MurderousMinds
MurderousMinds takes a deep dive into the dark world of serial killers. Each episode features an in depth analysis of some of history's most notorious murderers. We examine the impact these crimes have had on families and communities, as we attempt to gain a better understanding of what drives these individuals to do what they do. Narrated by Top5s, from the popular YouTube channel Top5s, join us as we make sense of why these individuals committed such brutal acts and discover what drives them, here on the MurderousMinds podcast.
MurderousMinds
Unmasking the Horror: The Twisted Tale of John Wayne Gacy | The MurderousMinds Podcast
Can you imagine living a double life; being a well-respected businessman by day and a notorious killer by night? That's the reality we're exploring today as we dissect the eerie existence of one of America's most infamous serial killers, John Wayne Gacy. Prepare for a shocking journey into the twisted psyche of a seemingly respectable man who harbored monstrous secrets.
Our exploration begins with Gacy's troubled upbringing, marked by an abusive father and a desperate longing for acceptance. We then shift into the heart of Waterloo, where whispers of Gacy's predatory nature started stirring beneath the town's surface. We'll recount the chilling turning point of Gacy's criminal behavior, his unnerving 'sexual high' during his first known murder, and a horrifying pattern of disappearing youths.
The climax of our journey unravels with Lieutenant Joseph Kozenesak's growing suspicion of Gacy, leading to alarming discoveries in his home and ensuing arrest. Brace for impact as we recount Gacy's chilling confession to the murder of at least 30 people, most of whom were buried beneath his home. This episode promises to leave you with a haunting understanding of the predator hidden beneath the guise of a hardworking clown. Join us, as we unmask the chilling reality of John Wayne Gacy.
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Thank you for tuning in to MurderousMinds, the chilling true crime podcast that delves deep into the darkest minds. Join us as we explore the captivating stories of notorious killers, analyze their motives, and unravel the mysteries behind their heinous acts. Stay connected with us on Patreon for updates, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes insights. Remember, listener discretion is advised.
Welcome to Murderous Minds, a documentary series started by the Top 5's YouTube channel back in 2018, dedicated to exploring the twisted minds of serial killers. The following podcast episode is the audio version of our video series over on the Top 5's Patreon page. If you would like to watch the video instead of just listening, and would also like to support our show, then please head on over to Patreon using the link in the show notes. Thank you for joining and now let's take a journey into the minds of Murderous. John Wayne Gacy was one of the worst serial killers in US history. He raped, tortured and murdered at least 33 young males over a 20 year period. Most of his victims were killed in Cook County, illinois. Gacy is often referred to as the killer clown due to his alter ego as Pogo and patches the clown, a persona he took on when he performed at children's hospitals and charitable events.
Speaker 1:In this episode of Murderous Minds, we look at the life of John Wayne Gacy, from his abusive childhood to his heinous crimes. Unlike most killers, gacy wasn't an oddball, lonely individual to the likes of, say, ed Gein. He was a hardworking member of the community and Democratic Party precinct captain. For many years, he was able to fool friends and neighbors into believing he was a respectable businessman who would help anyone in need. In reality, he was a predatory, pedophile and murderer who prayed on boys and young men for his own sexual gratification. Gacy tortured and killed his victims in the vilest way before burying their bodies in the crawl space beneath his house. A lot of information about dates and circumstances came from Gacy himself through his confessions, but, as with all serial killers, gacy was a compulsive liar, so some of the dates and names may differ from source to source. Regardless, here we will try to bring an accurate betrayal of one of the United States most infamous serial killers.
Speaker 1:John Stanley Gacy was of Polish and Danish ancestry. He served in World War I before working most of his life as an auto repair machinist. In 1938 he married Marion Elaine Robinson and the pair settled in Chicago. They soon welcomed their first child, a daughter they named Joanne. Just over two years later, on March 17th 1942, they had a second child, a boy they named John Wayne Gacy. The baby was born 29 minutes after midnight at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago, usa. A few years later, they had their third and final child, a daughter named Karen.
Speaker 1:Chicago was a tough place to be born into. It had the reputation as being one of the most violent cities in the US, and even today it has a higher proportion of gun crime and homicides compared to other large cities. And John Wayne Gacy would grow up to join the list of serial killers that hailed from the city, which includes the infamous HH Holmes and Richard Speck. The family lived in a neat house on the north side of Chicago, and Gacy Jr and his sisters attended the local Catholic school. When Gacy was 11 years old, the family moved and he started attending grammar school, where he seemed to do well. He had friends, a part time job and attended scouts, all of which made him appear to be a normal boy. However, he did have a few health problems. He had hit his head on a swing at the age of 11 and started suffering occasional blackouts. Eventually, he was diagnosed with a blood clot on the brain, which was successfully treated with medication. Gacy had his appendix removed at age 15 and also needed to take medication for a heart problem that plagued him for the rest of his life.
Speaker 1:At school, gacy was an average pupil. He didn't excel at any one subject. He just sort of blended in with the rest of the students Because of his heart condition, he avoided all sports and exercise and was an overweight child. The only thing he was known for was how smart he kept himself. His clothes were not expensive by any means, but they were always washed and ironed and he kept himself neat. During his teenage years he changed high school four times but never completed his senior year. It is said that the last few months that Gacy attended his final school, charles A Proser of Vocational in Balmond Cragdon, he was clearly troubled. His attendance was patchy and eventually he dropped out.
Speaker 1:The cause of his rebellion was his relationship with his father. John Sr was a drunk and a bully, and the whole family suffered from his violent outbursts. He beat his wife, terrorized his daughters and repeatedly belittled his only son, calling him Dermond Stupid and unfavorably comparing him to his sisters. The constant berating from his father had a profound impact on the young Gacy and instead of his early childhood memories being filled with love and fun, they were full of verbal abuse and beatings. On one occasion, he was mercilessly beaten with a leather belt for accidentally jumbling up car engine components his father had assembled. However, gacy had a close relationship with his mother and two sisters, and his mother affectionately called him Johnny. She did her best to shield his son from his father's abuse, but her intervention often fueled John Sr's anger and he accused Gacy of being a sissy and a mummer's boy. Nevertheless, despite his brutality, gacy loved his father and yearned to have a proper father-son relationship, and he tried in vain to please his father and earn his approval.
