''I've seen him angry, really angry, only one time,'' he said. The day after the killings, List scoured the house for family photographs, tearing his image out of them so police would have nothing to use in Wanted posters. A devout Christian. ''I was sad and scared for Delores,'' Mrs. Flanery said. God is perfect. ''I let it go.''. John List (murderer) (19252008), American mass murderer. By then, he owned a 1974 Volkswagen and had gotten an accounting job working for a company that made cardboard boxes. A couple of sourcesclaim that the ornate housecontainedaskylight made ofLouis Comfort Tiffany stained glass valuable enough to bail List out of his financial problems. That was the last I heard from her before Bob was arrested.. Northwestern UniversitysInstitute for Policy Researchfound that during the subprime-mortgage-induced Great Recession,8 million Americans lost their jobs and each year lenders foreclosed on4million homes. She said List, who spoke fluent German, attended a Lutheran elementary school and later went to public high school. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. He was too shy and seemed disinterested in talking to even his superiors. I dont buy the pious excuses in Lists confession letter at face value. All rights reserved (About Us). The rare form of cancer has made it difficult for the dance teacher to walk, but she is hard at work to regain her ability in physical therapy . I am devoted to him.''. Colorado resident Wanda Flanery contactedpolice about a former neighbor named BobClark who had recently moved away to Richmond, Virginia. Host John Walsh, whose own son had been a murder victim, asked viewers to call in tips. List then went upstairs and killed his 84-year-old mother Alma. He defended himself saying that he was not mentally stable. Lack of faith. Internet research turned up a number of statistics that surely would have providedList with some consolation if he faced his sameproblems post-2000. Ill keep searching! His picture was also shown on television, which led one of his neighbours to notify the authorities. He settled in New Jersey and took a job at a local bank. When asked about his family, ''he would make some allusion to Michigan or Minnesota,'' Mr. Bassler added. Meanwhile, back at Breeze Knoll, investigators found the As of 2018, Peggy, Dolores, and Connie are still alive. Once, when I asked him, he said he was from Michigan.. Pictures of Breeze Knoll frighten me not only because John List murdered his family there in 1971 but also because, well, think of the electricbill. It was one day out of all these many many years.'' List. "I approached all of them from behind so they wouldn't realize till the last minute what I was going to do to them," he said. Out of the marriage that he despised, out of the family responsibility, out to a new life. We all made a lot of assumptions, such as the fact that he didn't have any children, since his wife had been so sick. None of them lying face down! Then he drove to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where he left his car as a false lead and took a bus into the city. Mr. Clark spent long days in his own small office, unadorned by decorations or memorabilia, but with classical music playing softly on a radio. John List met Helen Morris Taylor, a young widow of an American enlisted man who had died in the Korean War. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Spouse/Ex-: Delores Miller Clark (m. 19851989), Helen List (m. 19511971), children: Frederick List, John, Jr. But, during a four-hour interview, he sought to explain how worries that financial hardship would split his family and turn them away from their faith forced him to make a tough decision. List, an accountant, insurance salesman, former bank vice president and Sunday school teacher, disappeared in November 1971. ''If he goes into a McDonald's for a hamburger, the man is going to bow his head and say grace to his God,'' the friend said. Dolores Sheeran is now Dolores Miller, 55, a former medical secretary and a realtor, according to her Facebook page. For conservatives, will the fact that nearly half the voters wanted Trump elicit a seemingly somewhat disconnected, arrogant liberal media to modify its stance, pausing to consider whether it adequately reflects and represents ALL the people rather than around just half or so? Long-lost ship found at the bottom of Lake Huron, confirming story of tragic collision, TikTok to set default daily time limit of 60 minutes for minors. At a recent news conference, she described him as a good husband with a deep and abiding faith in God. WebOK, I am seeing: Delores Clark (Miller), married 1985- I was thinking of editing in "2008 (his death)" but don't know if I'd be getting into privacy issues. I guess I finally decided the only way to save them from that was to kill them.. . "I feel when we get to heaven we won't worry about these earthly things. certificate. After their divorce, several facts and allegations came up about Ivar Campbell. On June 19, 1975, Mr. Clark joined St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Denver. But what gets her really excited? Delores Miller Clark (m. 198589) John Emil List (September 17, 1925 March 21, 2008) was an American mass murderer [1] and long-time fugitive. Yes, at the age 85 Clark is still performing all her hits, touring the U.S., and releasing a new album. Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. The familyhad bought the house for around $50,000 in 1965. They'll either have forgiven me or won't realize, you know, what happened," List told Downtown's Connie Chung in an interview at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, where he is serving five life sentences. Clark was picked up 11 days after the Most Wanted broadcast dramatized the ballroom murders. The bodies of the three children were positioned face down, usually indicating some degree of shame or discomfort. They got him down in Virginia.. The greatest psychopathic distortion: that his suicide would be a sin, but murder and of children wasnt, of a degree excluding him from the God he claimed to seek. He was working the night shift and I cleaned the kitchen. Jeanne, thanks for the kinds words and the research! Several weeks later, in his rambling 19-room Victorian mansion in Westfield, N.J., the police found the bodies of his mother, his wife and his three children. It took Johns fingerprints to match with the military records to convince the authorities that he was John List. John was arrested and extradited to New Jersey. I was going to subscribe and refer until I saw that swipe at Trump. "I grew up with the idea that you should provide for your family and to do that you had to be a success in the job that you had or you're a failure, and that was not a good thing to be," he said. Academic Background. Mr. "I was hungry," he told Downtown, adding with a chuckle, "that's just the way it was.". I believe it was 1895 or possibly 96. Mr. Authorities said two of the tips--one from Richmond, Va., another from Denver--led them to a mild-mannered accountant in Midlothian, Va. List then killed his kids one by one as they returned home from school. Occasionally, Mr. Clark and Mr. Stefano played a board game on a battle theme, and Mr. Clark ''always took the German army,'' Mr. Stefano said. As of 2018, Peggy, Dolores, and Connie are still alive. Does Flanery have any regrets about turning in Clark? ''That's all there was to it. Even now a chill runs through James Moran, Westfields retired police chief, when he recalls the scene in the sparsely furnished, 18-room mansion List had bought for $50,000 in 1966, using money from an inheritance. Perhaps if Listknew back in 1971 that, 45 years in the future,an American who filed for bankruptcy protection four timeswould nonetheless be electedleader of the free world, he could have sucked it up, started over,and eventually made the Listfamily great again. He died in prison as a result of pneumonia. There were more problems. Feb. 20, 2002 -- Thirty years ago, accountant John List methodically murdered his whole family his mother, his wife, and their three children. ''Delores said it wasn't Bob,'' Mrs. Flanery recalled. He took the name Robert Clark, eventually got an accounting job, and remarried. It rippled through the county and state: John List, the man who had meticulously murdered his mother, wife and three kids in their Westfield mansion and disappeared without a trace, was in custody. ''I have been depressed over all this,'' Mrs. Clark wrote. The rationalization for killing them was his way of eliminating an inconvenience and his own stress. He spent his days at the train At the news conference in Richmond, Mrs. Clark acknowledged seeing the picture. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. A person who called a telephone number printed on the screen was a son-in-law of a neighbor of Mr. Clark when he lived in Colorado. His free time was spent with Delores Miller and volunteering at church. However, today we are not here to talk about the legendary singer but about his son Tamon Pendergrass. COVID origins? Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. List was arrested the next day by the FBI. is delores miller clark still alive. He has also appeared on television shows such as Your Worst Nightmare and American Justice. Divorce would have meant paying child support for three and possibly alimony. Ten days after a creepy, glass-eyed bust of John List was shown on Americas Most Wanted, Westfield residents had not heard of a single promising lead. ''He didn't take them down.'' He wrote of being under a lot of pressure, but I cant reveal anything else, Moran said. Mr. Clark, the friend insisted, displayed no taste for violence. When they found him, John Jr. had been shot nine times.. Why are we still having these debates? You understand what I'm saying? Love your posts, RR! Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. 'Been Through That Before'. Its not much of a swipe if its true and it IS true that Mr Ts businesses declared bankruptcy a number of times (not him personally). Pieced together, they form a portrait of a man with a talent for deflecting attention, a quiet person who led a simple life of work, gardening, television and the Lutheran church. That was the only time I ever saw Bob show any anger.. His middle son, John Jr. who was also his favorite suffered the most brutal death. He became increasingly depressed. After raising her children she was As I was doing it I knew it was wrong," he said. And youre obviously a lib. Then he sat down and wrote a confession letter to his pastor explaining his financial problems. But even if it's all true, this is still not a man with a history of murder, but a man with a murder in his history. '', Mr. Clark formed his own consulting firm, Robert Clark Services. But pointing out that someone has had multiple bankruptcies is a statement of fact, not an insult. List had sent word to school that he was taking his children to visit relatives, Moran said. She said she really didnt want to leave Denver, but Bob had been out of work since shortly after they were married and he had finally found this job in Virginia.. ''I remember talking to him a few times about marriage, because I was having marital troubles at the time,'' Mr. Roberto recalled. I just discovered this blog, and as a fellow Forensic Files fan, this intrigues me! Delores Clark, right, tells reporters at a press conference on June 8, 1989 that she did not believe her husband was John List. Asked to check Mr. Clark's resume in their files, the executives found that it was gone. Little is known of Peggy, who stopped talking to her father in 1975 and hasnt spoken out about him since. They remember him as a quiet, kind, intensely private man who worked first as a cook, later as a bookkeeper, for small, obscure companies. His father-in-law had heard from the county sheriff: After nearly 18 years, List had been caught. I didnt meet him until he moved in.. A favorite television program was ''America's Most Wanted'' on the Fox network. What on earth has your comment got to do with the price of fish? Way roomy. '', Mr. Clark is deeply religious and law-abiding. And when they did, he shot them, one by one. List in a