"[36] The judge was unpersuaded: "John Emil List is without remorse and without honor," he said. [18][19][20], In 1972, List was proposed as a suspect in the D. B. Cooper air piracy case because of the timing of his disappearance (two weeks prior to the airline hijacking), multiple matches to the hijacker's description, and the reasoning that "a fugitive accused of mass murder has nothing to lose. [16], List died of complications from pneumonia aged 82 on March 21, 2008, while imprisoned at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey. He had drained his and his mothers bank accounts and fled, changing his identity. In 1950, John List was recalled to active military service. Helen and her three children were buried at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield. He placed the bodies of his wife and . The new lovers wed on 1 December 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. "[21][22] List was questioned by FBI investigators after his capture, but he denied any involvement in the Cooper case. John Emil List was born in Michigan, in 1925, the only child of John and Alma List. At Fort Eustis in Virginia, he met Helen Morris Taylor, the widow of an infantry officer killed in action in Korea, who lived nearby with her daughter, Brenda. He was 82. Human name disambiguation pages. John List - The Decision Lab He left his mother's body in her apartment in the attic. But, during a four-hour interview, he sought to explain how worries that financial hardship would split his family and turn them away from their faith forced him to make a tough decision. But he fled to Colorado, assumed a new name and remarried, managing to elude a nationwide manhunt for 18 years. ", Woman wins $100,000 lottery prize 11 hours after $11,000 casino jackpot. However, he was a loner who was not socially active and had very few friends in school and his locality. 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. John List was an American mass murderer, who became infamous in the 1970s for killing his mother, wife and three children. "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. List had a masters degree in accounting, but lacked social skills and had a history of losing jobs. Moreover, his wife was a heavy drinker and she had also contracted Syphilis from her first marriage. Delores Clark said that she was making her statement reluctantly and that she would have no further comment. Based on information gleaned from dozens of interviews and hundreds of pages of police and FBI documents, Father Wants Us Dead is an in-depth and chilling narrative from two reporters with more than 25 years of combined experience. [17] From 1979 to 1986, he was the comptroller at a paper box manufacturer outside Denver. [12] Neighbors noticed that all of the mansion's rooms were illuminated day and night, with no apparent activity within the house. They did not have any children together. 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. It rippled through the county and state: John List, the man who had meticulously murdered his mother, wife and three kids in their Westfield mansion and disappeared without a trace, was in custody. They attended church every Sunday as devout Lutherans and List taught Sunday school. He said they were going to North Carolina to visit an ailing relative. He gave him a ride home, then shot him in the chest. 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. 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. Jurors deliberated for about . 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. She met Steinbeck in late 1938 or early 1939, when she was just 22. "I feel when we get to heaven we won't worry about these earthly things. If you take gaming seriously, you shouldn't accept anything less than the greatest. Hence, his severe lack of social skills cost him jobs after jobs. He says he wanted to spare them the shame of losing their New Jersey mansion and to make sure they got to heaven. John Sr. drove to the field and watched him play, then gave him a ride home. She is famous for Second wife of murderer John list. He canceled all deliveries and contacted his childrens schools to let their teachers know the family would be on vacation for a few weeks. List died in prison in 2008 at the age of 82. 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. [12], He was also dealing with his wife's alcoholism and her untreated tertiary syphilis, contracted from her first husband and concealed for 18 years. The morning of November 7, 1971 began in a usual fashion. He joined a Lutheran congregation and ran a car pool for shut-in church members. He is most remembered for Murdered his entire family in 1971. Although it is a work of fiction, much of the character John Graff was borrowed from the story of the John List murders. He had saved the souls of the people he loved. On November 9, 1971, John List put his plan into action. He was the only child born to German-Americans John Frederick List and Alma Maria Barbara Florence List. The army discharged him in 1946, after which he joined the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. 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. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. He is a quiet yet friendly man who loves his work and the people he works with.. John and Helen married on December 1, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland, the family moving to northern California. Austin Goodrich, an ABCNEWS consultant who is writing a book with John List, contributed material for this report. ", John List, famous murder The Crime Library, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_List_(murderer)&oldid=1139169038, American people who died in prison custody, American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, People extradited within the United States, People with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by New Jersey, Prisoners who died in New Jersey detention, United States Army personnel of World War II, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 13 February 2023, at 19:09. Florida woman runs ultra-marathon distances for 23 consecutive days. He believed that it was his failure as a man to be unable to provide for his family. Gallery - Father Wants Us Dead: A True Crime Podcast From NJ 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. John List with his wife and three children. 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. The alias worked, and he kept it when he moved to Richmond. He waited for Helen to come down for her morning coffee. They separated in 1973 and he moved . 