"I was hungry," he told Downtown, adding with a chuckle, "that's just the way it was.". The neighbours called the police when Johns daughter Patricias dancing teacher came home to see why Patricia was not coming to the classes. 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. 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. Salary in 2022. He died in the prison hospital at the age of 82, in 2008. WhenAmericas Most Wantedaired the story of the John List murders on May 21, 1989, an audience of 22 million saw Frank Benders sculpture. Aside from a few extra wrinkles, the bust was spot on. 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. This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. 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. They attended church every Sunday as devout Lutherans and List taught Sunday school. Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. John was a strict Lutheran and hence, when he came to know about Helens pregnancy, he right away proposed to her for marriage. By then, he was assigned to the finance corps, from where he was discharged in 1952. 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. 'He faced limited options and like a small rubber band, he snapped. The News Leaders copyright story quoted his pastor, closest friend and neighbors as saying that the arrest was unbelievable and impossible.. 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. 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 left a confession letter at the scene, so police had little doubt as to who was responsible for the killings. 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. Helen List apparently was infected with the disease by her first husband, a soldier who was killed in Korea. 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. 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. Westfield police did not discover the bodies until nearly a month later. 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. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. Delores Miller (wife) and John List are divorced. YouTubeAn aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. Once inside the kitchen, John Sr. shot him in the back of the head. His father was a devout Lutheran who also taught at a local Sunday School in Bay City. Delores and John divorced in 1989, probably following his arrest on 1 June. [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. Want more true crime? After seeing all his children off to school, John List set his plan in motion. 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. 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. John List was a devout Lutheran who lived with his wife, mother and three children. By the late 1950s, the family was in a good financial situation as John had been promoted to the position of a general supervisor in the company. 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. YouTubeThe note John List wrote excusing his children from school. A South Carolina jury has found once-prominent attorney Alex Murdaugh guilty on all counts in the deaths of his wife and son. YouTubeForensic artist Frank Bender uses photographs to sculpt an aged bust of mass murderer John List. With his first wife, John Frederick had had a son, William George, who happened to be the same . The mansion in New Jersey where John List lived with his family burned down several months after the murders. They attended church each week with List's mother, a strict Lutheran who lived with them. [12] Neighbors noticed that all of the mansion's rooms were illuminated day and night, with no apparent activity within the house. A month passed before neighbors, curious about the constantly burning lights and empty windows, began to suspect something was wrong at the List mansion. He grew up as an only child with strict German parents, he had an overly protective and domineering mother (sort of like Norman Bates). He murdered his mother, wife and three children in November 1971, due to financial distress and other issues within the family, and fled. He was not, however, willing to suffer the earthly consequences of his actions. He is most remembered for Murdered his entire family in 1971. He also claimed to be suffering from PTSD. 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. 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 had a very normal childhood and he did not show any signs of psychological troubles. Of the more than 200 tips from viewers that the FBI received from the program, one said a man resembling. Net Worth in 2021. He has also appeared on television shows such as Your Worst Nightmare and American Justice. When the police entered the house, on December 7th, the bodies had begun to decompose. [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. Gwyn Conger Steinbeck - Who was She? "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. The Rev. Subsequent jobs didnt pan out. $1 Million - $5 Million. He made himself a sandwich, closed out his bank accounts, and cheered for his only surviving son, John, at his high school soccer game. Assistant Prosecutor Eleanor Clark strongly protested telling the jury of Helen List's syphilis during bitter legal arguments over several days. Robbins is one of Pitt-Bradford's . 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. 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. 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. He was previously married to Delores Miller and Helen List. In 1965, they moved again to Breeze Knoll, a 19-room mansion in Westfield. 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. Because this is one of the most. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? John confessed to committing the murders in February 1990. If no one claims List's body, Fedekenheuer said, "we call the local funeral director, and that person will have the body cremated. He later took a job as the vice president at a bank in New Jersey, where the family finally got settled. 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. 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. 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. 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. Early life [ edit] Katherine (left) and Madeleine Force. 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. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Kentucky man stops for breakfast, wins $50,000 lottery prize. Feb. 20, 2002 -- Thirty years ago, accountant John List methodically murdered his whole family his mother, his wife, and their three children. The inconspicuous accountant was arrested without incident Thursday at work. 'List believed doing what he did do to his family was allowed because he was sending them to join God and saving them from the embarrassment of having to be on the public dole.'.