01x12 - The List Murders

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: for years,

A mass m*rder*r successfully eluded the f.b.i.

[People singing a mighty fortress is our god]

He was wanted for the m*rder of his entire family.

[g*nsh*t]

[g*nsh*t]

[g*nsh*t]

[g*nshots]

[g*n cocking]

[g*nsh*t]

This is how art and science led to his capture.



Narrator: the list family

Lived in this large victorian home

In the quiet, affluent town of westfield, new jersey.

John list was a -year-old accountant.

He and his wife helen

Had been married for almost years.

They had children,

-Year-old patricia,

-Year-old john,

And -year-old freddie.

John list's elderly mother alma

Also lived with the family

In her own separate apartment on the third floor.

The list children attended local schools

And were all active and popular.

John list was a devout lutheran and taught sunday school.

In the fall of , the list house stood empty.

The family was away visiting a sick relative.

But when a month went by with no signs of activity,

Neighbors grew suspicious and decided to call the police.

They felt that something was wrong.

They asked us to check the house, which we did.

Narrator: when police arrived,

They entered the house through an unlocked window.

The house was cold,

And there were no signs of activity,

But they heard music.

Like a funeral-- dirge-type music

That was very disturbing to the officers who were in there.

Narrator: the police also noticed the faint smell

Of decomposing flesh.

They found the source in the ballroom--

Bodies, each lying on a blood-soaked sleeping bag,

Lined up neatly side by side.

The victims were identified as helen list and her children.

All had been sh*t to death at close range.

Police noticed a blood trail on the floor,

Indicating that helen and the children were sh*t in the kitchen,

Then dragged into the ballroom.

In the kitchen, police found bags full of blood-soaked paper towels

And a bloody mop--

Evidence that the k*ller cleaned up after the murders.

Police searched the rest of the house.

Upstairs on the third floor,

They made another chilling discovery:

A fifth body-- -year-old alma list.

She had been sh*t in the head.

In the den, police found two g*ns

And a letter addressed to the pastor of the local church

The list family attended.

Man, voice-over: I know that what has been done is wrong.

I'm sure many will say, how can anyone do such a horrible thing...

Mother is in the hallway in the attic.

She was too heavy to move.

Narrator: the letter was not only a confession,

But an explanation.

It was signed by john list.

List had recently lost a lucrative banking job,

Was having money problems,

And feared his family would have to go on welfare.

And he had other concerns.

As a devout christian,

List feared his family was turning away from a christian life

And would eventually stop going to church.

He disapproved of his daughter's growing interest

In an acting career--

A profession he considered to be immoral.

In the mind of john list,

There was only one place he could send his family

To save their souls.

Man, voice-over: at least I'm certain

That all have gone to heaven now.

Narrator: the letter provided some details of the murders.

John!

[g*nsh*t]

Narrator: that it took longer for his oldest son john to die.

[g*nshots]

Narrator: he was riveted with b*ll*ts

Until list was satisfied the child was dead.

Man, voice-over: john got hurt more

Because he seemed to struggle longer.

Narrator: john list's confession also described

His last moments alone with his family.

Man, voice-over: I said some prayers for them all from the hymnbook.

That was the least I could do.

Narrator: when news of the murders broke,

Neighbors told police that the mild-mannered accountant

Was an odd, reclusive man with very few friends.

Two days after the bodies were discovered,

Police found list's abandoned car in a parking lot

At jfk airport in new york.

The date on the parking voucher was november ,

But there was no evidence list had taken a flight.

But police knew wherever list was,

He had a one-month head start.

Narrator: the manhunt for a mass m*rder*r had begun.

Police issued a nationwide m*rder warrant

For the arrest of john emil list.

He was wanted for the m*rder of his entire family.

Man: it was a high-priority case.

It was sent to every fbi field office,

Every post office,

And to other law enforcement agencies across the country.

Narrator: a ballistics report confirmed

That the two g*ns found in john list's desk

Were the weapons used to k*ll his family.

Autopsies revealed that the victims had been sh*t in the head.

The victims had been dead about a month

When their bodies were discovered.

But where was john list?

There had been two schools of thought.

One was that he had committed su1c1de

After committing the homicides.

And the other was that he was living somewhere out around the midwest.

Once in awhile you'd get a sighting-- a list sighting.

You'd get a report that, uh, they saw a guy

In, you know, alabama who looked like john list--

'Cause the fbi kept, you know, information.

Narrator: john emil list would elude authorities for frustrating years

Despite efforts by investigators to keep the m*rder case alive

Through the media.

Man: we would call the newspapers,

And we would insist that they keep it alive

On the fifth anniversary or sixth anniversary--

The th anniversary.

We kept it alive.

Narrator: then detectives had an idea.

Tv announcer: tonight onamerica's most wanted...

