Father Wants Us Dead

By NJ.comNews True Crime

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Typical duration
42 min
per episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

Father Wants Us Dead episodes

February 12 SOMEONE'S HUNTING US: A new series from the creators of Father Wants Us Dead
The creators of 'Father Wants Us Dead' bring you a new true crime series about a serial killer you've never heard of and the women who took him down: Someone's Hunting Us.
In 2016, a serial killer was preying on Black women and girls he thought no one would miss — and getting away with it. Police in New Jersey never suspected that Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, a nerdy-looking, polite young man from a law enforcement family, was the one stalking the streets and dating apps for his next target.
Like 'Father Wants Us Dead' — called one of the best true crime podcasts of all time by Entertainment Weekly — 'Someone's Hunting Us' is a deeply-reported story that honors the victims, investigates the investigators and gets inside the mind of a killer that fooled everyone.
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Check out our website for more about our reporting, plus photos and video footage, including Khalil Wheeler-Weaver’s full interrogation video: ⁠⁠⁠https://someoneshuntingus.com⁠⁠⁠
Have a question, an idea for our next show, or other feedback? You can contact us on our website or at [email protected].
Someone's Hunting Us is a production of NJ Advance Media, the #1 local news organization providing reporting for NJ.com and The Star-Ledger.
The podcast is reported, written, produced and hosted by Daysi Calavia-Robertson, a columnist covering communities of color, and Rebecca Everett, an investigative crime reporter and podcaster. Our executive producers are Christopher Kelly, Jessica Beym, Jeff Roberts, and Jess Mazzola.
The podcast is recorded by Alex Graves at Sound on Sound Studios in Montclair, New Jersey. The episode was mixed by Blake Maples, who also composed our music. James‬‭ Shapiro is our associate audio engineer.‬
Special thanks to EqualSpace in Newark, where several of our interviews were recorded.

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41 min
January 28 Introducing: Someone's Hunting Us
Here's the trailer for our new podcast, "Someone's Hunting Us," which drops Feb. 10.
In 2016, a serial killer was preying on Black women and girls he thought no one would miss — and getting away with it. Police in New Jersey never suspected that Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, a nerdy-looking, polite young man from a law enforcement family, was the one stalking the streets and dating apps for his next target.
The journalists behind “Father Wants Us Dead” — called one of the best true crime podcasts of all time by Entertainment Weekly — bring you a deeply-reported true crime story of a serial killer hiding in plain sight and the women who took him down.
Follow "Someone's Hunting Us" at the links below:
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Amazon Music

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3 min
July 30, 2025 Feed drop: Introducing 'American Shrapnel'
From our sister news site AL.com comes 'American Shrapnel.'
The Olympics explode on a July night in 1996. The largest pipe bomb the country has ever seen. A string of bombings shakes Atlanta for the next year.
Thousands of photos and videos produce one blurry image of the attacker, a photo so grainy the FBI called him “Blob Man.” Agents zero in on the wrong man, the media follows suit, and the real bomber slips away.
Until Birmingham. In Alabama, the Blob Man finally makes a misstep. He detonates another bomb, but this time someone sees something. A college student asks himself a question: Why, when everyone else is rushing to see what happened, is that man running away?
That curious student breaks open what was then the largest manhunt in U.S. history: the search for Eric Robert Rudolph.
Years pass. No trace. Does he have help? Is he planning more attacks?
In American Shrapnel, the latest podcast from the Murrow-winning Alabama Media Group, join 2x Pulitzer Prize winner John Archibald and award-winning journalist Becca Andrews as they track the path of destruction — from the bombings, through the manhunt, and back to the twisted politics that fueled it. You’ll hear the stories of survivors, radicals and heroes.
This isn’t a story of the past. The anger that fueled it has only grown stronger today.

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5 min
June 05, 2024 INTRODUCING: IN THE SHADOW OF PRINCETON
An excerpt of the first episode of the new podcast by the creators of Father Wants Us Dead.
The matriarch of a prominent Princeton family is found stabbed to death in her locked basement in 1989. Why would anyone want to kill Cissy Stuart, one of the Ivy league town’s most well-known characters? The shocking investigation sprawls across decades, as police turn their attention from a serial attacker, to her son, to a group of Princeton University students who said they were at a Grateful Dead concert at the time of the killing.
The hot-blooded investigator sees a conspiracy. Is he way off base? Or does privilege let you get away with murder?
Listen to In the Shadow of Princeton exclusively and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App or Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial today by visiting https://wondery.com/links/in-the-shadow-of-princeton.