Speaker 1:Gacy's relationship with his father hit an all time low when he was 7 years old and his father found out that he and another boy had inappropriately touched a young girl. John Sr whipped his son mercilessly with a razor-strop as punishment. It was around the same time, in 1949, that young Gacy started being sexually abused by a family friend who would molest him in his truck. However, gacy was so scared his father would blame him that he told no one about the abuse until years later. After a particularly brutal encounter with his father, gacy left home. He headed west and ended up in Las Vegas where he found work as a janitor at the Palm Mortuary. Gacy was a good worker and just got on with his job to earn enough money to go back home. He later confessed that one evening, while alone in the morgue, he climbed into the coffin of a deceased teenage boy and embraced and caressed the body before realizing what he was doing and being disgusted with himself. The incident prompted Gacy to call his mother and ask whether his father would allow him to come home. His father agreed and the same day he drove back to Chicago. When he arrived home, he was warmly welcomed by everyone except his father, who was indifferent about his return.
Speaker 1:After returning home, gacy enrolled at Northwestern Business College, despite failing to graduate from high school. He graduated in 1963 and celebrated the day with his family. Not long after his graduation, gacy took a management trainee position with the Nunn-Bush Shoe Company. They were so impressed with him that in 1964, just before his 22nd birthday, the company transferred him to Springfield, illinois, to manage the company's retail outlet at a leading clothing store. He was perfect for the job. He was naturally a good talker and his gregarious personality made him a good salesman. Not long after his transfer, he started dating Marilyn Myers, one of his co-workers, and within a few months they were engaged. They married in September 1964.
Speaker 1:Apart from Gacy's increasing weight gain aggravating his heart condition, things were looking good for him and Marilyn. They were financially secure and Gacy was well respected in the community. The future looked bright. In February 1966, marilyn gave birth to a son. They named him Michael, and the following year the couple welcomed a daughter named Christine. Gacy later described this period of his life as perfect. After his children were born, he had finally earned his father's approval and in July 1966, his father apologized for the abuse, saying son, I was wrong about you.
Speaker 1:It was in Springfield that Gacy discovered the United States Junior Chamber, also known as the JC's, a group for young business people and professionals who worked together to improve the community they lived in. At the time, it was a men only organization for those aged 18 to 40. The group were always keen to celebrate their successes and recognize outstanding members through a succession of dinner and banquet ceremonies. This was something the extremely sociable Gacy reveled in. He had always craved recognition and appreciation, something he never received from his father. Gacy soon rose through the ranks of the JC's and he worked tirelessly for them. In 1965, he was elected the first vice president and the chapter's outstanding man of the year.
Speaker 1:Soon after the birth of Michael, gacy's father-in-law offered him a job managing a string of KFC franchises he owned in Waterloo, iowa. Marilyn's parents never liked Gacy and right up to the day of the wedding. They had tried to persuade their daughter not to marry him, but by offering Gacy the job it meant that their daughter and grandson would be close to them. The couple moved into a cute little bungalow on a nice side of town and Gacy soon joined the Waterloo branch of the JC's. Not long after, the couple welcomed their daughter, christine, to the outside world, they were the perfect family respectable, hard-working and financially stable. However, fred Myers had a different opinion of his son-in-law and wasn't particularly happy with the way he ran the restaurants and how he lauded it over the staff as if he was the owner. Gacy's habit of giving away free food to his friends and JC members also angered Myers, and if he hadn't been his son-in-law he would have fired him.
Speaker 1:Gacy relished his new life in Waterloo not least because the JC's social life offered a slightly more exciting activity, involving prostitution, pornography and various other vice activities of which Gacy enthusiastically participated. He reveled in this newfound debauchery and bragged about the women he slept with. His relationship with his wife grew distant and he would even offer her sexual favours to other men. He was also keeping her short of money, something her parents couldn't understand, as he was well paid for managing their restaurants. Gacy also joined the merchant patrol, a sort of security force which guarded their own premises against break-ins. He also did night patrols in his car and used a portable red flashing light on his car's roof. Gacy would often take some of his young male employees with him on these patrols, trying to impress them.
Speaker 1:Gacy's wife later said that her husband had a fascination with the police and emergency vehicles and liked to think he had influence over the emergency services. He would often take free KFC meals to firefighters and patrol officers and even self-titled himself, colonel John Gacy. When he arrived with food for everyone, most of the people he gave free food appreciated it, but a few thought he was trying to buy friends and respect from the community and seemed to like to impress teenage boys especially. It wasn't unusual to see Gacy with a teenage boy beside him in his truck, but at the time no one thought anything of it, because KFC hired a lot of youngsters and they figured he was just giving them a ride home. However, some of the boys who worked at KFC started to notice that it was only the good looking young boys he was offering a lift to. Rumours also began to surface among the staff about their bosses' sexual interest in young boys and some started declining lifts and avoiding Gacy as much as they could. It was also speculated that he would deliberately splash some boys with hot cooking oil so he could take them to hospital in his truck. Despite the rumours, there was enough JCs who believed in Gacy as a good, charitable man and he was named the most outstanding vice president for 1967. He was also honoured as the best JC club chaplain in the state of Iowa and he looked set to take the top role of club president by 1968.
Speaker 1:Life was good for Gacy. He had two adorable children and, despite some dubious encounters, gacy and Marilyn seemed happy. He had even decided to hand his notice into his father-in-law and start up his own business. However, all that was shattered when there was a knock at the door. Gacy answered and was faced with a policeman. Gacy had been indicted for molesting young boys. The policeman produced a search warrant and seized from the family home five rolls of obscene movie footage and an envelope containing advertisements for pornographic footage. Marilyn was in complete shock. She had no idea her husband harboured sexual preferences for boys. She believed he was a good, hard-working man and loving father and she felt sure that they had made a mistake.
Speaker 1:The allegations against Gacy were made by two boys who told the jury that on separate occasions Gacy coerced them into unwanted sexual encounters with him. James Tellery, a 16 year old who worked for Gacy at KFC, told how Gacy invited him into his home while his wife was in hospital after giving birth to their second child. They played pool, watched pornography and drank before Gacy propositioned the young boy. The boy refused his sexual advances. Gacy then forced the boy at knife point up to the bedroom, but after accidentally cutting the youth, gacy backed off and apologised, only to later tie his victim up in the basement. James pretended to play dead and Gacy became concerned and freed him, agreeing to drive him home.
