18: The Family Annihilator & Is This Love?

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Kristin kicks things off with the story of tenured Rutgers University ethics professor Anna Stubblefield. A few years ago, Anna began working with a physically and mentally disabled man. Thanks to a mostly discredited technique called facilitated communication, Anna uncovered what no other professional had ever considered — that although DJ’s body was disabled, his mind was not. The two eventually fell in love.

But were they really in love? And was DJ’s mind truly functioning at a high level? Did facilitated communication give DJ his voice, or was it Anna talking all along?

Then Brandi tells us the story of family annihilator John List. John appeared to have it all — a sprawling mansion, a great job, and a beautiful family. But when John lost his job, he spiraled. Rather than tell his family about their new financial reality, John murdered his wife, his three children, and his mother. John meticulously planned their murders and his escape. He got away with the crimes for 18 years, but John’s luck ran dry when he was featured in an early episode of America’s Most Wanted.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“The Strange Case of Anna Stubblefield” by Daniel Engber, New York Times Magazine
“The Strange Case of Anna Stubblefield — Revisited” by Daniel Engber, New York Times Magazine
“A Second Chance for Anna Stubblefield,” Slate.com

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“John Emil List” murderpedia.org
“1971 Family Killer Breaks Silence” by Austin Goodrich, ABC News
“‘America’s Most Wanted’ Helped Track down This Mass Murderer in 1989” by Matt Gilligan
“I Know That What Has Been Done Is Wrong” New York Times
“Slaying Suspect Saw 2 Choices, Doctor Testifies” by Joseph F. Sullivan, New York Times
“Killer of Family Gets 5 Life Terms” Associated Press, Los Angeles Times