Father Wants Us Dead, NJ.coms investigative true crime podcast about infamous New Jersey murderer John List, was named one of Apple Podcasts top new shows of 2022.
The podcasting platform included Father Wants Us Dead not just among its 20 top new shows for the U.S. market, but also in its year-end collection of 15 Shows that got us hooked.
Apple Podcasts, the most popular app for streaming podcasts, announced its year-end rankings for the most listened-to and most shared shows and episodes a week after awarding its first-ever Show of the Year title to Slow Burn, Slates podcast on Roe v. Wade.
Father Wants Us Dead is a serial podcast reported and hosted by reporters Rebecca Everett and Jessica Remo. Over nine regular episodes and three bonus episodes, the podcast tells the story of the List family of Westfield, New Jersey, wiped out in horrific fashion by a pious patriarch with an obsessive personality and an absurd notion that theyd be better off dead than living in poverty.
Because of his careful planning, List was able to escape to start a new life and live undetected for nearly 18 years after the Nov. 9, 1971 murders.
John List and his family in 1965, shortly after their move to Westfield. List, left, and clockwise, his wife, Helen; daughter, Patty; middle son, John; and youngest son, Fred.File photo/family photo from "CollateralDamage" by John List and Austin Goodrich
Within weeks of its May 10 launch, the podcast climbed to No. 5 on the Apple Podcasts U.S. chart and also hit No. 2 in New Zealand and Bermuda, No. 3 in Canada and No. 4 in Great Britain and Australia. By the end of May, it was also No. 1 on Chartables global trending charts, based on weekly audience growth across 20 countries.
A mix of investigative journalism and true crime storytelling, the podcast digs into the man behind the 50-year-old crimes: John List, a strict father who volunteered with the Cub Scouts and taught Sunday school. With his accountants eye for detail, he carefully plotted and executed the murders of his doting mother, Alma, 84; his wife of two decades, Helen, 46; and his three children, Patricia, 16; John, 15; and Frederick, 13.
He had a month-long head start before authorities found the bodies Helen and the kids on sleeping bags in the ballroom, and his mother on the floor upstairs and realized the unthinkable truth about who was responsible.
In a cold, matter-of-fact confession note, List explained he had been secretly going broke and believed it would be better to send his whole family to heaven while they were still good Christians, because poverty was sinful.
A Dec. 8, 1971 police photograph of drag marks and a bloodied sleeping bag near the doorway of the List mansion's ballroom.Westfield Police
By the time the shocking news got out and shook the quiet town to its core, List had disappeared. He then succeeded in fooling a whole new community and a second wife into believing he was nothing more than a boring old accountant.
The reporting includes new revelations and analysis gleaned from hundreds of pages of investigative documents and interviews with nearly 50 sources, some of whom were close with the List family and have never spoken publicly. Through their voices, listeners get to know the innocent, doomed family and the enduring impact of their loss on the community.
The podcast has garnered over 4.5 million listens. The latest bonus episode in November told the true story behind Westfields other boogeyman, The Watcher, which inspired the hit Netflix show.
Reporter Jessica Remo interviews the original host of "America's Most Wanted," John Walsh, for the podcast.
All episodes are available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube, at fatherwantsusdead.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can visit fatherwantsusdead.com for bonus content, photographs and never-before-released documents from the List story.
If podcasts arent your thing, you can also read the 15,000-word investigative retrospective into the depraved crime published in The Star-Ledger newspaper and on NJ.com in December 2021. It won a 2021 Society of Features Journalism award for best special section and took home two first place prizes from the New Jersey Press Association.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Rebecca Everett may be reached at [email protected].
