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). Fast forward 18 years to 1989. John packed off his children to school and loaded both of his handguns. Kentucky man stops for breakfast, wins $50,000 lottery prize. 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. They got married in December 1951. The devout Lutherans attended church every Sunday, and List taught Sunday school. But unlike the other members of the List family who dropped instantly, John Jr. struggled. [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 an interview with Connie Chung in 2002, List said he didnt kill himself after killing his own family because he felt that would prevent him from getting to heaven. Authorities walk John List to a plane in Richmond, Virginia in 1989 before transporting him to New Jersey to stand trial.Steve Helber/AP. He lost the bank job, and a succession of subsequent jobs. 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. Helen List apparently was infected with the disease by her first husband, a soldier who was killed in Korea. John Emil List, 63, was profiled on the TV program "America's Most Wanted" May 21. If no one claims List's body, Fedekenheuer said, "we call the local funeral director, and that person will have the body cremated. Jurors deliberated for about . He placed the bodies of his wife and . He was too shy and seemed disinterested in talking to even his superiors. John List was a devout Lutheran who lived with his wife, mother and three children. Elijah Miller has presented testimony from witnesses, including a Lutheran pastor who knew the Lists in the early 1960s in Rochester, N.Y., to describe the troubled family. They attended church each week with List's mother, a strict Lutheran who lived with them. If things had gone on who knows if that would be the case," he wrote. [41] A 2003 episode of the A&E series American Justice also detailed the case and featured an interview with List. At sixty-four, John's father was twenty-six years older than Alma, whom he had married one year earlier, after his first wife died of cancer. 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. John enlisted in the United States Army in 1943 and was a laboratory technician during World War II. This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. After light bulbs began burning out one by one, they called the police. The 14th and final defense witness was the defendant's brother John . "I've regretted my action and prayed for forgiveness ever since. Later, John took a lucrative job at Xerox and moved to New York and lived there with his family for a few years. [1] She was the second wife and widow of businessman John Jacob Astor IV . Police investigated hundreds of leads without success. news, He also thought his children were steering off the godly course as his son wanted to be an actor. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. Of the more than 200 tips from viewers that the FBI received from the program, one said a man resembling List lived at a Midlothian address under the name Robert Clark, FBI Agent Tom ODonnell said. Over the years, the John List murders have been featured in films such as Judgment Day: The John List Story and The Stepfather. 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. 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. The mass murderer was an active member of his local Lutheran church and married his second wife Delores in 1985. 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. $1 Million - $5 Million. Gwyn Conger Steinbeck was the second wife of John Steinbeck, master story-teller and Nobel Prize winner. 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. He was sentenced to five consecutive life prison terms. 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. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. YouTubeThe bust created of John List, right, next to the real John List, left. The FBI found his car parked at Kennedy International Airport in New York City, but they never found him. "It's just like D-Day, you go in, there's no stopping after you start," he said. Read on to discover more details. John List is a revolutionary experimenter whose unique methods and ideas have changed how the field of economics functions. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. 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. [35] At his sentencing hearing, he denied direct responsibility for his actions: "I feel that because of my mental state at the time, I was unaccountable for what happened. He had planned the murders so meticulously that even after many years of the incident, the police and FBI found no trace of John. But then his life began to crumble. She met Steinbeck in late 1938 or early 1939, when she was just 22. Then he sat down and ate lunch at the same table where he had shot his wife hours before. 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 car was found parked at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City, but police found no evidence that List had boarded a flight. "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. ", 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. 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. 07, 2022, 8:00 a.m. Help keep John List (murderer) and Delores Miller (wife) profile up to date. "[36] The judge was unpersuaded: "John Emil List is without remorse and without honor," he said. 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. John List and his family were the definition of the American Dream in 1965; they seemed to have it all. "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.". John List - History, Crime. The trail went cold. All five victims had been shot. 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. 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. They separated in 1973 and he moved . He first shot his wife, then his mother, waited for his children to get home, and murdered them. In February 1988, the couple moved to a house in the Brandermill neighborhood of Midlothian, Virginia, where List, still using the name Bob Clark, resumed work as an accountant at a small accounting firm, Maddrea, Joyner, Kirkham & Woody. 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. He is a quiet yet friendly man who loves his work and the people he works with.. He was arrested in 1989 after a former neighbor recognized him from a profile on the syndicated TV show America's Most Wanted. His middle son, John Jr. who was also his favorite suffered the most brutal death. 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. The neighbors tipped the police after a month of not seeing anyone entering or leaving the house. 