Delores Miller Clark lived a simple life in Denver before she met and married John List, who then went by the name Robert Peter “Bob” Clark. John List was on the run when they met in 1985 after having murdered his family members about 14 years before. In November 1971, the mass murderer and long-time fugitive killed his wife, mother, and three children at their home in Westfield, New Jersey. He had drained his and his mother’s bank accounts and fled, changing his identity. It took 18 years for John List to be arrested.
But what led Delores’ husband to commit such a chilling crime? Read on to discover more details.
Delores Miller Clark Bio
Details of Delores’ life before she married John List are unavailable. When they met, she led a simple life working as an Army PX clerk. The two met at a Christian religious gathering. Delores and John moved to a house around Brandermill, Midlothian, Virginia, where her husband worked as an accountant at an accounting firm. Delores and John divorced in 1989, probably following his arrest on 1 June. They did not have any children together. Delores kept a low profile after John’s arrest, and it is unclear what happened to her.
Delores Miller Clark Husband
He was born John Emil List on 15 September 1925 to John Frederick List and Alma Barbara Florence List. John enlisted in the United States Army in 1943 and was a laboratory technician during World War II. The army discharged him in 1946, after which he joined the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He earned a bachelor’s degree in administration and a master’s degree in accounting.
In 1950, John List was recalled to active military service. He met his first wife, Helen Morris Taylor, whose husband had been killed in action in Korea. Helen lived with her daughter Brenda near Fort Eustis in Virginia, where John served. The new lovers wed on 1 December 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland. John and Helen had three daughters when he worked as an audit supervisor at a paper company in Kalamazoo. The family later moved to Rochester, New York, to work with Xerox. In 1965, they moved again to Breeze Knoll, a 19-room mansion in Westfield.
On 9 November 1971, John murdered his wife, mother, and three children by shooting them. He first shot his wife, then his mother, waited for his children to get home, and murdered them. He then cleaned the crime scenes, removed his pictures from all family photographs, turned the lights and the radio on, and departed. The neighbors tipped the police after a month of not seeing anyone entering or leaving the house.
A manhunt for John was declared, but it was not until 18 years that he was arrested. The arrest followed Fox’s America’s Most Wanted, featuring a sculpted clay bust of John’s age-progressed face. A former Denver neighbor alerted the police, who made the arrest later. John was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder and five terms of life imprisonment. He killed his immediate family since he could not pay the mansion’s mortgage after losing his job and did not want them to face ridicule. He also thought his children were steering off the godly course as his son wanted to be an actor. He killed them to save their souls so they would go to heaven.
John died aged 82 in March 2008 of complications from pneumonia while still imprisoned.
Final Thoughts
Several films and documentaries have been made to cover the details of the List murders. The crime remains one of the most gruesome acts of all time.
