Further Reading for John List & Warriena Tagpuno Wright

Death Sentence: The Inside Story of the John List Murders

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A mass murderer that gets away is a pretty rare thing. You think about how these guys operate and escape is never really factored into their plan. They enter a workplace, a school, a McDonald’s, armed to the teeth and intending to do as much damage as they can do before they police show up. It’s game over when the fuzz is on the scene. You’re leaving the scene of the crime in hand cuffs or a body bag, most of the time, they leave in the latter.

John List was a real head-scratcher, though. In the world of murderers, List falls into the category with the most metal name: Family annihilator. In November of 1971, List waited for his kids to go to school and then went to work putting bullets in his wife and mother in-law. Once his teenage kids got home, he put a couple bullets in their heads, and then went to watch his youngest play soccer. Once they arrived home, he put even more bullets than any of the others in his last child and then he hit the road, having cleared out his bank account and cleaned up the crime scene. It would be more than a month before the bodies were found.

18 years later, in 1989, List was the subject of an episode of America’s Most Wanter where a forensic dummy turned out to resemble his actual appearance enough for List to be found, arrested and prosecuted. At the trial, a truly sad story was revealed that showed a man on the edge in 1971. John List snapped and went into the wind after completely deleting his past and starting over under an assumed name.

Episode: 29

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