John List - Motive

Motive

List had lost his job as an accountant and was suffering from financial problems before the murders. He would sit at the local bus station every day, hiding his unemployment from his family, and making believe he was traveling to his accountant job. He owed $11,000 on his mortgage and was skimming from his mother's bank accounts. He was also dealing with his wife's dementia, brought on by advanced syphilis contracted from her first husband and hidden from List for 18 years.

List was described by a psychiatrist as having obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. 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. He was especially concerned about the soul of his daughter, Patty, who showed little interest in church. She was also active in the theater department, smoked marijuana, and was interested in Wicca. He was afraid that 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.

Read more about this topic:  John List

Famous quotes containing the word motive:

    With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion. With me, it is merely good manners. You may judge which motive is the more reliable.
    Robert Bolt (1924–1995)

    Not rarely, and this is especially true of wives and mothers, the motive behind assuming a disproportionate share of work and responsibility is completely unselfish. We want to protect, to spare those of whom we are fond. We forget that, regardless of the motive, the results of such action are almost always destructive and unproductive.
    Hortense Odlum (1892–?)

    In all history no class has been enfranchised without some selfish motive underlying. If to-day we could prove to Republicans or Democrats that every woman would vote for their party, we should be enfranchised.
    Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947)