John List

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John Emil List (September 17, 1925 - March 21, 2008) was an American murderer. On November 9, 1971, he murdered his mother, wife and three children in Westfield, New Jersey, and then disappeared. He had planned everything so meticulously that nearly a month passed before anyone noticed that anything was amiss. A fugitive from justice for nearly 18 years, he was finally apprehended on June 1, 1989 after the story of his murders was broadcast on America's Most Wanted. List was found guilty and sentenced to five terms of life imprisonment, dying in prison custody in 2008 at age 82.

[edit] Personal background

Born in Bay City, Michigan, List was the only child of German American parents, John Frederick List (1859-1944) and Alma List (1887-1971). He was a devout Lutheran, and taught Sunday school. List served in the U.S. Army during World War II and later was given an ROTC commission as a lieutenant. He attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in accounting. List had a history of losing jobs and had accumulated debts that he found increasingly difficult to pay.

[edit] Murders

List killed his family: his wife, Helen, 45; his children, Patricia, 16, John, Jr., 15, and Frederick, 13; and his 84-year-old mother, Alma. He first shot his wife in the back of the head and his mother once in the left eye, while his children were at school. When Patricia and Frederick came home, they were shot in the back of the head. John, Jr., the oldest son, was playing in a soccer game that afternoon. List made himself lunch and then drove to watch John play. He brought his son home and then shot him once in the back of the head. List saw John twitch as if he were having a seizure and shot him again. It was later determined that List had shot his eldest son at least ten times.

List then dragged his dead wife and children, on sleeping bags, into the ballroom of his ramshackle 19-room Victorian home.^[1] He left his mother's body in her apartment in the attic and stated in a letter to his pastor that "Mother is in the attic. She was too heavy to move." In the letter, List also claimed he had prayed over the bodies before going on the run. The deaths were not discovered for a month, due to the Lists' habit of keeping to themselves. Moreover, List had also sent notes stating that the family would be in North Carolina for several weeks to the children's schools and part-time jobs and had stopped the family's milk, mail and newspaper deliveries.

The case quickly became the second most infamous crime in New Jersey history, surpassed only by the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh Baby. A nationwide manhunt for List was launched. His car was found parked at Kennedy Airport, but there was no record of him taking a flight.^[1] The police checked out hundreds of leads without results.^[2]

[edit] America's Most Wanted

In 1989, New Jersey law enforcement approached the producers of the television show America's Most Wanted because of that show's track record of fugitive captures. It was the oldest unsolved case the show had ever featured. The broadcast included an age-progressed clay bust, which, as it turned out, looked remarkably similar to List, even though he had been missing for 18 years.

The man who sculpted the bust of List was forensic artist Frank Bender, who had successfully captured many aging fugitives and identified decomposed bodies via his art. To imagine what an older List would look like, he consulted forensic psychologist Richard Walter, who created a psychological profile. He looked at photographs of List's parents and predicted his appearance, giving List a receding hairline and sagging jowls. Bender and Richard Walter were particularly praised for one final touch: a pair of glasses. They theorized that List would want to appear more important than he really was, and would affect a stereotypical intellectual/professional appearance by wearing glasses. John Walsh, the host of America's Most Wanted, called Bender's work the most brilliant example of detective work that he had ever seen. Walsh kept Bender’s bust of List in a place of honor in his office for many years, and in 2008 donated it to a forensic science exhibit at the privately owned National Museum of Crime & Punishment.

[edit] Arrest and trial

List was arrested on June 1, 1989, nearly 18 years after killing his family. At the time, he was employed by a Richmond, Virginia accounting firm where he worked while living under the fictitious name Robert "Bob" Peter Clark. List had chosen the name because it had belonged to one of his college classmates, who later stated that he had never known List.^[3] Prior to his arrest, List had lived in Denver, Colorado and Midlothian, Virginia, having remarried and resumed working as an accountant. Upon viewing the broadcast, a friend of the Clarks recognized the subject of the profile as a neighbor and contacted the authorities. The police immediately arrived to arrest List, who refused to voluntarily surrender, but stood by his alias until his true identity was conclusively proven.

On April 12, 1990, List was convicted in a New Jersey court of five counts of first-degree murder. On May 1, he was sentenced to five consecutive terms of life imprisonment. List never expressed any remorse for his crimes. In a 2002 interview with Connie Chung, when asked why he had not taken his own life, he said he believed that suicide would have barred him from Heaven, where he hoped to be reunited with his family.^[4]

[edit] Motive

Prior to the murders, List had lost his job as an accountant and was suffering from financial problems. He owed $11,000 on his mortgage and was skimming from his mother's bank accounts.^[1] In addition, he was dealing with his wife's dementia, brought on by advanced syphilis contracted from her first husband and hidden from List for 18 years.^[5][6]

A psychiatrist who interviewed List testified that he saw only two solutions to his family's financial and health problems – either go on welfare, or kill his family and send their souls to heaven. Welfare would expose them to ridicule, show that List did not love them, and violate his own authoritarian father's teachings to always care for and protect the family.^[6]

[edit] Death

List died from complications of pneumonia at age 82 on March 21, 2008, while in prison custody at a Trenton, New Jersey hospital.^[4] In announcing his death the Newark, New Jersey, Star-Ledger referred to him as the "boogeyman of Westfield".^[7] His body was not immediately claimed,^[8] though he was later buried next to his mother in Frankenmuth, Michigan.^[9]

[edit] Related information

Ten months after the murders, the List home was destroyed by arson. Destroyed along with the home was the ballroom's stained glass skylight, rumored to be a signed Tiffany original worth over $100,000.^[1]

List was one of the people suspected of being "D. B. Cooper"; his age, facial features, and build were similar to those of the mysterious skyjacker. "Cooper" parachuted from a hijacked airliner with $200,000. From prison, List strenuously denied being Cooper, and the FBI no longer considers him a suspect in that case.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] In popular culture

• The 1987 film The Stepfather was loosely based on the List case.^[10]
• Robert Blake played List in the 1993 film Judgment Day: The John List Story.^[11] Blake himself would be charged with murdering his wife in 2001.
• Even though the episode was not based on this case, an episode of Cold Case referenced John List when a whole family was found murdered and the father was suspected.
• Multiple books recount the murders.
• An episode of Forensic Files was made about the case; it was titled "The List Murders".
• Christopher McQuarrie, the writer of the 1995 film The Usual Suspects, used List as the inspiration for character Keyser Söze.
• A 1996 episode of Law & Order entitled "Savior" was based on the John List case. The List case is referred to specifically in both the investigation and the eventual trial.
• A 2009 episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent entitled "Family Values (Happy Family, alternate title) was based on the John List case as well though only the investagation. Law & Order: CI stopped the 'trial' (or order) part of the show in season 6, the episode entitled "Tru Love"

[edit] References

[edit] Books

• Righteous Carnage: The List Murders Timothy B. Benford and James P. Johnson, iUniverse, 332 pp., ISBN 0-595-00720-1
• Death Sentence: The Inside Story of the John List Murders Joe Sharkey, Signet, 305 pp., ISBN 0-451-16947-6
• Collateral Damage: The John List Story John E. List, iUniverse, Inc., 130pp., ISBN 0-595-39536-8
• Thou Shalt Not Kill Mary S. Ryzuk, Warner Books, 509pp., ISBN 0-445-21043-5

[edit] External links

• Newspaper articles on John List
• John List, famous murder - The Crime Library
• John Emil List at Find a Grave