John List - Murders

Murders

On November 9, 1971, List methodically killed his entire family: his wife, Helen, 45; his children, Patricia, 16, John, Jr., 15, and Frederick, 13; and his mother, Alma, 84. He had used his father's 9mm Steyr 1912 automatic handgun and his own .22 caliber revolver in the murders. He first shot his wife in the back of the head and his mother above 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 dragged his dead wife and children, on sleeping bags, into the ballroom of their 19-room Victorian home after each kill. He then cleaned up the crime scene, turned on all the lights, and switched on the radio. He left his mother's body in her apartment in the attic and stated in a letter to his pastor on his desk in his study 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, partly due to the Lists' reclusiveness. Moreover, List sent notes to the children's schools and part-time jobs stating that the family would be in North Carolina for several weeks, and had stopped the family's milk, mail and newspaper deliveries. He took money from his bank account, as well as his mother's bank account, then fled in his Chevrolet Impala.

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 Impala was found parked at Kennedy Airport, but there was no record of him taking a flight. The police checked out hundreds of leads without results.

Frederick, John Jr., Helen and Patricia were buried at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield.

John List moved to Colorado and assumed the identity Robert "Bob" Clark and in 1985 married divorcee Delores Miller.

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 bust was sculpted by 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.