A federal appeals court rejected both arguments. Then List waited downstairs to kill his children, one by one, as they came home. John List, going by the name Robert Clark, rented a room in this house in Richmond, Virginia from S. Wallace Parsons, until he and Delores Clark moved into their new home. Details of Delores life before she married John List are unavailable. 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. 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. After making the decision, List says, there was no turning back. 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. The episode, "Murder House", premiered on November 18, 2015. The devout Lutherans attended church every Sunday, and List taught Sunday school. 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. Of the more than 200 tips from viewers that the FBI received from the program, one said a man resembling. Pending. Hopefully they would go to heaven, and then maybe I would have a chance to later confess my sins to God and get forgiveness.". List saw the children off to school and then shot her in the kitchen as she sipped her customary morning coffee. List (born 1968), American economist. John Emil List was born in Michigan, in 1925, the only child of John and Alma List. '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. [28][29], At trial, List testified that his financial difficulties reached crisis level in 1971 when he was laid off with the closure of the Jersey City bank. On November 9, 1971, John List put his plan into action. The family later moved to Rochester, New York, to work with Xerox. For the economist, see, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, Dupont de Ligonns murders and disappearance, "Wanted: A Killer Disappears Into Another Life", "John List, famous murderer The Crime Library", "Breeze Knoll: The John List Murder House", "John E. List, 82, Killer of 5 Family Members, Dies", "In Hiding for 18 Years, a Wanted Man Is Caught by the FBI and a TV Posse", "Prosaic Life of Suspect in '71 New Jersey Murders", "Real Estate Assessment Data for 13919 Sagewood Trace", "Notorious AMW Fugitive John List Dead at 82", "Frank Bender, 'Recomposer' of Faces of the Dead, Dies at 70", "John List Bust Remembered as Sculptor Faces Death", "The List Murders Stun Westfield In 1971", "Slaying Suspect Saw 2 Choices, Doctor Testifies", "I Know That What Has Been Done Is Wrong", "Killer of Family Gets 5 Life Terms: Court: Judge sentences accountant who murdered his mother, wife and children 18 years ago to the maximum sentence", "Judge Sentences Family Killer to Life in Prison", "The boogeyman of Westfield, a ghost story that won't end", "How Profitable Sequels Succeed: They Just Bring 'em Back Alive", "The Watcher's Grisly John Graff Murder Sequence Is Based on True Story of a Family Massacre. Wikimedia CommonsJohn List with his wife and three children. Delores Miller (wife) and John List are divorced. The Army, realizing List's accounting skills, reassigned him to the Finance Corps. 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. He said they were going to North Carolina to visit an ailing relative. John List died in prison in 2008 at age 82. 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. Nobori: All there is to Know about Ted Bessells Wife, Online Pharmacies Make it Easy to Compare Medicines Prices, Katya Ariel Tylo Personal Life, Net Worth, & More, Isis Rae Boykin, Personal Life and Net Worth, Finn William Leeves Coben Lifestyle and Personal Life. When they met, she led a simple life working as an Army PX clerk. They had an expert forensic artist, Frank Bender, create a physical bust of John List as Bender imagined he might have aged. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. 7-year-old baseball umpire seeks Guinness World Record. The mass murderer was an active member of his local Lutheran church and married his second wife Delores in 1985. 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. news, They separated in 1973 and he moved . Hence, his severe lack of social skills cost him jobs after jobs. He became increasingly depressed. John List's confession to his 2nd wife revealed in new episode of 'Father Wants Us Dead' podcast Published: Jun. Her story put an end to the 18-year-long mystery. This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. Help us build our profile of John List (murderer) and Delores Miller (wife)! "[21][22] List was questioned by FBI investigators after his capture, but he denied any involvement in the Cooper case. The alias worked, and he kept it when he moved to Richmond. Forensic artist Frank Bender uses photographs to sculpt an aged bust of mass murderer John List. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their . When the children left for school, he shot his wife and his mother to death. "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 is from American. List had a masters degree in accounting, but lacked social skills and had a history of losing jobs. In 1989, Fox network broadcasted a TV show titled Americas Most Wanted, where an episode featured the New Jersey mass murders of John by his family. The jury finally found John List guilty and a judge sentenced him to five life terms in a New Jersey prison. List graduated from Bay City Central High School in 1943. John List and his family were the definition of the American Dream in 1965; they seemed to have it all. 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. John was convicted of five counts of first degree murder in April 1990 and was imprisoned with five terms of consecutive life imprisonment. It took 18 years for John List to be arrested. Bender gave him a hawk nose, grizzled eyebrows, and horn-rimmed glasses. 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 . 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. His father died in 1944. John List was born John Emil List, on September 17, 1925, in Bay City, Michigan, to John Frederick List and Alma Barbara Florence List. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Unlike the others, John didn't go quietly, his body jerking as List emptied both the 9 millimeter and the .22 into his son. 