Death Sentence

The Inside Story of the John List Murders

By: Joe Sharkey

Narrated by: Shawn Compton

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 19-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.

©1990 Joe Sharkey (P)2019 Tantor

Gives Insight into a Wicked Mind

I have never been so relieved to finish a book as I was to finish this one. It is eloquently written and expertly delivered through the narrator. Very descriptive. I could easily envision what the author described. Gave me a lot of insight into the wicked mind of John List. But the subject matter of him and what he did and how he lived his life were very disturbing to me. I had the worst feeling when I was listening to this book. Made me feel sick inside. Yet.... so riveting that I wanted to know what happened next. I am however glad the book is over. Every once in a while I revisit the case of John List in order to understand what drove him to do what he did.....and then just move on with his life as if he just stepped on a few ants. And while I think I will still ponder about the how and why he could do what he did, I think I might be able to finally close the book on John List.

Arrogant Evil

Much better than a lot of true crime.Written in the 90s but still very good. Shawn Compton does a good job narrating. If you're into this genre, I highly recommend.

sick man

great book! heard information that I hadn't gotten from documentaries. Would recommend it to family and friends.

Well done

This book gives the chronology of a disturbed father with peculiar quirks who murdered his family in 1971 in NJ. The book is well written and gives the reader the insight into John List and how he perceives life that is falling down on him. I particularly liked that the author was able to get accounts of the people that John met in his life. A must read.

Love the details

I’d heard this case on several
Podcasts, but the dive into List’s life before and after the crime was fascinating and bewildering. Great book!