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. 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. . [26][27] List continued to stand by his alias for several months, even after his 1989 extradition to Union County, New Jersey; finally, faced with irrefutable evidence including a fingerprint match with List's military records, as well as evidence found at the crime scene he confessed his true identity on February 16, 1990. List is accused of killing his wife, his three children and his mother in 1971. Helen had turned into an alcoholic, which caused them to engage in a lot of fights. List diverted money from his mother's bank accounts to avoid default on his mortgage. 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 The family did not have a lot of visitors and it took the neighbours 29 days to notice that something was off in the house. He was born as the only child in the highly religious German-American household. Authorities went to Clarks home and spoke to his wife, whom he met at a church social gathering. "I finally decided the only way to save them from that was to kill them," he said. 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. [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. In a three-sentence statement to the court, he said he was sorry for "the tragedy that happened in 1971." More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23, meticulously murdered his mother, wife and three kids. "[36] The judge was unpersuaded: "John Emil List is without remorse and without honor," he said. He says he wanted to spare them the shame of losing their New Jersey mansion and to make sure they got to heaven. 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. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. YouTubeThe note John List wrote excusing his children from school. The arrest followed Foxs Americas Most Wanted, featuring a sculpted clay bust of Johns age-progressed face. The third wife was Pilar Pallette, with whom he had three more children. 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. The morning of November 7, 1971 began in a usual fashion. Then he sat down and ate lunch at the same table where he had shot his wife hours before. [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. Firefighters hoist horse stranded in backyard swimming pool. At one religious gathering, he met an Army PX clerk named Delores Miller and married her in 1985. I thought I was being real clever," he said. [32], On April 12, 1990, List was convicted of five counts of first degree murder. He took a new identity and also joined a Lutheran church, where he met his second wife, Delores Miller. He worked as an accountant, bringing a stable income back to his Victorian mansion; home to himself, his wife, three children and his mother. After gruesomely murdering his entire family, John List had begun living a normal life again. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. [43], The movie A Killer Next Door, based on the events that led to the capture of John List, was released In July 2020. . On November 9, 1971, John List put his plan into action. The Rev. He married his second wife Delores in 1985. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Authorities never found the cause of the fire, and a new house was built on the property years later. List, 64, faces multiple life sentences if he is convicted. At a border crossing to Mexico in March 1944, she said she. 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. The alias worked, and he kept it when he moved to Richmond. '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. 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? The neighbors tipped the police after a month of not seeing anyone entering or leaving the house. "I knew it was wrong. Fast forward 18 years to 1989. Salary in 2022. $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. Helen was first. But then his life began to crumble. "There has been no communication from any family member of John List. Hence, his severe lack of social skills cost him jobs after jobs. 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. 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. Though we'd like to say that Wayne and Pilar lived happily ever after, apparently that's not the case. He earned a bachelors degree in administration and a masters degree in accounting. After the June 7, 2021, killings of Maggie . 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. Dr. Miller said List had learned before the killings that syphilis was the cause of his wife's worsening medical and psychological problems and that knowing she had a sexually transmitted disease would have a 'tremendous impact' on someone of his background. Then Frederick, 13. to add information, pictures and relationships, join in discussions and get credit for your contributions. List, who says he remains deeply religious today, acknowledges that his crimes violated one of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not kill.". [16] In reporting his death, the New Jersey Star-Ledger referred to him as "The Boogeyman of Westfield. "It was my belief that if you kill yourself, you won't go to heaven," he said. He went upstairs and shot his 84-year-old mother. [5] By 1959, List had risen to general supervisor of the company's accounting department; but Helen, an alcoholic, had become increasingly unstable. That left his oldest son. The FBI found his car parked at Kennedy International Airport in New York City, but they never found him. 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). 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. 