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. Liss summarized Helen List's medical reports for the jury. John died aged 82 in March 2008 of complications from pneumonia while still imprisoned. When the police entered the house, on December 7th, the bodies had begun to decompose. Moreover, his wife was a heavy drinker and she had also contracted Syphilis from her first marriage. [1] She was the second wife and widow of businessman John Jacob Astor IV . "I've regretted my action and prayed for forgiveness ever since. As I was doing it I knew it was wrong," he said. List gave critical financial problems, as well as his perception that his family members were straying from their religious faith, as his motivations for the murders. He said they were going to North Carolina to visit an ailing relative. After the June 7, 2021, killings of Maggie . 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. 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]. Delores Miller (wife) is an American Homemaker. He also thought his children were steering off the godly course as his son wanted to be an actor. 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. But unlike the other members of the List family who dropped instantly, John Jr. struggled. "There has been no communication from any family member of John List. 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. 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. Kentucky man stops for breakfast, wins $50,000 lottery prize. 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. The list of retirees in the second half of 2022 isn't very long, but the years of service add up into the hundreds. He believed that it was his failure as a man to be unable to provide for his family. 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 picture was also shown on television, which led one of his neighbours to notify the authorities. 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.". Florida woman runs ultra-marathon distances for 23 consecutive days. Though we'd like to say that Wayne and Pilar lived happily ever after, apparently that's not the case. Then he sat down and wrote a confession letter to his pastor explaining his financial problems. and more from FamousFix.com. At his trial in 1990, defense lawyers argued that List suffered from PTSD from his military service in World War II and Korea. [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. "[36] The judge was unpersuaded: "John Emil List is without remorse and without honor," he said. 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. 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 enlisted in the United States Army in 1943 and was a laboratory technician during World War II. He was 82 years old at the time of his demise. One night after dinner, he even asked his family what should be done with their bodies after they died. John List was an American mass murderer, who became infamous in the 1970s for killing his mother, wife and three children. The neighbours called the police when Johns daughter Patricias dancing teacher came home to see why Patricia was not coming to the classes. 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. The note John List wrote excusing his children from school. From New York, he had traveled overland to Denver, where he began a new life under the name Robert P. Clark, working first as a hotel fry cook and later as an accountant for H&R Block. "At least I'm certain that all have gone to heaven now. The List house burned down several months after the List family bodies were discovered there. He told her she went through a slow, agonizing death, the friend said. [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. 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. After learning about the murders committed by John List, check out the story of Dale Cregan, the one-eyed killer. One tip came from a woman in Richmond, Virginia, who thought her next-door neighbor, Robert Clark, bore a striking resemblance to the bust. 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. He grew up as an only child with strict German parents, he had an overly protective and domineering mother (sort of like Norman Bates). Also in 2022, Netflix released a seven-part dramatic fictional miniseries called The Watcher. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. She is famous for Second wife of murderer John list. He later moved to California, and then Detroit, where he worked as an accountant in a local firm. On 9 November 1971, John murdered his wife, mother, and three children by shooting them. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. ', 'List was being bombarded by stresses,' the doctor added. 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. More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23. He worked hard as an accountant at a nearby bank to provide for his family. He worked hard as an accountant at a nearby bank to provide for his family. He. 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. After gruesomely murdering his entire family, John List had begun living a normal life again. He turned on the lights and the radio, leaving religious hymns playing in the houses empty rooms. "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. He murdered his mother, wife and three children at their home in Westfield, New Jersey on November 9, 1971. He murdered his mother, wife and three children in November 1971, due to financial distress and other issues within the family, and fled. He left his mother's body in her apartment in the attic. If no one claims List's body, Fedekenheuer said, "we call the local funeral director, and that person will have the body cremated. The trail went cold. Helen was first. The memory of the murders still haunts Westfield residents. If you want to get the most Any streaming system that wants to deliver live audio must have microphones. John and Helen married on December 1, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland, the family moving to northern California. "[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. Delores Clark said that she was making her statement reluctantly and that she would have no further comment. 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. When his daughter and youngest son came home, he shot them in the back of the head. "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. Delores and John divorced in 1989, probably following his arrest on 1 June. John Emil List, a.k.a. 