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The FBI found his car parked at Kennedy International Airport in New York City, but they never found him. On November 9, 1971, John Emil List murdered his mother, his wife, and their three children at their Westfield, New Jersey home using his 9mm Steyr 1912 semi-automatic handgun and his. Aside from a few extra wrinkles, the bust was spot on. She is famous for Second wife of murderer John list. The 14th and final defense witness was the defendant's brother John . Jurors deliberated for about . Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Their faces were covered. 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. An aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. He took a new identity and also joined a Lutheran church, where he met his second wife, Delores Miller. 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. Firefighters hoist horse stranded in backyard swimming pool. 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. 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. 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. . Authorities went to Clarks home and spoke to his wife, whom he met at a church social gathering. John had first moved to Michigan, and then to Colorado, where he took an accounting job in Denver. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their . Flanery lived next door to John List, who was going by Robert Clark, and his second wife, Delores Clark, in Aurora, Colorado from 1985 to 1988. 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. He worked as an accountant, bringing a stable income back to his Victorian mansion; home to himself, his wife, three children and his mother. Police investigated hundreds of leads without success. The alias worked, and he kept it when he moved to Richmond. List saw the children off to school and then shot her in the kitchen as she sipped her customary morning coffee. If you take gaming seriously, you shouldn't accept anything less than the greatest. Then John, 15, after the boy put his bookbag down on a kitchen countertop. He was caught after the television show "America's Most Wanted" air a segment on the murders. A federal appeals court rejected both arguments. Pending. 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. '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. [42] In 2015, the story was covered in the season 2, episode 2 of the Investigation Discovery TV series Your Worst Nightmare. 2023. List diverted money from his mother's bank accounts to avoid default on his mortgage. 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. [32], On April 12, 1990, List was convicted of five counts of first degree murder. HOW HE MET HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE John Schneider and his wife, Alicia Allain, began their journey after his divorce from his first wife of twenty-one years. The Lists might have appeared to be the ideal American family, but everything was not as it seemed. He then walked up to the third floor and shot his 85-year-old mother, Alma. Then Frederick, 13. 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. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Helen List lied to her doctors during several hospitalizations, Liss said. [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. 'He faced limited options and like a small rubber band, he snapped. When his daughter and youngest son came home, he shot them 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.". "[38], Over the years, List and his crimes have furnished inspiration for documentaries, television dramas and feature films. Then, read the chilling story of John Wayne Gacy, the original killer clown. After extradition to New Jersey, he was convicted on five counts of first degree murder and sentenced to five consecutive terms of life imprisonment, making him ineligible for parole for nearly 75 years.[2]. John Sr. drove over to his school and watched him playing in a soccer game. He was apprehended 18 years later in 1989 and was sentenced to five terms of life sentence. 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. Helen's mother was in fact ill, and had canceled a visit to Westfield because of it; had she made the trip, List later said, she would have been his sixth victim. He did not mention his wife, his mother, or his children. They attended church every Sunday as devout Lutherans and List taught Sunday school. ', 'List was being bombarded by stresses,' the doctor added. According to trial testimony, Helen had pressured List into marriage by falsely claiming that she was pregnant, then insisted that they marry in Maryland, which did not require the premarital syphilis test mandated in most other states at the time. [33], A court-appointed psychiatrist testified that List suffered from obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, and that he saw only two solutions to his situation: accept welfare, or kill his family and send their souls to heaven. His sixteen years old daughter and 13 years old son returned from the school at noon. After the June 7, 2021, killings of Maggie . Officers entered through an unlocked window leading to the basement and discovered the family's bodies. John was a strict Lutheran and hence, when he came to know about Helens pregnancy, he right away proposed to her for marriage. British bus driver stops to give loose sheep a lift. Authorities walk John List to a plane in Richmond, Virginia in 1989 before transporting him to New Jersey to stand trial.Steve Helber/AP. I ask all affected by this for their forgiveness, understanding and prayer. "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 grew up as an only child with strict German parents, he had an overly protective and domineering mother (sort of like Norman Bates). March 3 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts library said a book was recently returned with a note apologizing for the tome being 56 years overdue. lists The Army, realizing List's accounting skills, reassigned him to the Finance Corps. She is famous for Second wife of murderer John list. John and Helen had three daughters when he worked as an audit supervisor at a paper company in Kalamazoo. 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. "[21][22] List was questioned by FBI investigators after his capture, but he denied any involvement in the Cooper case. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. [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. After learning about the murders committed by John List, check out the story of Dale Cregan, the one-eyed killer. Attorney David Baugh, who represented List in Virginia, offers support.AP Photo/Steve Helber. 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. 