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Speaker 1: Smith Barney LLC. Every hour in the US, seventy five
Speaker 1: people are reported missing. What if there was a task
Speaker 1: force dedicated to bringing them home? That's the story behind
Speaker 1: the new original drama Gone, premiering February twenty seventh on
Speaker 1: WGN America, starring Chris Nooth and Danny Pino, alongside newcomer
Speaker 1: Levin Ramin, who portrays the newest member of this elite team,
Speaker 1: a survivor childhood abduction herself. Don't miss the season premiere
Speaker 1: of Gone Wednesday, February twenty seventh at nine eighth Central
Speaker 1: on WGN America. Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard
Speaker 1: McClain Smith Where for the weeks in between episodes, we
Speaker 1: look at the stories that, for one reason or other,
Speaker 1: didn't make it into the show. In last week's episode,
Speaker 1: I See You, we took a stroll down the leafy
Speaker 1: sidewalks of Westfields Boulevard in New Jersey, USA. It was
Speaker 1: there that, in two thou fourteen, Maria and Derek Broadus
Speaker 1: bought what they hoped would become a forever home for
Speaker 1: themselves and their young children. The proposed move soon turned
Speaker 1: nightmarish when an anonymous scribe in themselves the Watcher, began
Speaker 1: wreaking havoc with a series of increasingly bizarre and sinister
Speaker 1: letters addressed to the hapless couple. The content of the
Speaker 1: letters was enough to scare off the Broadesses, who were
Speaker 1: forced eventually to abandon their move. To this day, the
Speaker 1: identity of the Watcher remains a mystery, and their house,
Speaker 1: which had been put back on the market, remains unsold. Incredibly, however,
Speaker 1: for such a quiet and seemingly pleasant town, the chilling
Speaker 1: tale of the Watcher pales in comparison with that of
Speaker 1: Westfield's most infamous form a resident. Not many people notice
Speaker 1: the man in the smart, dark suit, carrying a briefcase
Speaker 1: in one hand and a rolled up newspaper in the
Speaker 1: other as he took a seat in his usual spot
Speaker 1: at Westfield train station. It was there he would sit
Speaker 1: in the autumn of nineteen seventy one day after day,
Speaker 1: arriving dressed for work around nine, yet seemingly content to
Speaker 1: just read the paper for almost eight hours before getting
Speaker 1: up to leave shortly before five. Certainly, nobody could have
Speaker 1: quite imagined the thoughts that were running through his head
Speaker 1: every day for the previous month. The man John liszt
Speaker 1: Ate breakfast with his wife and three kids and his mother,
Speaker 1: who also lived with the family in their grand, nineteen
Speaker 1: roomed three story mansion on Westfield's Hillside Avenue. Having finished,
Speaker 1: he would routinely wish them all a good day, then
Speaker 1: stepped confidently into the street before heading off to work
Speaker 1: at the Jersey City Bank. What he hadn't told them
Speaker 1: was that he had been laid off weeks ago, and
Speaker 1: so instead he did what he had done every working
Speaker 1: day since and headed to the local train station with
Speaker 1: his tie perfectly placed and a briefcase swinging in his hand.
Speaker 1: On the morning of Monday, November seventh, however, he had
Speaker 1: a change of heart after waving his children off to school.
Speaker 1: Lizzt calmly waited for his wife Helen to take a
Speaker 1: seat at the kitchen table as she drank her morning coffee,
Speaker 1: then quietly collected his nine millimeter sty a handgun and
Speaker 1: shot her through the back of her head. Next, he
Speaker 1: grabbed some sleeping bags from a storage cupboard and spread
Speaker 1: them out across the boards of the house's opulent ball room.
Speaker 1: Picking his wife's dead body from the kitchen floor, he
Speaker 1: dragged it through to the other room and laid it
Speaker 1: out on top of the sleeping bags. Returning to the kitchen,
Speaker 1: he filled up a bucket of hot water and methodically
Speaker 1: mopped the floor clean of blood, using kitchen towels to
Speaker 1: pick up the rest of it. Having finished the task,
Speaker 1: he made his way to the third floor, where he
Speaker 1: found his eighty four year old mother, Alma, confused as
Speaker 1: to why her son had not yet gone to work.
Speaker 1: When she asked what all the noise had been earlier,
Speaker 1: John replied that it had come from somewhere in the
Speaker 1: garden and he had just come up to check that
Speaker 1: she was okay. It was only then that she saw
Speaker 1: the gun in his hand. Before she could react, he
Speaker 1: shot her at point blank range in the face, just
Speaker 1: above the left eye, then walked back down to the
Speaker 1: living room and waited. Sixteen year old Patricia was the
Speaker 1: first to arrive home from school. Minutes later, she too
Speaker 1: was dead, also shot at point blank range in the
Speaker 1: faith before her body was dragged and placed next to
Speaker 1: her mother's. Thirteen year old Frederick was shot dead a
Speaker 1: short time afterwards, mere seconds after entering the house. His
Speaker 1: body was also placed next to his mother's in the ballroom.
