By While he kept the whole community distracted by his honourable and funny image, the so-called killer clown hid his other side: that of evil. How is it possible that he could go unnoticed in such a way by the whole community?
When the residents of the quiet community of Norwood Park (Chicago) discovered in 1978 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 also a successful businessman. Who would suspect him?
But when police began digging up human remains hidden beneath the cement at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue on December 22, 1978 , disbelief turned to outrage. Within days, they had discovered as many as 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 he was nine years old, he was sexually abused by a family friend , but he kept quiet. Likewise, his schoolmates would not leave him alone, and all this bullying caused little John to withdraw even more into himself.
Added to all this were the constant health problems he suffered. He was frequently dizzy, which could well have been due to an accident he suffered at the age of nine when he fell off a swing and hit his head hard, or to the strong blows his father gave him.
The truth is that everything resulted in a blood clot in his 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 move to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he began working as a janitor in a funeral home . This job increased his fascination with death, as it removed from his mind the taboo about being near a lifeless body.
He graduated from business school and in 1964 married Marlyn Myers, with whom he had two children . The family moved to Iowa, where John ran several franchises of the KFC chain owned by his father-in-law.
In the 1970s, according to an article in Biography , he diversified his career by becoming a construction contractor and also became involved in politics, rising to the rank of Democratic precinct captain in suburban Chicago. Some say his foray into politics was in part a challenge to his father, a man who often ridiculed his political leanings.
The community of that time valued John very much. Not only was he immersed in the local culture by organizing events, but he also immersed himself fully in politics and collaborated with organizations such as the Jaycees. According to Biography , this was the golden period of his life, so much so that he achieved recognition from 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 would dress up and wear make-up as a clown to liven up parties and charity events. A revealing anecdote comes from a comment he made to detectives years later, when he spoke about his alter ego, alluding that “Clowns can get away with anything.”
Criminal route
John Wayne Gacy’s first attack and first conviction
John Wayne Gacy’s first known victim was 15-year-old Donald Voohees, whom he tricked into watching a pornographic film at his home . He did play the pornographic tape, but he also pressured him to perform oral sex on him, something Donald would tell his parents about and they would report John to the authorities.
After being arrested and brought to court, a psychiatric examination was carried out which determined that he suffered from antisocial personality disorder , although John was found responsible for his actions. For this, 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 went by, like a model prisoner who radiated exemplarity . Perhaps this is why he only served 18 months in prison, being granted conditional release with twelve months of supervision.
A killer dressed as a clown, who would have thought?
He returned to Illinois, where no one knew of his criminal record . There he remarried, to Carole Hoff, a friend from high school. But his sexual impulses did not cease and in 1971 he again attacked a teenager, who, despite reporting John, did not come forward to confirm his conviction.
John Wayne Gacy dressed up as ” Pogo the Clown ” to amuse children. However, while he was putting on his most friendly face, he raped and murdered. His sexual escapades continued while he remained hidden behind a costume of the honourable and funny clown Pogo, which in no way corresponded to the real John Wayne Gacy.
One of the first young men to die was 16-year-old Timothy McCoy, who was waiting at a bus station. John invited him to sleep at his house, and the next morning stabbed him several times in the chest. Once arrested, he would recall: “Watching the blood pour out of his body excited me.”
The murders continued. His modus operandi was always the same: he would lure young people with job offers, provide them with illegal substances or watch pornographic films. Then, he would put them to sleep with chloroform and once unconscious, the young people were tortured, sexually assaulted and killed 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, then released him pending trial.
Despite this, John could not contain his impulses and 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, the investigators questioned John Wayne Gacy, finding multiple contradictions and inconsistencies , in addition to a long criminal history.
The authorities searched his home, which had a foul odor that neighbors had already noticed and told John about. There they found a multitude of incriminating evidence and items belonging to the missing youths (identification documents, clothing, jewelry). On December 22, 1978, John Wayne Gacy was arrested .
As they began searching the back of the garage, they located a graveyard of bodies , finding the remains of 29 young men in all . Shortly after, four more bodies would be discovered in the Des Plaines River , just a few miles from their home. The total number of murdered young men rose to 33.
Condemnation and end
John Wayne Gacy pleaded not guilty before the judge , claiming to be mentally ill, although this theory was disproved during the trial sessions by expert reports . Thus, on March 13, 1980, John Wayne Gacy was sentenced to death for twelve murders, when capital punishment had just been re-introduced in Illinois.
During the last years of his life, he devoted himself to selling paintings and drawings that he made in prison under the nickname Pogo. He also gave several interviews of great forensic value. It all ended on May 10, 1994. On that day, John Wayne Gacy was executed by lethal injection.