John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (March 17, 1942 -- May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer and rapist who sexually assaulted and murdered at least 33 teenage boys and young men between 1972 and 1978. Gacy buried 26 of his victims in the crawlspace of his home, buried three others elsewhere on his property, and discarded the remains of his last four known victims in a nearby river. He was convicted of 33 murders and sentenced to death for 12 of these killings in March 1980. He was executed in May 1994.

Gacy later became known as the "Killer Clown" due to his charitable services at fundraising events, parades and children's parties where he would dress as "Pogo the Clown", a character he devised himself. 

John Wayne Gacy, Jr. was the second of three children. His older sister Joanne was born two years before him and two years later came his youngest sister Karen. All of the Gacy children were raised Catholic and all three attended Catholic schools where they lived on the northern side of Chicago.

During Gacy’s late teens, he suffered some turmoil with his father, although relations with his mother and sisters were very strong. John Wayne Gacy, Sr. was an abusive alcoholic who physically abused his wife and verbally assaulted his children. Although John Sr. was an unpleasant individual, young Gacy deeply loved his father and wanted desperately to gain his devotion and attention. Unfortunately, he was never able to get very close to his father before he died, something which he regretted his entire life.

His first marriage ended when rumors about his sexual preferences became truths, when Gacy was indicted by a grand jury in Black Hawk County for allegedly committing the act of sodomy with a teenage boy named Mark Miller.Gacy received ten years at the Iowa State Reformatory for men, the maximum time for such an offence. John Wayne Gacy, Jr. was twenty-six years old when he entered prison for the first time. Shortly after Gacy entered prison, his wife divorced him on the grounds that Gacy violated their marriage vows.

He was a model prisoner, realizing that there was a high possibility of an early parole if he remained non-violent and well behaved. Eighteen months later, Gacy’s hopes came true: his parole was approved. On June 18, 1970, Gacy left the confines of the prison gates and made his way back to his place of birth in Chicago.

On June 1, 1972 Gacy married Carole Hoff, a newly divorced mother of two daughters. She was aware of Gacy’s prison experience, yet she trusted that he had changed his life around for the better.

In 1974, Gacy decided he wanted to go into business for himself. He began a contracting business named Painting, Decorating, and Maintenance or PDM Contractors, Incorporated. He hired young teenage boys to work for him.

As a free service to the community, Gacy and his employees volunteered to clean-up Democratic Party headquarters. Gacy further impressed Matwick when the contractor dressed up as "Pogo the Clown" and entertained children at parties and hospitals. Unaware of Gacy’s past and impressed by his sense of duty and dedication towards the community, Robert F. Matwick, the Democratic township committeeman for Norwood Park, nominated Gacy to the street lighting commission. In 1975, Gacy became the secretary treasurer. It seemed as if Gacy’s dreams of success were beginning to come true; however his career in politics would be short-lived. Troubles started to brew when rumors began to circulate about Gacy having homosexual interest in teenage boys.

In 1977, David Daniel, who was then age 28, testified that John offered him a rideto the bus station, but Daniel refused. He also said that Gacy was very insistent, while reaching to ask seven times and even offering marijuana. 

On December 22, 1978, Gacy went to his lawyers and confessed their crimes. He said he had killed for the first time in January 1972 when the stab in the body of a young and watch the blood flowed from the body, he felt a sense of excitement, and this started to like it. He also confessed to killing 33 individuals and indicated the location of 28 bodies to the police. They were buried on their property. 

In a time of trial, the defensetried to claim that Gacy's 33 murders were accidental deaths as part of eroticasphyxia, but the Cook County medical examiner demonstrated with evidence that these claims were impossible.

Gacywas executed on May 10, 1994 at Stateville Penitentiary in Chester, Illinois, bylethal injection.