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. 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. His father-in-law had heard from the county sheriff: After nearly 18 years, List had been caught. 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. This is either the most unbelievable mix-up or . 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. 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. [16], List died of complications from pneumonia aged 82 on March 21, 2008, while imprisoned at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Afterwards, he dragged his wifes body to the ballroom and made himself lunch and ate it. [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. I was shocked to hear about Bobs arrest and what he is charged with, the statement said. However, the marriage was not very good. John was arrested and extradited to New Jersey. Over the years, the John List murders have been featured in films such as Judgment Day: The John List Story and The Stepfather. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. He defended himself saying that he was not mentally stable. [15] Destroyed along with the home was the ballroom's stained glass skylight, rumored to be a signed Tiffany original, worth at least $100,000 at the time (equivalent to $650,000 in 2021). YouTubeForensic artist Frank Bender uses photographs to sculpt an aged bust of mass murderer John List. The new lovers wed on 1 December 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland. In a three-sentence statement to the court, he said he was sorry for "the tragedy that happened in 1971." He was the only child born to German-Americans John Frederick List and Alma Maria Barbara Florence List. What did Disney actually lose from its Florida battle with DeSantis? They also found the five-page note from John List explaining that the bloodied bodies on the ballroom floor were his family members, killed out of mercy. She had a young daughter from her previous marriage. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. A nationwide manhunt was launched. [26][27] List continued to stand by his alias for several months, even after his 1989 extradition to Union County, New Jersey; finally, faced with irrefutable evidence including a fingerprint match with List's military records, as well as evidence found at the crime scene he confessed his true identity on February 16, 1990. 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. 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. That left his oldest son. He then walked up to the third floor and shot his 85-year-old mother, Alma. 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. 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. Wertheimer allowed the jury to hear testimony about Helen List's syphilis after Miller told him, in a brief hearing, that List knew what his wife suffered from before he killed her. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. All rights reserved (About Us). A 1996 episode of the series Forensic Files discussed the List murders. Then John, 15, after the boy put his bookbag down on a kitchen countertop. At a border crossing to Mexico in March 1944, she said she. 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. I thought I was being real clever," he said. John was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder and five terms of life imprisonment. John List with his wife and three children. And it came from a family member of all people. On November 9, 1971, John List shot his wife, his mother, and his three children. "I finally decided the only way to save them from that was to kill them," he said. 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. [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. The FBI found his car parked at Kennedy International Airport in New York City, but they never found him. She met Steinbeck in late 1938 or early 1939, when she was just 22. A South Carolina jury has found once-prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh guilty on all counts in the deaths of his wife and son. . "The body is still at the Mercer County Medical Examiner's Office," said county spokesman Pete Daly. 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. March 3 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts library said a book was recently returned with a note apologizing for the tome being 56 years overdue. Just as the kids entered from the main door, he shot both of them in the heads as well. [17] From 1979 to 1986, he was the comptroller at a paper box manufacturer outside Denver. He has also appeared on television shows such as Your Worst Nightmare and American Justice. [15][16], In 1971, as the FBI later discovered, List had traveled by train from New Jersey to Michigan and then to Colorado. Police investigated hundreds of leads without success. 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). Human name disambiguation pages. There, he eventually became director of accounting services. 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. Westfield police did not discover the bodies until nearly a month later. John Emil List, 63, was profiled on the TV program "America's Most Wanted" May 21. [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. He was arrested in 1989 after a former neighbor recognized him from a profile on the syndicated TV show America's Most Wanted. Like his father, List was a devout Lutheran and a Sunday school teacher. He couldnt bear to tell his family about the loss of income. 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. List diverted money from his mother's bank accounts to avoid default on his mortgage. 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. By 1971, he was still leaving for work every morning, but unknown to his family he was unemployed and unable to pay the bills. The 14th and final defense witness was the defendant's brother John . 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. [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. In 1950, John List was recalled to active military service. [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. This is not the man I know. He then called his childrens school to grant them leave to visit their grandmother in South Carolina.