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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 27, 1990                   TAG: 9003272291
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ELIZABETH, N.J.                                LENGTH: Medium

WITNESS IN LIST TRIAL TELLS OF DEATH THREAT

The hearing on evidence in List's murder trial also saw the first public release of a note in which he implied he killed his family because he couldn't support them and because he knew "they would all be Christians."

The witness, drama teacher Edwin Illiano, said List's 16-year-old daughter, Patricia, mentioned the threat as he was driving her home from a drama rehearsal in 1971.

"The father had announced to the family that he was going to murder the entire family," Illiano testified. He said the girl was sobbing and near hysteria.

On Dec. 7, police found the family members' bullet-riddled bodies. That was about a month after Illiano learned of the threat.

Defense attorney Elijah L. Miller Jr. has moved to exclude evidence collected from List's 18-room mansion in the New York City suburb of Westfield.

Evidence in contention includes a note dated Nov. 9, 1971, and left for List's mother-in-law, Eva Morris, and an insurance associate.

"By now no doubt you know what has happened to Helen and the children. I'm very sorry that it had to happen," List wrote Morris.

. . . "I just couldn't support them anymore and I didn't want them to go into poverty. Also, at this time I know that they would all be Christians. I couldn't be sure of that in the future . . . "

List was arrested last June in the Richmond, Va., area, where he had been living as Robert Clark.

He has maintained that he is innocent because of his mental condition at the time of the killings.