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Suburban family killer John List, who eluded authorities for 18 years, is dead at age 82. He was an accountant and occasional Sunday school teacher in Westfield in 1971 when he methodically murdered his wife, three teenage children and mother, then fled. List was located, remarried, after his crime was featured on the TV show "America's Most Wanted" in 1989. Obit here.
(Photo shows America's Most Wanted's rendering of how they thought List would have aged, and how he actually did look.)
A late 80's movie called 'The Stepfather" was based on this guy -- it was made before they found him. Terry O'Quinn played him. It's worth putting on your Netflix cue.
sleepysleek,
This movie - The Stepfather - was one of the most horrifying flicks I've ever seen.
I was talking to my wife today about List and she also mentioned the movie.
It's hard to fathom a guy that would take out his entire family and then have dinner and sleep in the same house before vanishing the next day.
netflix doesn't offer this movie. I think it's only available from Australia and in a specific format that not all dvd players can handle.
I think that this movie was so intense that maybe this is no accident.
I lived in the next town from Westfield and at 13 it was a
really creepy story in the newspapers especially
when we teenagers went
into Westfield to the only GAP store for miles back then!
dj120
I think they caught List before Gap was introduced to Westfield. If memory serves me right, Gap used to be called Selfon's back in the day
Someone please post a new story soon. I can't stand logging on to the site and seeing this first thing.
No one has come forward to claim the 'remains'. He may wind up being cremated at NJ's expense.
MB: No one came to claim the remains because he killed them all. :-)
Bless my little black heart.
This story is still creepy. Thank goodness America's Most Wanted took an interest and did such a good job with the profile that helped catch him. Had it not been for their profile I doubt he would have been caught. It makes me shudder.
Actually, I believe it was the cold-case detectives who pushed America's Most Wanted to air the John List segment, which the show initially didn't want to do because so much time had elapsed and there were no current photos of List to show. That's when they got forensic artist Frank Bender involved to create the age-adjusted bust of List, and Bender was amazingly dead on. When List was captured, he was wearing the same style glasses that Bender had put on the bust.
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As for Zarinksy, I do not want him to die too soon. I want him to suffer miserably at least long enough for him to finally be convicted for the murder of 13 year old Jane Durrua.
I grew up in westfield & lived near the house, which was subsequently torched by arsonist(s). List was a big deal growing up.
also, there was no gap anywhere in westfield.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/family/list/1.html
A crazy religious guy. Imagine that??!!