I dont wish death on the CIC. He was too shy and seemed disinterested in talking to even his superiors. God is perfect. A devout Christian. Thats what Ive often wondered, he says. John was a strict Lutheran and hence, when he came to know about Helens pregnancy, he right away proposed to her for marriage. '', Although he hesitated before placing Mr. Clark in the Roberto job, ''I couldn't come up with a reason to say no,'' Mr. Oldson said. Morrison said that by 1977, Clark had begun to find work as an accountant, List's occupation before he disappeared. John and I were classmates and were on the same baseball team. At the time of the murder, John was unemployed. To the right of the Chinese red front door is an Amish plaque inscribed, ''Bless This House.'' 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). Now you come in List with your perverted religious interpretations and go hog wild. The neighbours called the police when Johns daughter Patricias dancing teacher came home to see why Patricia was not coming to the classes. I dont think he was a psychopath. He had told her he had no children. Although a model employee in most ways, ''he just couldn't implement the computer mode that we needed.''. Reporters Rebecca Everett and Jessica Remo explore the impact of the capture, meeting people in Virginia who saw List unmasked and tracking down Lists second wife one side of the infamous story thats never been told. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? He went to the post office to stop the family's mail, then to the bank, where he cashed his mother's savings bonds, checking that he got the correct interest to the penny. It was a segment on the 1971 murders, broadcast on May 21, that the authorities have said prompted telephone tips that led to his arrrest. You can perhaps understand why, for him, the wife and mother were killed but the children? Then he apparently did some errands while waiting all day long for the children to come home. is delores miller clark still alive. The man called at the insistence of his mother-in-law, who was a friend of Mr. Clark's wife, Delores, and had kept in touch with the Clarks after their move to Virginia. Thanks much, Jean so glad youre enjoying the blog! 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. One night after dinner, he even asked his family what should be done with their bodies after they died. Records from All Packaging indicate that he married Miss Miller a few months before leaving the company, in November 1985. On June 1, 1989 he was arrested at a Richmond accounting firm after a Denver neighbor viewed the who writes: In 1895, he bought twenty-two acres of land a few miles northeast, and built a grand Victorian house atop a gentle knoll .. Wittke called his estate Breeze Knoll. Bob didnt have a car at the time so I helped him move out of the trailer park into an apartment a few blocks east of the motel, he said. In 1974, Mr. Clark's name appears for the first time in a Denver telephone directory. He snapped at me, No family! Wetmore recalled. His father-in-law had heard from the county sheriff: After nearly 18 years, List had been caught. Eventually, he took a decently paying job with a paper company at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and settled there with his family. The rationalization for killing them was his way of eliminating an inconvenience and his own stress. ''I let it go.''. He then shot both his wife and mother in their heads. With Mr. Wetmore's help, Mr. Clark moved again, in 1977, to Wheatridge. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. I think you mean religious extremists. On Nov. 9, 1971, after sending his children off to school, List took his two handguns out to the car to load them, then walked into the kitchen and shot his wife from behind as she was drinking coffee. After that, she was always cautious around him. But he fled to Colorado, assumed a new name and remarried, managing to elude a nationwide manhunt for 18 years. I actually do try to keep this blog politically neutral we all need a break from partisanship. He defended himself saying that he was not mentally stable. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, 11-year-old reads aloud from 'pornographic' book he checked out from library at school board meeting, Influencer refuses to switch business class seats so family can sit together, Chicago's top cop quits one day after woke mayor lost re-election bid, Family raises 250-pound 'dog' for 2 years then realizes it's a bear, RHOA star Drew Sidora accuses ex Ralph Pittman of cheating, mental abuse, Original Gone With The Wind script reveals secret war over slavery, cut scenes, Drake regrets disrupting someones life by name-dropping exes in his songs, Kanye West and 'wife' Bianca Censori look surprisingly happy on dinner date. He took a new wife, to whom he lied about his age and personal history. By then, he owned a 1974 Volkswagen and had gotten an accounting job working for a company that made cardboard boxes. This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. Miller is not in business there, and there is no evidence it ever existed. Lists logic in killing his entire family to ensure they went to heaven is undeniable if youre a psychopathic lunatic. That was the only time I ever saw Bob show any anger.. He dyed his hair and changed his name to establish new credit accounts and a phony Social Security number. But the trail turned cold at Kennedy International Airport, where his car had been abandoned. Mrs. Clark's job at a warehouse at the Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center did not pay enough to support the two of them, and they began to fall behind on their mortgage payments. Delores Clark, right, tells reporters at a press conference on June 8, 1989 that she did not believe her husband was John List. They married in 1985. In addition to the financial distress, his eldest daughter wanted to become an actress, which was not acceptable by John owing to his Conservative upbringing. Two neighbors, Joseph and Jacqueline Stefano, told reporters that Mr. Clark had a particular interest in World War II and Hitler. List then