John Wayne Gacy, also known as the “Killer Clown”, was one of the most famous serial killers in America. Starting in 1972, Gacy killed and raped 33 young men in the span of six years. Most of his victims were teenage boys.
In 1964, Gacy was found guilty of sexually assaulting two young boys. He was then arrested and spent 18 months in prison. Once Gacy was released, he divorced his wife and moved to Chicago. Gacy moved to Chicago for a fresh start, he was very involved in the community, many friends and neighbors admired him. Gacy would oftendress up as Pogo the Clown and throw parties for children. This is where he got the nickname “Killer Clown”. In July of 1975, a boy who worked for him disappeared. The parents of the young teenager begged the Chicago police officers to investigate Gacy, but they never did. After Gacy’s second divorce the following year, it gave him more freedom to rape and kill young men. He would lure the boys into his house and give them free alcohol. Gacy would then take advantage of the boys when they became too intoxicated to fight back. Over a span of two years, he murdered over 30 people in Chicago. After many complaints about Gacy to the Chicago police, they finally decided to check Gacy’s home. When the police searched Gacy’s home, they found that he was living a double life. 29 of the bodies that Gacy murdered were found in areas underneath his home. Gacy pointed out to officers where the exact locations of certain bodies were in the crawl space beneath his home. He stated how he lured his victims to his home and raped and strangled them to death.
Gacy was convicted and put on trial for the 33 murders, which then was the largest number of murders charged to one individual in the history of the United States. He was found guilty and sentenced to death on March 13, 1980. While on death row he would tell authorities different versions of his story in order to attempt to stay alive. He spent 14 years on death row and was executed in May of 1994 by lethal injection at the Statesville Correctional Center.
First of all, I have a clown phobia, so thank you for this. But anyways, this is really well written. I like how you show how he played a role in his community, but had a dark other life. This is super cool, and I am glad they found him.