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10 min
May 30, 2024 INTRODUCING: IN THE SHADOW OF PRINCETON
From the creators of FATHER WANTS US DEAD comes a gripping new true crime series.
The matriarch of a prominent Princeton family is found stabbed to death in her locked basement in 1989. Why would anyone want to kill Cissy Stuart, one of the Ivy league town’s most well-known characters? The shocking investigation sprawls across decades, as police turn their attention from a serial attacker, to her son, to a group of Princeton University students who said they were at a Grateful Dead concert at the time of the killing.
The hot-blooded investigator sees a conspiracy. Is he way off base? Or does privilege let you get away with murder?

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3 min
November 14, 2023 Feed drop: Introducing Firecracker
“Firecracker, a new true crime podcast from NJ.com's sister news site Syracuse.com, is a deep dive into a horrific 27-year-old crime. When police saw what was left of Carol Ryan’s body, dumped in the driveway of a suburban compost site in September of 1996, they wondered what weapon could cause that level of devastation. The truth was grislier than anyone imagined.
Carol’s only son blames police. After hundreds of interviews, investigators couldn’t make any leads stick. Three cops believe they know the man who killed Carol. He’s still out there. But they haven’t been able to prove it. The lead detective calls it the greatest regret of his career.
This six-part podcast from syracuse.com explores the death and life of Carol Ryan and the chilling effect her unsolved murder had on a community. Reporter Katrina Tulloch spent over a year digging into the case, interviewing 30 people including law enforcement, medical professionals, industry experts, witnesses and people who knew Carol.
The podcast outlines how Carol spent the hours leading up to her murder, how first responders bungled the crime scene, the challenges police have faced in trying to find her killer, and how DNA technology could break open the case any day.
“Firecracker” is available exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+, the premium podcast subscription from Wondery.

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8 min
November 02, 2022 BONUS: The Watcher
The real story of The Watcher, Westfield’s other boogeyman, whose mysterious letters inspired the hit Netflix series.
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'Father Wants Us Dead' is a serial investigative true crime podcast from NJ.com and The Star-Ledger about John List, the accountant and Sunday school teacher who killed his mother, wife and three kids in their Westfield, New Jersey mansion 50 years ago. John List left behind a confession letter, explaining why what he'd done was right, and disappeared to start a whole new life, eluding authorities for nearly two decades. The loss of those innocent lives, the horror and the fear, forever scarred this quiet New Jersey community.
For more about the show or to see photos of the List family and the crime scene, visit www.fatherwantsusdead.com.
Check out Reeves Weideman's New York Magazine article from 2018 and his most recent update to the story.

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48 min
July 19, 2022 BONUS: Pulling back the curtain
The hosts take you behind the scenes of the creation of the “Father Wants Us Dead” podcast and discuss never-before-heard interviews and outtakes from the show.
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'Father Wants Us Dead' is a serial investigative true crime podcast from NJ.com and The Star-Ledger about John List, the accountant and Sunday school teacher who killed his mother, wife and three kids in their Westfield, New Jersey mansion 50 years ago. John List left behind a confession letter, explaining why what he'd done was right, and disappeared to start a whole new life, eluding authorities for nearly two decades. The loss of those innocent lives, the horror and the fear, forever scarred this quiet New Jersey community.
For more about the show or to see photos of the List family and the crime scene, visit www.fatherwantsusdead.com.

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34 min
July 05, 2022 BONUS: Postcards from the edge
Our hosts answer your questions and reveal more surprising details from the cutting room floor.

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'Father Wants Us Dead' is a serial investigative true crime podcast from NJ.com and The Star-Ledger about John List, the accountant and Sunday school teacher who killed his mother, wife and three kids in their Westfield, New Jersey mansion 50 years ago. John List left behind a confession letter, explaining why what he'd done was right, and disappeared to start a whole new life, eluding authorities for nearly two decades. The loss of those innocent lives, the horror and the fear, forever scarred this quiet New Jersey community.
For more about the show or to see photos of the List family and the crime scene, visit www.fatherwantsusdead.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
35 min
June 28, 2022 A word about season one
Our hosts have some exciting news in store for “Father Wants Us Dead” fans.

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'Father Wants Us Dead' is a serial investigative true crime podcast from NJ.com and The Star-Ledger about John List, the accountant and Sunday school teacher who killed his mother, wife and three kids in their Westfield, New Jersey mansion 50 years ago. John List left behind a confession letter, explaining why what he'd done was right, and disappeared to start a whole new life, eluding authorities for nearly two decades. The loss of those innocent lives, the horror and the fear, forever scarred this quiet New Jersey community.
For more about the show or to see photos of the List family and the crime scene, visit www.fatherwantsusdead.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
4 min

About Father Wants Us Dead

From the publisher's feed

In 1971, a mild-mannered accountant and Sunday school teacher from New Jersey named John List murders his wife, mother and three children — only to disappear and begin a new life entirely on the other side of the country. Now, two veteran journalists go inside the mind of the killer, learn about the doomed family, and revisit the 18-year-quest to bring List to justice — a saga even more bizarre and twisted than ever previously reported.