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Gacy’s work as a clown – often performing at charity events and children’s hospitals – led to him being dubbed the “Killer Clown” and also helped to cement his status as an American boogeyman, since everyone is scared of serial killers and just about everyone is scared of clowns. Maybe the original story of the John Wayne Gary murders are “befitting of a Stephen King novel” as the description implies. But the way this book is written? Not even close. Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of Gacy’s case wasn’t the body count — it was that the portly, unassuming man killed 33 able-bodied young men and boys.
Sam Amirante is an old school defense attorney, and he spends much of the book talking about his true blue belief in the American justice system, the presumption of innocence, and the right of everyone, even the most heinous criminal, to a fair trial. He comes off as very sincere, registering anger at the many people who didn't understand why a serial killer should even get a trial, and who sent him and his wife death threats and keyed his father's car, among other things. The retelling of the murders committed by John Wayne Gacy is both compelling and revolting at the same time. It is not idle or morbid curiosity that interests, but more of a need to understand HOW this could happen. How could so many people disappear without being reported? How could so many murders occur without obvious detection? How was he able to repeat the process over and over again? And how could someone do this and NOT be insane? In the shadow of O’Hare International Airport, the winding, looping streets and small-town character of unincorporated Norwood Park Township look much the way they did in December 1978.I don’t think the magnitude could ever occur again like this,” he said. “I just don’t see a scenario where it would happen.” Phil Bettiker, a retired Cook County sheriff's officer, talks this month about his experiences as a lead investigator on the Gacy case. He was one of the first officers to hear Gacy’s confession. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
Amirante, a former assistant public defender who represented Gacy as his first private client, agreed that the secret to Gacy’s success lay largely in his unctuous charm developed over years as the son of a harsh, verbally abusive father and later refined as a successful shoe salesman. He looked at his victims like he was taking out the trash. He had no feelings about them,” Amirante said, sitting in a private office at his Barrington home nearly 40 years after hearing the famous confession. “He could talk about a child who's dying of cancer and cry like a baby about this child he didn't even know or never met and feel authentically sad about this child. Then he'd talk about another child that he murdered and have no feelings whatsoever.”Brad Hunter has spent over thirty years writing about some of America’s most horrific crimes. In this new book he enters the mind of John Wayne Gacy, the real-life ‘Killer Clown’, often said to be the inspiration for Stephen King’s evil Pennywise in It. Gacy was active in his local community and helpful towards his neighbors; he willingly loaned his construction tools and plowed snow from neighborhood walks free of charge. [46] From 1974 to 1978, he hosted themed annual summer parties. These events were attended by up to 400 people, including politicians and business associates. [47] Second marriage and divorce Image p2p slug: ct-john-wayne-gacy-investigation-major-players-003 Sam Amirante, who along with attorney Robert Motta represented Gacy, says the serial killer was so successful, in part, because of his charming personality. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) An inconsistent book mostly about what it was like to be John Wayne Gacy's lawyer. I was immediately swept into the book by the opening, which recounts a fateful visit by Gacy to a pharmacy for a small contracting job. We get the fictionalized perspective of a boy who works at the pharmacy, Gacy, and others and I hoped it would continue like this, but unfortunately most of the book simply recounts the experiences of the lawyer and not necessarily even about his extensive interaction with Gacy the year before the trial. No, no one can ever get into the head of Gacy and none of the psychiatrists and psychologists could agree what was wrong with him, though something certainly was off, but more of an attempt to flesh out his role as clown, brother, boss, community volunteer, husband and father would have illuminated his identity. I felt the reader doesn't spend enough time with Gacy in the book. The book tells us more than it shows about his "good" side and, in scenes meant to capture how unpredictable Gacy is, the book is so poorly written, the awkwardness obscures any insight the episodes might provide. And the exclamation points! Where was the editor?
Image p2p slug: ct-john-wayne-gacy-investigation-major-players-002 Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart spearheaded an effort starting in 2010 to find out the names of the remaining unidentified Gacy victims. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) Bettiker recalls being given the responsibility of going over an endless number of missing persons reports from agencies across the state. During his incarceration, Gacy rapidly acquired a reputation as a model prisoner. [8] Within months of his arrival, he had risen to the position of head cook. He also joined the inmate Jaycee chapter and increased its membership from 50 to 650 men in less than eighteen months. Gacy secured an increase in the inmates' daily pay in the prison mess hall and supervised several projects to improve conditions for inmates, including the installation of a miniature golf course; [35] [37] [38] he was presented with a distinguished service award for his efforts within the inmate Jaycee chapter in February 1970. [39] As McCoy lay dying, Gacy claimed he washed the knife in his bathroom, then went to his kitchen and saw the makings of breakfast on the table. McCoy had set the table for two; he had walked into Gacy's room to wake him while absentmindedly carrying the knife. [22] Gacy buried McCoy in his crawl space and later covered his grave with a layer of concrete. [48] In an interview several years after his arrest, Gacy said that immediately after killing McCoy, he felt "totally drained", yet noted that as he stabbed McCoy and as he listened to the "gurgulations" and gasping, he had experienced a mind-numbing orgasm. He added: "That's when I realized that death was the ultimate thrill." [22] Second murder 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]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] On November 7, 1968, Gacy pleaded guilty to one count of sodomy in relation to Voorhees, but not guilty to the charges related to other youths. Gacy claimed Voorhees had offered himself to him and that he had acted out of curiosity. His story was not believed. Gacy was convicted of sodomy on December 3 and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, to be served at the Anamosa State Penitentiary. [8] [33] [34] That same day, Gacy's wife petitioned for divorce, requesting she be awarded the couple's home and property, sole custody of their two children, and alimony. [35] [36] The Court ruled in her favor, and the divorce was finalized on September 18, 1969. Gacy never saw his first wife or children again. [8] Despite not graduating from high school, Gacy attended and graduated from the Northwestern Business College in Chicago, then worked as a salesman and manager at a shoe company. In 1964, he met and became engaged to Marlynn Myers, whose father owned three KFC restaurants in Waterloo, Iowa. Gacy relocated there to manage the restaurants, and he and Myers had two children together, according to Buried Dreams: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer by Tim Cahill and Russ Ewing. Gacy is thought to have murdered two unidentified males between August and October 1976. On October 24, Gacy abducted and killed teenage friends Kenneth Parker and Michael Marino: the two were last seen on Clark Street in Chicago. [109] [110] Two days later, 19-year-old construction worker William Bundy disappeared after informing his family he was to attend a party. [111] Bundy died of suffocation. Gacy buried the body beneath his master bedroom. [112] Bundy had apparently worked for Gacy. [113]
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