He Killed His Family and Started a New Life. Nearly 18 Years Later, a Sculpted Face Helped Expose Him.

Robert Clark was John Emil List.

The man denied it. He continued to deny it for eight months, until February 1990.

The denial is psychologically interesting but legally irrelevant. A defendant’s denial of identity, in the face of fingerprint evidence, is a position that the legal process does not require to be accepted. The prosecution’s case did not depend on a confession. It depended on the evidence, and the evidence was conclusive.