Liss testified after a judgeruled that information on Helen List's medical condition could be given to the jury that must decide whether List is guilty of murder. A manhunt for John was declared, but it was not until 18 years that he was arrested. "I was perspiring like anything," he remembers, but said his wife did not seem to have recognized him. "[38], Over the years, List and his crimes have furnished inspiration for documentaries, television dramas and feature films. They had an expert forensic artist, Frank Bender, create a physical bust of John List as Bender imagined he might have aged. One tip came from a woman in Richmond, Virginia, who thought her next-door neighbor, Robert Clark, bore a striking resemblance to the bust. Although the destruction was officially ruled arson, it remains officially unsolved with no suspects. 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. [16], List died of complications from pneumonia aged 82 on March 21, 2008, while imprisoned at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey. Minnesota officer removes jar from raccoon's head. 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. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. But back in Denver, his former neighbors did recognize him, and called police. He also argued that the letter he left behind at the crime scene, essentially his confession, was a confidential communication to his pastor and therefore inadmissible as evidence. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. The two met at a Christian religious gathering. He then shot his wife in the back of the head as she enjoyed her final sips, careful to ensure that her last moments were free of suspicion. He worked hard as an accountant at a nearby bank to provide for his family. Everything looked great on the surface. It was a masterful depiction of John List. Liss summarized Helen List's medical reports for the jury. But his defence was rejected and he was imprisoned at the New Jersey State Prison. He lived at 431 Hillside Avenue with his wife, Helen Morris Taylor; mother, Alma Barbara Florence List; and two children: daughter Patricia, and sons Frederick and John. Florida woman runs ultra-marathon distances for 23 consecutive days. 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.". As his daughter Patricia, 16, and younger son Frederick, 13, arrived home from school, List shot each of them in the back of the head. [11][12], List placed the bodies of his wife and children on sleeping bags in the mansion's ballroom. She had a young daughter from her previous marriage. British bus driver stops to give loose sheep a lift. When they entered the house, music was still playing on the intercom, but List was long gone. I was shocked to hear about Bobs arrest and what he is charged with, the statement said. Attempts to reach List's former wife, Delores, whom he married in Denver while a fugitive and later moved with to Richmond, Va., where he was apprehended, have been unsuccessful. He grew up as an only child with strict German parents, he had an overly protective and domineering mother (sort of like Norman Bates). He was vice president and comptroller of a nearby bank, and his family lived in an 18-room mansion with marble fireplaces and an elegant ballroom. He said they were going to North Carolina to visit an ailing relative. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. Ten days after a creepy, glass-eyed bust of John List was shown on Americas Most Wanted, Westfield residents had not heard of a single promising lead. [16], List eventually expressed a degree of remorse for his crimes. John Sr. drove over to his school and watched him playing in a soccer game. List methodically murdered his wife Helen, his mother Alma, and their three childrenPatricia, 16; Frederick, 13; and John Jr., 15. John List passed away on March 21, 2008, after suffering from pneumonia. Authorities walk John List to a plane in Richmond,. He killed his immediate family since he could not pay the mansions mortgage after losing his job and did not want them to face ridicule. 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. The trail went cold. Contents 1 Background 2 Familicide, Capture, and Incarceration 3 Modus Operandi 4 Known Victims 5 Notes 6 On Criminal Minds 7 On Suspect Behavior 8 Sources But unlike the other members of the List family who dropped instantly, John Jr. struggled. But then his life began to crumble. 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. ', Suspected burglar inside New Brunswick home was a panicked deer. A federal appeals court rejected both arguments. 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. Helen was first. His father was a devout Lutheran who also taught at a local Sunday School in Bay City. [10] While his children were at school, he shot his wife Helen, 47, in the back of the head, and then his mother Alma, 84, above the left eye. "I remember talking about funerals and cremation and burials. John Emil List was born in Bay City, Michigan, on September 17, 1925, to John Frederick and Alma Marie List. 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. He settled in Denver in early 1972 and took an accounting job under the name Robert Peter "Bob" Clark, one of his college classmates (although the real Bob Clark later asserted that he had never known List). John Emil List Birth 17 Sep 1925 Bay City, Bay County, Michigan, USA Death 21 Mar 2008 (aged 82) Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey, USA Burial Burial Details Unknown. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. Westfield police did not discover the bodies until nearly a month later. After finding an old 9 mm pistol he had bought as a souvenir of World War II, and a .22-caliber target pistol, he purchased new ammunition and went to a shooting range for target practice. By the late 1950s, the family was in a good financial situation as John had been promoted to the position of a general supervisor in the company. His father died in 1944. [43], The movie A Killer Next Door, based on the events that led to the capture of John List, was released In July 2020. $1 Million - $5 Million. John List - History, Crime. . Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. He slept in the mansion where his family lay dead, then walked out the door the next morning and wasnt seen again for 18 years. 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. 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. "The body is still at the Mercer County Medical Examiner's Office," said county spokesman Pete Daly. After seeing his daughter and two sons off to school, List walked into the kitchen of his 19-room HIllside Avenue mansion on Nov. 9, 1971, and shot his wife, Helen, as she sipped her morning coffee. news, Firefighters hoist horse stranded in backyard swimming pool. John List died in prison in 2008 at age 82. "I grew up with the idea that you should provide for your family and to do that you had to be a success in the job that you had or you're a failure, and that was not a good thing to be," he said. They attended church each week with List's mother, a strict Lutheran who lived with them. 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. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. "I was hungry," he told Downtown, adding with a chuckle, "that's just the way it was.". The research in this book is outstanding, and Sharkey clearly put a great deal of time and effort into it. The new lovers wed on 1 December 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland. However, the marriage was not very good. He was born as the only child in the highly religious German-American household. ELIZABETH, N.J. -- Accused family-killer John Emil List, who had always looked to his religious faith for answers, was so overwrought over the discovery that his wife had advanced syphilis that 'like a small rubber band, he snapped,' a psychiatrist said. Then List waited downstairs to kill his children, one by one, as they came home. On November 9, 1971, John List put his plan into action. Soon after his high school graduation, he joined the United States Army during the Second World War, where he worked as a laboratory technician. Help keep John List (murderer) and Delores Miller (wife) profile up to date. He is a quiet yet friendly man who loves his work and the people he works with.. 07, 2022, 8:00 a.m. After light bulbs began burning out one by one, they called the police. [12] Neighbors noticed that all of the mansion's rooms were illuminated day and night, with no apparent activity within the house. On 9 November 1971, John murdered his wife, mother, and three children by shooting them. Also in 2022, Netflix released a seven-part dramatic fictional miniseries called The Watcher. He then shot both his wife and mother in their heads. 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]. 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. This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. We have estimated John A. List's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets. List, who grew up in a strict Lutheran community in Bay City, Mich., was 'immersed in his religion,' he said. The episode, "Murder House", premiered on November 18, 2015. John Emil List was born in Michigan, in 1925, the only child of John and Alma List. A former Denver neighbor alerted the police, who made the arrest later. Gwyn Conger Steinbeck - Who was She? Their faces were covered. [44], In 2022, NJ Advance Media released "Father Wants Us Dead," a podcast serial on the events.[45]. Net Worth in 2022. Born In: Bay City, Michigan, United States. After making the decision, List says, there was no turning back. The wife of Robert P. Clark--whom the FBI says is really John List, a man who killed his family in 1971--says his arrest is unbelievable and that the alleged killer is not the man I know.. This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids, 17 things to do in Santa Cruz, the old-school beach town that makes for a charming getaway, Best coffee city in the world? Eventually, he took a decently paying job with a paper company at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and settled there with his family. He later completed his masters degree in accounting and worked as an accountant in the military. He then called his childrens school to grant them leave to visit their grandmother in South Carolina. An aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. [24][25] On June 1, less than two weeks after the broadcast, List was arrested at a Richmond accounting firm after a Denver neighbor recognized the description and alerted authorities. His picture was also shown on television, which led one of his neighbours to notify the authorities. 'He faced limited options and like a small rubber band, he snapped. After making himself lunch, List drove to his bank to close both his and his mother's bank accounts, and then to Westfield High School to watch his elder son John Frederick, 15, play in a soccer game. He defended himself saying that he was not mentally stable. He took a new identity and also joined a Lutheran church, where he met his second wife, Delores Miller. Salary in 2021. He lost the bank job, and a succession of subsequent jobs. 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. Feb. 20, 2002 -- Thirty years ago, accountant John List methodically murdered his whole family his mother, his wife, and their three children. A South Carolina jury has found once-prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh guilty on all counts in the deaths of his wife and son. Once inside the kitchen, John Sr. shot him in the back of the head. Oct 9, 2018. 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. He was the only child born to German-Americans John Frederick List and Alma Maria Barbara Florence List. He gave him a ride home, then shot him in the chest. March 2 (UPI) -- A Minnesota police officer came to the rescue of a raccoon he spotted running around with a jar stuck over its head. "[21][22] List was questioned by FBI investigators after his capture, but he denied any involvement in the Cooper case. Officers entered through an unlocked window leading to the basement and discovered the family's bodies. In 1950, John List was recalled to active military service. As I was doing it I knew it was wrong," he said. He was arrested 11 days later, and, after a jury rejected his diminished capacity defense, convicted and sentenced. Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. But he fled to Colorado, assumed a new name and remarried, managing to elude a nationwide manhunt for 18 years. 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. Then he drove to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where he left his car as a false lead and took a bus into the city. John Emil List, a.k.a. He watched John Jr. play soccer at school, then drove him home and killed him, too. John List's confession to his 2nd wife revealed in new episode of 'Father Wants Us Dead' podcast Published: Jun. In an effort to baffle the police, he cleaned the crime scenes and used scissors to remove his image from every photo in the mansion. It took 18 years for John List to be arrested. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. After List's discharge in 1946, List enrolled at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in accounting, and was commissioned a second lieutenant through ROTC. Pending. Spouse/Ex-: Delores Miller Clark (m. 19851989), Helen List (m. 19511971), children: Frederick List, John, Jr. Madeleine Talmage Astor ( ne Force; later Dick and Fiermonte; June 19, 1893 - March 27, 1940) was an American socialite and a survivor of the RMS Titanic. March 3 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts library said a book was recently returned with a note apologizing for the tome being 56 years overdue. Aside from a few extra wrinkles, the bust was spot on. While his children were at school, he shot his wife Helen, 47, in the back of the head, and then his mother Alma, 84, above the left eye. This article is about the murderer. Upstairs, the body of List's 84-year-old mother Alma was found. In a second attempt at love, he was lucky enough to find a business and life partner in Allain, a producer and hairstylist. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. Hopefully they would go to heaven, and then maybe I would have a chance to later confess my sins to God and get forgiveness.". He then drove his son back to the house and emptied both the guns on him, shooting him in his head and chest repeatedly. Kentucky man stops for breakfast, wins $50,000 lottery prize. 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. 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.
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