Speaker 1:The second accusation came from Donald Voorhees, a 15 year old boy who didn't work in the restaurant but who did odd jobs for Gacy. Voorhees' father was a fellow Gacy and knew Gacy well. Gacy told him he was doing research for his sexual education committee and he could earn $50 if he assisted him in his research. Over a period of several months, Gacy forced Voorhees to commit sexual acts on him. He got the boy drunk and, in a variety of locations, assaulted him. The boy became very confused about what was happening to him, but Gacy told him not to tell a soul about the experiments they were conducting and if he did he would contact his gangster friend from Chicago. Gacy failed two polygraph tests but continued to deny the allegations the boys had made, and many people in the community and the JCs believed him and believed he was being framed. However, eventually Gacy admitted to having a paid relationship with Voorhees.
Speaker 1:Despite this admission, nothing much happened as regards to the investigation. It is thought this may have been because Gacy had a lot of incriminating evidence against the police, involving the seedy aside of the JCs. It is likely if Gacy hadn't taken the action he did, he may have gotten away with the assault. But it seemed he didn't want to take the chance and on August 30th 1968, gacy persuaded one of his employees, 18-year-old Russell Schroeder, to physically assault Voorhees in an effort to discourage the boy from testifying. Gacy promised to pay Schroeder $300 and Schroeder agreed. In early September he lured Voorhees to an isolated country park, sprayed mace in his eyes, then beat him. Voorhees managed to escape and reported the assault to police, identifying Schroeder as his attacker. They arrested him the following day and initially he denied any involvement but soon confessed to assaulting Voorhees, indicating that he had done so at Gacy's request, police arrested Gacy and laid an additional charge of hiring the boy to assault and intimidate Voorhees. He was jailed in lieu of $10,000 bond. A psychiatric valuation was ordered.
Speaker 1:During his enforced stay at the psychopathic hospital, he frequently grasped on members of the staff and patients and tried to take over certain aspects of its running. He was friendly enough but very opinionated, telling other patients he had done nothing wrong and was there as a private patient. At the end of his 17-day stay, it was noted that Gacy would twist the truth in such a way that it made his actions look like it wasn't his fault. He was a smooth talker who displayed a high level of social intelligence and knew how to influence people. However, gacy denied responsibility for any of the things he was accused of and presented himself as the victim of a witch hunt. He was diagnosed with an antisocial personality that would not benefit from any known medical treatment. However, ultimately Gacy was found to be competent to stand trial.
Speaker 1:On November 7th 1968, gacy pleaded guilty to one count of sodomy concerning Voorhees, but not guilty to the charges relating to other youths. Gacy claimed Voorhees had offered himself to him and that he had acted out of curiosity. However, his story was not believed and Gacy was convicted of sodomy on December 3rd and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, to be served at the Anamosa State Penitentiary. It was the maximum possible sentence at the time and the judge who sentenced him seemed to sense the danger Gacy posed to young boys, giving him the maximum sentence he could. Nowadays, such an offence carries a maximum term of 25 years. Had that been the case in 1968, we would probably have never heard of John Wayne Gacy, and countless lives would have been saved. That same day Gacy was convicted, his wife petitioned for divorce, requesting she be awarded the couple's home property and sole custody of their two children, plus alimony. The court ruled in her favour and the divorce was finalised on September 18th 1969. Marilyn agreed to provide Gacy with photos of the children twice a year at his expense. Gacy never requested any photos or made contact and never saw his first wife or children again During his incarceration.
Speaker 1:Gacy rapidly acquired a reputation as a model prisoner. Within months of his arrival, he had risen to the position of head cook. He also joined the inmate Gacy Chapter and increased its membership from 50 to 650 men in less than 18 months. He is known to have secured an increase in the inmate's daily pay and to have supervised several projects to improve conditions for prisoners. He also managed the installation of a mini golf course in the prison recreational yard.
Speaker 1:On Christmas Day 1969, gacy's father died from cirrhosis at the liver. When he was told of the news, gacy crumpled to the floor, sobbing. His request for supervised compassionate leave to attend the funeral was denied. Gacy was a model prisoner and on the 18th of June 1970, he was released from jail on parole after serving just 18 months there. To greet him after his release was his longtime friend, charlie Hill. Charlie Hill was one of the few people from Waterloo who believed in Gacy's innocence and during his incarceration was his only regular visitor. As the pair drove back to Waterloo, gacy talked of getting his life back together. However, less than 24 hours later he told Charlie he was going to Chicago to visit his mother and he would be back in a few days. Although Gacy kept in touch with Charlie Hill, he never returned to Waterloo.
Speaker 1:Gacy moved back in with his mother and started working at a restaurant. He continued his bragging ways, telling his colleagues that he served in the marines, he was a successful gambler and he had worked as an ambulance driver. All of these exaggerated claims were lies. After working in several local restaurants, he finally landed a job in a restaurant that was popular with members of Chicago's professional hockey team, and soon he was blagging tickets for games and handing them out to his friends. His mother was pleased with how well he had settled in and agreed to help him buy a little home in a quiet, family-orientated area in West Somerdale Avenue, norwood Park. The house was sturdily built, with a shingled front, a garage and a small front and back lawn. Inside the house there were two bedrooms and two extra rooms that had been added to the downstairs living area by the previous owner. In one of the bedrooms there was a trap door that led to a four-foot-deep crawl space under the house. Similarly, in the extended part of the house, crawl spaces had been added as they were cheaper than basements. Almost as soon as Gacy moved in, he made renovations and could always be heard banging, soaring and messing with the house. He also added a pool table and games machines in a newly installed bar area that he kept while stocked with alcohol.
Speaker 1:Far from being a reformed character, after his stint in prison, Gacy turned into a predator, he started hanging about the Greyhound bus terminal at Clark and Randall Street in Chicago. Every day, thousands of passengers from towns and cities throughout the US arrived in the city, Some of them just teenagers on their first trips without their parents. These youngsters arriving alone in the city made them very vulnerable, and pimps and perverts were often waiting to seduce young boys and girls into a life of prostitution or worse. For someone like Gacy, it was the perfect place to pick up teenage boys. On February 12, 1971, barely eight months after being released from prison, chicago police charged Gacy with disorderly conduct after a teenage boy he picked up at the terminal made a complaint against him. The boy claimed he was picked up by Gacy and taken back to his house where he was forced to commit a sexual act. Luckily for Gacy, the case was dismissed. After the boy failed to attend court, neither Gacy's neighbours or the parole board heard about the acquisition and on October 18, 1971, gacy was officially released from parole and his citizenship rights were restored.
