March 17, 1942 - John Wayne Gacy
His crimes unfolded largely in private, within the walls of a suburban Chicago home where he maintained an outward life as a respected community figure and children's entertainer. The gap between his public persona and the scale of what investigators discovered — thirty-three victims, most buried on his property — made his case a defining moment in American awareness of predatory violence. A prior conviction for sodomy had resulted in less than two years served, and he killed his first known victim shortly after his release.
From Wikipedia
John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured and murdered at least thirty-three young men and boys between 1972 and 1978 in Norwood Park Township, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. He became known as the "Killer Clown" due to his public performances as a clown prior to the discovery of his crimes.
Gacy committed all of his known murders inside his ranch-style house. Typically, he would lure a victim to his home and dupe them into donning handcuffs on the pretext of demonstrating a magic trick. He would then rape and torture his captive before killing his victim by either asphyxiation or strangulation with a garrote. Twenty-six victims were buried in the crawl space of his home, and three were buried elsewhere on his property; four were discarded in the Des Plaines River.
Gacy had previously been convicted in 1968 of sodomizing a teenage boy in Waterloo, Iowa, and was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, but served eighteen months. He murdered his first victim in 1972, had murdered twice more by the end of 1975, and murdered at least thirty victims after his divorce from his second wife in 1976.
Further reading
- Killer Clown
Written by the prosecutor who led Gacy's investigation and conviction, this updated true crime account is considered the definitive book on the Killer Clown case.
View on Amazon → - The Man Who Killed Boys
This classic true crime account explores how a seemingly successful businessman and community pillar secretly tortured and murdered thirty-three boys in suburban Chicago.
View on Amazon → - John Wayne Gacy
Gacy's own defense attorney recounts the harrowing experience of representing America's most prolific serial killer in his first private practice case.
View on Amazon →
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