John List Murdered His Wife, Mother, and Three Children, Then Vanished for 18 Years.

 

John List Murdered His Entire Family, Then Disappeared for 18 Years

John Emil List was an accountant living with his family in a mansion in Westfield, New Jersey.

On November 9, 1971, he systematically murdered five members of his own family.

First, List shot his wife, Helen, 46, and his mother, Alma, 84.

Then he waited for his children to come home from school.

He murdered Patricia, 16, and Frederick, 13.

His oldest son, John Jr., 15, was at soccer practice.

List drove there, watched him play, brought him home, and shot him repeatedly.

Five people dead.

Then List carefully arranged their bodies, turned on lights and music, canceled deliveries, contacted the children's schools with an explanation for their absence, and disappeared.

He left behind a five-page letter claiming financial problems and his extreme religious beliefs had driven him to kill his family because he believed murdering them would somehow “save their souls.”

Then he built himself another life.

For nearly 18 years, List lived under the name Robert Peter Clark, eventually remarrying.

In 1989, America's Most Wanted aired a segment about the murders featuring a forensic sculpture showing what List might look like as an older man.

A viewer recognized him.

He was arrested days later.

In 1990, a jury convicted List of five counts of first-degree murder. He received five consecutive life sentences.

He died in prison in 2008.

List spent nearly two decades hiding behind another man's name.

His family never got another day.

Helen. Alma. Patricia. Frederick. John Jr. Five people murdered because one man decided their lives belonged to him to fucking end.