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. Los Angeles, 12 reasons why Sycamore Avenue is L.A.s coolest new hangout, Fox News finally reveals its kryptonite: the bottom line, The Week in Photos: California exits pandemic emergency amid a winter landscape, Snowboarder dies at South Lake Tahoe resort, California to alter COVID rules in healthcare settings: Masks and vaccinations not required, Welcome to the world, baby Winter, born amid a snowstorm in Lake Arrowhead, Gripped by grace: Thousands gather for Bishop OConnells funeral Mass. But back in Denver, his former neighbors did recognize him, and called police. The memory of the murders still haunts Westfield residents. A former neighbor in Denver saw the episode and recognized List, who was then tracked to his new home in Virginia. 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. In 1950, John List was recalled to active military service. His father-in-law had heard from the county sheriff: After nearly 18 years, List had been caught. A new house was built on the site in 1974. Finally, with the prospect of foreclosure threatening to expose his financial failure, List made his terrible decision to kill his family but not himself. Soon after his high school graduation, he joined the United States Army during the Second World War, where he worked as a laboratory technician. . Then he made a sandwich, drove to the bank, and disappeared for 18 years. List and his family were the embodiment of the American dream in 1965. On 9 November 1971, John murdered his wife, mother, and three children by shooting them. 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. John List's confession to his 2nd wife revealed in new episode of 'Father Wants Us Dead' podcast Published: Jun. If things had gone on who knows if that would be the case," he wrote. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 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. [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. "I wish I had never done what I did," he told Connie Chung in 2002. 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. He became increasingly depressed. He killed Patricia when she returned home from school, then the youngest son, Frederick. The new lovers wed on 1 December 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland. This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. The day after the killings, List scoured the house for family photographs, tearing his image out of them so police would have nothing to use in Wanted posters. 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. They separated in 1973 and he moved . He was 82. [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. [11][12], List placed the bodies of his wife and children on sleeping bags in the mansion's ballroom. 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. He killed them to save their souls so they would go to heaven. 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. "List, an unemployed accountant and devout Lutheran who shot his wife, mother and three children and disappeared for 18 years before being captured following a tip, died on Friday from massive blood clots in both lungs, authorities said. Tips came pouring in. As I was doing it I knew it was wrong," he said. It was the biggest story he could remember, and the local fervor for information was immediate. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. "I remember talking about funerals and cremation and burials. Psychologists theorized that List would wear the same spectacles he wore as a younger man to remind him of more successful days. Subsequent jobs didnt pan out. He says today he felt he was letting the family down. He then cleaned the various crime scenes, removed his own picture from all family photographs in the house, tuned a radio to a religious station, and departed. Then John, 15, after the boy put his bookbag down on a kitchen countertop. He made himself a sandwich, closed out his bank accounts, and cheered for his only surviving son, John, at his high school soccer game. 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. The suspect denied he is List but the FBI said a positive link had been made through fingerprints. John seemingly grew up without incident, reporting a normal childhood with the exception of his stringently religious upbringing, with which he identified wholeheartedly. John Emil List was born in Bay City, Michigan, on September 17, 1925, to John Frederick and Alma Marie List. John List appeared to be the perfect son, husband, and father. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. 7-year-old baseball umpire seeks Guinness World Record. A neurologist, Dr. Henry Liss, testified earlier Friday that Helen List, 45, had tertiary syphilis and had hidden her disease for years from her doctors and her family. It took Johns fingerprints to match with the military records to convince the authorities that he was John List. 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. Inside the mansion's cavernous ballroom, the bodies of List's wife Helen, 46, and his three children Patricia, 16, John, 15, and Frederick, 13, were laid out on the floor on sleeping bags. He turned on the lights and the radio, leaving religious hymns playing in the houses empty rooms. Read on to discover more details. The family were devout Lutherans. Oct 9, 2018. 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. He was born John Emil List on 15 September 1925 to John Frederick List and Alma Barbara Florence List. 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. 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. 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. He said they were going to North Carolina to visit an ailing relative. Of the more than 200 tips from viewers that the FBI received from the program, one said a man resembling. 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. 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]. The jury finally found John List guilty and a judge sentenced him to five life terms in a New Jersey prison. [41] A 2003 episode of the A&E series American Justice also detailed the case and featured an interview with List. 