Affluent Man Murders Entire Family to Avoid Poverty
John List was born on September 17, 1925, to a family in Michigan. He grew up and became a successful man, married and with three children. They all, along with John’s mother, lived in a mansion in Westfield, New Jersey. The family went to their Lutheran church on Sundays and everything seemed perfect and normal until John lost his job at the bank in 1971.
He started failing to make the mortgage payments on his own but didn’t tell his family. He pretended to go to work and tried looking for a new job, but couldn’t find one. He refused to go on welfare. In his mind, a man should be able to provide for his family, and he couldn’t handle telling them that he was unable to.
“I wasn't earning anywhere near enough to support us.” He wrote, “Everything I tried seemed to fall to pieces.”
He started secretly siphoning money from his mother’s account, but that wouldn’t work forever. As a strict, religious man who even taught Sunday school at the church, John became afraid for his family’s faith, not just for their financial situation. He feared they would drift away from their religion and face the holy consequences for it.
“Knowing the type of location that one would have to live in, plus the environment for the children, plus the effect on them knowing they were on welfare was just more than I thought they could and should endure.”
So what did John do?
Well, he did the only thing he saw fit: he killed his entire family.
The Solution
Claiming to have wanted to save their souls, the 46-year-old man murdered them before they had the opportunity to lose their faith, then covered his tracks and ran.
His methods were cold, methodical, and effective, which leads one to wonder how long he planned the murders and how much he really cared about his family in the first place. Was he truly just that religiously misled and deranged?
He shot his wife, Helen List, first on the morning of November 9th, 1971, while she was drinking coffee in the kitchen. John then shot his mother Alma List (84), who was upstairs in bed, dragging her into the hallway and leaving her there.
He shot two of his kids, Frederick (13) and Patricia (16), when they came home later that day, then drove to the other child’s soccer game. John cheered for his kid, John Jr. (15), then drove him home and shot him in the chest 10 times, moving his three kids and wife to the ballroom.
He canceled deliveries to the house such as the mail and newspaper, called the children’s schools to tell them the family would be going on a trip for a few weeks, and closed his bank accounts.
Before he left the house and went into hiding, he wrote a note to his pastor, explaining himself. Here is part of the letter:
I know that what has been done is wrong from all that I have been taught and that any reasons that I might give will not make it right… I leave myself in the hand of God's Justice and Mercy. I don't doubt that He is able to help us, but apparently, He saw fit not to answer my prayers the way that I hoped they would be answered. This makes me think that perhaps it was for the best as far as the children's souls are concerned. I know that many will only look at the additional years that they could have lived, but if finally, they were no longer Christians what would be gained.
John Then Disappeared for Years
The Search was On
The police found the bodies a month after John had already left. His trail had gone completely cold and authorities were at a total loss for where to find him.
18 years later, forensic sculptor Frank Bender made a facial bust of what John List would most likely look like then in 1989 since the only pictures they had of him were too old to be useful in identifying John. The TV show America’s Most Wanted aired an episode about John List that showed the bust, and many people who saw the episode called if they recognized the face.
One woman, in particular, called from Virginia, saying that she had a neighbor named Robert Clark who went to the Lutheran church. He had remarried to a devout Lutheran and was working as an accountant. The police went to his house and the mystery was finally solved.
His second wife, Delores Miller, had no idea about the crimes her husband had committed in the past. He had, of course, been lying to her about his family. Unlike Delores, the woman who tipped off the show was apparently suspicious enough of “Robert” that she called them, and it was a good thing she did.
John List committed the murders then changed his name and moved twice, from Colorado to Virginia, and was living free until that day in 1989 when he was arrested and found guilty about a year later. List was given five life sentences and died in 2008 from pneumonia.
Local Legend
The house where the List family was murdered became a local legend for those in Westfield, New Jersey. Although the original home had burned down and been replaced a very long time ago, it is still known as the “List house.” Kids are scared of the mansion and John is often referred to as the “boogeyman of Westfield.”
Other strange and chilling stories have come from the area, only adding to the legend the John List created by murdering his whole family in cold blood in a day.
At least I'm certain that all have gone to heaven now. - John List