Narrator: the television show america's most wanted

Has led to the capture of some of the fbi's most celebrated fugitives

By generating phone tips from viewers.

One night watching tv,

We watched america's most wanted.

And I thought this might be a very interesting case for them to take on.

If we were successful in getting the, uh, the list case aired,

Someone out there would recognize him

And would, uh, make that telephone call.

Narrator: detectives convinced america's most wanted

To do an episode on the john list murders

Despite the fact that the case was almost two decades old.

I said, "this is a guy I'd like to see caught,"

And we decided to do john list.

Narrator: but there was a problem.

At the end of each episode,

Viewers see a photograph of the wanted person,

But the most recent photo of john list

Had been taken years before the murders.

What would he look like almost years later?

The john list m*rder case would now enter

The highly specialized world of forensic sculpting.

Walsh: I had been involved in the battle

For missing children's rights for years

Since the m*rder of my son in .

And I had come across frank bender over the years

As a renowned forensic reconstruction artist.

Narrator: forensic sculptor frank bender reconstructs faces

To help police track down aging fugitives

Or identify decomposed bodies--

Part art, part science,

Part intuition.

This is the skull of an unidentified individual

Police found in a field.

To make an identification,

They would need to see her face.

I work with physical anthropologists,

I work with odontologists--

Forensic dentists, in other words--

Uh, pathologists,

Detectives...

Narrator: when going from skull to face,

Bender refers to special charts

That measure facial tissue thickness

Based on race, age, and gender.

Using these measurements as guidelines,

Bender calculates the proper thickness of the skin

In order to mold the shape of the face with his clay.

Bender: more important than the facial tissue thickness

Is paying attention to the forms in the skull--

The nuances, the differences, the asymmetry.

What makes this skull different from the others?

And they're all different.

Narrator: bender then makes a fiberglass bust from the mold.

On the right, bender's forensic bust

Of the skull found in the field.

On the left is photograph of a teenage girl

Who had been missing and was then identified from frank bender's bust.

Bender's extraordinary talent to put faces on the dead

Would now be applied to the living--

An aging mass m*rder*r.

America's most wanted asked frank bender

To add years to the face of john list.

The stage was now set to pump new life into an old m*rder case.

Narrator: this is john list in .

Frank bender's job was to figure out

What he would look like years later.

All he had to work with was some old photographs.

Computers can age a face,

But bender's old-fashioned, hands-on technique

Gives the forensic bust a personal touch.

Bender: a lot of these computers nowadays

Will just add, like, wrinkles

Because they're years older.

Well, sometimes you could actually look better

After a few years if you took care of yourself.

Narrator: to look at john list the individual,

Bender needed a psychological profile of the k*ller.

Bender: I get into the head of the person.

In a sense, I want to become that person

While I'm working on the fugitive.

I want to feel like that person.

I want to know everything about that person.

Narrator: he called on the help

Of forensic psychologist richard walter.

Together, sculptor and psychologist

Would predict how john list would age.

Bender and walter pored over newspaper articles and photographs

To analyze the man behind the murders.

They researched his strict upbringing by german parents.

"The lord is my shepherd. I shall not want."

Narrator: the lutheran church had been a focus

Of young john's life.

He was an only child

And the son of an overly protective, domineering mother.

List had a master's degree in accounting

But lacked social skills and had a history of losing jobs.

The psychological profile revealed a man

Who k*lled out of anger and retaliation

Because of his own failure.

The perpetrator has a history of frustration

And feeling entrapped by women--

Generally women of their own age group or older

Or women in authority.

Narrator: the psychological profile

Helped reinforce bender's vision of the aging fugitive.

Bender: I had his mouth going down on the corners

Because of anxiety that I felt he carried with him

From committing these crimes.

And richard brought out that it wasn't guilt from k*lling his family,

But the anxiety of the fear of being caught.

Narrator: bender also took into account genetics.

He looked at photographs of john list's parents

And added sagging jowls and a receding hairline to the bust.

List had a surgical scar behind his right ear,

And bender researched how the scar would look as he aged.

With the fiberglass bust complete,

Bender painted the skin and hair

And put list in a suit and tie--

What he and walter thought list would wear most of the time.

But the bust wasn't complete.

The final touch would be a pair of glasses.

Walter was certain list wasn't vain enough to wear contact lenses,

And bender predicted list would be wearing a different style of glasses

Than those he wore at age .

Bender was convinced list would want

To hide the fact that he was a failure

By wearing glasses with dark, thick frames.

Bender: to look more intelligent--

More important than he really was.

And this was through the help of richard walter's profile.

Narrator: bender looked through dozens of pairs of used glasses

And found the perfect pair to use on the bust.

The painted face with the downturned mouth,

Sagging jowls, receding hairline,

And aging scar,

Now looked out from behind dark, thick frames.

The forensic bust was complete.

Tv announcer: tonight onamerica's most wanted...

