This article is about the murderer. List had a masters degree in accounting, but lacked social skills and had a history of losing jobs. Helen was first. Delores Clark said that she was making her statement reluctantly and that she would have no further comment. 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. 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. 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 was not, however, willing to suffer the earthly consequences of his actions. John List was a devoutly religious man, and provided for his family in the town of Westfield, New Jerseywhere they lived in a 19-room mansion called Breeze Knoll. By 1971, he was still leaving for work every morning, but unknown to his family he was unemployed and unable to pay the bills. He simply exploded.'. [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. He had planned the murders so meticulously that even after many years of the incident, the police and FBI found no trace of John. Eventually, he took a decently paying job with a paper company at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and settled there with his family. Of the more than 200 tips from viewers that the FBI received from the program, one said a man resembling. 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. Her story put an end to the 18-year-long mystery. I ask all affected by this for their forgiveness, understanding and prayer. They had an expert forensic artist, Frank Bender, create a physical bust of John List as Bender imagined he might have aged. John List was an American mass murderer, who became infamous in the 1970s for killing his mother, wife and three children. John List's confession to his 2nd wife revealed in new episode of 'Father Wants Us Dead' podcast Published: Jun. "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. news, On November 9, 1971, John List shot his wife, his mother, and his three children. It was a masterful depiction of John 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. 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. List, who grew up in a strict Lutheran community in Bay City, Mich., was 'immersed in his religion,' he said. They did not have any children together. 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 married Helen and raised three children with her, while working as an accountant in many places, such as New York and New Jersey. In November 1971, the mass murderer and long-time fugitive killed his wife, mother, and three children at their home in Westfield, New Jersey. When authorities entered the Westfield, New Jersey house on December 7, 1971, they heard organ music piped through the intercom system. He also thought his children were steering off the godly course as his son wanted to be an actor. He imposed a sentence of five terms of life imprisonment, to be served consecutively, the maximum permissible penalty at the time. [17] From 1979 to 1986, he was the comptroller at a paper box manufacturer outside Denver. 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. 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. First Patty, 16. However, he was a loner who was not socially active and had very few friends in school and his locality. 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 met his first wife, Helen Morris Taylor, whose husband had been killed in action in Korea. He took a new identity and also joined a Lutheran church, where he met his second wife, Delores Miller. List and his family were the embodiment of the American dream in 1965. 07, 2022, 8:00 a.m. 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). They got married in December 1951. '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. When they met, she led a simple life working as an Army PX clerk. Reporters Rebecca Everett and Jessica Remo explore the impact of the capture, meeting people in Virginia who saw List unmasked and tracking down Lists second wife one side of the infamous story thats never been told. [14] All reliable photographs of List had been destroyed. [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. 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. 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. His father was a devout Lutheran who also taught at a local Sunday School in Bay City. [1] She was the second wife and widow of businessman John Jacob Astor IV . She was born 25th October 1916. Police in Virginia arrested mass murderer John List on June 1, 1989, a mere nine days after Americas Most Wanted aired his case. 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. He was arrested in 1989 after a former neighbor recognized him from a profile on the syndicated TV show America's Most Wanted. He met his first wife, Helen Morris Taylor, whose husband had been killed in action in Korea. When his daughter and youngest son came home, he shot them in the back of the head. I thought I was being real clever," he said. Police investigated hundreds of leads without success. Like his father, List was a devout Lutheran and a Sunday school teacher. John List is a revolutionary experimenter whose unique methods and ideas have changed how the field of economics functions. In a five-page letter to his pastor, found on the desk in his study, List claimed that he saw too much evil in the world, and he had killed his family to save their souls. Jurors deliberated for about . His middle son, John Jr. who was also his favorite suffered the most brutal death. 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. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Florida woman runs ultra-marathon distances for 23 consecutive days. [16], List died of complications from pneumonia aged 82 on March 21, 2008, while imprisoned at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey. 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. Authorities went to Clarks home and spoke to his wife, whom he met at a church social gathering. John List was born on September 17, 1925 in Bay City, Michigan, USA. He was caught after the television show "America's Most Wanted" air a segment on the murders. 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. "[37] When asked why he had not taken his own life, he said he believed that suicide would have prevented him from going to heaven, where he hoped to be reunited with his family. An aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. He worked hard as an accountant at a nearby bank to provide for his family. And it came from a family member of all people. Austin Goodrich, an ABCNEWS consultant who is writing a book with John List, contributed material for this report. They attended church each week with List's mother, a strict Lutheran who lived with them. The Lists might have appeared to be the ideal American family, but everything was not as it seemed. Bank Vice President and Sunday School Teacher. "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 believed that killing them would assure their souls a place in Heaven, where he hoped to eventually join them. He placed the bodies of his wife and . Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. photos, His father died in 1944. Firefighters hoist horse stranded in backyard swimming pool. There, he eventually became director of accounting services. He then cleaned the crime scenes, removed his pictures from all family photographs, turned the lights and the radio on, and departed. Soon after his high school graduation, he joined the United States Army during the Second World War, where he worked as a laboratory technician. Over the years, the John List murders have been featured in films such as Judgment Day: The John List Story and The Stepfather. The inconspicuous accountant was arrested without incident Thursday at work. He then walked up to the third floor and shot his 85-year-old mother, Alma. The family later moved to Rochester, New York, to work with Xerox. "There has been no communication from any family member of John List. 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. 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. He became increasingly depressed. . List saw the children off to school and then shot her in the kitchen as she sipped her customary morning coffee. Read on to discover more details. [23][16] The segment featured an age-progressed clay bust, sculpted by forensic artist Frank Bender, which turned out to bear a close resemblance to List's actual appearance. He joined a local Lutheran church and, in 1985, married a widow named Delores Clark, with whom he moved to Richmond, Va. Just as the kids entered from the main door, he shot both of them in the heads as well. John List with his wife and three children. 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, The Mass Murderer Who Killed His Family So Hed See Them In Heaven. [44], In 2022, NJ Advance Media released "Father Wants Us Dead," a podcast serial on the events.[45]. She had a young daughter from her previous marriage. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. 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. The mansion in New Jersey where John List lived with his family burned down several months after the murders. Once inside the kitchen, John Sr. shot him in the back of the head. Helen List apparently was infected with the disease by her first husband, a soldier who was killed in Korea. The memory of the murders still haunts Westfield residents. 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. [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. John List (murderer) and Delores Miller (wife) - Dating, Gossip, News, Photos list. List diverted money from his mother's bank accounts to avoid default on his mortgage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU_2xrMKO8g. After making the decision, List says, there was no turning back. . 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. 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. 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. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? The family were devout Lutherans. They were shot methodically one by one. He was too shy and seemed disinterested in talking to even his superiors. 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. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. . One night after dinner, he even asked his family what should be done with their bodies after they died. This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. 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. We have estimated John A. List's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets. They got him down in Virginia.. 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. John List appeared to be the perfect son, husband, and father. Human name disambiguation pages. John List passed away on March 21, 2008, after suffering from pneumonia. John and Helen married on December 1, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland, the family moving to northern California. 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 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. 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. John List was born John Emil List, on September 17, 1925, in Bay City, Michigan, to John Frederick List and Alma Barbara Florence List. 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. 'To find his wife having a veneral disease was morally, ethically and religiously a very hard thing for him to accept,' the psychiatrist said. "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. Aside from a few extra wrinkles, the bust was spot on. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. Several films and documentaries have been made to cover the details of the List murders. If no one claims List's body, Fedekenheuer said, "we call the local funeral director, and that person will have the body cremated. The two met at a Christian religious gathering. The department will use any money remaining in List's account at the prison to pay for all or part of the cremation and burial, according to state regulations. All rights reserved (About Us). When the police entered the house, on December 7th, the bodies had begun to decompose. He says he wanted to spare them the shame of losing their New Jersey mansion and to make sure they got to heaven. By then, progression of the disease combined with her excessive alcohol consumption had, according to testimony, "transformed her from an attractive young woman to an unkempt and paranoid recluse"[30][32] who frequently and often publicly humiliated List, comparing his sexual prowess unfavorably with that of her first husband. Salary in 2021. John confessed to committing the murders in February 1990. 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. At his trial in 1990, defense lawyers argued that List suffered from PTSD from his military service in World War II and Korea. He was sentenced to five consecutive life prison terms. [12], In May 1989, the 18-year-old crime was recounted on the Fox television program America's Most Wanted during its first year on the air. Under Review. She is famous for Second wife of murderer John list. 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. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. 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. 