John List was born on 17 September 1925 in Bay City, Michigan, USA. He was married to Delores Miller and Helen List. He died on 21 March 2008 in Trenton, New Jersey, USA.
After a bust of List by forensic sculptor Frank Bender was shown during the TV episode John Emil List/John Riccardi (1989), a woman in Denver, Colorado called the FBI to inform them that a former neighbor closely resembled the bust, and that he had moved to Richmond, Virginia. Police went to Virginia and after fingerprinting him, confirmed it was List.