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. He also claimed to be suffering from PTSD. He later took a job as the vice president at a bank in New Jersey, where the family finally got settled. A former neighbor in Denver saw the episode and recognized List, who was then tracked to his new home in Virginia. Westfield police did not discover the bodies until nearly a month later. At his trial in 1990, defense lawyers argued that List suffered from PTSD from his military service in World War II and Korea. John List died in prison in 2008 at age 82. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. The News Leaders copyright story quoted his pastor, closest friend and neighbors as saying that the arrest was unbelievable and impossible.. But unlike the other members of the List family who dropped instantly, John Jr. struggled. Joshua Boucher/The State via AP, Pool. Helen List apparently was infected with the disease by her first husband, a soldier who was killed in Korea. [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. She had a young daughter from her previous marriage. 07, 2022, 8:00 a.m. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. 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. Delores kept a low profile after Johns arrest, and it is unclear what happened to her. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. List's death ended a sordid chapter in Westfield's history. She met Steinbeck in late 1938 or early 1939, when she was just 22. The devout Lutherans attended church every Sunday, and List taught Sunday school. [3], In November 1950, as the Korean War escalated, List was recalled to active military service. The New Jersey mansion he inhabited with his mother, wife, and three children had 19 rooms, including a ballroom, marble fireplaces, and a Tiffany skylight. 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. Delores Clark, right, tells reporters at a press conference on June 8, 1989 that she did not believe her husband was John List. Tips came pouring in. John List was an American mass murderer, who became infamous in the 1970s for killing his mother, wife and three children. Delores Miller (wife) is an American Homemaker. A month passed before neighbors, curious about the constantly burning lights and empty windows, began to suspect something was wrong at the List mansion. List left a confession letter at the scene, so police had little doubt as to who was responsible for the killings. 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 says he wanted to spare them the shame of losing their New Jersey mansion and to make sure they got to heaven. "I was perspiring like anything," he remembers, but said his wife did not seem to have recognized him. John Emil List was born in Michigan, in 1925, the only child of John and Alma List. John Emil List, 63, was profiled on the TV program "America's Most Wanted" May 21. "At least I'm certain that all have gone to heaven now. John List (murderer) and Delores Miller (wife), See [5] By 1959, List had risen to general supervisor of the company's accounting department; but Helen, an alcoholic, had become increasingly unstable. Wikimedia CommonsJohn List with his wife and three children. All rights reserved (About Us). He was sentenced to five consecutive life prison terms. ', Suspected burglar inside New Brunswick home was a panicked deer. Then he sat down and wrote a confession letter to his pastor explaining his financial problems. Overdue book returned to Massachusetts library after 56 years. In a three-sentence statement to the court, he said he was sorry for "the tragedy that happened in 1971." He was not, however, willing to suffer the earthly consequences of his actions. [11][12], List placed the bodies of his wife and children on sleeping bags in the mansion's ballroom. Delores and John moved to a house around Brandermill, Midlothian, Virginia, where her husband worked as an accountant at an accounting firm. She was born 25th October 1916. John Sr. drove to the field and watched him play, then gave him a ride home. 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. 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. John List - History, Crime. On November 9, 1971, John List put his plan into action. Details of Delores life before she married John List are unavailable. The memory of the murders still haunts Westfield residents. More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23. John Emil List, a.k.a. "I've regretted my action and prayed for forgiveness ever since. Oct 9, 2018. 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]. [31] Though her health progressively deteriorated, she said nothing to List or her physicians until 1969, when a thorough workup revealed the condition. . Over the years, the John List murders have been featured in films such as Judgment Day: The John List Story and The Stepfather. In 1950, John List was recalled to active military service. 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. Assistant Prosecutor Eleanor Clark strongly protested telling the jury of Helen List's syphilis during bitter legal arguments over several days. Afterwards, he dragged his wifes body to the ballroom and made himself lunch and ate it. 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. John List appeared to be the perfect son, husband, and father. [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. John packed off his children to school and loaded both of his handguns. videos, He said they were going to North Carolina to visit an ailing relative. 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. 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. Austin Goodrich, an ABCNEWS consultant who is writing a book with John List, contributed material for this report. Born In: Bay City, Michigan, United States. In 1971, John List lost his job at the bank at age 46. 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. 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. Early life [ edit] Katherine (left) and Madeleine Force. On 9 November 1971, John murdered his wife, mother, and three children by shooting them. [16], List died of complications from pneumonia aged 82 on March 21, 2008, while imprisoned at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey. List graduated from Bay City Central High School in 1943. The army discharged him in 1946, after which he joined the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. That same year, he enlisted in the United States Army and served as a laboratory technician during World War II. The Rev. Moreover, his wife was a heavy drinker and she had also contracted Syphilis from her first marriage. [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. John had a very normal childhood and he did not show any signs of psychological troubles. In addition, it will contact the Social Security Administration, Veteran's Administration and Public Welfare for any possible death benefits. They had an expert forensic artist, Frank Bender, create a physical bust of John List as Bender imagined he might have aged. He watched John Jr. play soccer at school, then drove him home and killed him, too. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. They did not have any children together. He murdered his mother, wife and three children at their home in Westfield, New Jersey on November 9, 1971. [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. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. 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. [30] As the year progressed, the family's financial problems became more strained; List encouraged his children to seek part-time work, ostensibly to teach them maturity and responsibility, but in actuality to help keep the family financially solvent. Helen had turned into an alcoholic, which caused them to engage in a lot of fights. Delores and John divorced in 1989, probably following his arrest on 1 June. Currently, the morgue is storing the body of "Thrill Killer" Richard Biegenwald, who died March 10 while serving a murder conviction for killing five victims - two teenage girls, two young women and one man - in Monmouth County from Oct. 31, 1981, to Nov. 20, 1982. Corrections spokeswoman Deirdre Fedkenheuer said the social services unit at New Jersey State Prison, where List was an inmate, will attempt to find the nearest relative to see if that person would claim the body. 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. 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. Associated With. All rights reserved (About Us). 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. 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. [1] She was the second wife and widow of businessman John Jacob Astor IV . He turned on the lights and the radio, leaving religious hymns playing in the houses empty rooms. He was 82 years old at the time of his demise. The new lovers wed on 1 December 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland. 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. But back in Denver, his former neighbors did recognize him, and called police. Fast forward 18 years to 1989. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. Gwyn Conger Steinbeck - Who was She? John Emil List was born in Bay City, Michigan, on September 17, 1925, to John Frederick and Alma Marie List. It took 18 years for John List to be arrested. This is either the most unbelievable mix-up or . John Emil List, 63, was profiled on the TV program Americas Most Wanted May 21. Of the more than 200 tips from viewers that the FBI received from the program, one said a man resembling. 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. 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. A new house was built on the site in 1974. He was previously married to Delores Miller and Helen List. After driving John Frederick home, List shot him repeatedly because, as misfire evidence showed, his son attempted to defend himself. 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. The jury finally found John List guilty and a judge sentenced him to five life terms in a New Jersey prison. Psychologists theorized that List would wear the same spectacles he wore as a younger man to remind him of more successful days. It turned out that List had changed his identity and moved to Colorado under the assumed name Robert Clark. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. [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. He met his first wife, Helen Morris Taylor, whose husband had been killed in action in Korea. YouTubeThe List house burned down several months after the List family bodies were discovered there. If things had gone on who knows if that would be the case," he wrote. He met his first wife, Helen Morris Taylor, whose husband had been killed in action in Korea. The inconspicuous accountant was arrested without incident Thursday at work. After light bulbs began burning out one by one, they called the police. He had drained his and his mothers bank accounts and fled, changing his identity. 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 gave him a ride home, then shot him in the chest. A seemingly admirable and usual American man, John List and his family lived happily in New Jersey. he is the biggest con man who ever walked the Earth, another unidentified friend told the paper. A South Carolina jury has found once-prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh guilty on all counts in the deaths of his wife and son. Want more true crime? Episodes, photos and other information are also available at fatherwantsusdead.com. [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. New Jersey prosecutors had come up with a plan. I was shocked to hear about Bobs arrest and what he is charged with, the statement said. He married his second wife Delores in 1985. He joined a local Lutheran church and, in 1985, married a widow named Delores Clark, with whom he moved to Richmond, Va. With his first wife, John Frederick had had a son, William George, who happened to be the same . John List appeared to be the perfect son, husband, and father. . He murdered his mother, wife and three children in November 1971, due to financial distress and other issues within the family, and fled. Human name disambiguation pages. He lined up the four bodies in the ballroom (he said his mother's body was too heavy to move), put music on the internal intercom, and cleaned up meticulously. 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 killed Patricia when she returned home from school, then the youngest son, Frederick. John Sr. shot him nine more times before dragging him into the ballroom with the rest of his family. "[36] The judge was unpersuaded: "John Emil List is without remorse and without honor," he said. John and Helen began dating and a few months later, Helen revealed to John that she had become pregnant. During that time, he was associated romantically with a number of celebrities, including a nine-year affair with actress Merle Oberon. Aside from a few extra wrinkles, the bust was spot on. Specifically: I am a member of St Lorenz Lutheran Church with access to burial records. He canceled all deliveries and contacted his childrens schools to let their teachers know the family would be on vacation for a few weeks. The episode aired on May 21, 1989 (Opens in a new tab), catching the eye of a neighbor who called the police and warned Clark's second wife, who seemed "stunned." (Opens in a new tab) List was . He simply exploded.'. Bender gave him a hawk nose, grizzled eyebrows, and horn-rimmed glasses. 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. Police in Virginia arrested mass murderer John List on June 1, 1989, a mere nine days after Americas Most Wanted aired his case. He is from American. 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. "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. 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.