killed his kids one by one as they returned home from school. He recollected that Mr. Clark wore ''things that didn't match'' and seemed to have been ''living hand to mouth, doing bookkeeping work. He wanted OUT. After being out there that long, List says, I guess I got to the point where I thought well, maybe I wont be caught., In 1989, one of Lists Virginia neighbors recognized him on Foxs Americas Most Wanted.. John Emil List was born 63 years ago in Bay City, Mich., the son of a wealthy German immigrant grocer who had married, for the second time, late in life. By then, he owned a 1974 Volkswagen and had gotten an accounting job But the wife was face up (albeit with a cloth covering placed later), indicating contempt. That was low. Anyway, theres no rationalising the psychopathic mind which is why the bail-out stuff that RR mentions probably wouldnt have made a jot of difference to him or the situation. Authorities are not certain just when List arrived in the Denver area, but one Denver man remembered meeting Robert P. Clark in Golden in early 1973, just over a year after the murders. 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. They had been laid out in a neat row, head to toe, Moran said. List have appeared on Federal Bureau of Investigation ''wanted'' posters since then, along with a description of him as an accountant, ''a neat dresser'' and a man who ''may be armed and should be considered very dangerous.''. 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? Oh, my! . Little is known of Peggy, who stopped talking to her father in 1975 and hasnt spoken out about him since. In a three-sentence statement to the court, he said he was sorry for "the tragedy that happened in 1971." They got married in December 1951. There were more problems. The pollalso determined that homeowners fail to contact their lender because they are embarrassed, dont believe the lender can help, and/or believe it would cause them to lose their home more quickly.. About a year ago, he and Mrs. Clark made a $12,000 down payment on a $76,000 slate-blue single-story three-bedroom house in the planned community of Brandermill, in the southwestern suburb of Midlothian. By killing his family, he hoped to spare them shame, save their souls, and guarantee they could all spend the afterlife together. Authorities later revealed that John kept lying to his family about his jobs. Its first entry is R. C. Miller, a business he said was in Wheatridge, Colo., a suburb north of Denver. The case turned cold until18 years later, whenthen-newTV showAmericas Most Wantedcommissioned forensic artist Frank Bender to sculpt a bustthat aged List. He took out the last $2,000 on the day of the killings, said Moran, who found the withdrawal slip while searching the house. Another great post and one of my all time favourite murder stories. meticulously murdered his mother, wife and three kids. John List was on the run when they met in 1985 after having murdered his family members about 14 years before. Trivia. The authorities couldnt find List despite a nationally publicized manhunt led by the FBI; the fugitivehad given himself toogenerous a head start. He was arrested 11 days later, and, after a jury rejected his diminished capacity defense, convicted and sentenced. List had sent word to school that he was taking his children to visit relatives, Moran said. Redefining eerie. Moreover, his wife was a heavy drinker and she had also contracted Syphilis from her first marriage. John fled the house after putting all the bodies on sleeping bags, turning the house lights on and putting on some classical music. He later pursued a masters degree in accounting from the same university and as the Korean War had escalated in 1950, he was recalled by the Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, stationed at Fort Eustis in Virginia, where he met his wife Helen. Delores called me on this past Mothers Day, Flanery said. Flanery recalls asking Delores Clark then if she thought her husband might be John List. Over the years, the John List murders have been featured in films such as Judgment Day: The John List Story and The Stepfather. The Lindbergh Kidnapping: Forensic Files Lost Episode, Dawn Fehring: A Missionary Dies Too Young, Ron Gillette: An Air Force Man Who Didnt Exactly Aim High. If he did it once, he could have done it again, especially since they were having financial problems.. Her son-in-law Randy Mitchell called the telephone number on the screen on her instructions and gave the operator the phone number and address of the Clarks in Virginia. Its not a good read.full of his BS and tons of grammatical errors and misspellings. Was this numbers cruncher really ignorant that the Tiffany chandelier was worth close to $100K? And when they did, he shot them, one by one. ''It's still not true.''. Clark held several cooking jobs in the early 70s and moved frequently, Wetmore said. ''He did everything by hand,'' the executive said. List (born 1968), American economist. Another way of characterising them might be to state that he was sick of his mad wife (who some sources say was a public embarrassment to him by getting publicaly drunk and remarking on his lack of sexual prowess, etc), was indifferent to the children, had embezzled the mothers money and needed to off her, was losing the house, and had no job. 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. Authorities said two of the tips--one from Richmond, Va., another from Denver--led them to a mild-mannered accountant in Midlothian, Va. As always, a great & engaging read. He was a man who would never, ever stand out in a crowd, said Carole Burton, manager of the east Denver apartment complex where Clark lived from September, 1978, until November, 1985. By the late 1950s, the family was in a good financial situation as John had been promoted to the position of a general supervisor in the company. Delores Clark, right, tells reporters at a press conference on June 8, 1989 that she did not believe her husband was John List. He insinuated that it had been a bad experience.''