By 1971, he was still leaving for work every morning, but unknown to his family he was unemployed and unable to pay the bills. YouTubeThe bust created of John List, right, next to the real John List, left. List diverted money from his mother's bank accounts to avoid default on his mortgage. Officers entered through an unlocked window leading to the basement and discovered the family's bodies. But after doctors at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York concluded that her symptoms might be caused by syphilis, she admitted that she had suffered from the disease since the 1940s and had been treated for it at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington. Austin Goodrich, an ABCNEWS consultant who is writing a book with John List, contributed material for this report. Then he sat down and wrote a confession letter to his pastor explaining his financial problems. A deputy sheriff at the Henrico County Jail was tasked with watching John List after his arrest in 1989. The Lists might have appeared to be the ideal American family, but everything was not as it seemed. Westfield police did not discover the bodies until nearly a month later. Once inside the kitchen, John Sr. shot him in the back of the head. List left a confession letter at the scene, so police had little doubt as to who was responsible for the killings. YouTubeAn aerial view of the List family home in Westfield, New Jersey. In 1971, John List lost his job at the bank at age 46. Help keep John List (murderer) and Delores Miller (wife) profile up to date. John and Helen had three daughters when he worked as an audit supervisor at a paper company in Kalamazoo. All rights reserved (About Us). 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. [14] All reliable photographs of List had been destroyed. 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. Afterwards, he dragged his wifes body to the ballroom and made himself lunch and ate it. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. 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. Because this is one of the most. List saw the children off to school and then shot her in the kitchen as she sipped her customary morning coffee. Delores and John divorced in 1989, probably following his arrest on 1 June. The alias worked, and he kept it when he moved to Richmond. Over the years, the John List murders have been featured in films such as Judgment Day: The John List Story and The Stepfather. A manhunt for John was declared, but it was not until 18 years that he was arrested. "So eventually I got to the point where I felt that I could kill them. He told her she went through a slow, agonizing death, the friend said. The devout Lutherans attended church every Sunday, and List taught Sunday school. On Nov. 9, 1971, after sending his children off to school, List took his two handguns out to the car to load them, then walked into the kitchen and shot his wife from behind as she was drinking coffee. She was born 25th October 1916. 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 died on March 21, 2008 in Trenton, New Jersey, USA. Helen List lied to her doctors during several hospitalizations, Liss said. John List with his wife and three children. [15][16], In 1971, as the FBI later discovered, List had traveled by train from New Jersey to Michigan and then to Colorado. He earned a bachelors degree in administration and a masters degree in accounting. The FBI found his car parked at Kennedy International Airport in New York City, but they never found him. John List appeared to be the perfect son, husband, and father. Helen had turned into an alcoholic, which caused them to engage in a lot of fights. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. The suspect denied he is List but the FBI said a positive link had been made through fingerprints. The List house burned down several months after the List family bodies were discovered there. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their . The research in this book is outstanding, and Sharkey clearly put a great deal of time and effort into it. John had a very normal childhood and he did not show any signs of psychological troubles. So he spent his days at the train station, reading the newspaper and secretly skimming money from his mothers bank accounts to pay the mortgage. He had drained his and his mothers bank accounts and fled, changing his identity. "I remember talking about funerals and cremation and burials. Everything looked great on the surface. In addition, it will contact the Social Security Administration, Veteran's Administration and Public Welfare for any possible death benefits. Attorney David Baugh, who represented List in Virginia, offers support.AP Photo/Steve Helber. He did not mention his wife, his mother, or his children. While his name is still occasionally mentioned in Cooper articles and documentaries, no direct evidence implicates him, and the FBI no longer considers him a suspect. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Then Frederick, 13. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. However, he was a loner who was not socially active and had very few friends in school and his locality. List, who grew up in a strict Lutheran community in Bay City, Mich., was 'immersed in his religion,' he said. After light bulbs began burning out one by one, they called the police. In 1950, John List was recalled to active military service. [42] In 2015, the story was covered in the season 2, episode 2 of the Investigation Discovery TV series Your Worst Nightmare. 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. 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. 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. ', Suspected burglar inside New Brunswick home was a panicked deer. 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. It was the biggest story he could remember, and the local fervor for information was immediate. 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. 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. He was caught after the television show "America's Most Wanted" air a segment on the murders. "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. Bank Vice President and Sunday School Teacher. They attended church each week with List's mother, a strict Lutheran who lived with them. March 2 (UPI) -- A Florida woman earned a Guinness World Record when she completed 23 ultra-marathon runs -- 31.1 miles -- in a 23-day period. 07, 2022, 8:00 a.m. 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. List graduated from Bay City Central High School in 1943. Finally, with the prospect of foreclosure threatening to expose his financial failure, List made his terrible decision to kill his family but not himself. John Sr. shot him nine more times before dragging him into the ballroom with the rest of his family. He joined a Lutheran congregation and ran a car pool for shut-in church members. He took a break and made himself lunch. [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). 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. [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. 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. John List was born John Emil List, on September 17, 1925, in Bay City, Michigan, to John Frederick List and Alma Barbara Florence List. List's home, a. John List was a devout Lutheran who lived with his wife, mother and three children. "There has been no communication from any family member of John List. 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. He married his second wife Delores in 1985. [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. 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. Forensic artist Frank Bender uses photographs to sculpt an aged bust of mass murderer John List. "I was perspiring like anything," he remembers, but said his wife did not seem to have recognized him. New Jersey prosecutors had come up with a plan. He took a new identity and also joined a Lutheran church, where he met his second wife, Delores Miller. Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. 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. John Sr. drove over to his school and watched him playing in a soccer game. "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. YouTubeThe bodies of John Lists wife and three teenage children were found laid out on sleeping bags in the ballroom. The neighbors tipped the police after a month of not seeing anyone entering or leaving the house. 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. Then, he went to the bank to close his accounts and cash his mother's savings bonds. Delores Clark, right, tells reporters at a press conference on June 8, 1989 that she did not believe her husband was John List. They separated in 1973 and he moved . A former Denver neighbor alerted the police, who made the arrest later. [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. It was a masterful depiction of John List. The bodies of John Lists wife and three teenage children were found laid out on sleeping bags in the ballroom. Minnesota officer removes jar from raccoon's head. 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. Delores Clark said that she was making her statement reluctantly and that she would have no further comment. His zodiac sign is Virgo. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. . Helen and her three children were buried at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield. Gwyn Conger Steinbeck - Who was She? [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. He believed that killing them would assure their souls a place in Heaven, where he hoped to eventually join them. [13] List also stopped milk, mail, and newspaper deliveries. The new lovers wed on 1 December 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland. 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. Delores kept a low profile after Johns arrest, and it is unclear what happened to her. Based on information gleaned from dozens of interviews and hundreds of pages of police and FBI documents, Father Wants Us Dead is an in-depth and chilling narrative from two reporters with more than 25 years of combined experience.