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. At his trial in 1990, defense lawyers argued that List suffered from PTSD from his military service in World War II and Korea. John was convicted of five counts of first degree murder in April 1990 and was imprisoned with five terms of consecutive life imprisonment. He had saved the souls of the people he loved. He took a new identity and also joined a Lutheran church, where he met his second wife, Delores Miller. 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. John List may refer to: John A. 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. Born in Bay City, Michigan, List was the only child of German-American parents John Frederick List (18591944) and Alma Barbara Florence List (18871971). Pending. Login 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. Like his father, List was a devout Lutheran and a Sunday school teacher. 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). Salary in 2022. The memory of the murders still haunts Westfield residents. "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.". 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. He murdered his mother, wife and three children in November 1971, due to financial distress and other issues within the family, and fled. The third wife was Pilar Pallette, with whom he had three more children. He has also appeared on television shows such as Your Worst Nightmare and American Justice. He told her she went through a slow, agonizing death, the friend said. He. This is not the man I know. With his first wife, John Frederick had had a son, William George, who happened to be the same . But what led Delores husband to commit such a chilling crime? Then John, 15, after the boy put his bookbag down on a kitchen countertop. It took 18 years for John List to be arrested. She had a young daughter from her previous marriage. "[38], Over the years, List and his crimes have furnished inspiration for documentaries, television dramas and feature films. Police in Virginia arrested mass murderer John List on June 1, 1989, a mere nine days after Americas Most Wanted aired his case. 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. Gwyn Conger Steinbeck - Who was She? At a border crossing to Mexico in March 1944, she said she. 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 then cleaned the various crime scenes, removed his own picture from all family photographs in the house, tuned a radio to a religious station, and departed. "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." news, John List's confession to his 2nd wife revealed in new episode of 'Father Wants Us Dead' podcast Published: Jun. Though we'd like to say that Wayne and Pilar lived happily ever after, apparently that's not the case. Judge William L'E. John confessed to committing the murders in February 1990. List's death ended a sordid chapter in Westfield's history. 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. His father died in 1944. [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. [43], The movie A Killer Next Door, based on the events that led to the capture of John List, was released In July 2020. He simply exploded.'. 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. '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. 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. This article is about the murderer. 'To find his wife having a veneral disease was morally, ethically and religiously a very hard thing for him to accept,' the psychiatrist said. Of the more than 200 tips from viewers that the FBI received from the program, one said a man resembling. 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. [44], In 2022, NJ Advance Media released "Father Wants Us Dead," a podcast serial on the events.[45]. [17] From 1979 to 1986, he was the comptroller at a paper box manufacturer outside Denver. During his years on the run, List went by the name Robert Clark. He then shot both his wife and mother in their heads. He later completed his masters degree in accounting and worked as an accountant in the military. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. 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. He died on March 21, 2008 in Trenton, New Jersey, USA. On April 12, 1990 he was found guilty on five . "I wish I had never done what I did," he told Connie Chung in 2002. If you take gaming seriously, you shouldn't accept anything less than the greatest. [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 was born John Emil List on 15 September 1925 to John Frederick List and Alma Barbara Florence List. He killed them to save their souls so they would go to heaven. [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. I ask all affected by this for their forgiveness, understanding and prayer. [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. The Rev. In 1971, John List lost his job at the bank at age 46. The neighbors tipped the police after a month of not seeing anyone entering or leaving the house. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, K-Pop isnt the only hot ticket in Koreatown how trot is captivating immigrants, Los Angeles is suddenly awash in waterfalls, Officials admit being unprepared for epic mountain blizzard, leaving many trapped and desperate, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, Californias snowpack is approaching an all-time record, with more on the way, This is me, this is my face: Actress Mimi Rogers on aging naturally, without cosmetic surgery, Hidden, illegal casinos are booming in L.A., with organized crime reaping big profits, Look up: The 32 most spectacular ceilings in Los Angeles, Elliott: Kings use their heads over hearts in trading Jonathan Quick. 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. 