The Pursuit, Capture and Trial of John Emil List

Inmate #226472 in the state prison at Trenton, NJ, doesn't exchange Happy Anniversary cards with his wife. He doesn't receive Father's Day cards from his three children, nor does he send Mother's Day cards to the woman who gave him life.

He celebrates none of these joyous occasions with his family because on the warm Indian Summer day of November 9, 1971, he murdered his three children, his mother, and his wife in an act of righteous carnage to save their eternal souls. Inmate #226472 is John Emil List, the quiet, always proper neighbor, and former Sunday school teacher, and he is spending the remainder of his life in prison.

On April 13, 1990 he was convicted for all five murders. Sentencing by, Judge William L'E. Wertheimer, was at Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth on May 1, in what some say was the second most celebrated and publicized mass murder in state history, 18 years, five months, and 22 days after the fact. I researched the case and, from beginning to end, covered the trial. I wrote a series of Page 1 daily columns for the Union County daily newspaper of record, The Elizabeth Daily Journal. And, teaming up with a co-author, Jim Johnson, wrote the Scribner's hard cover best-seller Righteous Carnage. It is still in print more than 16 years later as a less expensive, large format, soft cover (ISBN 0-595-00720-1) on Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com.

The inmate's current accommodations are a far cry from where he had lived between 1966-71 when he took the ultimate step in 'keeping up with the Jones' by purchasing Breeze Knoll, the romantic sounding name that millionaire John S.A. Wittke gave his mansion and massive estate on Hillside Avenue in Westfield at the turn of the last century. The seemingly timid accountant couldn't really afford such a house, because he really couldn't hold a job. But it was an impressive address and his wife wanted it. Also, he became convinced Westfield was a good Christian town in which to raise his family.