Speaker 1:Gacy's first known murder occurred on January 3, 1972 following a party he held at his house. After the party, gacy drove to the Civic Centre to view a display of ice sculptures, and in the early hours of the morning he lured a 16 year old boy from the Greyhound bus terminal into his car. The boy was travelling from Michigan to Nebraska and took a break in Chicago. Gacy took the teenager on a sightseeing tour of Chicago and then drove him to his home with the promise that he could spend the night there before continuing his journey the next day. Gacy later told various stories about how he came to kill the boy, who became known as Greyhound Bus Boy. Unlike most of his victims, the boy was not strangled. He was stabbed twice in the chest. After the killing, gacy claimed that as he listened to the boy dying and gasping for air, that he had experienced a huge sexual high. It was then that he realised that for him, death was the ultimate thrill. Gacy buried the body in his crawl space, but later on, when his second wife moved in and complained of odours in the house, he covered the body with concrete. After Gacy's eventual arrest, the body was discovered with stab wounds and under the concrete slab described by Gacy. The remains were unidentified for 14 years after their discovery, but were finally identified through dental records as 15 year old Timothy Jack McCoy. The identification took so long because only 2 or 3% of the population, had such unique dental work as McCoy. Gacy didn't kill again until around 2 years after his first murder when, in January 1974, he strangled a young man and hid his body in a closet in his home before burying him. He later said that bodily fluids leaked from the victim's mouth and nose, staining his carpet. As a result, gacy regularly stuffed cloth rags, the victim's underwear or a sock into the mouths of subsequent victims to prevent this leakage from reoccurring. His second victim has never been identified.
Speaker 1:Despite having a preference for teenage boys, gacy was often seen in the presence of Carol Hoff, a divorcee with two young daughters. Carol was a regular visitor to Gacy's house and, along with his mother, gacy had introduced her to his neighbours. She became a familiar face when the residents met up for card games and drinks nights. Gacy was a popular figure in the community and was a helpful and considerate neighbour, although his taste in decor often alarmed them. His house, both inside and out, was full of garish colours that stood out against the more conservative houses in the area. Gacy was very active in his local community and he willingly loaned his construction tools and plowed snow from neighbours' walks free of charge. He also hosted annual summer parties attended by hundreds of people, including politicians.
Speaker 1:It was no surprise to anyone when Gacy announced he and Carol were getting married. Carol knew Gacy had been in prison, but he was so kindly considerate to her and she felt he could offer her and her daughters a stable life. After her particularly distressing divorce, the only thing that concerned her was her future husband's erratic moods. One minute he could be calm, the next he was in a furious rage. Despite these concerns, the couple were married on July 1st 1972 and Carol and her two daughters moved into Gacy's house.
Speaker 1:Things seemed fine to start with. The only thing that was bothering Carol was the foul odour that could be smelt throughout the house. Carol wasn't the only one to notice Gacy's mother and new mother-in-law also mentioned the stench, as did the visiting neighbors. Gacy blamed it on the damp beneath the house and tried to mask it with lime. He also blocked up some of the vents to try and dampen the smell. However, in reality nothing had changed for Gacy and around the time he married for the second time he was arrested and charged with aggravated battery and reckless conduct. Gacy had posed as a police sheriff and forced a young man into his car under the threat of arrest, gacy then ordered the boy to perform a sex act on him. Luckily, the terrified boy managed to escape. However, the charges were later dropped and the case never went to court.
Speaker 1:Life continued for the Gacies and in 1974, he started hosting huge themed parties for friends and neighbors, where he would brag about his achievements to anyone who would listen Although many were getting wise to his tall stories and simply humoured him when he made claims about his days in the Marines, police in Fire Brigade and his timers and ambulance driver. In 1974, gacy also started a new company he called PDM Contractors. It stood for painting, decorating and maintenance Around. The same time, his marriage to Carol started to crumble his temper and admission that he was bisexual caused a lot of tension. And less than a year into their marriage, gacy had started going out late at night and not returning until the morning. When Carol asked him where he was going, he would tell her it was none of her business. The odor in the house was also unbearable and Carol couldn't understand why her husband did nothing about it. All he did was continually shovel quick lime into the crawl space under the house.
Speaker 1:Although Gacy was a good provider and hard worker. Carol quickly realised she had married the wrong man. However, she stuck it out for the sake of her girls, who referred to Gacy as daddy. The last straw was when Carol found evidence that Gacy was meeting young men and viewing gay pornography. Following a heated argument, in October 1975, carol asked her husband for a divorce. Gacy agreed to his wife's request, although by mutual consent. Carol continued to live at the house until February 1976, when she and her daughters moved into their own apartment. On March 2nd of that year, the Gacy's divorce was finalised upon the false grounds of Gacy's infidelity with other women. However, after their divorce, carol and Gacy remained in contact and got on much better than they were when they were married.
Speaker 1:Gacy renewed his political interests. After becoming too old to be part of the Jaysies, he sought out Robert F Martwick, the Democratic Township Committeeman, and told him of his aspiration to run for public office. Martwick advised Gacy to get himself known first and to involve himself in local community projects. In late 1975, gacy joined the Jolly Joker Clown Club, whose members regularly performed at fundraising events and parades and voluntarily entertained hospitalised children. He went on to create his own clown character Pogo the Clown and Patches the Clown. He described Pogo as a happy clown, whereas Patches was a more serious character and started performing locally. He performed as both Pogo and Patches at numerous local parties, political functions, charitable events and children's hospitals.