Now tonight's first case,

The oldest we've ever pursued onamerica's most wanted.

Narrator: on sunday night, may , ,

America's most wanted aired the episode on the list murders.

In denver, colorado,

A family recognized the face of a mass m*rder*r.

Walsh: if you know anything about john list...

Narrator: the night america's most wanted

Revealed the forensic bust of john list,

Wanda flanery and her daughter were watching

From their home in denver, colorado.

Much to their horror,

They saw a striking resemblance between john list

And a former neighbor.

And it just all started adding up gradually--

That he was an accountant and a lutheran;

That he had--he had a scar behind his ear.

And he was well put together...

A classy dresser.

And by the time they got to the sculpture,

I was convinced it was him.

To look at it, you would have known.

And the clincher for me was the glasses

And the jowls.

We said, "oh, my god.

That's bob--bob clark."

"Bob is john list.

We've got to-- we've got to call."

Narrator: wanda flanery told the fbi

That her former neighbor

Recently moved to richmond, virginia

And was using the name bob clark.

The fbi closed in,

And agents arrested robert peter clark

At the accounting office where he worked in richmond.

I approached him and I asked him--

I said, "are you mr. Clark?"

And he said, "yes.

And then I said, "are you john list?"

And he says, "no, I'm robert peter clark."

Narrator: but bob clark had a scar behind his right ear,

And a fingerprint check matched prints on a g*n permit application

John list had filled out one month before the murders.

Bob clark and john list were the same man.

I said, "they got him."

And that was it. They got him.

Narrator: amazingly, john list wore the same style glasses

That frank bender had used on the forensic bust.

Walsh: frank bender was % right.

The picture of john list when he was captured

Was put next to the picture of that bust

On the front page ofthe new york times.

John list had the same exact glasses on

That frank bender had put on the forensic bust.

It was uncanny.

It was almost as though the person who did the bust

Had actually been looking at john list when he did it.

Narrator: at john list's trial, the story unfolded

Of how the mild-mannered, churchgoing accountant

Meticulously planned the brutal execution of his entire family.

List had lost his job.

Buckling under the strain of mounting bills

And the perceived moral decay of his family,

John list made a decision.

He decided he wanted to do this.

This was the only way out.

This was the way for him to start with a clean slate.

And that's why he did it.

Narrator: after the children left for school,

John list put his plan in motion.

[g*nsh*t]

He sh*t his wife in the head at point blank range.

He then climbed two flights of stairs

And entered his mother's apartment.

John!

[g*nsh*t]

Narrator: he left his mother's body upstairs,

But placed his wife's body on a sleeping bag

And dragged it to the ballroom.

He then cleaned up the blood.

Later that afternoon,

As the children arrived home, he m*rder*d each one.

[g*nsh*t]

[g*nsh*t]

The oldest boy, john, put up a struggle,

And list fired times.

He dragged the children's bodies to the ballroom,

Lined them up on sleeping bags next to their mother,

And cleaned up more blood.

The list family morgue was now complete.

With the executions over,

List said a prayer,

Then wrote the letter to his pastor

Confessing to the murders.

He lowered the thermostat to slow the bodies' decomposition,

Turned on the radio to a classical music station,

And began his life as a fugitive.

Before the bodies were even discovered,

List made his way to denver,

Applied for a new social security number as robert peter clark.

In time he made friends with his neighbor wanda flanery,

Rejoined the lutheran church,

And married wanda's friend delores miller.

His new wife never suspected a thing.

List told her his first wife had d*ed of cancer

And that he had no children.

I do not believe it.

I-i love my husband very deeply.

I do not believe this is the same man.

Narrator: the couple eventually moved back east

To the richmond, virginia area,

Where list found an accounting job.

Richard walter's psychological profile

Accurately predicted almost every aspect

Of john list's flight from justice.

What was he doing when they caught him?

He was a c.p.a.

He was still a volunteer in a lutheran church.

A guy that kills his own mother,

He kills his own wife and his kids,

Is still volunteering in the lutheran church?

He was still the same creature that he was

When he k*lled those people years before.

Narrator: nearly years after the brutal m*rder of his entire family,

A jury found john list guilty of counts of first-degree m*rder

And sentenced him to life in prison.

Man: john emil list will be eternally synonymous

With concepts of selfishness, horror, and evil.

He's a man who could coldly, calculatingly,

And cunningly conceive and carry out

A cowardly plan to assassinate each of his children.

I was just thrilled...

That the merger, then, between psychology and sculpture worked.

It was an invaluable tool in making a determination

Of how the guy would probably look.

And it was-- it was just uncanny

As to how close the sculpture was to the actual man.

I really paid attention to,

I think, as much information as I had about john list

And what he was all-- what he was about.

I truly believe that if it wasn't for frank bender,

John list would still be at large.

But finally, we brought john list to justice.