Righteous Carnage: The List Murders in Westfield [Paperback]

Timothy Benford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 2000

At about 9 oclock on the morning of November 9, 1971, soon after sending her three children off to school, Helen List sat in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. She was still in her nightgown and slippers.John List came up behind her and put a 9mm German-made Steyr automatic pistol to the side of her head and fired once. She died instantly. The bullet smashed into the opposite wall... John made his way up the stairs to the third floor where his 85-year old mother, Alma, wearing a housedress, was preparing breakfast in her efficiency kitchenShe was standing near the storage room that adjoined her kitchen when a 9mm bullet ripped through the side of her scull. Alma List was dead before her body crumpled in a heap on the floorThe righteous carnage had begun.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 1971 slaying in New Jersey of five members of his family went unresolved for 19 years until the apprehension and sentencing of John List to five consecutive life terms. List, a Michigan native raised in a German-American community, was the only son of parents who were relatively old when he was born. Growing up isolated from other children and furiously overprotected by his mother, he was also indoctrinated into the most conservative, rigid sort of Lutheranism. As a consequence, argue novelist Benford and psychologist Johnson, he turned into an obsessive-compulsive with no ability to deal with people, a defect that led to failure in job after job. He married a widow who had syphilis (but hid that fact) and became an alcoholic. Apparently believing that he was doing what was best for them, List killed his wife, their three children and her mother. He then disappeared, assuming another identity, but was identified through the TV program America's Most Wanted . A full-length and riveting portrait of an anomalous killer.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

John Emil List truly loved his family. He made sure they lived in one of the nicest houses in the neighborhood. He worked extra long hours at his accountant's position so that he made enough money to buy nice things for his mother, wife, and three children. He attended his Lutheran church and insisted his family be as devout Christians as he was. So, what else could he do when he lost his job and his life was in shambles? How could he ask his family to face the humiliation of going on welfare? He just couldn't. So he shot them all. From behind, so they wouldn't have to witness what he had done. Then he disappeared for 18 years. Ironically, his favorite TV show, America's Most Wanted , helped capture him by showing a bust of what he could look like 18 years after the crime. Benford and Johnson do an excellent job of illuminating a dark personality and explaining the why of List's need to eliminate his whole family. For true-crime collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/91-- Belinda J. Pugh, Kings Bay Base Lib., Ga.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (July 24, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595007201
• ISBN-13: 978-0595007202
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #222,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best true crime story I've ever read, June 4, 2001

By 

Martin Bielski (Colts Neck, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Righteous Carnage: The List Murders in Westfield (Paperback)

This book is so good and so rich with details and confidential information that it begs to be made into a movie! The story itself is like something from the Twilight Zone. I rarely read books twice....But I've read this one twice. According to the author blurbs in the back of the book, these authors each actually live within a mile of the murder mansion, and their intimacy with the neighborhood, the mood of the community, and their access to police and witnesses really comes through. If you only read one more true crime book in your life, this one should positively, absolutely be it.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A desperate man murders his family, May 11, 2001

By 

C.H. (Beach Park, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Righteous Carnage: The List Murders in Westfield (Paperback)

John Emil List was deeply religious - so he reasoned that if he murdered his mother, wife, and three children (his family was financially strapped, his wife ill and the children rebellious) they would go to heaven rather than hell. After committing the premeditated and cold blooded crime, List disappeared for almost eighteen years, until a neighbor recognized him on "America's Most Wanted". A compelling and shocking read. Unbeknownst to List, the painting on the ceiling of the ballroom was a signed Louis Tiffany. He could have sold that off and his financial problems would have been past tense.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The John List Murders, January 10, 2001

By 

Joseph (Grayslake, IL, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Righteous Carnage: The List Murders in Westfield (Paperback)

If you're fascinated by true-crime stories, this one will chill your bones. It's amazing that John List was able to escape undetected for more than 18 years until the TV program "America's Most Wanted" profiled his case. Go behind the scenes and see how John List eluded authorities for all that time.