a little angry at the way he was controlled by her. after serving time in the military, john list met helen taylor, whose first husband was killed in action in korea. on december 1st, 1951, they married after learning that helen was pregnant. that was the beginning of the catastrophe. she had some problems, some mental problems caused by a venereal disease she contracted from her first husband. this was deteriorating her brain. she was in a lot of pain and on medication. she was struggling just to live, actually, at the time of her death. people who knew her in town that we spoke to said she was pleasant and easy to talk to but she had become somewhat withdrawn because of her illnesses. and having a domineering husband, it always appeared to me that that marriage was a
can t imagine how you can sit there and accept all of this. and, you know, i just don t get it. but again, i think he is from another world and he s just a cold, selfish person. the 18-year hunt for john list is over. it brought together a unique cast of characters. police officers, fbi agents, a forensic sculptor, a television show and a woman watching tv in aurora, colorado, all of whom came together to bring a killer to justice. john list is going to spend the rest of his life in prison thinking about what he did. and his fake remorse he was only sorry that he got caught. that s all that he was sorry for, not killing all those people. i can t be objective about it. what is justice? i mean, maybe justice is sitting there and giving it thought and living out your life in prison and giving it thought every day.
in the handwritten confession he left at the crime scene, list wrote, i m sure many will say how could anyone do such a horrible thing? my only answer is, it isn t easy and was only done after much thought. i think that s what kept him going, that he believed that he had done god s will. that he had sent these people to heaven, prior to them being tainted by worldly things. he took care of them. he couldn t change. because if he changed, he would have to question everything he had done. and then the guilt and the pain may get to him. on june 22nd, 1989, john list is extradited back to new jersey. on july 10th, his attorney enters five pleas of not guilty on behalf of his client. nine months later, john list finally stands before the bar of justice for the murders of his wife, mother and three children. ladies and gentlemen, you will note that the defendant,
now, what made the john list bust more of a challenge than any other fugitive i ever worked on was the fact that i was only given frontal views. there was no side no three-quarter view of john list available to me at that time.
i said, let me see. he showed me. i said, that s the pair, right there. take them. they re yours. within four weeks, bender creates what he hopes is a perfect likeness of john list today. but is it? i feel very confident when i finished the bust. i took the bust down to america s most wanted and mike linder and the team involved with the list case all gathered around the bust in the conference room. people were confident as far as the rendering, the technical end of it. yes, it looked realistic. but as far as did it look like john list, no one knew. i m just a piece of dirt stuck here in a rut. ever since that ol broom dumped me here. oh, oh. oooh! will love ever come my way? oh my!