supermarket tabloid. Mass Murderer, Overextended Homeowner Sometimes we ought to be discomforted to rouse us from complacency. Listlowered the temperature in the house, cued up some organmusic on the intercom system, and told his kids teachers that the family had gone on a trip to North Carolina. That, though, cant be claimed to be a bad thing in itself. I have all the books written on this case but can only put my hands on the one written by Joe Sharkey an excellent read btw! Although Helen reportedly suffered from the effects of syphilis contracted from her previoushusband, the family appeared stable and high-functioning to their friends and neighbors. It was my belief that if you kill yourself, you wont go to heaven, List says. Instead she showed the newspaper to Mrs. Clark. He spent his days at the train station reading, napping, and wondering how to get his family out of their financial mess. Helen had turned into an alcoholic, which caused them to engage in a lot of fights. But as listeners heard in episode 7, when his second wife, Delores Miller Clark, came to visit him in the Henrico County Jail after his arrest, List admitted who he From New York, he had traveled overland to Denver, where he began a new life under the name Robert P. Clark, working first as a hotel fry cook and later as an accountant for H&R Block. At the time, I remember my roommate coming home and asking, Did you hear they caught John List? Shed grown up in Westfield, where kids made the List propertytheir No. (The List Murders,Forensic Files). I think he killed the family because his ego was such that he couldnt handle them seeing him as a failure. Mrs. Clark also has relatives nearby, in Maryland. He was 82 years old at the time of his demise. Mr. Clark gave his age as 57. I rode in that old car lots of times, going to baseball practice with John Jr., Robert Compton, now a Westfield police officer, recalled. When the police entered the house, on December 7th, the bodies had begun to decompose. Authorities said that he had been living a quiet life--active in his church, puttering in his yard on weekends--and that he had no problems with the law while a John Sr. drove over to his school and watched him playing in a soccer game. We found his mother up in her third-floor apartment. We became friends, you might say.. Laura Werner, who rented an apartment from the family, remembers List as a sweet little mamas boy. WebHe later married Delores Miller Clark. They had been dead nearly a month, and by that time John Emil List was long gone. List might look now. First, a recap of theForensic Filesepisode The List Murders with some additional research from the internet. The couple had three children together, while Helens daughter Brenda left home in 1960 after her marriage. Until next week, cheers. If anyone knows what yearBreeze Knoll was built, please advise. For example, he would generally eat his lunch in his orange Volkswagen in the parking lot, with its windows rolled up and classical music playing on the radio. For 18 months, Clark kept house and always had dinner waiting for his wife, Flanery recalled. He usually chose large apartment complexes where it was easy to remain anonymous. That he didnt just walk out, never to return was were his psychopathy entered. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. It became apparent to me they would soon foreclose on the home and the questions of where would we go. Delores Clark, right, tells reporters at a press conference on June 8, 1989 that she did not believe her husband was John List. At the time of the murder, John was unemployed. Bob West, said Clark became a pillar of the church during the 11 years he attended. JOHN List the quiet New Jersey accountant who murdered his entire family in 1971, took on a new identity and a new family and went undetected for 18 years says the killing were merely his assignment for the day., In his first TV interview since the infamous murders, tonight on 20/20 Downtown, List tells Connie Chung: Eventually I got to the point where I felt that I could kill [his family], hopefully they would go to heaven, and then maybe I would have a chance to later confess my sins to God and get forgiveness.. Indeed, Trumps rescinding the moratorium on federal execution is an example (and some need informing that he didnt impose death a judge and jury did but merely removed the block to its enaction.). '', ''One thing about Bobby,'' the friend in Richmond said. "So eventually I got to the point where I felt that I could kill them. In 1989, Fox network broadcasted a TV show titled Americas Most Wanted, where an episode featured the New Jersey mass murders of John by his family. Quiet and Simple Life, In a telephone conversation with his closest friend in Richmond this week, he said only that he was ''sorry for any embarrassment he put me through or put his friends and relatives through. Mr. Mrs. Flanery was among the millions of people watching. In late 1987 Mr. Clark responded to an advertisment placed in a local newspaper by a Virginia empoyment agency. Mrs. Stefano also recalled an evening at the Clark home when the conversation turned to the couple's origins. Mr. Clark also changed jobs at this point, becoming a cook at the Piney Country Club in Parker, southeast of Denver, where he helped Mr. Wetmore obtain a cleaning job. Mr. Clark flew out at his own expense for an interview and obtained the job. Agree. List later worked in Rochester, N.Y., and Jersey City, N.J., before taking his family to Westfield in 1955. ''I knew it was Bob,'' she said. At a church singles party in 1977, Clark met Delores Education. He went on to wed again, join a new family and live in peace and anonymity for nearly two decades. John had a very normal childhood and he did not show any signs of psychological troubles. He told Steve Reed, a vice president of the agency, Richmond Placements Inc., that he wanted to live and work in a more vibrant economy. Lists subsequent FBI arrest at his accounting office made for scintillatingnews around the globe and electrifiedAmericas Most Wantedratings. 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