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. Soon after his high school graduation, he joined the United States Army during the Second World War, where he worked as a laboratory technician. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. At one religious gathering, he met an Army PX clerk named Delores Miller and married her in 1985. 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. List is charged with shooting his mother, wife and three children in their Westfield, N.J. home, and authorities said he left a five-page note detailing the crime. 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. Then he went downstairs, dragged his wife's body into the ballroom and began scrubbing up the blood so the children would not realize what was going on when they got back from school. John List (murderer) and Delores Miller (wife) - Dating, Gossip, News, Photos list. [13] List also stopped milk, mail, and newspaper deliveries. After driving John Frederick home, List shot him repeatedly because, as misfire evidence showed, his son attempted to defend himself. In November 1971, the mass murderer and long-time fugitive killed his wife, mother, and three children at their home in Westfield, New Jersey. He imposed a sentence of five terms of life imprisonment, to be served consecutively, the maximum permissible penalty at the time. List diverted money from his mother's bank accounts to avoid default on his mortgage. Delores Miller (wife) and John List are divorced. He married his second wife Delores in 1985. All rights reserved (About Us). The family were devout Lutherans. '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. "The Boogeyman of Westfield", was an American family annihilator and mass murderer who killed five members of his family on November 9, 1971, in Westfield, New Jersey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU_2xrMKO8g. 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. List had a masters degree in accounting, but lacked social skills and had a history of losing jobs. and more from FamousFix.com. Net Worth in 2021. An aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. Then, he went up to the third floor and murdered his mother in her bed. 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. 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. 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 born as the only child in the highly religious German-American household. However, he was a loner who was not socially active and had very few friends in school and his locality. He took a new identity and also joined a Lutheran church, where he met his second wife, Delores Miller. Net Worth in 2022. He killed them to save their souls so they would go to heaven. The arrest followed Foxs Americas Most Wanted, featuring a sculpted clay bust of Johns age-progressed face. 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). He settled in New Jersey and took a job at a local bank. Once inside the kitchen, John Sr. shot him in the back of the head. 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.". 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. Simring said List showed "no evidence of anything that approached genuine remorse," adding, "He's a cold, cold man.". A new house was built on the site in 1974. When they entered the house, music was still playing on the intercom, but List was long gone. [12] Alma's body was flown to Frankenmuth, Michigan, and interred at the Saint Lorenz Lutheran Cemetery. John List passed away on March 21, 2008, after suffering from pneumonia. [3], In November 1950, as the Korean War escalated, List was recalled to active military service. Unlike the others, John didn't go quietly, his body jerking as List emptied both the 9 millimeter and the .22 into his son. Helen had turned into an alcoholic, which caused them to engage in a lot of fights. 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. [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. Robbins is one of Pitt-Bradford's . The neighbours called the police when Johns daughter Patricias dancing teacher came home to see why Patricia was not coming to the classes. 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. Upstairs, the body of List's 84-year-old mother Alma was found. A South Carolina jury has found once-prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh guilty on all counts in the deaths of his wife and son. 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. John Sr. shot him nine more times before dragging him into the ballroom with the rest of his family. He watched John Jr. play soccer at school, then drove him home and killed him, too. Want more true crime? "[21][22] List was questioned by FBI investigators after his capture, but he denied any involvement in the Cooper case. [16] In reporting his death, the New Jersey Star-Ledger referred to him as "The Boogeyman of Westfield. Login In 1989, America's Most Wanted featured List and a forensic sculptor's impression of how he would look then, 18 years after the murders. The note John List wrote excusing his children from school. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. He went upstairs and shot his 84-year-old mother. A nationwide manhunt was launched. 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. He then shot both his wife and mother in their heads. John and Helen married on December 1, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland, the family moving to northern California. He has also appeared on television shows such as Your Worst Nightmare and American Justice. One friend, unidentified by the newspaper, said that List had told Delores Clark he had been married before to an alcoholic who died of cancer. Interview statement on List's confession to his second wife. Police in Virginia arrested mass murderer John List on June 1, 1989, a mere nine days after Americas Most Wanted aired his case. Then, read the chilling story of John Wayne Gacy, the original killer clown. But what led Delores husband to commit such a chilling crime? The list of retirees in the second half of 2022 isn't very long, but the years of service add up into the hundreds. 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. This is either the most unbelievable mix-up or . The video above will play a live video stream of the Monday, Feb. 27 proceedings in the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial or a replay upon completion. A manhunt for John was declared, but it was not until 18 years that he was arrested.
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