The John List project: About the reporting

John List and his family, whom he shot to death in November 1971 in their 19-room mansion in Westfield. John E. List, daughter Patricia M. List, wife Helen List, son John F. List and son Frederick M. List. Not pictured is List's mother, Alma List, whom he also killed.
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Father Wants Us Dead, NJ Advance Media’s examination of the 1971 John List murders and their legacy, was the culmination of a year-long effort.

Reporters Rebecca Everett and Jessica Remo reached out to more than 100 people associated with the case and interviewed nearly 50 of them. They also pored over hundreds of pages of documents obtained from the FBI, police and prosecutors. The result, published Sunday, is a 15,000-word investigative retrospective into the depraved crime 50 years after it occurred.

The story is part of a larger reporting project, which will include a serial podcast examining the Westfield murders. It will launch in early 2022.

The reporting in this story is primarily based on interviews with the following sources:

Family, friends and neighbors: Tim Syfert, Bill Cunnick, Rhonda Conway, Susan Jankowitz, Ed Saridaki, Chris Day, Charles Jones, Rick Baeder, David Baeder, Ellen Brda, Brion Devlin, Dave Devlin, Dana DeVoe, Juliet DeVoe and Craig Stock.

Those involved in the investigation, capture and trial: Bernard Tracy, Robert Kenny, Jeffrey Paul Hummel, Kevin August, Randy Neidecker, John Walsh, David Baugh, Brian Gillet, Michael Mitzner, Steven Simring, Alan Goldstein and William L’E. Wertheimer.

Those who knew List, including in his second life: Kathleen “Kay” Ciarfello, Randy Mitchell, Les Wingfield, the Rev. Joseph Vought, Ludwig “Lou” Silbermann, Jerome Kendall, George Corbett, Harry Camisa, Pamela Brause, Burton Goldstein and Wendy Collins. And additional sources: Gabe Gluck, Robin Kampf, Edward “Chip” Saresky Jr., Gail Wittke Houston, Michael Stone, Frank Chupko, as well as several sources who asked that their names not be used.

Secondary sources include documents from the FBI, Westfield police and the Union County Prosecutor’s Office; Simring’s report from his psychiatric evaluation of List; letters provided by Wendy Collins and the family of Wally Parsons; the book “Collateral Damage: The John List Story” by John List and Austin Goodrich; and archived news articles from The Star-Ledger, The Courier-News, The Daily Journal, The New York Times and The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Reporters conducted additional background research, including from the following books: “Death Sentence” by Joe Sharkey, “Thou Shalt Not Kill” by Mary S. Ryzuk, and “Righteous Carnage” by Timothy B. Benford and James P. Johnson.

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Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com.

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