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. On 9 November 1971, John murdered his wife, mother, and three children by shooting them. Then he sat down and ate lunch at the same table where he had shot his wife hours before. [41] A 2003 episode of the A&E series American Justice also detailed the case and featured an interview with List. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. He later took a job as the vice president at a bank in New Jersey, where the family finally got settled. While there is no set timetable on when that might happen, Daly said the remains of other prison inmates have been stored for up to roughly three months by the medical examiner's office. He joined a Lutheran congregation and ran a car pool for shut-in church members. The army discharged him in 1946, after which he joined the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He earned a bachelors degree in administration and a masters degree in accounting. His lawyer, Elijah Miller Jr., argues that knowing his wife suffered from syphilis helped drive the deeply religious man over the edge. John List was born John Emil List, on September 17, 1925, in Bay City, Michigan, to John Frederick List and Alma Barbara Florence List. In a second attempt at love, he was lucky enough to find a business and life partner in Allain, a producer and hairstylist. "I was hungry," he told Downtown, adding with a chuckle, "that's just the way it was.". 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. But unlike the other members of the List family who dropped instantly, John Jr. struggled. A nationwide manhunt was launched. List (born 1968), American economist. He worked hard as an accountant at a nearby bank to provide for his family. 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. A month passed before neighbors, curious about the constantly burning lights and empty windows, began to suspect something was wrong at the List mansion. John List and his family were the definition of the American Dream in 1965; they seemed to have it all. The wife of Robert P. Clark--whom the FBI says is really John List, a man who killed his family in 1971--says his arrest is unbelievable and that the alleged killer is not the man I know.. 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. 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. A former neighbor in Denver saw the episode and recognized List, who was then tracked to his new home in Virginia. March 2 (UPI) -- A Minnesota police officer came to the rescue of a raccoon he spotted running around with a jar stuck over its head. He married Helen and raised three children with her, while working as an accountant in many places, such as New York and New Jersey. New revelations in the episode include what List said through tears to his shocked and heartsick second wife, who hoped it was all some mistake and her husband was really the man she thought she had married Robert Clark when she visited him in jail. videos, 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. March 3 (UPI) -- A 7-year-old Louisiana boy with a firm grasp of baseball rules is seeking a Guinness World Record as the world's youngest umpire. John enlisted in the United States Army in 1943 and was a laboratory technician during World War II. They had an expert forensic artist, Frank Bender, create a physical bust of John List as Bender imagined he might have aged. John seemingly grew up without incident, reporting a normal childhood with the exception of his stringently religious upbringing, with which he identified wholeheartedly. 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. John List is a revolutionary experimenter whose unique methods and ideas have changed how the field of economics functions. Afterwards, he dragged his wifes body to the ballroom and made himself lunch and ate it. Under Review. More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23. Eventually, he took a decently paying job with a paper company at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and settled there with his family. 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. Then Frederick, 13. John Emil List was born in Michigan, in 1925, the only child of John and Alma List. She is famous for Second wife of murderer John list. He was arrested in 1989 after a former neighbor recognized him from a profile on the syndicated TV show America's Most Wanted. John and Helen had three daughters when he worked as an audit supervisor at a paper company in Kalamazoo. Tips came pouring in. He later moved to California, and then Detroit, where he worked as an accountant in a local firm. Following the gruesome death of his family. 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. In an interview, he stated that he did not kill himself because suicide prevents one from going to heaven. Helen List lied to her doctors during several hospitalizations, Liss said. Net Worth in 2022. Then, he went up to the third floor and murdered his mother in her bed. Joshua Boucher/The State via AP, Pool. 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. John List appeared to be the perfect son, husband, and father. 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. "So eventually I got to the point where I felt that I could kill them. By then, he was assigned to the finance corps, from where he was discharged in 1952. We have estimated John A. List's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Unlike the others, John didn't go quietly, his body jerking as List emptied both the 9 millimeter and the .22 into his son. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. However, he was a loner who was not socially active and had very few friends in school and his locality. The morning of November 7, 1971 began in a usual fashion. Bender gave him a hawk nose, grizzled eyebrows, and horn-rimmed glasses. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. 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. It took Johns fingerprints to match with the military records to convince the authorities that he was John List. Because syphilis is not infectious in its later phases, she did not pass it on to John List or her children, although she suffered several miscarriages during her first marriage. All rights reserved (About Us). When the police entered the house, on December 7th, the bodies had begun to decompose. Kentucky man stops for breakfast, wins $50,000 lottery prize. John List - History, Crime. 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. 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. He defended himself saying that he was not mentally stable. He was apprehended 18 years later in 1989 and was sentenced to five terms of life sentence. Authorities went to Clarks home and spoke to his wife, whom he met at a church social gathering. 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. "[21][22] List was questioned by FBI investigators after his capture, but he denied any involvement in the Cooper case. 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. But his defence was rejected and he was imprisoned at the New Jersey State Prison. Florida woman runs ultra-marathon distances for 23 consecutive days. He said they were going to North Carolina to visit an ailing relative. They got married in December 1951. I was shocked to hear about Bobs arrest and what he is charged with, the statement said. "[36] The judge was unpersuaded: "John Emil List is without remorse and without honor," he said. He joined a local Lutheran church and, in 1985, married a widow named Delores Clark, with whom he moved to Richmond, Va. John List was on the run when they met in 1985 after having murdered his family members about 14 years before. The List house burned down several months after the List family bodies were discovered there. John List was an American mass murderer, who became infamous in the 1970s for killing his mother, wife and three children. John was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder and five terms of life imprisonment. They did not have any children together. He settled in New Jersey and took a job at a local bank. The bust created of John List, right, next to the real John List, left. John List was a devoutly religious man, and provided for his family in the town of Westfield, New Jerseywhere they lived in a 19-room mansion called Breeze Knoll. After light bulbs began burning out one by one, they called the police. [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. His father was a devout Lutheran who also taught at a local Sunday School in Bay City. The episode, "Murder House", premiered on November 18, 2015. [31] Though her health progressively deteriorated, she said nothing to List or her physicians until 1969, when a thorough workup revealed the condition. Salary in 2021. An aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. [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. He was caught after the television show "America's Most Wanted" air a segment on the murders. John List appeared to be the perfect son, husband, and father. 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. Delores Clark said that she was making her statement reluctantly and that she would have no further comment. Everything looked great on the surface. He believed that it was his failure as a man to be unable to provide for his family. The Army, realizing List's accounting skills, reassigned him to the Finance Corps. Moreover, his wife was a heavy drinker and she had also contracted Syphilis from her first marriage. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. A federal appeals court rejected both arguments. Gwyn Conger Steinbeck was the second wife of John Steinbeck, master story-teller and Nobel Prize winner. Helen was first. Subsequent jobs didnt pan out. 'He faced limited options and like a small rubber band, he snapped. One night after dinner, he even asked his family what should be done with their bodies after they died. Spouse/Ex-: Delores Miller Clark (m. 19851989), Helen List (m. 19511971), children: Frederick List, John, Jr. 07, 2022, 8:00 a.m. A former Denver neighbor alerted the police, who made the arrest later. "I remember talking about funerals and cremation and burials. His play times were replaced with gatherings around . 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. Firefighters hoist horse stranded in backyard swimming pool. He became increasingly depressed. Help keep John List (murderer) and Delores Miller (wife) profile up to date. He had been fired from all his jobs due to his cold demeanor and his inability to be social with his co-workers. Authorities walk John List to a plane in Richmond, Virginia in 1989 before transporting him to New Jersey to stand trial.Steve Helber/AP. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. 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. 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. John was a strict Lutheran and hence, when he came to know about Helens pregnancy, he right away proposed to her for marriage. 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. Delores Miller (wife) is an American Homemaker. [16], List eventually expressed a degree of remorse for his crimes. Upstairs, the body of List's 84-year-old mother Alma was found. 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. . Delores Miller (wife) and John List are divorced. However, the marriage was not very good. "The body is still at the Mercer County Medical Examiner's Office," said county spokesman Pete Daly.