John List
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- This page is about the mass murderer John List, not the economist John A. List of the University of Chicago.
John Emil List (born September 17, 1925 in Bay City, Michigan) is a mass murderer who, on November 9, 1971, murdered his mother, three children and his wife in their sparsely furnished 18-room mansion in Westfield, New Jersey, and then disappeared. He had planned everything so meticulously that nearly a month had passed before anyone noticed that anything was amiss. A fugitive from justice for nearly eighteen years, he was finally apprehended on June 1, 1989 while living under the pseudonym Robert Peter "Bob" Clark, after the story of the murders was broadcast on the television program America's Most Wanted.
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[edit] Motive
Investigations revealed that he had been suffering from financial problems due to losing his job as an accountant, heavy expenses related to his fancy house and family problems caused by his wife's mental illness brought on by advanced syphilis.
After killing his family, List wrote a letter to his pastor, Eugene Rehwinkel of Redeemer Lutheran Church, explaining his motives: He felt that the 1970s were a sinful time, and that his family was beginning to succumb to temptation, especially his daughter, who expressed interest in an acting career, an occupation that List viewed as being particularly corrupt and linked to Satan. He told his pastor that by killing his family before they had the opportunity to renounce their religion, he was saving their souls and sending them directly to Heaven. Most criminal profilers asked to analyze List--including John E. Douglas-- have concluded that List came up with this motive in order to put his own mind at ease and rationalize murdering his own family to lessen his own stress.
[edit] Family history
List was described as a cold, aloof man with few friends. He was the only child of strict German parents, John Frederick List (1859-1944) and his wife Alma (b 1886). His mother in particular was very domineering and overprotective. He was a devout Missouri Synod Lutheran, and taught Sunday school. List served in the Army during World War II and later was given an ROTC commission as an Army Lieutenant. He attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he earned a bachelors degree in business administration and a masters degree in accounting. List's lack of social skills, however, caused him many problems. He had a history of losing jobs.
[edit] Crime
List killed his family members - his wife, Helen, 45; his teenage children, Patricia, 16, John Jr., 15, and Frederick, 13; and his 85-year-old mother, Alma. Killing them one by one, he dragged the bodies of his wife and children on sleeping bags into the ballroom of the house. He left his mother's body in her apartment in the attic and stated in a postscript in the letter to his pastor that, “Mother is in the attic. She was too heavy to move.” List claimed he even prayed over them before leaving and beginning his life as a fugitive. The bodies were not discovered for a month, giving List a headstart. The case quickly became the most infamous in the history of the state of New Jersey and a nationwide manhunt was launched. The police checked out hundreds of leads without results.
[edit] America's Most Wanted
The authorities 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 case they had ever featured. The television program included an age-rendered clay bust which looked very similar to List, even though he had been missing for 18 years.
The man who created the bust of the aging fugitive was forensic artist Frank Bender. Bender had previously had great success in helping to capture aging fugitives and identify decomposed bodies by creating these sculptures. Bender's work was part art and part forensic science. To imagine what an aging List would look like, he consulted forensic psychologist Richard Walter, who created a psychological profile of this man. He looked at photographs of List's parents and predicted what he would look like as he aged. He gave him a receding hairline and sagging jaws. Bender and Richard Walter were particularly lauded for one final touch they added to the completed artwork— a pair of glasses. Walter professed that List would not be vain enough to wear contact lenses. However, he said List would have worn a pair of glasses different from those he wore before the murders. He said they would be a pair with dark thick frames. Bender and Walter theorized that List would do this to "hide." He would want to disguise the fact that he was a failure and appear more important than he really was. When List was arrested, he was wearing the exact type of glasses Bender and Walter thought he would.
[edit] Arrest
On June 1, 1989, 11 days after his case was broadcast on America's Most Wanted, List was arrested while living under the pseudonym Robert "Bob" Peter Clark. List based the name on one of his college classmates, who later stated that he never knew of John List. He was identified by a friend who had seen the television feature. In the 18 years since List committed his crimes he had been living in Denver, Colorado and Richmond, Virginia, where he remarried and started a new life and a career as an accountant. On April 12, 1990 he was convicted in a New Jersey court of five counts of first-degree murder, and on May 1 was sentenced to five life terms in prison. List has never expressed any remorse for his crimes; during a 2002 interview with Connie Chung, List said he believes he will go to heaven.
[edit] Epilogue
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. To this day, Walsh keeps Bender's bust in a place of honor in his office.
[edit] Trivia
- List is the basis for the elusive character of Keyser Soze in the 1995 film The Usual Suspects.
- Jerry Blake, the title character in The Stepfather, is also based on List.
- Robert Blake played List in the 1993 film Judgment Day: The John List Story.
- The original scene of the crime, the List home, burned to the ground under mysterious circumstances on August 30, 1972, almost a year after the murders. Along with the fire went perhaps the biggest irony of all: the glass ceiling in the empty ballroom was a signed Tiffany & Co. original. That alone would likely have paid off all of John List’s debts.
- In 1971, List was considered a suspect in the "DB Cooper" hijacking, which occurred just after his family's murders. List's age, facial features, and build were similar to the mysterious skyjacker's. "Cooper" parachuted from the hijacked airliner with $200,000, the same amount as List's debts. From prison, List has strenously denied being "DB Cooper", and the FBI no longer considers him a suspect.
- The band The Whirling Dervishes wrote a song about List's murders called "John's List." It appears on "Weird NJ" magazine's album "The Sounds of Weirdness."
[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
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: The True Story of John List Mary S. Ryzuk, Popular Library, 502pp., ISBN 0-445-21043-5
