One of the most interesting things about murder is the perpetrators.
It’s such a distant thought for regular people to go about casual acts of violence against others that it becomes a point of fascination to know more about the ones that do.
What is their motivation? What drove them to it? What were they feeling?
And because they are killers, they can often answer, as only their victims become silenced. John List was a notorious murderer with a particular goal.
He killed his family, a wife, three kids, and his mother inside his own home, then fled the scene and lived another life with a new name for 18 years until he was finally caught and imprisoned until his death.
All to spare them knowing that he lost his job.
10 /10 John The Second
John List was born in 1925 in Bay City, Michigan. He was the only child of his parents, John and Alma List, who raised him with a strict Lutheran upbringing and very controlled morals about living his life.
Namely, for his family’s sake, and that he should never betray or shame them with his actions. He carried those morals with him through his life as best he could.
He joined the army as a technician and served through World War II and the Korean War as an accountant and logistician for the Army’s Finance Corp.
9 /10 Starting A Family
John met his wife Helen in Virginia, where he was called to service during the Korean War. She was recently widowed after her infantryman husband fell in the line of duty and rebounded with John shortly after.
A year later, they married, bringing Helen’s daughter Brenda from her previous marriage with them as they moved around the country while John found work.
His family grew with three children of his own in time as they kept relocating around the US until they settled in Jersey City, New Jersey, for the last time together.