. Love your posts, RR! Obituary for Bro. A few months earlier, the couple had moved in together, staying in Miss Miller's two-bedroom apartment at the Somerset Village condominiums in nearby Montbello. In the years after the methodical murders of his wife, mother and three children in New Jersey, John Emil List painstakingly created a new identity for himself in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Clark started doing work on the side for H & R Block. When Fox Broadcasting Co. aired his case last month on its Americas Most Wanted television show, more than 200 tipsters called to say they thought they recognized the former mamas boy from Bay City, Mich. On their cul-de-sac, the Clarks were described as pleasant but distant. Denver FBI agents say they received no information about the fugitive in their midst for 16 years after the grisly ballroom murders in New Jersey were discovered. Delores attended Washington Park High School. He was actually employed at the time of the murders, at State Mutual Life, and could have found other work. Spouse/Ex-: Delores Miller Clark (m. 19851989), Helen List (m. 19511971), children: Frederick List, John, Jr. He chose not tocommit suicide because he considered it a sin. Human name disambiguation pages. 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. Any prospective John Lists of the new millenniumsurely could see that their problems were shared by countless homeowners around the U.S. and the world. Undiscovered jackpot? WebSearching obituaries is a great place to start your family tree research. John List was an American mass murderer, who became infamous in the 1970s for killing his mother, wife and three children. John List (murderer) (19252008), American mass murderer. Not sure what youre saying here. Austin Goodrich, an ABCNEWS consultant who is writing a book with John List, contributed material for this report. Gary Morrison, a former chef at the motel, remembered Clark saying he had once been married but his wife had died of cancer. While List wouldnt meet the legal threshold for madness, he was unquestionably deeply disturbed: mass murder as well as a later life of lies and deceit. Born In: Bay City, Michigan, United States. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Following the end of the war, he resumed his studies and enrolled into the University of Michigan, from where he completed his bachelors degree in business administration. Way roomy. ''He said he'd been through that before and knew what I meant. He went on to wed again, join a new family and live in peace and anonymity for nearly two decades. He lined the bodies up on the floor, put music on through the houses intercom system and wrote a confession to his pastor. He wrote of being under a lot of pressure, but I cant reveal anything else, Moran said. List. Bust the case. John Lists friend wrote a book where it mentions they divorced and she was living in poverty. Id argue that religious zealotry was the EFFECT of a prior cause: mental illness. He thought it improper in the eyes of God. 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. John Sr. drove over to his school and watched him playing in a soccer game. Fact cannot be objected to unless its status as fact is contested. Four months later, his wife joined him in Midlothian, a suburb southwest of Richmond. But what gets her really excited? TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. But his defence was rejected and he was imprisoned at the New Jersey State Prison. But he has to pay for what he did. His middle son, John Jr. who was also his favorite suffered the most brutal death. Delores Miller Clark (m. 198589) John Emil List (September 17, 1925 March 21, 2008) was an American mass murderer [1] and long-time fugitive. The pastor, the Rev. Starting in 1968 and through at least the summer of 1969 she was an original member of the Los Angeles production of Hair. He died in the prison hospital at the age of 82, in 2008. Executives at All Packaging said they had a reference on Mr. Clark from Roberto Distributing. Id hate to see the heatingtab for the 19-room mansion that occupied 431 Hillside Avenue in Westfield, New Jersey. ''I've seen him angry, really angry, only one time,'' he said. The bodies of Lists 85-year-old mother, Alma, his wife, Helen, 45, and their children, Patricia, 16, John Jr., 15, and Frederick, 13, were not discovered until the evening of Dec. 7, 1971. John was arrested and extradited to New Jersey. It especiallybothered him that his eldest, 16-year-oldPatricia, was interested in becoming an actress. By all accounts his wife was a good mother and all the children were doing just fine and on a good trajectory. Ted Oldson, an executive with the accounting firm of Brown, Whitley & Todd, interviewed him for a client, Roberto Distributing, a carpet wholesaler in Denver. He usually chose large apartment complexes where it was easy to remain anonymous. This is little numerical difference even if reflecting a gulf in political difference. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. She and his wife were still in their bedclothes. All the pieties in the letter masked his real motives, both for the public and in his own mind. List, who says he remains deeply religious today, acknowledges that his crimes violated one of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not kill.". ''He said it was all just terrible.''. He settled in New Jersey and took a job at a local bank. Mrs. Stefano also recalled an evening at the Clark home when the conversation turned to the couple's origins. Your email address will not be published. We've received your submission. . The man did absolutely nothing to call attention to himself. His salary rose to $490 a week. The good news is, they *are* all in Heaven no doubt. Your email address will not be published. Her illness left astronomical medical bills, he'd tell me. He even had turned the thermostat down to 50 degrees to preserve the bodies.. List are unquestionably the same man. It may be more than coincidence that Miller is the former name of Mr. Clark's wife, Delores, She had a young daughter from her previous marriage. 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. 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