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. He spent his days at the train station reading, napping, and wondering how to get his family out of their financial mess. The Twisted Mind of Family Annihilator John List - America's Most Haunted List diverted money from his mother's bank accounts to avoid default on his mortgage. 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. Simring said List showed "no evidence of anything that approached genuine remorse," adding, "He's a cold, cold man.". [6] In 1960, his stepdaughter Brenda married and left the household, and List moved with the remainder of his family to Rochester, New York, to take a job with Xerox. 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. Login He was born as the only child in the highly religious German-American household. "I remember talking about funerals and cremation and burials. He. Additionally, the financial burden on the family was increasing, causing him severe psychological distress. Feb. 20, 2002 -- Thirty years ago, accountant John List methodically murdered his whole family his mother, his wife, and their three children. 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. The couple had three children together, while Helens daughter Brenda left home in 1960 after her marriage. Delores and John moved to a house around Brandermill, Midlothian, Virginia, where her husband worked as an accountant at an accounting firm. After making the decision, List says, there was no turning back. He was 82 years old at the time of his demise. He is most remembered for Murdered his entire family in 1971. He murdered his mother, wife and three children at their home in Westfield, New Jersey on November 9, 1971. On November 9, 1971, John List shot his wife, his mother, and his three children. [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. A federal appeals court rejected both arguments. But after doctors at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York concluded that her symptoms might be caused by syphilis, she admitted that she had suffered from the disease since the 1940s and had been treated for it at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington. The Stepfather is Based on the True Story of John List - Wicked Horror WhenAmericas Most Wantedaired the story of the John List murders on May 21, 1989, an audience of 22 million saw Frank Benders sculpture. John List was born John Emil List, on September 17, 1925, in Bay City, Michigan, to John Frederick List and Alma Barbara Florence List. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? He then cleaned the crime scenes, removed his pictures from all family photographs, turned the lights and the radio on, and departed. His father died in 1944. 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. He was born John Emil List on 15 September 1925 to John Frederick List and Alma Barbara Florence List. Early life [ edit] Katherine (left) and Madeleine Force. ', 'List was being bombarded by stresses,' the doctor added. Help us build our profile of John List (murderer) and Delores Miller (wife)! List (born 1968), American economist. March 3 (UPI) -- A Kentucky man who stopped to buy some breakfast said he lost his appetite when he won $50,000 from a scratch-off lottery ticket. The Rev. He grew up as an only child with strict German parents, he had an overly protective and domineering mother (sort of like Norman Bates). The Star-Ledger reporter, who loved to chat about the infamous murderer with the locals on his Union County beat, was grabbing a sandwich for lunch when he got a tip of his own. Under Review. He feared his family, confronted with a world full of evil and poverty, would turn from God; this was the only way to ensure their safe arrival in heaven. 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. [7] In 1965, List accepted a position as vice president and comptroller at a bank in Jersey City, New Jersey, and moved with his wife, children, and mother into Breeze Knoll, a 19-room Victorian mansion at 431 Hillside Avenue in Westfield. 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. Joseph Vought, Ludwig "Lou" Silbermann, Jerome Kendall, George Corbett,. When they entered the house, music was still playing on the intercom, but List was long gone. Unlike the others, John didn't go quietly, his body jerking as List emptied both the 9 millimeter and the .22 into his son. John and Helen began dating and a few months later, Helen revealed to John that she had become pregnant. More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23, meticulously murdered his mother, wife and three kids. We have estimated John A. List's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets. Alongside his close friend and colleague Steven Levitt, List has committed to studying the way people behave in the real world, instead of understanding economics as a theory-based field. Gwyn Conger Steinbeck - Who was She? "I wish I had never done what I did," he told Connie Chung in 2002. Extras - Father Wants Us Dead: A True Crime Podcast From NJ.com Liss summarized Helen List's medical reports for the jury. John List | Criminal Minds Wiki | Fandom The mass murderer was an active member of his local Lutheran church and married his second wife Delores in 1985. The episode aired on May 21, 1989 (Opens in a new tab), catching the eye of a neighbor who called the police and warned Clark's second wife, who seemed "stunned." (Opens in a new tab) List was . Helen List apparently was infected with the disease by her first husband, a soldier who was killed in Korea. When the children left for school, he shot his wife and his mother to death. YouTubeForensic artist Frank Bender uses photographs to sculpt an aged bust of mass murderer John List. Where Is John List Now? 'The Watcher' John Graff True Story, Real No one has stepped forward to claim the body of mass murderer John List, who died while serving a life sentence for killing his Westfield family in 1971, authorities said today. 'He faced limited options and like a small rubber band, he snapped. John List's confession to his 2nd wife revealed in new episode of On Nov. 9, 1971, after sending his children off to school, List took his two handguns out to the car to load them, then walked into the kitchen and shot his wife from behind as she was drinking coffee. During his years on the run, List went by the name Robert Clark. YouTubeAn aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. 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. 