Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Death Sentence: The Inside Story of the John List Murders
    Death Sentence: The Inside Story of the John List Murders
    Death Sentence: The Inside Story of the John List Murders
    Audiobook9 hours

    Death Sentence: The Inside Story of the John List Murders

    Written by Joe Sharkey

    Narrated by Shawn Compton

    4.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Until 1971, life was good for mild-mannered accountant John List. He was vice president of a Jersey City bank and had moved his mother, wife, and three teenage children into a nineteen-room home in Westfield, New Jersey. But all that changed when he lost his job. Raised by his Lutheran father to believe success meant being a good provider, List saw himself as an utter failure. Straining under financial burdens, the stress of hiding his unemployment, as well as the fear that the free-spirited 1970s would corrupt the souls of his children, List came to a shattering conclusion.

    "It was my belief that if you kill yourself, you won't go to heaven," List told Connie Chung in a television interview. "So eventually I got to the point where I felt that I could kill them. Hopefully they would go to heaven, and then maybe I would have a chance to later confess my sins to God and get forgiveness."

    List methodically shot his entire family in their home, managing to conceal the deaths for weeks with a carefully orchestrated plan of deception. Then he vanished and started over as Robert P. Clark. Chronicling List's life before and after the grisly crime, Death Sentence exposes the truth about the accountant-turned-killer, including the details of his high-profile trial.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateFeb 19, 2019
    ISBN9781977343628
    Author

    Joe Sharkey

    Joe Sharkey was a weekly columnist for the New York Times for nineteen years. Previously, he was an assistant national editor at the Wall Street Journal and a reporter and columnist with the Philadelphia Inquirer. The author of four books of nonfiction and one novel, Sharkey is currently an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Arizona. He and his wife live in Tucson.  

    Related to Death Sentence

    Related audiobooks

    Criminals & Outlaws For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      ‘Go Ahead, Kill Her’

      Aug 6, 2020

      ‘Go Ahead, Kill Her’
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Living Victims

      May 8, 2020

      The Living Victims
      7 min read

    • Article

      Ten Groundbreaking True Crime Books

      Mar 10, 2022

      Crime fiction may desire order out of chaos, but true crime grapples with the chaos while hoping for catharsis in the meantime. These 10 books helped me make sense of the world's darkest corners. The post Ten Groundbreaking True Crime Books appeared

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Fierce Fight

      Jan 7, 2021

      A Fierce Fight
      3 min read

    • Article

      3-Year-Old In Idaho Dies After She Was Stabbed At Her Birthday Party

      Jul 3, 2018

      The girl was one of six children and three adults stabbed in Boise over the weekend. Timmy Kinner was taken into custody after the attack and was charged with first-degree murder, among other things.

      1 min read

    • Article

      Guilty

      May 20, 2021

      Guilty
      1 min read

    • Article

      How Scott Peterson's Murder Convictions Were Suddenly Thrown Into Doubt

      Oct 16, 2020

      SAN FRANCISCO - Laci Peterson's 2002 disappearance from her Modesto, Calif., home on Christmas Eve made instant headlines. Her family initially said that Scott, her husband, was beyond suspicion. Then a woman surfaced who said she was having an affai

      4 min read

    • Article

      'Most Prolific Serial Killer' In America Confesses To Murdering 5 More Women In Ohio

      Jun 7, 2019

      The new charges filed by prosecutors in Ohio are the latest decades-ago murders carried out by Samuel Little, who authorities say killed women in 19 states over nearly half a century.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Killer curiosity

      Apr 29, 2021

      Killer curiosity
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Murder Of James Bulger 30 Years On

      Feb 7, 2023

      This week marks 30 years since two-year-old James Bulger was abducted and murdered by two 10-year-old boys, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. James would be in his 30s now. Would he be married? A father? With a career? All that was snatched away from

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Deadly Liaison

      May 21, 2020

      A Deadly Liaison
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Monsters Walking Free

      Apr 4, 2021

      The infamous Easey Street murders remain as much of a mystery today as when they occurred more than 40 years ago. In January 1977, neighbours had noticed something amiss at the home of Suzanne Armstrong, 28, and Susan Bartlett, 27. They’d heard whi

      5 min read

    • Article

      Why I Read True Crime

      Jan 24, 2018

      For years I have been unsuccessfully recommending true crime books to friends. The second you tell someone you’ve just read a mind-blowing book about Jeffrey Dahmer that they simply must read, they start to back away from you. The first rule of readi

      5 min read

    • Article

      Dirty John 3: Filthy

      Oct 4, 2017

      Dirty John 3: Filthy
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Good Cop

      Aug 13, 2021

      The Good Cop
      24 min read

    • Article

      The Good Cop

      Aug 13, 2021

      The Good Cop
      24 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Mar 21, 2024

      Great Read
      7 min read

    • Article

      Killed As She Fled

      Apr 14, 2022

      Killed As She Fled
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Death Sentence

    4.5/5

    76 ratings5 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      This was a good comprehensive look at John List, his crimes and his life afterwards. I found it very easy to listen to and follow the story, even when distracted by other things.

      This was an interesting story about a weak unremarkable man who couldn't cope with strong-willed and outspoken women, couldn't hold down a decent job due to his lack of personality, and who didn't know how to live within his means, despite how utterly boring the life he lived seemed to be. Being swallowed up by debt and worried his teenage daughter was being influenced by the sins of society, List thought it best to murder his family whilst they all remained Christian's so they'd be sent to heaven without the 'burden' of being on welfare.

      This was an unusual true crime story because not only did we get insight into List's oppressive religious upbringing by his mother, but we also got to hear how he lived after the murders, as he managed to remain free for 18 years after! {SPOILERS} It was also really cool to hear about how a friend and neighbour followed her gut instinct after seeing List's photo in the newspaper, and then his story told on Most Wanted, to phone in to a tip line and ultimately solve the mystery of List's disappearance and give his murdered family justice, finally, after almost 2 decades of being on the run. Moral of that story: act on your instincts!! {END OF SPOILERS}

      Overall a good true crime listen of a story I hadn't heard much about beforehand.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent.
      My father spent thirteen months on the front lines in WWII. He truly did suffer from PTSD. He was an actual war hero.
      This person John List was a slimy, underachieving jerk.
      My dad had a very sick wife as well as a daughter who wanted to go into show business.
      As you can see, I am very much alive.
      This is an excellent, informative narrative about a man who was a coward.
      May the List family murder victims Rest In Peace.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Wonderful and well written book. Enjoyed every minute of it, fascinating story.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Details and facts were very good. It told a good but sad story
    • 4/5
      Definitely an interesting read. I've gone back and forth between three and four stars and am settling on four. Really, the story of John List/Robert P. Clark is sort of fascinating. I mean, this guy is a massive piece of shit on so many levels but he's also a mild mannered, unassuming dweeb that most people who came in contact with him on a regular basis had to think about long and hard before coming up with anything of note to say about him. But he managed to avoid being apprehended for the murders of his mother, wife, and three kids for nearly 18 years.

      If you're a fan of true crime books - or documentaries about murderers - you'll definitely enjoy this book.