This case, in particular, is one of the most infamous cases of a serial killer. While normally I like to begin my posts with a slight explanation of the victims of these particular serial killers, but the Killer Clown had over 30 indictments for his victims, so we could most definitely be here all day.
This is John Wayne Gacy with his mother Marion. Gacy was a construction contractor and lived in a quiet suburb northwest of Chicago. He made himself well known in his community for his political work and his help to charitable causes. He often appeared at children’s performances dressed as a clown (so you can definitely see where this is going).
On December 11, 1978, a 15-year-old Des Plaines high school sophomore, Robert Piest, disappeared shortly after leaving work at a pharmacy where Gacy had recently completed a remodeling job. Two more teenage employees of Gacy, Gregory Godzik and John Butkovich, also had recently disappeared, and the similar factor between all of these boys was John Wayne Gacy. Police contact the FBI, as the local police had no resources to be able to work a case like this, and it was hard for many of the officers to believe as many of them personally knew Gacy and liked him.
The FBI ordered for security of Gacy’s house. During this time, criminal profilers worked out a profile of Gacy in order to best go about questioning and indicting this man, as he was an incredible salesman and business man, so he would be hard to get actual information out of.
On Dec. 12, 1978, the police again focused their attention on John Wayne Gacy. Robert Piest, a teenage stock boy at a local Des Plaines pharmacy, had come up missing. Gacy was the last person seen with the boy prior to his disappearance. When investigators ran a background check on Gacy, they were surprised to discover that he had previously served time for committing sodomy on a teenage boy. With this incriminating information, investigators were able to obtain a warrant to search Gacy’s house.
During the execution of the warrant, investigators entered a crawl space located beneath the home. A rancid odor was quickly noticed. The smell was believed to be faulty sewage lines and was quickly dismissed. Without any noticeable incriminating evidence, investigators returned to headquarters to run tests on the evidence they seized. At this point, people began to question Gacy’s guilt.
During a review of the items confiscated from Gacy’s house, investigators soon realized that they had unknowingly seized a piece of critical evidence. One of the rings found at Gacy’s house belonged to another teenager who had disappeared a year earlier. With this new information, investigators began to realize the possible enormity of the case that was unfolding before them. Following the discovery of their new information, it was not long before investigators were able to obtain a second search warrant for Gacy’s home.
On Dec. 22, 1978, Gacy, realizing that his dark secrets were about to be exposed, confessed to police, telling them that he had murdered approximately 33 young men over the past seven years. He also drew them a detailed map to the locations of 28 shallow graves under his house and garage. At this point, Police and the FBI believed the number of victims might have been at MOST 10.
Profiling was extremely important throughout this case as people were constantly testifying that Gacy could NEVER have committed such heinous crimes as these, as he was widely respected, had children, and worked around children as a side job. Profilers were able to determine that it was very possible for this same, very likable man, to be the monster that his crimes make him out to be.
Gacy’s murder trial began Feb. 6, 1980, in the Cook County Criminal Courts Building in Chicago. During the five-week trial the prosecution and the defense called more than 100 witnesses to testify.
The defense strategy was to establish that Gacy was insane and out of control at the time of the killings. To bolster this claim the defense put on the stand psychiatrists who had interviewed Gacy prior to trial. After the closing arguments, the jury deliberated for only two hours before finding Gacy guilty of murdering 33 people. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection.
John Wayne Gacy’s final words were, ever so enchantingly: “Kiss my ass.”
Pictured above is John Wayne Gacy before his lethal injection, next to his final meal.