'The Watcher's John Graff is based on grim true story of family Kentucky man stops for breakfast, wins $50,000 lottery prize. Just as the kids entered from the main door, he shot both of them in the heads as well. They attended church each week with List's mother, a strict Lutheran who lived with them. Police in Virginia arrested mass murderer John List on June 1, 1989, a mere nine days after Americas Most Wanted aired his case. John List met Helen Morris Taylor, a young widow of an American enlisted man who had died in the Korean War. He later completed his masters degree in accounting and worked as an accountant in the military. When they met, she led a simple life working as an Army PX clerk. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. John List passed away on March 21, 2008, after suffering from pneumonia. He did not mention his wife, his mother, or his children. A seemingly admirable and usual American man, John List and his family lived happily in New Jersey. Born in an extremely strict Lutheran family, John was raised as a single child. The trail went cold. John List was a devout Lutheran who lived with his wife, mother and three children. "I was hungry," he told Downtown, adding with a chuckle, "that's just the way it was.". Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Everything looked great on the surface. [32], On April 12, 1990, List was convicted of five counts of first degree murder. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. That left his oldest son. 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? John Emil List (1925-2008) - Find a Grave Memorial He was not, however, willing to suffer the earthly consequences of his actions. 'List believed doing what he did do to his family was allowed because he was sending them to join God and saving them from the embarrassment of having to be on the public dole.'. After seeing all his children off to school, John List set his plan in motion. He worked as an accountant, bringing a stable income back to his Victorian mansion; home to himself, his wife, three children and his mother. 'Father Wants Us Dead' podcast extras: Never before seen List - Nj Helen had turned into an alcoholic, which caused them to engage in a lot of fights. He couldnt bear to tell his family about the loss of income. Salary in 2022. The News Leaders copyright story quoted his pastor, closest friend and neighbors as saying that the arrest was unbelievable and impossible.. He later took a job as the vice president at a bank in New Jersey, where the family finally got settled. Spouse/Ex-: Delores Miller Clark (m. 19851989), Helen List (m. 19511971), children: Frederick List, John, Jr. HOW HE MET HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE John Schneider and his wife, Alicia Allain, began their journey after his divorce from his first wife of twenty-one years. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. 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. New revelations in the episode include what List said through tears to his shocked and heartsick second wife, who hoped it was all some mistake and her husband was really the man she thought she had married Robert Clark when she visited him in jail. Psychologists theorized that List would wear the same spectacles he wore as a younger man to remind him of more successful days. 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. He married his second wife Delores in 1985. By then, he was assigned to the finance corps, from where he was discharged in 1952. [28][29], At trial, List testified that his financial difficulties reached crisis level in 1971 when he was laid off with the closure of the Jersey City bank. John List - History, Crime. Like his father, List was a devout Lutheran and a Sunday school teacher. Ideal YouTube Profile Picture: Size, Dimensions, Tricks, and More, Reasons To Invest In A Good Gaming Laptop, Microphone Sound Recording for Live Streaming, Delores Miller Clark: Learn More about John Lists Ex-Wife, Johanna Thiebaud- All about Shania Twains Stepdaughter, What You May Not Know About Gweneth Gonzales Thomas, Richard Thomas Daughter, Linnell S. Nobori: All there is to Know about Ted Bessells Wife, Online Pharmacies Make it Easy to Compare Medicines Prices, Katya Ariel Tylo Personal Life, Net Worth, & More, Isis Rae Boykin, Personal Life and Net Worth, Finn William Leeves Coben Lifestyle and Personal Life. Want more true crime? After the June 7, 2021, killings of Maggie . The memory of the murders still haunts Westfield residents. The devout Lutherans attended church every Sunday, and List taught Sunday school. When the police entered the house, on December 7th, the bodies had begun to decompose. Following the gruesome death of his family. On April 12, 1990 he was found guilty on five . American Criminal John List was born John Emil List on 17th September, 1925 in Bay City, Michigan, USA and passed away on 21st Mar 2008 Trenton, New Jersey, USA aged 82. Born In: Bay City, Michigan, United States. 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. 07, 2022, 8:00 a.m. 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. He then called his childrens school to grant them leave to visit their grandmother in South Carolina. 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. Assistant Prosecutor Eleanor Clark strongly protested telling the jury of Helen List's syphilis during bitter legal arguments over several days. 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 John List Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements And it came from a family member of all people. He watched John Jr. play soccer at school, then drove him home and killed him, too. [35], List filed an appeal of his convictions on grounds that his judgment had been impaired by post-traumatic stress disorder due to his military service. The Army, realizing List's accounting skills, reassigned him to the Finance Corps. 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. The family were devout Lutherans. [42] In 2015, the story was covered in the season 2, episode 2 of the Investigation Discovery TV series Your Worst Nightmare. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. Next he went upstairs, to where his 84-year-old mother was having breakfast, kissed her ("like Judas," he told Downtown), and shot her in the head. "I knew it was wrong. Judge William L'E. When his daughter and youngest son came home, he shot them in the back of the head. 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. 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.