Yes, darlings, how much more can be said on and about that scumbag and Family Annihilator, John Emil List???????
Apparently plenty, for, after reading the second book on the case, "Death Sentence--The Inside Story Of The John List Murders" by Joe Sharkey, I had a better understanding of List as a contemptible piece of crap, and more insight into what instigated his heinous decision to, on November 9, 1971, end the lives of his family in Westfield, New Jersey--wife Helen, mother Alma, and children Patty, John, Jr. and Frederick.
The one thing the book does NOT do, which I so hoped it would, was indicate what happened, in the intervening years, to List's second wife, and essentially sixth victim, Delores Miller Clark. Under false pretenses of marrying a man named Robert P. Clark, Delores lived with this man for several years, until he was apprehended in 1989. She is understandably shocked and traumatized, and one instantly sympathizes with her, especially, as the media bores in on her, her wish to be left alone, as it was misfortune, not her fault, that she is swept into a media-centric event.
After List was extradited to New Jersey, it is made clear that Delores sold the condo they had, and moved elsewhere, alone. But the book does not indicate whether or not she filed for divorce from List, or if he did her. Indications are she never visited him during his years in prison, and up to his death. She was younger than List, so she could still be alive today, but I have a feeling to this day this is something she cannot talk about, and so she will hide from those who inquire. But it is a piece of the John List puzzle that remains unsolved.
The other person I feel enormously sorry for is Ed Illiano, who ran the drama workshop in Westfield that Patty List was so active in. Sharkey makes clear that, on the night of November 5, the List children were called into the kitchen by their father, and were told--I kid you not--they were going to die, soon, and had better be prepared. They were also asked if they preferred to be cremated or buried. They all said buried.
I cannot imagine what the three children must have said or done, after List left. It is clear that the two older, Patty and John Jr. fully understood their father was going to kill them all; they just did not know when. I wonder why they did not notify, say, Helen's sister, Jean Sybert, in Oklahoma, and run to she and her husband, named, interestingly enough, Gene????
Patty did try to reach out to Ed Illianno, who got that Patty was beyond teenage histrionics. But he did not believe her, because no one could conceive of such a thing. How he must live with all this to this day. My heart goes out to him.
As it does to the Children, who were innocent of any of the misfortunes of their parents' marriage. In fact, in a manner of speaking, Patty and Frederick, for their age group, were doing better than John; both worked in an insurance office downtown after school, and were bringing in income, something which List was ultimately unable to do. Not that his children were making enough to support the household. But then neither was he. And the combination of the two must have galled on him.
Up to a point and, had he committed suicide and left everyone else alive, ( and I am not condoning suicide here) one might have felt sorry for John List. Though some of the same questions asked now would still be--why didn't he seek help????
When he was finally imprisoned in Jersey, his sister-in-law, Jean Sybert, flew to see him, asking the question everyone of the day wanted to, "Why?" All she got out of him was the reply, "It was the only way."
The answer goes much deeper than that. What the scenario had going for it was the proverbial perfect storm. A man who is raised in a home of repression and Lutheran faith. Who marries a woman who ultimately deceives him, by claiming to be pregnant, when she is not. And with whom he had reservations about marrying in the first place, so now he is trapped. A society whose mores and job market is changing, which is too much for a rigid conservative like List to absorb and accept. A wife in poor health, an elderly mother, and children on the cusp of puberty, entering into a society of which he strongly disapproves. And against all this he cannot support them all.
As I said, to a point, one might have felt sorry for him. But there were other sides of him that crept out from time to time--dominance, control, the ability to casually deceive--that suggested a devil lurked beneath the surface of John List. And it was that Devil who rose to the fore, and, by perverting his religious beliefs into a rational justification for his actions, John List, set about, as early as September 1971, to plan the murder of his entire family. While he felt himself a failure, there was this egotistical side who also felt the family was excess baggage that, were he free, he might have a chance at a second life. And this was the single motivating factor in John List's actions. As one close to the case stated, "He knew doctrine, but he did not know God." Exactly.
When these sides are held together, it is impossible to see List as anything more than a piece of contemptible scum. Even his confession was a lie; saying he shot everyone from behind, so they would not see and suffer. With the exception of daughter Patty, everyone of his victims had a final vision of the person they presumably were to trust most in the world, pointing a gun at them and firing. Young John, Jr. suspected something afoot as he walked into the house, and he and his father fought physically, with List shooting him savagely, moreso than the others, till he was dead!!!!!!!!
And still he believed, to his dying day, he did it for their good, that they would all reunite in Heaven, and he would be forgiven. I agree there may have been some kind of confrontation in the Afterlife, but I don't think forgiveness had anything to do with it!!!!!!!!
John List was a dangerously potent combination of religiosity and ego. It was OK for everyone else to die, so long as he lived. And with Ed Illiano, and, presumably, Delores, two survivors of his casualty live on.
Sharkey's book leaves no room for empathy. The portrayal of John List given here is one of cold, cruel and calculating evil. Perhaps it would have been better, had he never married or had children. Unfortunately, he did.
This scum is gone. But anyone who lived during his reign of terror will remember him for years to come. And that is not a compliment, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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