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By mid-1978, the crawl space had no room for further bodies. [8] [31] [45] Gacy later confessed to police that he considered stowing bodies in his attic, but had been worried about complications arising from "leakage". [48] Therefore, he chose to dispose of his victims off the I-55 bridge into the Des Plaines River. [67] Gacy stated he had thrown five bodies into this river in 1978, one of which he believed had landed on a passing barge; [45] only four were ever found. [121] Twenty-six were buried in the crawl space beneath his home; others were buried elsewhere on his property, while a handful were dumped in the Des Plaines River.
That evening, Gacy invited detectives Albrecht and Hachmeister to a restaurant for a meal. Early on December 18, he invited them into another restaurant where, over breakfast, he discussed his business, his marriages and his clowning. During the conversation, Gacy remarked: "You know ... clowns can get away with murder." [152] [153] On December 30, Gacy abducted 19-year-old college student Robert Donnelly from a Chicago bus stop at gunpoint. [125] Gacy drove him to his home, where he raped, tortured, and repeatedly drowned Donnelly to unconsciousness in a bathtub as he made statements such as, "Aren't we playing fun games tonight?" [78] Donnelly later testified at trial that he was in such pain that he asked Gacy to kill him. Gacy replied "I'm getting 'round to it." [125] After several hours, Gacy drove Donnelly to his workplace and released him, warning him that if he complained to police, they would not believe him. [78] 1978
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John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994 pronounced Gay-see), also known as The Killer Clown and Pogo the Clown, was an American serial killer and rapist. He is confirmed to have killed 33 young men and teenage boys. He killed them in a brutal way and buried their bodies in or near his Chicago home. Gacy did not use a gun for any of his crimes. In the sentencing phase of the trial, the jury deliberated for more than two hours before sentencing Gacy to death for each murder committed after the Illinois statute on capital punishment came into effect in June 1977. [167] [191] His execution was set for June 2, 1980. [192] Death row When John Wayne Gacy was convicted in 1980, he had the dubious distinction of boasting the largest number of murder convictions for a single individual in United States history. Between 1972 and 1978, Gacy killed at least 33 men and young boys, burying the bodies of 26 of his victims in the crawlspace of his home in a Chicago suburb. The same evening, Rossi was interviewed a second time. This time he was more cooperative. He informed detectives that in the summer of 1977, at Gacy's behest, he had spread ten bags of lime in the crawl space of Gacy's house. [155] Before the execution began, the chemicals used to effect the execution solidified unexpectedly, clogging the IV tube. The execution team replaced the clogged tube and the execution resumed. The entire procedure took 18 minutes. [213] Anesthesiologists blamed the problem on the prison officials' inexperience at conducting an execution. This error apparently led to Illinois' adopting an alternative method of lethal injection. One prosecutor at Gacy's trial, William Kunkle, said, "He got a much easier death than any of his victims." [214]
Cook County Sheriff Press - Sherifs's Gacy Investigation Solves 1979 Cold Case". Archived from the original on September 27, 2015 . Retrieved July 30, 2017. John Butkovich was labelled as Body 2; he was among the first to be identified, on December 29, 1978. [121] [167] On December 23, investigators returned to unearth the three corpses which had been buried in the same trench as Body 1. [221] Body 3 (John Szyc) was buried in the crawl space directly above Body 4 (Gregory Godzik); both were identified December 29, 1978. [99] [121] Body 5 was buried directly beneath Body 1; [112] this victim was discovered 36 inches (910mm) below the surface of the soil, indicating he was the first to be buried in this common grave. [222]Due to the subject matter this book is loaded with gruesome and disturbing details. While not for everyone, it is an excellent book for those who study or are intrigued by true crime. Gacy didn't look like a monster but he truly was. Books like this which focus on the victims are incredibly important. Gacy later recollected his memories of his final day of freedom as being "hazy", adding he knew his arrest was inevitable and that he intended to visit his friends and say his farewells. After leaving his lawyers' office, Gacy drove to a gas station where he handed a small bag of cannabis to the attendant, who immediately handed the bag to the surveillance officers, adding that Gacy had told him, "The end is coming (for me). These guys are going to kill me." Gacy then drove to the home of a fellow contractor and friend, Ronald Rhode. Gacy hugged Rhode before bursting into tears and saying, "I've been a bad boy. I killed thirty people, give or take a few." [156] Gacy left Rhode and drove to Cram's home to meet with Cram and Rossi. The surveillance officers noted he was holding a rosary to his chin, praying while he drove along the expressway. [162] Rignall managed to stagger to his girlfriend's apartment. Police were informed of the assault but did not investigate Gacy. Rignall was able to recall the Oldsmobile, the Kennedy Expressway and particular side streets. He and two friends staked out the Cumberland exit of the Expressway and, in April, Rignall saw the Oldsmobile, which he and his friends followed to 8213 West Summerdale. [54] Gacy was arrested on July 15; he faced trial for assault and battery against Rignall. [67]
On February 18, Robert Stein testified that all the bodies recovered from Gacy's property were "markedly decomposed [and] putrefied, skeletalized remains", and that of all the autopsies he performed, thirteen victims had died of asphyxiation, six of ligature strangulation, one of multiple stab wounds to the chest and ten in undetermined ways. [48] [178] [r] When Gacy's defense team suggested that all 33 deaths were caused by accidental erotic asphyxia, Stein called this highly improbable. [54] [180] NamUs - National Unidentified Persons Data System Case Report - 11000". Archived from the original on August 20, 2017 . Retrieved July 30, 2017. The made-for-TV movie Dear Mr. Gacy was released in 2010, starring William Forsythe as John Wayne Gacy. The movie is based upon the book The Last Victim, written by Jason Moss. [29] Cook County medical examiner Robert Stein supervised the exhumations of the victims buried on Gacy's property. [220] The crawl space was marked in sections and each body was given an identifying number. The first body recovered from the crawl space was assigned a marker denoting the victim as Body 1. [112] He was identified as Jon Prestidge on January 6, 1979. [121] No cause of death could be determined. A feature movie, Gacy, was released in 2003. This movie cast Mark Holton in the role of John Gacy and focuses on Gacy's life from 1971 until his arrest in 1978. [28]In October 2011, Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart announced that investigators, having obtained full DNA profiles from each of the unidentified victims, were to renew their efforts to identify all of them. At a press conference held to announce this intention, Sheriff Dart stated investigators are actively seeking DNA samples from individuals across the United States related to any male missing between 1970 and 1979. [18] Test results thus far conducted have confirmed the identification of three victims, ruled out the possibility of numerous other missing youths as being victims of Gacy, [19] [20] and solved four unrelated cold cases dating between 1972 and 1979. [21] [22] [23] [n 1] Popular culture [ change | change source ] Movies [ change | change source ]
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