Overview of John Wayne Gacy

John Wayne Gacy is also known as the “Killer Clown.”

John Wayne Gacy was born on March 17, 1942 and died on May 10, 1994.

Gacy grew up in a troubled home. His father was an alcoholic who emotionally and physically abused Gacy and his sisters. If his father thought they were misbehaving, he would beat them with a razor strap. Gacy was the only child he emotionally abused. His father would call him degrading names and compare him to his sisters. Gacy was sexually assaulted at a young age by a family friend. These events lead to Gacy’s disturbing ways.

Gacy and another individual sexually assaulted a young girl when he was about 12 years old. Due to Gacy’s medical conditions he was unable to make friends during his childhood and teenage years. Gacy struggled with his sexuality as a teen.

Eventually Gacy joined “Jolly Joker” which was a clown club in his area. This clown club would provide entertainment at children’s parties and fundraisers.

During Gacy’s first arrest, his wife divorced him and took custody of their children.

Gacy’s Victims:

• January 1972: Timothy McCoy. Gacy brought the 16 year old to his home for sex. The next morning, McCoy while holding a knife, Gacy felt threatened and attacked him by stabbing him to death. After McCoy’s death, Gacy realized he enjoyed murdering with sexual gratification.
• July 1975: John Butkovich. The 18 year old was one of Gacy’s employees. He went to Gacy’s house expecting to talk about his paycheck. However, Gacy gave Butkovich alcohol, handcuffed him, and strangled him to death.
• Mid 1970’s: Gacy murdered the majority of his victims during this time. He was accused of rape by two younger men.

Gacy began abducting more young men, sexually assaulting them and torturing them before murdering them. Gacy would leave the bodies in a crawl space in his house. When he couldn’t fit anymore bodies, he started to dispose of the bodies in Des Plaines River.

How Was Gacy Caught?

In 1968, Gacy was convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy and an attempt to sexually assault another boy. Gacy was given a 10 year sentence in prison. Gacy was released after 18 months on parole.

December 11, 1978, Robert Piest went missing. Piest mentioned he was going to Gacy’s house to talk about getting a job at his construction company. Piest’s family reported him missing, leading the police to investigate Gacy’s home. The police found a handgun, hypodermic needles, pornography videos, police badges, and victims items. After further investigations on his house, the police found the crawl space where Gacy hid his victims.

Gacy confessed to killing approximately 30 individuals.

Gacy’s Sentencing:

During Gacy’s trial, he tried to plea with insanity with the claim of having multiple personality disorder. His trial consisted of 33 murder charges. On March 12, 1980, Gacy was found guilty on all counts of murder and sentenced to the death penalty at the Menard Correctional Center.

Gacy was executed in 1994 by lethal injection. However, he continued to claim he was innocent during his entire trial and sentence.

Reference: https://www.biography.com/crime/john-wayne-gacy