Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 29, 1990                   TAG: 9003290654
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ELIZABETH, N.J.                                LENGTH: Medium

LETTER SAYS FAMILY KILLED TO ENSURE THEIR SALVATION

"At least I'm certain that all have gone to heaven now," List wrote in a 1971 letter to his Lutheran pastor. "If things had gone on who knows if that would be the case."

The five-page letter was released Wednesday after Superior Court Judge William L'E. Wertheimer allowed it as evidence in List's murder trial.

"I know that many will only look at the additional years that they could have lived but if finally they were no longer Christians what would be gained," List wrote the Rev. Eugene Rehwinkel.

"Also, I'm sure many will say, `How could anyone do such a horrible thing.' - My only answer is it isn't easy and was only done after much thought."

Police found the bullet-riddled bodies of List's wife, Helen, 45; and children, Patricia, 16; John Jr., 15; and Frederick, 13, lined up on the floor of the ballroom in their 18-room Westfield mansion when they entered the house Dec. 7, 1971. They also found the body of List's 84-year-old mother, Alma, upstairs.

"Of course Mother got involved because doing what I did to my family would have been a tremendous shock to her at this age. Therefore, knowing that she is also a Christian I felt it best that she be relieved of the troubles of this world that would have hit her," List wrote.

Afterward, List said, he prayed List said in his letter that he shot his family members from behind because he `didn't want any of them to know even at the last second that I had to do this to them.' for the family. "That was the least I could do," he wrote.

The judge released the letter after denying a defense motion that the document was protected by the priest-penitent privilege. Opening statements are set for Monday.

List, arrested in Richmond, Va., in June, argues that he is innocent because of his mental state at the time the slayings occurred.

Handwritten in script on yellow-lined paper, the letter was dated Nov. 9, 1971. It had been the subject of intense interest since police found it Dec. 7, 1971, in a filing cabinet in List's mansion. Police read the letter and called Rehwinkel to the house, where they let him read it.

List began by apologizing to Rehwinkel for "this additional burden to your work." He said his actions went against all he had been taught and that his account "will not make it right."

He then enumerated his reasons.

List, then a 46-year-old accountant who was selling insurance, said he wasn't earning enough to support the family, and was near bankruptcy.

He also worried about what Patricia's aspirations as an actress "might do to her continuing to be a Christian." And he was upset that his wife said she wanted to remove her name from the church rolls.

He gives detailed instructions for funeral arrangements, but returns to religious themes.

List said in his letter that he shot his family members from behind because he "didn't want any of them to know even at the last second that I had to do this to them."

None suffered, but John Jr. "got hurt more because he seemed to struggle longer," List said. Police said he was shot 10 times.

List said he had planned to kill them on All Saints' Day, Nov. 1, "an appropriate day for them to get to heaven." But the day passed, he said, because his travel plans were delayed.

He signed it "John," and added a postscript:

"P.S. Mother is in the hallway in the attic-3rd floor. She was too heavy to move."