Speaker 1: Having cleaned the house again, List jumped into the family
Speaker 1: car and made the short drive south to the Westfield
Speaker 1: High School sports field, where he watched, waving and cheering,
Speaker 1: as his fifteen year old son, John Junior played in
Speaker 1: a soccer match. Collecting him after the game. There was
Speaker 1: little sign of just what List had done earlier in
Speaker 1: the day. After letting his son into the house, first,
Speaker 1: List waited for him to head into the kitchen before
Speaker 1: following behind and shooting him in the back. It would
Speaker 1: take another eight bullets before List was satisfied that his
Speaker 1: son was dead. As he had done with his wife
Speaker 1: and other children, List dragged his son's body to the
Speaker 1: ball room and laid it down next to the others.
Speaker 1: Then covered up all of their faces. Finally, as a
Speaker 1: great sense of relief washed over him, List made lunch.
Speaker 1: After spending one final night in his house. The following morning,
Speaker 1: List fled the scene. A few days later, letters arrived
Speaker 1: at the children's schools and their part time jobs, explaining
Speaker 1: that the family would be out of town for a
Speaker 1: few weeks, staying with Helen's mother in North Carolina. With
Speaker 1: John also having stopped their milk and paper deliveries and
Speaker 1: revute the mail, there was little to be gleaned from
Speaker 1: outside the pretty mansion of the horrors that were contained within.
Speaker 1: Are you always taking care of your family? Do you
Speaker 1: often take care of others and not yourself? Now it's
Speaker 1: time to take care of yourself, to make time for you.
Speaker 1: You deserve it. Teledoc gives you access to a licensed
Speaker 1: therapist to help you get back to feeling your best,
Speaker 1: to feeling like yourself again. With teledoc, you can speak
Speaker 1: to a licensed therapist by phone or video. Therapy appointments
Speaker 1: are available seven days a week from seven am to
Speaker 1: nine pm local time. If you feel overwhelmed sometimes maybe
Speaker 1: you feel stressed or anxious, depressed or lonely, or you
Speaker 1: might be struggling with a personal or family issue, teledoc
Speaker 1: can help. Teledoc is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches,
Speaker 1: so they make it easy to change counselors if needed.
Speaker 1: For free. Teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or employers.
Speaker 1: Download the app or visittelldoc dot com Forward slash Unexplained
Speaker 1: podcast today to get started. That's t e LA DC
Speaker 1: dot com slash Unexplained Podcast. It was some weeks after
Speaker 1: John List left his home that neighbors on Hillside Avenue
Speaker 1: began to wonder why the lights at number four three
Speaker 1: one appeared to stay on all day and night. Then slowly,
Speaker 1: as each individual bulb began to flicker out, until finally
Speaker 1: the house was dark once more, it started to dawn
Speaker 1: on them that something was very wrong. It was one
Speaker 1: cold day in December. After fielding a number of calls
Speaker 1: from concerned neighbors, the two local officers finally paid a
Speaker 1: visit to the property. Stepping up to the hauch, they
Speaker 1: could just about hear the faint sound of a radio
Speaker 1: playing from inside, some sort of religious station from what
Speaker 1: they could gather. However, when they rung the bell, the
Speaker 1: officers got no response. After trying again to no avail,
Speaker 1: the pair eventually decided to force open the door and
Speaker 1: instantly caught a whiff of something putrid from within. Delicately
Speaker 1: unholstering their guns, they eased opened the door and tiptoed inside,
Speaker 1: Moving slowly through to the kitchen, One of the officers
Speaker 1: noticed something strange about the various family pictures dotted about
Speaker 1: the house. All of them had the father's face cut
Speaker 1: out of them. Moments later, following the fetid smell into
Speaker 1: the living room, the horrific truth of it all was
Speaker 1: finally discovered, and the lives of the many residents of
Speaker 1: Hillside Avenue, and indeed the entirety of Westfield, New Jersey,
Speaker 1: would never quite be the same again. It wasn't long
Speaker 1: before police tracked Liszt's car to the parking lot of
Speaker 1: New York's j f K Airport, but here the trail
Speaker 1: went cold. Despite the mounting of a nationwide man hunt,
Speaker 1: the former father of three had completely vanished into the air.
Speaker 1: Eighteen years later, in May nineteen eighty nine, after being
Speaker 1: approached by New Jersey's law enforcement, producers of the TV
Speaker 1: show America's Most Wanted agree to feature a recounting of
Speaker 1: the List family murders in a last ditch attempt to
Speaker 1: throw up any new leads. Included as part of their
Speaker 1: presentation was a clay bust that had been specially sculpted
Speaker 1: by expert forensic artist Frank Bender to give an impression
Speaker 1: of what the fugitive List might have looked like at
Speaker 1: that time. The following day, police received a call from
Speaker 1: a resident of Denver, Colorado, who thought the sculpture bore
Speaker 1: a striking resemblance to her former neighbor, a gentle church
Speaker 1: going man named Bob Clark, who had moved with his
Speaker 1: wife to the town of Midlothian in Virginia the year before.
