John Wayne Gacy, the killer clown

When in 1978 the inhabitants of the quiet community of Norwood Park (Chicago) They discovered that one of their neighbors, John Wayne Gacy, was a serial killer, they couldn’t believe it. He was an exemplary citizen, a pillar of the community and was also successful in his business. Who would suspect him?

However, when on December 22, 1978, the police began to unearth human remains hidden under the cement at 8213 West Summerdale Avenuedisbelief turned to indignation. In a few days they discovered up to 29 bodies, a figure that would eventually reach 33 victims in total.

Childhood and adolescence

John Wayne Gacy was born on March 17, 1942, in Chicago (Illinois). His childhood was not pleasant. His father was an alcoholic and abused his wife and children.including little John, whom he despised and beat.

When I was nine years old suffered sexual abuse by a family friend, but remained silent. Likewise, his schoolmates wouldn’t leave him alone, and all that bullying caused little John to withdraw more into himself.

Added to all this were the constant health problems that he suffered. Dizziness was frequent, which could have been due to an accident he suffered at the age of nine when he fell from a swing and hit his head hard, or due to the strong blows his father gave him.

The truth is that everything resulted in a clot in the brain that caused him to lose consciousness momentarily, and also prevented him from concentrating.

Adult and community life

At the age of 18, John Wayne Gacy decided to leave his family and moved to Las Vegas (Nevada) where He started working as a janitor at a funeral home.. This work increased his fascination with death, as it removed from his mind the taboo about being close to an inert body.

He managed to graduate from a business school and, in 1964, He married Marlynn Myers, with whom he had two children.. The family moved to Iowa, where John managed several chain franchises. KFCproperty of his father-in-law.

In the 1970s, according to an article in Biography, diversified his professional career by becoming a contractor in the world of construction and, in addition, became involved in politics, reaching the position of Democratic district captain on the outskirts of Chicago. There are those who believe that his foray into politics was, in part, to challenge his father, a man who often ridiculed his political leanings.

The community at that time highly valued John. Not only was he immersed in local culture by organizing events, but he also dove headfirst into politics and collaborated with organizations like the Jaycees. As indicated in Biography, this was the golden stage of his life, so much so that he achieved the recognition of his father. He even considered the idea of ​​running for higher political offices, seeing a limitless horizon.

Despite all his success, John had a lesser-known side: he was part of the “Jolly Joker” clown club in Chicago. He dressed and made up like a clown to entertain parties and charity events. A revealing anecdote arises from a comment he made to detectives years later, he spoke about his alter ego, alluding to the fact that “Clowns can get away with anything.”

criminal tour

First attack and first conviction of John Wayne Gacy

John Wayne Gacy’s first recognized victim was 15-year-old Donald Voohees, whom he deceived by promising that they would watch a pornographic film at his home. It is true that he played the pornographic tape, but he also pressured him to perform oral sex on him, something that Donald would tell his parents and they would report John to the authorities.

After being arrested and going to court, a psychiatric examination ruled that he suffered from an antisocial personality disorder, although John was found responsible for his actions. Therefore, he was sentenced to ten years in prison. It was December 1968, and he would never see his wife or his children again.

And so the years passed, as a model prisoner who radiated exemplarity. Perhaps this is why he only served 18 months in prison, obtaining parole with twelve months of surveillance.

A murderer dressed as a clown, who would have thought?

He returned to Illinois, where no one knew about his criminal record.. There he remarried, to Carole Hoff, a friend from high school. But his sexual impulses did not stop and in 1971 she again attacked a teenager, who, despite denouncing John, did not show up to ratify her.

John Wayne Gacy dressed up as “Pogo the clown», for the amusement of boys and girls. However, while she showed her nice side, she raped and murdered. Thus, His sexual adventures continued while he remained hidden behind a costume of the honorable and funny clown Pogo, that in no way corresponded to the real John Wayne Gacy.

One of the first young people to die was Timothy McCoy, 16, who was waiting at a bus station. John invited him to sleep at his house, and the next morning he stabbed him several times in the chest. Once arrested, he would remember: “Seeing the blood coming out of his body excited me.”

The murders continued. His modus operandi It was always the same: he convinced young people with job offers, provided them with illegal substances or watched pornographic films. Then, he put them to sleep with chloroform and once they were unconscious, young people were tortured, sexually assaulted and murdered by strangulation.

The beginning of the end: a cemetery of corpses

When Jeffrey Rignall, whom John had kidnapped, drugged, sexually assaulted and abandoned in a public park in 1978, reported what had happened to the authorities, he was ignored. But he did not give up, he located John Wayne Gacy’s car and notified the authorities, who initially arrested him, and then released him pending trial.

Despite this, John could not contain his impulses, and he acted again, but this time it would be the beginning of the end. He kidnapped 15-year-old Robert Piest, whom he had offered a job at his construction company.

His mother, who was aware of this fact, informed the authorities of the last people with whom her son had had contact. In this way, researchers They interrogated John Wayne Gacy, finding multiple contradictions and inconsistenciesin addition to a long history of antecedents.

The authorities searched his home, which gave off a foul odor. which the neighbors had already noticed and commented on to John. There they found a multitude of incriminating evidence and objects belonging to the missing young people (identity documents, clothing, jewelry). On December 22, 1978, John Wayne Gacy was arrested.

When they started checking the back of the garage, They located a cemetery of corpses, The remains of 29 young people in total were found. Shortly after, four more bodies would be discovered in the river Des Plaines, just a few kilometers from your home. The figure rose to a total of 33 young people murdered.

Condemnation and end

John Wayne Gacy pleaded not guilty before the judge, alleging suffering from mental insanity, although this theory was dismantled during the trial sessions with the expert reports. In this way, on March 13, 1980, John Wayne Gacy was sentenced to death for twelve murders, when capital punishment had just been reintroduced in Illinois.

During the last years of his life he dedicated himself to selling paintings and drawings that he made in prison under the nickname Pogo. In addition, he gave several interviews of great forensic value. It all ended on May 10, 1994. That day, John Wayne Gacy was executed by lethal injection.

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