Speaker 1:Sometimes Gacy would remain in his clowning garb after a performance and briefly drink at a local bar before returning home, and he became well known in the area. Little did anyone know, but when Gacy wasn't entertaining local children as a clown, he was trying to lure teenage boys back to his house or car to persuade them to engage in sexual acts with him. Most of his company's workforce consisted of high school students and young men, and Gacy would often proposition his workers for sex or insist on sexual favours in return for lending his vehicles, financial assistance or promotions. He also claimed to own guns, once telling an employee Do you know how easy it would be to get one of my guns and kill you, and how easy it would be to get rid of the body? Completely oblivious to these activities, gacy entered local Democratic Party politics, initially offering his employees to clean party headquarters at no charge. He was rewarded for his community service with an appointment to serve on the Norwood Park Township Street Lighting Committee, subsequently earning the title of Precinct Captain, and in 1975, gacy was appointed Director of Chicago's annual Polish Constitution Day Parade and supervised this yearly event from 1975 until 1978. It was through his work with the parade that Gacy met and was photographed with First Lady Rosalyn Carter in May 1978. The event later became an embarrassment to the United States Secret Service. In the pictures Gacy is seen wearing an S-pin indicating a person given special clearance.
Speaker 1:John Butkovich was a hardworking 17-year-old who worked in a hardware store. Gacy took a liking to him and offered him a job at PDM. John enjoyed working for Gacy and worked long hours for a reasonable paycheck. If he was working late, he sometimes stayed over at Gacy's house. Carol, who was still living in the house, got used to Gacy letting his workers stay over and thought nothing of it. However, the relationship between Gacy and John soon soured. When Gacy refused to pay him for work he had done, john and a couple of his mates went over to Gacy's house to demand what they were owed and an argument broke out. Gacy saw the lads off of his property and John dropped his friends off at their homes in his dodge. The date was August 1st 1975 and that evening John didn't go home to his parents' house. This was highly unusual and out of character for him.
Speaker 1:The next day his 1968 dodge was found parked near the corner of Shrydian and Lawrence with his jacket and wallet inside and the keys still in the ignition. John's parents contacted the police and reported him missing. They also contacted Gacy, who offered to help with the search for him, but John's parents suggested the police questioned Gacy, who told them John and two friends had arrived in his house demanding the overdue pay, but they had reached a compromise and all three had left. Over the following three years, john's parents called police more than a hundred times, urging them to investigate Gacy further, but they treated their son's disappearance as just another teenage runaway. The truth was Gacy had encountered John exiting his car at the corner of South Lawrence Avenue, waving to attract his attention. According to Gacy, john approached his car, declaring I want to talk to you. Gacy invited John into his car, then asked him back to his home, purportedly to settle the issue over his overdue wages. Gacy got John drunk at his house, then conned him into allowing his wrists to be handcuffed behind his back. He then sat on his chest and strangled him. He left John's body in his garage, intending to bury him later in the crawl space. But when his wife and stepdaughters returned earlier than expected, gacy buried John's body under the garage's concrete floor in a space where he initially intended to dig a drain tile Following his divorce.
Speaker 1:But whilst his ex-wife and stepdaughters were still living with him, gacy frequently went out late at night searching for young men to have sex with. He didn't kill everyone he had contact with, although the frequency of his killing increased after his wife finally moved out in 1976. Around this time his parties and late night visitors were more frequent and his neighbours couldn't help noticing that most of his guests were young, good looking teenage boys or men. It also didn't go unnoticed that he spent a lot of time digging in his garden and renovating and adding to his property. His erratic behaviour did not unduly concern his neighbours, who just thought of him as a hardworking, gregarious man who did a lot for the community, who they believed was just a little eccentric. In reality, at this time Gacy was at his most prolific. He abducted and murdered at least 21 boys and young men with ages ranging between 14 and approximately 28 years of age.
Speaker 1:Gacy had no trouble finding and befriending the boys. Many of them he hired to work for him. At his ever-expanding business he met others in bars and around the Greyhound bus station, many who had travelled to the city to start new lives or find work. Gacy would lure the youngsters with promises of construction work or some other ruse. Gacy also befriended young boys when he performed in his clown attire for children's parties and charity events.
Speaker 1:During this period, gacy abducted and murdered 18-year-old Darryl Samson, who was last seen alive in Chicago on April 6, 1976. He buried Darryl under the dining room with a section of cloth lodged in his throat. Five weeks later, on the afternoon of May 14th, 15-year-old Randall Reffert disappeared while walking home from high school Hours. After his abduction, 14-year-old Samuel Stapleton vanished as he walked home from his sister's apartment. The boys were buried together in the crawl space and investigators believe both victims were murdered on the same evening. A couple of weeks later, on June 3rd, gacy killed a 17-year-old Lakeview teenager named Michael Bonin. Michael disappeared while travelling from Chicago. Gacy strangled him with a ligature and buried him under his spare bedroom.
Speaker 1:John frequently cruised the streets of Uptown and Newtown Chicago searching for young boys who hung about on street corners selling themselves to middle-aged men. Some of the kids were as young as eight or nine years old, although Gacy's preference was good-looking teenage boys. Uptown Chicago in the 70s was notorious for street prostitution and impoverished lives and living conditions. It was also a place where the gay community was almost accepted, unlike in other parts of the world, and Gacy felt comfortable there mingling with other men, who most were middle-aged and married, who had been forced to hire their sexuality for years. The Boy Street hustlers shared experiences of the men they got into cars with and learned that a certain breed of man enjoyed inflicting pain and fear into their young lives.
Speaker 1:Words soon got around about an overweight man who cruised around in a new black Oldsmobile. One boy told how he got into the car of the big-bellied man who had driven him into a house on the Summer Avenue in West Norwood. His first meeting with the man was uneventful, but on their second meeting he was violent and beat him. The boy fought back but was molested anyway. He managed to escape by telling the man his friend had taken down his license plate number for protection. He was then driven back to where he was picked up from, but word was out that the chubby man in the black car was to be avoided. He was known to be generous with his money but was dangerous. He was even blamed for the disappearance of a nine-year-old prostitute, who was pointed out to Youth Division Police, who staked out his house for two weeks watching a stream of young men come and go. However, when they were questioned about Gacy, they all denied anything untoward and similar to other inquiries about him. No one checked deep enough to establish his links to other missing boys.
Speaker 1:Billy Carroll Jr was the kind of boy who seemed to always be getting into trouble. At the age of nine he was in a juvenile home for stealing a purse, and at age eleven he was caught with a gun. Billy was mischievous and spent most of his time on the streets in Uptown Chicago. At the age of 16, he was making money by arranging meetings between teenage homosexual boys and adult clientele for a commission. On June 13, 1976, billy left his home to head out to the streets, but he never returned Another victim of Gacy, who was found two years later buried in the crawl space between Gacy's home.