Speaker 1: A few days later, police officers entered the offices of
Speaker 1: an accounting firm in Richmond, Virginia, where Clark worked as
Speaker 1: an accountant, and arrested him on suspicion of murder. Clark
Speaker 1: denied all knowledge of the crimes until finally, after being
Speaker 1: confronted with irrefutable evidence, he eventually confessed that he was
Speaker 1: in fact John List. As it transpired, List had never
Speaker 1: boarded a flight from j f K Airport after all,
Speaker 1: having only left his car there as a diversion before
Speaker 1: taking the train out of New Jersey toward Colorado and
Speaker 1: eventually settling first in Denver before moving to Virginia in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight. List's second wife knew nothing of his
Speaker 1: past life. In April nineteen ninety, John Emil List was
Speaker 1: convicted of five counts a first degree murder and sentenced
Speaker 1: to five terms of life imprisonment, one for each family
Speaker 1: member he murdered. He died eighteen years later at the
Speaker 1: age of eighty two. Back in December nineteen seventy one,
Speaker 1: when forensic officers were picking their way through the List
Speaker 1: family home, they found a five page letter made out
Speaker 1: to the family's pastor, in which John List attempted to
Speaker 1: explain his motivations for murdering his family, Aside from his
Speaker 1: financial concerns at having lost his job and wanting to
Speaker 1: save himself and his family from the embarrassment of it all,
Speaker 1: it appeared that Liszt, who was a devout Lutheran Christian,
Speaker 1: had also become disillusioned with his wife and daughters growing
Speaker 1: disenchantment with the church, a feeling which was exacerbated by
Speaker 1: his daughter's burgeoning interest in studying drama, which he saw
Speaker 1: as a threat to his Christian ideals. It was Liszt's
Speaker 1: committed belief that he had to act before the family's
Speaker 1: Christian credibility became so compromised that his wife and children
Speaker 1: would no longer be eligible for admittance into Heaven. When
Speaker 1: asked by a journalist in two thousand and two if
Speaker 1: he had considered taking his own life after murdering his family,
Speaker 1: he replied that he hadn't, simply because, as is taught
Speaker 1: by the Bible, committing such an act would have prevented
Speaker 1: him from being admitted to Heaven himself and reuniting with
Speaker 1: his family there, which he was still very much looking
Speaker 1: forward to. It is an argument unlikely to elicit much
Speaker 1: sympathy from anyone, and yet for a committed believer such
Speaker 1: as John, one that could also be argued makes its
Speaker 1: own logical but tragic sense. John signed off his letter
Speaker 1: to his pastor, please remember me in your prayers. I
Speaker 1: will need them whether or not the government does its
Speaker 1: duty as it sees it. I'm only concerned with making
Speaker 1: my peace with God, and of this I am assured
Speaker 1: because of Christ dying even for me. PS mother is
Speaker 1: in the hallway in the attic, third floor she was
Speaker 1: too heavy to move John. If you enjoy listening to
Speaker 1: Unexplained and would like to help support us, you can
Speaker 1: now go to Unexplained podcast dot com Forward Slash Support.
Speaker 1: All donations, no matter how large or small, are massively appreciated.
Speaker 1: All elements have Unexplained are produced by me Richard McClain smith.
Speaker 1: Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes, and feel
Speaker 1: free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas
Speaker 1: regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you
Speaker 1: have an explanation of your own you'd like to share.
Speaker 1: You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com
Speaker 1: or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com,
Speaker 1: Forward Slash Unexplained. Every hour in the US, seventy five
Speaker 1: people are reported missing. What if there was a task
Speaker 1: force dedicated to bringing them home? That's the story behind
Speaker 1: the new original drama Gone, premiering February twenty seventh on
Speaker 1: WGN America, starring Chrisnoth and Danny Pino, alongside newcomer Levin Ramin,
Speaker 1: who portrays the newest member of this elite team, a
Speaker 1: survivor of childhood abduction herself. Don't miss the season premiere
Speaker 1: of Gone Wednesday, February twenty seventh at nine eighth Central
Speaker 1: on WGN America. Now, it's time to take care of yourself.
Speaker 1: To make time for you. Teledoc gives you access to
Speaker 1: a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling
Speaker 1: your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by phone or
Speaker 1: video any time between seven am to nine pm local time,
Speaker 1: seven days a week. Teledoc Therapy is available through most
Speaker 1: insurance or employers. Download the app, or visit teledoc dot
Speaker 1: com Forward slash Unexplained podcast today to get started. That's
Speaker 1: t e l a d oc dot com slash Unexplained
Speaker 1: podcast