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. 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. John List - Wikipedia Westfield police did not discover the bodies until nearly a month later. ", Woman wins $100,000 lottery prize 11 hours after $11,000 casino jackpot. John Emil List, 63, was profiled on the TV program Americas Most Wanted May 21. "It was my belief that if you kill yourself, you won't go to heaven," he said. 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. He murdered his mother, wife and three children in November 1971, due to financial distress and other issues within the family, and fled. He turned on the lights and the radio, leaving religious hymns playing in the houses empty rooms. This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. 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 waited for Helen to come down for her morning coffee. [15][16], In 1971, as the FBI later discovered, List had traveled by train from New Jersey to Michigan and then to Colorado. John List Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements "I've regretted my action and prayed for forgiveness ever since. On November 9, 1971, John List put his plan into action. This article is about the murderer. Authorities walk John List to a plane in Richmond,. "I approached all of them from behind so they wouldn't realize till the last minute what I was going to do to them," he said. Upstairs, the body of List's 84-year-old mother Alma was found. 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. John and Helen had three daughters when he worked as an audit supervisor at a paper company in Kalamazoo. He was apprehended 18 years later in 1989 and was sentenced to five terms of life sentence. The research in this book is outstanding, and Sharkey clearly put a great deal of time and effort into it. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. When they met, she led a simple life working as an Army PX clerk. 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. Delores and John moved to a house around Brandermill, Midlothian, Virginia, where her husband worked as an accountant at an accounting firm. John List's confession to his 2nd wife revealed in new episode of 'Father Wants Us Dead' podcast Published: Jun. Episodes, photos and other information are also available at fatherwantsusdead.com. New Jersey prosecutors had come up with a plan. Wikimedia CommonsJohn List with his wife and three children. 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. After light bulbs began burning out one by one, they called the police. Afterwards, he dragged his wifes body to the ballroom and made himself lunch and ate it. Help us build our profile of John List (murderer) and Delores Miller (wife)! He had planned the murders so meticulously that even after many years of the incident, the police and FBI found no trace of John. 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. America's Most Wanted: The Disturbing Case of John List 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. Then he sat down and ate lunch at the same table where he had shot his wife hours before. Then he sat down and wrote a confession letter to his pastor explaining his financial problems. WhenAmericas Most Wantedaired the story of the John List murders on May 21, 1989, an audience of 22 million saw Frank Benders sculpture. "I wish I had never done what I did," he told Connie Chung in 2002. 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. [11], Westfield, where few violent crimes had been recorded since 1963, received national attention as the site of one of the most notorious felonies in New Jersey since the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby. Serial killer who murdered entire family hid in plain sight for years [5] By 1959, List had risen to general supervisor of the company's accounting department; but Helen, an alcoholic, had become increasingly unstable. [16] In reporting his death, the New Jersey Star-Ledger referred to him as "The Boogeyman of Westfield. [1] She was the second wife and widow of businessman John Jacob Astor IV . . 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. List's home, a. Aside from a few extra wrinkles, the bust was spot on. He later moved to California, and then Detroit, where he worked as an accountant in a local firm. The inconspicuous accountant was arrested without incident Thursday at work. [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. 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]. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. He later took a job as the vice president at a bank in New Jersey, where the family finally got settled. The neighbors tipped the police after a month of not seeing anyone entering or leaving the house. "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.". Realizing he was overhearing an important conversation between List and his second wife, the young officer took notes and later related what he heard to investigators from New . [16], List eventually expressed a degree of remorse for his crimes. He settled in New Jersey and took a job at a local bank. Just as the kids entered from the main door, he shot both of them in the heads as well. The army discharged him in 1946, after which he joined the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. 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. '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 family were devout Lutherans. Minnesota officer removes jar from raccoon's head. John Emil List, a.k.a. Subsequent jobs didnt pan out. Gallery - Father Wants Us Dead: A True Crime Podcast From NJ Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. [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. She was born 25th October 1916. Authorities walk John List to a plane in Richmond, Virginia in 1989 before transporting him to New Jersey to stand trial.Steve Helber/AP. Joseph Vought, Ludwig "Lou" Silbermann, Jerome Kendall, George Corbett,. [12] Neighbors noticed that all of the mansion's rooms were illuminated day and night, with no apparent activity within the house. 