was going through a mid-life crisis and as the prosecution pointed out, that was no excuse for killing five innocent people. John seemingly grew up without incident, reporting a normal childhood with the exception of his stringently religious upbringing, with which he identified wholeheartedly. YouTubeAn aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. Attorney David Baugh, who represented List in Virginia, offers support.AP Photo/Steve Helber. John List was born John Emil List, on September 17, 1925, in Bay City, Michigan, to John Frederick List and Alma Barbara Florence List. Helen had turned into an alcoholic, which caused them to engage in a lot of fights. He met his first wife, Helen Morris Taylor, whose husband had been killed in action in Korea. The memory of the murders still haunts Westfield residents. He went to the post office to stop the family's mail, then to the bank, where he cashed his mother's savings bonds, checking that he got the correct interest to the penny. Feb. 20, 2002 -- Thirty years ago, accountant John List methodically murdered his whole family his mother, his wife, and their three children. Although the destruction was officially ruled arson, it remains officially unsolved with no suspects. They attended church every Sunday as devout Lutherans and List taught Sunday school. And it came from a family member of all people. 7-year-old baseball umpire seeks Guinness World Record. March 3 (UPI) -- A New Brunswick couple who initially thought a burglar had broken into their home discovered the invader was actually a panicked deer. In the afternoon, he killed his children as they came home first his daughter Patty, a budding actress at 16; then his youngest, 13-year-old Frederic; and finally 15-year-old John, his namesake and his favorite. They married in 1985. He imposed a sentence of five terms of life imprisonment, to be served consecutively, the maximum permissible penalty at the time. List, 64, faces multiple life sentences if he is convicted. John was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder and five terms of life imprisonment. A month passed before neighbors, curious about the constantly burning lights and empty windows, began to suspect something was wrong at the List mansion. [11][12], List placed the bodies of his wife and children on sleeping bags in the mansion's ballroom. While his name is still occasionally mentioned in Cooper articles and documentaries, no direct evidence implicates him, and the FBI no longer considers him a suspect. Following the end of the war, he resumed his studies and enrolled into the University of Michigan, from where he completed his bachelors degree in business administration. His lawyer hopes to convince the jury that List should not be held legally responsible for the deaths because he thought he was saving his family's souls by killing them. He did not mention his wife, his mother, or his children. Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU_2xrMKO8g. Now, in his first-ever public comments about the 1971 crime, the 76-year-old former Sunday school teacher says he is waiting to be reunited with them in the hereafter. Dr. Sheldon Miller, who examined List after his arrest last year, described him Friday as a man who had already been hit by the loss of his job and then learned that his wife had deceived him for years about her medical condition. To avoid sharing this humiliating development with his family, List engaged in the same routine and dress as when employed, leaving home each morning on schedule and spending the day at job interviews or at the Westfield train station, reading newspapers until it was time to come home. When his daughter and youngest son came home, he shot them in the back of the head. His father was a devout Lutheran who also taught at a local Sunday School in Bay City. He was the only child born to German-Americans John Frederick List and Alma Maria Barbara Florence List. After the June 7, 2021, killings of Maggie . Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? In November 1971, the mass murderer and long-time fugitive killed his wife, mother, and three children at their home in Westfield, New Jersey. So he spent his days at the train station, reading the newspaper and secretly skimming money from his mothers bank accounts to pay the mortgage. "After 18 years, five months and 22 days, it is now time for the voices of Helen, Alma, Patricia, Frederick and John F. List to rise from the grave." The List house burned down several months after the List family bodies were discovered there. After light bulbs began burning out one by one, they called the police. Its hard to believe the solution he arrived at would have been more acceptable to his father, but John List would later say it seemed to him the only option: the murder of his mother, wife, and children. "[38], Over the years, List and his crimes have furnished inspiration for documentaries, television dramas and feature films. John and Helen began dating and a few months later, Helen revealed to John that she had become pregnant. He joined a local Lutheran church and, in 1985, married a widow named Delores Clark, with whom he moved to Richmond, Va. Afterwards, he dragged his wifes body to the ballroom and made himself lunch and ate it. List, who says he remains deeply religious today, acknowledges that his crimes violated one of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not kill.". List died in prison in 2008 at the age of 82. Flanery lived next door to John List, who was going by Robert Clark, and his second wife, Delores Clark, in Aurora, Colorado from 1985 to 1988. List graduated from Bay City Central High School in 1943. FBI agents visited his unsuspecting second wife in Virginia and handcuffed the killer, who was going by the name Robert P. Clark, at his accounting office. He murdered his mother, wife and three children in November 1971, due to financial distress and other issues within the family, and fled. He later pursued a masters degree in accounting from the same university and as the Korean War had escalated in 1950, he was recalled by the Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, stationed at Fort Eustis in Virginia, where he met his wife Helen. March 3 (UPI) -- A 7-year-old Louisiana boy with a firm grasp of baseball rules is seeking a Guinness World Record as the world's youngest umpire. John Sr. drove to the field and watched him play, then gave him a ride home. The episode, "Murder House", premiered on November 18, 2015. A manhunt for John was declared, but it was not until 18 years that he was arrested. Delores Miller (wife) is an American Homemaker. "I don't know whether it was only because he was still jerking that I wanted to make sure that he didn't suffer, or that it was sort of a way of relieving tension, after having completed what I felt was my assignment for the day," List said. He. 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They also found the five-page note from John List explaining that the bloodied bodies on the ballroom floor were his family members, killed out of mercy. List and his family were the embodiment of the American dream in 1965. He refused to go on welfare, as it would entail excruciating embarrassment in the community and violate the principles of self-sufficiency that he learned at his fathers knee. 'To find his wife having a veneral disease was morally, ethically and religiously a very hard thing for him to accept,' the psychiatrist said. Examples include "Savior," the season 6, episode 16 of the television series Law & Order; the 1987 film The Stepfather and its 2009 remake; the 1993 film Judgment Day: The John List Story, in which List was portrayed by Robert Blake;[39] and the character Keyser Sze in the 1995 film The Usual Suspects.[40]. "I've regretted my action and prayed for forgiveness ever since. His sixteen years old daughter and 13 years old son returned from the school at noon. See the events in life of John List in Chronological Order, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_List_(mugshot).jpg, https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/john-list-10634.php. The unlikely story of his capture, the tip that led to it and the wild coincidences Gluck encountered as he followed the story are told in the latest episode of Father Wants Us Dead, an investigative true crime podcast about the List killings from NJ Advance Media. [43], The movie A Killer Next Door, based on the events that led to the capture of John List, was released In July 2020. "It was my belief that if you kill yourself, you won't go to heaven," he said. videos, He then shot both his wife and mother in their heads. He was portrayed in the 1993 film Judgment Day: The John List Story by actor Robert Blake, who, ironically, was later convicted of killing his own wife. The family car was found parked at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City, but police found no evidence that List had boarded a flight. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Later, John took a lucrative job at Xerox and moved to New York and lived there with his family for a few years. The inconspicuous accountant was arrested without incident Thursday at work. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their . Following the gruesome death of his family. New Jersey prosecutors had come up with a plan. [4], After completion of his second tour in 1952, List worked for an accounting firm in Detroit, and then as an audit supervisor at a paper company in Kalamazoo, where his three children were born. Details of Delores life before she married John List are unavailable. Her story put an end to the 18-year-long mystery. A former Denver neighbor alerted the police, who made the arrest later. At his trial in 1990, defense lawyers argued that List suffered from PTSD from his military service in World War II and Korea.
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