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. He had drained his and his mothers bank accounts and fled, changing his identity. Austin Goodrich, an ABCNEWS consultant who is writing a book with John List, contributed material for this report. "I'm sure that if we recognize each other that we'll like each other's company just as we did here, when times were better.". He began living with a new identity in Virginia, where he was spotted by a local and got arrested. 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. They were shot methodically one by one. During that time, he was associated romantically with a number of celebrities, including a nine-year affair with actress Merle Oberon. His middle son, John Jr. who was also his favorite suffered the most brutal death. 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. John List with his wife and three children. The devout Lutherans attended church every Sunday, and List taught Sunday school. [46] Played by Joe Mantello, much of John Graff's story was identical such as his being an accountant, attending a Lutheran church, and murdering his family members and live-in mother, along with leaving music playing in the house and planning an alibi that would cause the bodies to remain undiscovered for several weeks. He. He was arrested in 1989 after a former neighbor recognized him from a profile on the syndicated TV show America's Most Wanted. [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. A South Carolina jury has found once-prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh guilty on all counts in the deaths of his wife and son. List laid the bodies of his wife and three children on sleeping bags according to size in the home's ballroom, went to sleep after dinner, and fled the next day. 'To find his wife having a veneral disease was morally, ethically and religiously a very hard thing for him to accept,' the psychiatrist said. 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. He settled in New Jersey and took a job at a local bank. Authorities said that he had been living a quiet life--active in his church, puttering in his yard on weekends--and that he had no problems with the law while a fugitive. 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. When they met, she led a simple life working as an Army PX clerk. 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. It turned out that List had changed his identity and moved to Colorado under the assumed name Robert Clark. A federal appeals court rejected both arguments. He married Helen and raised three children with her, while working as an accountant in many places, such as New York and New Jersey. Edward Saresky told the jury Thursday that he heard Helen List taunting her husband by telling him that if he was 'half the man her first husband was the family wouldn't have the troubles they were having. Moreover, his wife was a heavy drinker and she had also contracted Syphilis from her first marriage. He gave him a ride home, then shot him in the chest. List saw the children off to school and then shot her in the kitchen as she sipped her customary morning coffee. She met Steinbeck in late 1938 or early 1939, when she was just 22. Delores Clark, asking reporters to respect my right to my personal privacy during this very dramatic and uncertain time, issued a statement that was copyrighted Friday by the Richmond News Leader. "So eventually I got to the point where I felt that I could kill them. Login Associated With. He was the only child born to German-Americans John Frederick List and Alma Maria Barbara Florence List. . He is a quiet yet friendly man who loves his work and the people he works with.. John Sr. drove to the field and watched him play, then gave him a ride home. The trail went cold. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. He then walked up to the third floor and shot his 85-year-old mother, Alma. 2023. But his defence was rejected and he was imprisoned at the New Jersey State Prison. John List Sr., husband, father, son, accountant, devout Lutheran, had announced that they were going on a family trip, had stopped the paper and milk deliveries and then killed his family. 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. The tipster said her neighbor was also an accountant and attended church. Assistant Prosecutor Eleanor Clark strongly protested telling the jury of Helen List's syphilis during bitter legal arguments over several days. He told her she went through a slow, agonizing death, the friend said. 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. 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. Jurors deliberated for about . Those who knew List, including in his second life: Kathleen "Kay" Ciarfello, Randy Mitchell, Les Wingfield, the Rev. John was a strict Lutheran and hence, when he came to know about Helens pregnancy, he right away proposed to her for marriage. Later, John took a lucrative job at Xerox and moved to New York and lived there with his family for a few years. 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. [15][16], In 1971, as the FBI later discovered, List had traveled by train from New Jersey to Michigan and then to Colorado. Over the years, the John List murders have been featured in films such as Judgment Day: The John List Story and The Stepfather. Eventually, he took a decently paying job with a paper company at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and settled there with his family. List had a masters degree in accounting, but lacked social skills and had a history of losing jobs. Just as the kids entered from the main door, he shot both of them in the heads as well. He was caught after the television show "America's Most Wanted" air a segment on the murders. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Delores Miller Clark lived a simple life in Denver before she met and married John List, who then went by the name Robert Peter Bob Clark.