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. Then Frederick, 13. John List was a devout Lutheran who lived with his wife, mother and three children. Like her sister, Rosanne Cindy inherited her father's musical talent, and by the time she was 16 she was already performing on stage with Johnny and his second wife June Carter. 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. John was a strict Lutheran and hence, when he came to know about Helens pregnancy, he right away proposed to her for marriage. [15][16], In 1971, as the FBI later discovered, List had traveled by train from New Jersey to Michigan and then to Colorado. [41] A 2003 episode of the A&E series American Justice also detailed the case and featured an interview with List. 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. John Sr. drove over to his school and watched him playing in a soccer game. 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. YouTubeAn aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. Subsequent jobs didnt pan out. YouTubeThe List house burned down several months after the List family bodies were discovered there. At one religious gathering, he met an Army PX clerk named Delores Miller and married her in 1985. He was the only child born to German-Americans John Frederick List and Alma Maria Barbara Florence List. Then List waited downstairs to kill his children, one by one, as they came home. Want more true crime? Bender gave him a hawk nose, grizzled eyebrows, and horn-rimmed glasses. He says today he felt he was letting the family down. This is either the most unbelievable mix-up or . List, who says he remains deeply religious today, acknowledges that his crimes violated one of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not kill.". Later, John took a lucrative job at Xerox and moved to New York and lived there with his family for a few years. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Helen List lied to her doctors during several hospitalizations, Liss said. 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. March 3 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts library said a book was recently returned with a note apologizing for the tome being 56 years overdue. John was convicted of five counts of first degree murder in April 1990 and was imprisoned with five terms of consecutive life imprisonment. 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. He worked hard as an accountant at a nearby bank to provide for his family. In a second attempt at love, he was lucky enough to find a business and life partner in Allain, a producer and hairstylist. The arrest followed Foxs Americas Most Wanted, featuring a sculpted clay bust of Johns age-progressed face. The trail went cold. A former Denver neighbor alerted the police, who made the arrest later. It took Johns fingerprints to match with the military records to convince the authorities that he was John List. He told her she went through a slow, agonizing death, the friend said. She met Steinbeck in late 1938 or early 1939, when she was just 22. After the June 7, 2021, killings of Maggie . He made himself a sandwich, closed out his bank accounts, and cheered for his only surviving son, John, at his high school soccer game. Psychologists theorized that List would wear the same spectacles he wore as a younger man to remind him of more successful days. 'He faced limited options and like a small rubber band, he snapped. It turned out that List had changed his identity and moved to Colorado under the assumed name Robert Clark. After driving John Frederick home, List shot him repeatedly because, as misfire evidence showed, his son attempted to defend himself. His sixteen years old daughter and 13 years old son returned from the school at noon. John List was on the run when they met in 1985 after having murdered his family members about 14 years before. Login He later moved to California, and then Detroit, where he worked as an accountant in a local firm. "I was perspiring like anything," he remembers, but said his wife did not seem to have recognized him. 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. 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. March 3 (UPI) -- Firefighters in Britain responded to a home to rescue a horse that had fallen into its owner's swimming pool and was unable to get itself out. Im convinced hes just pulling my chain, Gluck recalled. The alias worked, and he kept it when he moved to Richmond. The neighbors tipped the police after a month of not seeing anyone entering or leaving the house. 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. They attended church every Sunday as devout Lutherans and List taught Sunday school. List methodically murdered his wife Helen, his mother Alma, and their three childrenPatricia, 16; Frederick, 13; and John Jr., 15. John Emil List was born in Bay City, Michigan, on September 17, 1925, to John Frederick and Alma Marie List. Delores and John moved to a house around Brandermill, Midlothian, Virginia, where her husband worked as an accountant at an accounting firm. ', Suspected burglar inside New Brunswick home was a panicked deer. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Net Worth in 2022. He lost the bank job, and a succession of subsequent jobs. John List - History, Crime. [16] In reporting his death, the New Jersey Star-Ledger referred to him as "The Boogeyman of Westfield. John List (murderer) (1925-2008), American mass murderer. John enlisted in the United States Army in 1943 and was a laboratory technician during World War II. In 1950, John List was recalled to active military service. He killed them to save their souls so they would go to heaven. John List may refer to: John A. The mass murderer was an active member of his local Lutheran church and married his second wife Delores in 1985. 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. [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. 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. Helen had turned into an alcoholic, which caused them to engage in a lot of fights. John and Helen had three daughters when he worked as an audit supervisor at a paper company in Kalamazoo. 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. With his first wife, John Frederick had had a son, William George, who happened to be the same . Also in 2022, Netflix released a seven-part dramatic fictional miniseries called The Watcher. Then he sat down and wrote a confession letter to his pastor explaining his financial problems. 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. 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