Speaker 1:After Billy's death, gacy went on to kill a further three boys in the space of fewer than four weeks. They were aged between 16 and 28 years old, although the older man was never identified. On August 5th, a 16 year old Minnesota youth named James Hackinson phoned his family, possibly from Gacy's home. They never heard from him again and he was later found buried in the crawl space underneath the body of a 17 year old youth named Rick Johnston, who was last seen alive on August 6th. Gacy is thought to have murdered two further unidentified males between August and October 1976. On October 24th, gacy abducted and killed teenage friends Kenneth Parker and Michael Marino. The two were last seen outside a restaurant on Clark Street in Chicago. Two days later, a 19 year old construction worker, william Bundy, disappeared after informing his family he was attending a party. William worked for Gacy and his body was later found beneath Gacy's bedroom.
Speaker 1:1976 was a time when there was no mobile phones or internet, so it wasn't unusual for parents not to hear from their children for long periods of time, especially when they had taken off to travel. Others were drifters that sadly, nobody missed. However, on several occasions, similar to the disappearance of John Butkovich, parents and friends were persistent in their belief that it was out of character for their loved one to just disappear or be classed as a runaway. One such victim was 17 year old Gregory Godzik. Gregory was a good-looking, well-liked boy who liked nothing better than hanging out with his friends and girlfriend. He was delighted when, towards the end of 1976, he landed an after-school job with Gacy's business and had enough money to do up his old car. Things seemed to be going well for the young man.
Speaker 1:However, in the early hours of December 12th 1996, just after dropping his girlfriend home, greg disappeared. It was totally out of character for the home-loving boy not to contact his parents or his girlfriend to let them know of his whereabouts. Even staying out all night was something he never did. His parents were so worried they contacted all his friends and his girlfriend, but none of them knew where he was. When they contacted the police they were told he was probably a runaway. This was something his parents were not willing to accept.
Speaker 1:The next afternoon, greg's 1966 Maroon Pontiac car was found unlocked and abandoned behind a pet shop in Niles, cook County, illinois, directly neighbouring the city of Chicago's far northwest border. Greg's mother remembered that Gacy owed her son money for work he had done and contacted him to see if he had heard from Greg. Gacy told her her son had called a few days after he disappeared and left a message on his answer machine saying he would be in for work the next day, but when she asked to hear the recording, he claimed that it had already been erased. After the conversation, mrs Godzik urged the Chicago police to speak to Gacy about her missing son. Considering Gacy had been interviewed about the disappearance of John Budkovich, you would think a line would be made. However, greg lived in police area 5 whereas John lived in area 6, and apparently there was no communication between the two divisions and so the common link was not recognized. Had further investigations been done at this stage Gacy's past sexual assault would have come up, as well as him being the last person to speak to both missing boys.
Speaker 1:Because Greg didn't fit the typical profile of a runaway, his case was also featured in the local newspaper, the Learner Times. The reporter who wrote the article even talked to Gacy, who said he believed the boy had run away, although the reporter misspelled his name in the article, as it read as John Gacy, g-a-s-e-y. Greg's parents later hired private investigator Anthony Palisano, who had a great reputation for finding runaway kids, but even he could find nothing. Less than two months after Greg disappeared, 19-year-old John Seizak was reported missing. He was an acquaintance of both Godzik and Butkovich and, like them, had no reason to run away. But again the link was missed. Gacy was even in the possession of John's car, but he managed to fob the police off, saying he had sold it to him because he needed the money to leave town.
Speaker 1:By the end of 1977, gacy had murdered six more young men. The first of these victims was 18-year-old University of Illinois student Robert Gilroy. Robert lived about four blocks away from Gacy and was the son of a Chicago police sergeant. On September 15th 1977 he was expected to catch a bus along with some other students for a day of horse riding. Robert never showed up it was out of character and so his friends contacted his parents and he was reported missing. At the time, gacy was in Pittsburgh and did not return to Chicago until September 16th.
Speaker 1:When Robert's body was eventually found, along with Gacy's other victims, under the house's crawl space, it prompted speculation that maybe Gacy had an accomplice. However, despite Gacy having several young men stay at his house for long periods of time, there was never any evidence he had an accomplice. Ten days after Robert disappeared, 19-year-old former US Marine John Maori vanished after leaving his mother's house to walk to his apartment. John was later found strangled and buried beneath the master bedroom of Gacy's house. On October 17th, 21-year-old Russell Nelson disappeared. He was from Minnesota and was in Chicago looking for work. He was last seen outside of a bar in the city Less than four weeks later. Gacy murdered 16-year-old Kalamazoo Michigan teenager, robert Winch, and buried him in the crawl space. On November 18th, 20-year-old father of one, tommy Boiling, disappeared after leaving a Chicago bar. As Christmas approached, gacy killed another young man, david Talzmer, who was traveling to a rock concert in Hammond.
Speaker 1:On December 30th 1977, gacy abducted 19-year-old student Robert Donnelly from a Chicago bus stop. At gunpoint he drove Robert to his home where he raped, tortured and repeatedly dunked his head into a bathtub until he passed out. Throughout the ordeal, gacy taunted Robert with statements such as aren't we playing fun games tonight? Robert was so traumatized he asked Gacy to kill him. However, after several hours Gacy drove Robert to his workplace and released him, warning him that if he complained to police they would not believe him. Robert ignored the threat and reported the assault to the police. They questioned Gacy on January 6th 1978. Gacy told them he was in a sex slave relationship with Robert, but insisted it was consensual. Remarkably, the police believed him and filed no charges. The following month, gacy went on to kill 19-year-old William Kindredd, who disappeared on February 16th. By now, the crawl space under Gacy's house was full and William was the final victim he buried there.