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. John and Helen married on December 1, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland, the family moving to northern California. 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU_2xrMKO8g. [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 also claimed to be suffering from PTSD. 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. [44], In 2022, NJ Advance Media released "Father Wants Us Dead," a podcast serial on the events.[45]. He had been fired from all his jobs due to his cold demeanor and his inability to be social with his co-workers. Although it is a work of fiction, much of the character John Graff was borrowed from the story of the John List murders. John List laid the bodies of his family members on top of sleeping bags in the ballroom, then composed a note to his pastor, who he felt would understand. Where Is John List Now? 'The Watcher' John Graff True Story, Real 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. . YouTubeThe note John List wrote excusing his children from school. An aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. 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. 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. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. John Emil List was born in Bay City, Michigan, on September 17, 1925, to John Frederick and Alma Marie List. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. John Emil List, 63, was profiled on the TV program "America's Most Wanted" May 21. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. "The body is still at the Mercer County Medical Examiner's Office," said county spokesman Pete Daly. Daly said that if no one comes forward, the remains would eventually be returned to the state Department of Corrections, which has had custody of List since his conviction in 1990. It was a masterful depiction of John List. 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. 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. John was a strict Lutheran and hence, when he came to know about Helens pregnancy, he right away proposed to her for marriage. He killed them to save their souls so they would go to heaven. He joined a local Lutheran church and, in 1985, married a widow named Delores Clark, with whom he moved to Richmond, Va. Attempts to reach List's former wife, Delores, whom he married in Denver while a fugitive and later moved with to Richmond, Va., where he was apprehended, have been unsuccessful. Delores and John divorced in 1989, probably following his arrest on 1 June. He then called his childrens school to grant them leave to visit their grandmother in South Carolina. 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. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. 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. John was arrested and extradited to New Jersey. [11], Breeze Knoll remained empty until it was destroyed by fire in August 1972, nine months after the murders. Alex Murdaugh trial updates: John Marvin faults SLED, doesn't believe 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. But he fled to Colorado, assumed a new name and remarried, managing to elude a nationwide manhunt for 18 years. [32][34] Welfare was an unacceptable option, he reasoned, because it would expose him and his family to ridicule and violate his authoritarian father's teachings regarding the care and protection of family members. "I was perspiring like anything," he remembers, but said his wife did not seem to have recognized him. The Stepfather is Based on the True Story of John List - Wicked Horror He is most remembered for Murdered his entire family in 1971. 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. He placed the bodies of his wife and . He had saved the souls of the people he loved. Salary in 2021. I ask all affected by this for their forgiveness, understanding and prayer. But then his life began to crumble. Delores Miller (wife) is an American Homemaker. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. The Rev. 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. 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. John List appeared to be the perfect son, husband, and father. Joe Sharkey's DEATH SENTENCE is an account of the life of John Emil List who, in a case that was well known in the 70s, killed his mother, his wife, and their 3 children. In a three-sentence statement to the court, he said he was sorry for "the tragedy that happened in 1971." John Sr. drove over to his school and watched him playing in a soccer game. He said they were going to North Carolina to visit an ailing relative. Oct 9, 2018. Once inside the kitchen, John Sr. shot him in the back of the head. A new house was built on the site in 1974. 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. Details of Delores life before she married John List are unavailable. He worked hard as an accountant at a nearby bank to provide for his family. Spouse/Ex-: Delores Miller Clark (m. 19851989), Helen List (m. 19511971), children: Frederick List, John, Jr. Jury in List family-killing trial told of wife's syphilis - UPI He murdered his mother, wife and three children in November 1971, due to financial distress and other issues within the family, and fled. Then, read the chilling story of John Wayne Gacy, the original killer clown. Finally, with the prospect of foreclosure threatening to expose his financial failure, List made his terrible decision to kill his family but not himself. 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. John was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder and five terms of life imprisonment. Judge William L'E. Delores Miller (wife) and John List are divorced. He defended himself saying that he was not mentally stable. The list of retirees in the second half of 2022 isn't very long, but the years of service add up into the hundreds. March 3 (UPI) -- A sheep spotted wandering loose on a British highway was given a lift back to its owner by a concerned bus driver on her first day on the job. [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.