The Lost and the Found

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy

John Wayne Gacy



John Wayne Gacy in May 1978
Born March 17, 1942
Chicago, Illinois, US
Died May 10, 1994 (aged 52)
Stateville Correctional Center, Crest Hill, Illinois, US
Cause of death Execution by lethal injection
Other names
The Killer Clown[1]
Pogo the Clown[2]
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)[3]
Weight 230 lb (104 kg)[4]
Political party Democratic[5]
Spouse(s) Marlynn Myers
(m. 1964; div. 1969)
Carole Hoff
(m. 1972; div. 1976)
Children Michael and Christine Gacy
Parent(s) John Stanley Gacy
Marion Elaine Robinson

John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer who ****, tortured and murdered at least 33 teenage boys and young men between 1972 and 1978 in Cook County, Illinois (a part of metropolitan Chicago).

All of Gacy's known murders were committed inside his Norwood Park ranch house. His victims were typically induced to his address by force or deception, and all except one of his victims were murdered by either asphyxiation or strangulation with a makeshift garrote, as his first victim was stabbed to death. Gacy buried 26 of his victims in the crawl space of his home. Three other victims were buried elsewhere on his property, while the bodies of his last four known victims were discarded in the Des Plaines River.

Convicted of 33 murders, Gacy was sentenced to death on March 13, 1980 for 12 of those murders. He spent 14 years on death row before he was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center on May 10, 1994.

Gacy became known as the "Killer Clown" because of his charitable services at fund-raising events, parades, and children's parties where he would dress as "Pogo the Clown"[6] or "Patches the Clown", characters that he had created.


Gacy with First Lady Rosalynn Carter on May 6, 1978, six years after the killings began and seven months before his final arrest. A pin indicating special Secret Service clearance is visible on his jacket.


The crawl space at 8213 Summerdale. Twenty-six victims were found buried in this location. 41°58′34″N 87°49′57″W / 41.97619°N 87.832421°W

Unidentified victims
Six victims remain unidentified, five of whom had been buried beneath Gacy's crawl space, with one additional youth buried approximately 15 feet (4.6 m) from the barbecue pit in his backyard. Experts used the skulls of the unidentified victims to create facial reconstructions.[356] Based upon Gacy's confession, information relative to where the victims were buried in his crawl space relative to Gacy's identified victims, and forensic analysis, police were able to determine the most likely dates when his unidentified victims were killed.

c. January 1974. Body 28. Backyard. Male aged 14–18.[117][358]
June 13 – August 5, 1976. Body 26. Crawl space. Male aged 23–30.[143][359]
August 6 – October 5, 1976. Body 13. Crawl space. Male aged 18–22.[360][361]
August 6 – October 24, 1976. Body 21. Crawl space. Male aged 15–24.[362][363]
December 1976 – March 15, 1977. Body 5. Crawl space. Male aged 22–32.[162][364]
March 15 – July 5, 1977. Body 10. Crawl space. Male aged 17–21.[365][366]

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.[367] Test results thus far conducted have confirmed the identification of two victims, ruled out the possibility of numerous other missing youths as being victims of Gacy,[368][369] and solved four unrelated cold cases dating between 1972 and 1979