Speaker 1:On March 21st, gacy lured 26-year-old Jeffrey Rignal into his car. Shortly after he entered the vehicle, gacy chloroformed him and drove him to his house where his arms and head were restrained in a pillory device he called the rack that was affixed to the ceiling. Gacy raped and tortured Rignal with various implements and repeatedly chloroformed him into unconsciousness. After the ordeal, he drove him to Chicago's Lincoln Park where he was dumped unconscious but still alive. Jeffrey managed to stagger to his girlfriend's apartment and police were informed of the assault. At first they didn't investigate Gacy as Rignal had few details apart from the make of car. He was also so severely injured he spent six days in hospital. However, rignal was determined to get justice for his ordeal and he and his friends staked out the area near where he was picked up. They spotted Gacy's black car cruising, so they followed him back to 8213 West Somerdale. Armed with this new information, he provided police with the license plate number and address, but they still did not act on the information. By the time police took Rignal's account seriously. Gacy had already been arrested for murder charges. Rignal later wrote a book about his ordeal.
Speaker 1:By 1978 the crawl space was jammed with bodies, but still no one had a clue and Gacy was still considered by most people as a good neighbor and community worker. He even moved a new girlfriend in and declared to his next-door neighbor that he was getting married again. However, the relationship didn't last and few people ever met her. Gacy was still in regular contact with Carol and he was often seen with her at social events. They still occasionally visited the house, although she continued to complain about the stench. Gacy was always kind and generous to his mother and sisters and kept in close contact with them, always remembering birthdays and to help out where he could, although he never afforded the same generosity to his own children from his first marriage. As you know who we cut out altogether.
Speaker 1:Despite this facade, gacy was still picking up teenagers and killing them, but because he had run out of space under his house, he started disposing of his victims off the I-55 bridge into the Des Plaines River. Gacy later confessed to throwing five bodies into the river in 1978 and he believed one had landed on a passing barge. Only four bodies were ever found. The first known victim thrown into the river was 20 year old Timothy O'Rourke, who he picked up and murdered in mid-June after leaving his apartment to purchase cigarettes. Shortly before his disappearance, o'rourke had told his roommate a contractor on the northwest side had offered him a job. On November 12th 1978, the body of 19 year old Frank Landingen was found naked in the Des Plaines River. He was another of Gacy's victims.
Speaker 1:Shortly after the discovery of Frank's body, another young man went missing. His name was James Mazara, a 20-year-old Almswood Park resident who vanished on November 24th. He too had told his sister that he had a job in the construction industry. Robert Peast was only 15 years old when he mysteriously vanished. At the time he was working in a pharmacy. His mother had come to pick him up after his shift and was waiting in the shop. Robert told her to wait a few minutes while he went outside to talk to a contractor who had offered him a job. Robert never returned.
Speaker 1:Three hours after Robert's disappearance, the Des Plaines Police Department was notified and Lieutenant Joseph Kozenesak started an investigation. After learning the name of the contractor who had offered the job to Robert, the lieutenant knocked on Gacy's door. Gacy answered and Joseph told him about the missing boy and asked Gacy to go with him to the police station for questioning. Gacy said he was unable to leave his home at the moment because there was a recent death in the family and he had to attend to some phone calls, but said he would come down later. Gacy showed up at the station at 3.20am. He was covered in mud, claiming he had been involved in a car accident. From returning to the police station later that day, he denied any involvement in the recent disappearance. At the request of detectives, gacy prepared a written statement detailing his movement. On December 11th Joseph decided to run a background check on Gacy and was surprised to find that Gacy had served time for committing sodomy on a teenager years earlier.
Speaker 1:Soon after Joseph obtained a search warrant for Gacy's house, the first search of Gacy's property on December 13th 1978 revealed several suspicious items. Amongst them were police badges, a 6mm bravettas starter pistol, a syringe and a hypodermic needle. Investigators also found handcuffs, books on homosexuality, pornographic films, capsules of amyl nitrate and a sex toy. In one of the bedrooms they found a class of 1975 main West High School ring engraved with the initials JAS alongside a 36 inch section of nylon rope. The crawl space located beneath Gacy's home was searched and the first thing that struck investigators was a rancid odour that they believed to be sewage. The earth in the crawl space was sprinkled with lime, but seemed to have been untouched. Police found nothing else during their first search of the crawl space.
Speaker 1:Gacy was enraged that the police had searched his property and immediately contacted his lawyer. When Gacy was presented with a Miranda waiver stating his rights and asked a signet, he refused. Police had nothing to arrest him on and eventually had to release him. After more questioning about peace's disappearance, however, they confiscated Gacy's vehicle and other work vehicles and put him under constant surveillance. Further investigations were unearthed, some of them complaints made against Gacy, in particular the most recent filed by Jeffrey Rignal. Things were piecing together, although they didn't yet have enough to arrest him. Gacy himself was getting restless. At first he joked around with the surveillance police and even brought them takeouts, but soon he started accusing them of harassing him. A further examination of Gacy's vehicle was conducted and investigators discovered a small cluster of fibres, which may have been human hair. That evening, officers conducted a test using three trained German shepherd search dogs to determine whether peace had been present in any of Gacy's vehicles. One dog approached Gacy's old mobile and lay on the passenger seat in what the dog's handler and former investigators was a death reaction, indicating peace's body had been present in the vehicle.
Speaker 1:During the days following the police search of Gacy's house, some of his friends were called into the police station and interrogated. Gacy had told his friends earlier that police were trying to charge him with a murder, but claimed he was innocent and being framed. From the interviews police gathered little information on any connection between Gacy and Robert Peast, and friends of Gacy could not believe he was capable of killing a teenage boy. Frustrated by the lack of evidence they had linking Gacy to Peast, the police decided to arrest Gacy on possession of marijuana and valium Unknown to police at the time. Gacy had recently confided in a friend and co-worker a day before his arrest that he had indeed killed. Gacy also told him that he had killed several people because they were bad and trying to blackmail him. On Friday, december 22nd 1978, gacy finally confessed to police that he killed at least 30 people and buried most of the remains of his victims beneath the crawl space of his house. He also admitted to sometimes keeping the dead bodies under his bed or in the attic for several hours before eventually burying them.
