Wikimedia CommonsJohn List with his wife and three children. Read on to discover more details. 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. Following the end of the war, he resumed his studies and enrolled into the University of Michigan, from where he completed his bachelors degree in business administration. After making the decision, List says, there was no turning back. The episode, "Murder House", premiered on November 18, 2015. [15][16], In 1971, as the FBI later discovered, List had traveled by train from New Jersey to Michigan and then to Colorado. The morning of November 7, 1971 began in a usual fashion. [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. [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. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Authorities walk John List to a plane in Richmond,. He believed that it was his failure as a man to be unable to provide for his family. Delores Miller (wife) is an American Homemaker. [42] In 2015, the story was covered in the season 2, episode 2 of the Investigation Discovery TV series Your Worst Nightmare. He spent his days at the train station reading, napping, and wondering how to get his family out of their financial mess. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. 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. But back in Denver, his former neighbors did recognize him, and called police. Then List waited downstairs to kill his children, one by one, as they came home. 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. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. 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. Also in 2022, Netflix released a seven-part dramatic fictional miniseries called The Watcher. Financial troubles combined with his discontentment with his family over many issues caused severe depression to John, who then decided to take a drastic step to end everything once and for all. He says he wanted to spare them the shame of losing their New Jersey mansion and to make sure they got to heaven. 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. 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. John packed off his children to school and loaded both of his handguns. List left a confession letter at the scene, so police had little doubt as to who was responsible for the killings. Kentucky man stops for breakfast, wins $50,000 lottery prize. The first seven episodes of Father Wants Us Dead are available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can subscribe on those platforms to be alerted when new episodes drop every Tuesday through June 21. I thought I was being real clever," he said. ', 'List was being bombarded by stresses,' the doctor added. He grew up as an only child with strict German parents, he had an overly protective and domineering mother (sort of like Norman Bates). List diverted money from his mother's bank accounts to avoid default on his mortgage. Authorities walk John List to a plane in Richmond, Virginia in 1989 before transporting him to New Jersey to stand trial.Steve Helber/AP. Officers entered through an unlocked window leading to the basement and discovered the family's bodies. 'He faced limited options and like a small rubber band, he snapped. [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. 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. Details of Delores life before she married John List are unavailable. Net Worth in 2021. He waited for Helen to come down for her morning coffee. An aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. [12] Neighbors noticed that all of the mansion's rooms were illuminated day and night, with no apparent activity within the house. 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. List, who grew up in a strict Lutheran community in Bay City, Mich., was 'immersed in his religion,' he said. YouTubeThe note John List wrote excusing his children from school. Minnesota officer removes jar from raccoon's head. 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. The family later moved to Rochester, New York, to work with Xerox. [24][25] On June 1, less than two weeks after the broadcast, List was arrested at a Richmond accounting firm after a Denver neighbor recognized the description and alerted authorities. 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. When they entered the house, music was still playing on the intercom, but List was long gone. John List is a revolutionary experimenter whose unique methods and ideas have changed how the field of economics functions. After the June 7, 2021, killings of Maggie . On November 9, 1971, John List put his plan into action. He believed that killing them would assure their souls a place in Heaven, where he hoped to eventually join them. However, he was not ready to disclose his incompetency to his family yet and hence, he left the house every morning, sat on the railway station and read books and newspapers all day. List, who says he remains deeply religious today, acknowledges that his crimes violated one of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not kill.". 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. The tipster said her neighbor was also an accountant and attended church. "After 18 years, five months and 22 days, it is now time for the voices of Helen, Alma, Patricia, Frederick and John F. List to rise from the grave." He murdered his mother, wife and three children at their home in Westfield, New Jersey on November 9, 1971. He became increasingly depressed. List died in prison in 2008 at the age of 82. With his first wife, John Frederick had had a son, William George, who happened to be the same . 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. Human name disambiguation pages. If things had gone on who knows if that would be the case," he wrote. He then called his childrens school to grant them leave to visit their grandmother in South Carolina. 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. On April 12, 1990 he was found guilty on five . Joshua Boucher/The State via AP, Pool. "It's just like D-Day, you go in, there's no stopping after you start," he said. List's death ended a sordid chapter in Westfield's history. It took Johns fingerprints to match with the military records to convince the authorities that he was John List. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 7-year-old baseball umpire seeks Guinness World Record. He was apprehended 18 years later in 1989 and was sentenced to five terms of life sentence. Helen was first. lists 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. 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 List's confession to his 2nd wife revealed in new episode of 'Father Wants Us Dead' podcast Published: Jun. Liss testified after a judgeruled that information on Helen List's medical condition could be given to the jury that must decide whether List is guilty of murder. Help us build our profile of John List (murderer) and Delores Miller (wife)! Judge William L'E. 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. Just as the kids entered from the main door, he shot both of them in the heads as well. 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. List had a masters degree in accounting, but lacked social skills and had a history of losing jobs. 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. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. John Sr. drove over to his school and watched him playing in a soccer game. 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. He first shot his wife, then his mother, waited for his children to get home, and murdered them. "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.". List assumed a new identity, remarried, and eluded justice for nearly 18 years. 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 family did not have a lot of visitors and it took the neighbours 29 days to notice that something was off in the house. The unlikely story of his capture, the tip that led to it and the wild coincidences Gluck encountered as he followed the story are told in the latest episode of Father Wants Us Dead, an investigative true crime podcast about the List killings from NJ Advance Media.
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