July 18, 1925 - John List
What distinguished List from many killers was not the act itself but the methodical calm that preceded and followed it — the meticulous planning, the letters left behind, and the nearly two decades he spent living quietly under an assumed name before America's Most Wanted brought his face back into public view. His stated motivations blended financial desperation with a particular strain of religious reasoning, making his case a subject of ongoing interest to criminologists and journalists alike.
From Wikipedia
John Emil List (September 17, 1925 – March 21, 2008) was an American mass murderer and long-time fugitive. On November 9, 1971, he killed his wife, mother, and three children in their Westfield, New Jersey home, then disappeared. He had planned the murders so meticulously that nearly a month passed before anyone suspected that something was amiss.
List assumed a new identity, remarried, and eluded justice for nearly 18 years. He was finally apprehended in Virginia on June 1, 1989, after the story of his murders was broadcast on the television program America's Most Wanted. After extradition to New Jersey, he was convicted on five counts of first degree murder and sentenced to five consecutive terms of life imprisonment, making him ineligible for parole for nearly 125 years.
List gave critical financial problems, as well as his perception that his family members were straying from their religious faith, as his motivations for the murders. He claimed to believe that killing them would assure their souls a place in heaven.
- Last updated on .