Speaker 1:Investigators went back and searched Gacy's house again. Police set about digging an area under the garage where Gacy said he had buried a body. But before they started digging they did another search of the crawl space under the home. It was not long before they discovered a suspicious mound of earth. As they started to dig, the distinctive smell of death was all around and they were about to make a horrific discovery. Carefully, they began excavating body after body, some decomposing, some skeletal, and as the days passed the body count grew. Some of the victims were found with their underwear or a paper towel still lodged deep in their throats. Other victims were buried so close together that police believed they were probably killed or buried at the same time. Gacy later confirmed to police that he had on several occasions killed more than one person in a day. However, the reason he gave for them being buried so close together was that he was running out of room and needed to conserve space. By the 28th of December 1978, police had removed a total of 27 bodies from Gacy's house. However, this was not the final count. They had also linked the death of Frank Landingen, whose body had been found in the Death Plains River, to Gacy, after Frank's driver's license was found in Gacy's home, as well as James Mazzara, who was also found with the all too familiar underwear lodged in his throat.
Speaker 1:By the end of February 1979, police were still digging up Gacy's property. They had already completely gutted the house, but believed there were still more bodies to be found, and they were right. While workmen were breaking up the concrete of Gacy's patio, they came across another horrific discovery. They found the body of a man, still in good condition, preserved in the concrete. The man wore a pair of blue jeans, shorts and a wedding ring. Gacy's victims no longer included just young boys or suspected homosexuals, but now also married men.
Speaker 1:The following week, another body was discovered. The 31st body to be found, linked to Gacy, was in the Illinois River. Investigators were able to discover the identity of the young man by a tattoo on one of his arms. The victim's name was Timothy O'Rourke. Around the same time, another body was found on Gacy's property. The body was located beneath the recreation room of Gacy's house. It would be the last body to be found on Gacy's property.
Speaker 1:Soon after the discovery, the house was destroyed and reduced to rubble. Unfortunately, among the 32 bodies that were discovered, that of Robert Peast, gacy's final victim, was still unaccounted for. Finally, in April 1979, the remains of Robert Peast were discovered in the Illinois River. His body had supposedly been lodged somewhere along the river, making it difficult to find. However, strong winds must have dislodged the corpse and carried it to the locks at Dresden Dam, where it was eventually recovered. Autopsy reports on Peast determined he had suffocated from paper towels being stuffed down his throat. The search for the dead had finally come to an end, but investigations were far from over. As they tried to identify the victims, these investigators continued to match dental records and other clues to help identify the remaining victims who were found on Gacy's property. All but nine of the victims were eventually identified.
Speaker 1:On Wednesday February 6th 1980, john Wayne Gacy's murder trial began in the Cook County Criminal Courts building in Chicago. Jury members, who consisted of five women and seven men, listened, as prosecutor Bob Egan talked about Robert Peast's life and his gruesome death and how Gacy was responsible for his murder and 32 other young men. Egan told them about the investigation into Gacy, the discovery of bodies beneath his house and how Gacy's actions were premeditated and rational. Some of the jurors were learning details of Gacy's killing for the first time. Egan's opening statement was followed by one of Gacy's defense lawyers, robert Motah. He opposed Egan's statement by claiming Gacy's actions were indeed irrational and impulsive, but asserting that he was insane and no longer in control of his conduct. If Gacy was found insane, he would become a ward of the state's mental health system. Furthermore, there would be no time limits on his incarceration and he could be set free when deemed mentally stable enough to re-enter society.
Speaker 1:The trial lasted five grueling weeks, during which horrific details were revealed about how Gacy killed his victims. In his defense, some of his friends and neighbours spoke of a kind and generous man. The darker side of his life and temper were also exposed, and his victims who survived told the harrowing tales of the torture he put them through. Some of his ex-employees told of his mood swings and how he would trick them into being handcuffed. Others told of how he constantly made passes at them while at work. Testimony from Jeffrey Ringel did not last very long because he broke down while telling the court the details of his rape. Ringel was so stressed that he began to vomit and cry hysterically. He was eventually removed from the courthouse as Gacy sat by, exhibiting no signs of emotion.
Speaker 1:After the closing arguments and the testimony of over a hundred witnesses over a period of five weeks, the jury was left to make their decision. It took only two hours of deliberation before the jury came back with its verdict. The courtroom was filled with silence and everyone stood at attention when the jury marched in with its verdict. The sentence was broken when the court clerk read we, the jury, find the defendant, john Wayne Gacy, guilty. Gacy was found guilty in the deaths of 33 young men. He had the singular notoriety of having been convicted of more murders than anyone else in American history. Gacy received the death penalty and was sent to Menard Correctional Center.
Speaker 1:Just after midnight on May 10th 1994, john Wayne Gacy was executed by lethal injection at the Stateville prison in Joliet, illinois. Gacy walked calmly to his death. He showed no remorse for the 33 young lives he had cut short, not to mention the immense grief and loss he had caused their families. Before the execution began, the chemicals used to carry out the execution unexpectedly solidified, clogging the IV line used to administer the chemicals into Gacy's arm. The blinds covering the window through which witnesses observed the execution were temporarily closed while the execution team replaced the clogged tube. After 10 minutes the blinds were reopened and the execution resumed.
Speaker 1:Gacy's final statement to his lawyer before his execution was that killing him would not compensate for the loss of others and that the state was murdering him. His final spoken words were reported to be kiss my ass. For his last meal, gacy ordered a bucket of KFC, a dozen fried shrimp, french fries, fresh strawberries and a Diet Coke. As he lay dying, a crowd estimated at over a thousand gathered outside. Most were in favor of the execution, although a number of anti-death penalty protesters were also present. After Gacy's death was confirmed at 12.58am on May 10th 1994, his brain was removed and is still in the possession of Helen Morrison, a witness for the defense at Gacy's trial, who interviewed Gacy and other serial killers in an attempt to isolate common personality traits of violent sociopaths. The rest of his body was cremated.
Speaker 1:Gacy, like so many other serial killers, has been the subject of many film, book and TV projects. Some of the artwork and sketches he created whilst waiting on death row, particularly those of Pogo the Clown, have sold for several hundred dollars to collectors of macabre memorabilia. It was also rumored recently that Zach Bagans wanted to purchase Gacy's pickled brain from Helen Morrison to display in his museum, along with other murderabilia linked to fellow serial killers. For the friends and families of Gacy's victims, their torment is never ending, as are those that survived his clutches. It's hard to believe that one man can take pleasure in causing the suffering and death of so many young lives. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Murderous Minds podcast. If you would like to vote on upcoming episodes and watch our documentaries, then consider supporting us on Patreon. We hope you found this episode informative. Thank you again for joining us and stay safe, everyone.