ACCOZZAGLIA

Overlooking the List compound atrium. Photo ©© Carl Guderian.

more not light reading, kids. i’m saving it cos the site on which this originally published only exists on a cached Google page. i come from the place where wives run over their philandering hubbies with new Mercedes sedans (Clara Harris), post-partum moms with domineering hubbies drown five kids (Andrea Yates), in a community that hits the skids when shuttles explode or disintegrate. and before all that, this incident — the site i saw personally in February 1988 a few years after it happened.

[Editing note: interior photos shot inside the abandoned mansion appeared on Flickr in 2009.]

The List Mansion
Seabrook, Texas
01/11/01
Day Investigation
————————————————————————
Ed and I went on another daytime investigation. It was sort of a fact-finding mission. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to find…

The List Mansion was a piece of architectural finery. William List was a veteran of the oil business, and he experimented with the use of pipes, metal and concrete in building homes. He became a multi-millionaire through a trailer business. That’s when he decided to build the mansion. It was stronger than anything else built. On the shores of the bay, it would easily tolerate the strongest hurricane. One friend had mentioned that even if everything else on the peninsula got blown away, the List Mansion would still be standing tall. He was such a shrewd business man that he bought a brick factory that was on the edge of bankruptcy just so he could make all the bricks he needed for his new home. Situated on 4.5 acres, the 34,000 square foot home had a 20K square foot atrium, an indoor swimming pool, and everything inside was wrought iron and steel beams. It was three stories, 8 bedrooms, every one with a full-size fireplace. 11 bathrooms, a garageÊ that housed 20 cars, unadulterated view of the ocean with the house situated on a bluff, etc, etc…

When Mr. List retired, he uncovered a newfound interest in young boys. He would cruise the gay area of a nearby city looking for older teens, young adult boys that were homeless. He would offer them room and board in exchange for sexual favors. He got a few takers, and at one point he had 12 boys living with him in the gigantic mansion. The numbers would always fluctuate, but Mr. List became argumentative and bitchy in his old age. Many of the boys escaped. Apparently, he started holding them almost hostage. He installed big padlocks on the outside of all the doors. All the windows were already covered with bars, and he would lock the large gate at the driveway’s entry. He was a real tyrant, apparently.

One evening in 1984, the four remaining boys decided to change the tides. They ransacked the house, found Mr. List’s shotgun, and blew the locks off the house in the back. A 22-year old boy served as the lookout atÊ the midpoint in the driveway, while the 19-year old sat in a chair on the staircase that led from the garage. When List made his way up the driveway, a 16-year old and a 19-year old boy ran into the atrium that was between the garage and the staircase and waited for Lister to come in. When he did, they stepped to the sides. The 19-year old sitting in the chair on the staircase shot List one time with the shotgun, and it removed List’s head.

The four boys took all of List’s cash, credit cards and bought food, some clothes, and an airline ticket for the 19-year old murderer.

The house was trashed pretty bad, and the police found all kinds of notes about Lister scrawled on the walls throughout. They had been dispatched to the house when List missed a meeting with a business partner the next day. The three remaining boys were caught the next day when they tried to cash one of List’s business checks. The murderer had already fled to Illinois.

The 22 year old died in prison two years after his arrest due to AIDS. The 19-year old murderer is up for parole in 2004. The other 19-year old was paroled in 1989. The 16-year old juvenile was given the equivalent of juvenile probation.

After many attempts of selling the home, after many attempts of auctioning off pieces of the home, they finally just decided to sell the land to a developer. Because of the zoning, the house could never have been anything but a single family home, and no one wanted to live there. Eventually, the developers demolished the home and did sell some of the architectural pieces.

As I did all my research, I was confused as to why I couldn’t find any tax or property records on it. Well, that’s because 3300 Todville Road no longer exists. That address has been obliterated by a new street where that lot used to be. The developer is using the 4.5 acres to build upscale townhomes with waterfront property. There’s a street that runs right through the center of the lot. It is now a gated community. If it weren’t for the gate, we could still conduct an investigation there, but the gate makes the whole thing obviously private.

There is only one house built right now. It’s really small in comparison to the size of the house that used to exist there. It’s also sad that a wonderful piece of architecture and history had to be demolished because of people’s stigmas about death. It’s a shame. They only wanted $400K for the whole shebang. That’s a STEAL.
Oh well. Just illustrates today’s obsession with “tear down the old, build new and crappier.”

Anyway, I’m sad about it, so I’ll go stew in private now.

On the List compound atrium grounds. Photo ©© Carl Guderian