True Crime Friday: John Wayne Gacy, the Killer Clown Serial Killer

John Wayne Gacy was born March 17, 1942. He raped, tortured and murdered at least thirty three boys and men during his reign of terror. His moniker was the "The Killer Clown" due to his public performances as a family friendly clown. Gacy committed his murders inside his home. He was a contractor so he could get away with burying the bodies under his house with no one becoming the wiser. The majority of the boys and men he killed were working for him in his construction business. He would lured them into his house on the promise of obtaining employment. He would then asked them if they wanted to see a magic trick. Those that participated in the magic trick using handcuffs would die. Those that would not participated lived to tell the tale. It was not until he killed Robert Piest that the walls began to close in on John Wayne Gacy. Gacy buried twenty-six victims in the crawl space of his house. When he ran out of crawl space he threw some of them in the nearest river. Gacy had previously been convicted in 1968 of the rape of a teenage boy in the State of Iowa and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He only served eighteen months of his prison sentence. He murdered his first victim in 1972.

The Early Childhood of John Wayne Gacy

John Wayne Gacy was the only son of John Stanley Gacy and Marion Elaine Robison. His parents named his John Wayne after the movie star. Wayne was considered a tough wise guy and Gacy’s father wanted a manly son. Gacy was close to his mother and two sisters and he had a good relationship with everyone in his family with the exception of his father. His father was an alcoholic and abuser of his wife and children. Gacy it seems bore more of the abusive treatment from his father than the rest of the family. Gacy’s father beat his son at the age four for accidentally rearranging car parts at his shop. Gacy’s mother tried to shield her son from his father's abuse but Gacy’s father would call him a sissy or mama’s boy and said he would grow up to be a homosexual.

The Less Dead Theory

In the seventies, the police regarded runaways with distain and mockery. Children who disappeared were not taken seriously especially, if they were poor and gay. The police failed so many of these teenagers and young men. A few of the parents suspected Gacy of murdering their children and when they went to the police to ask for an investigation they were ignored. There were parents that called police over hundred times to get a case opened on Gacy to no avail. Gacy was considered a pillar of the community and therefore untouchable. So the Less Dead Theory was on full display in the Gacy case. These groups generally are the poor, women and children who are ignored and devalued in life. Therefore, in death they are also devalued essentially ignored by their own communities or members of their neighborhoods and generally not missed when they are gone. They lack prestige or power and the police generally devalue their lives as well.

The Victims of John Wayne Gacy

• Darrell Julius Samson, 18
• David Paul Talsma, 19
• Francis Wayne Alexander, 21
• Frank William Landingin, 19
• Gregory John Godzik, 17
• James Byron Haakenson, 16
• James Mazzara, 20
• John Alan Szyc, 19
• John Antheney Mowery, 19
• John Butkovich, 18
• Jon Steven Prestidge, 20
• Kenneth Ray Parker, 16
• Matthew Walter Bowman, 19
• Michael Lawrence Bonnin, 17
• Michael M. Marino, 14
• Randall Wayne Reffett, 15
• Rick Louis Johnston, 17
• Robert David Winch, 16
• Robert Edward Gilroy Jr., 18
• Robert Jerome Piest, 15
• Russell Lloyd Nelson, 21
• Samuel G. Dodd Stapleton, 14
• Timothy David O'Rourke, 16
• Timothy Jack McCoy, 16
• Tommy Joseph Boling, 20
• William George Bundy, 19
• William Huey Carroll Jr., 16
• William Wayne Kindred, 19
• Unidentified Male aged 14–18
• Unidentified Male aged 23–30
• Unidentified Male aged 17–22
• Unidentified Male aged 15–24
• Unidentified Male aged 17–21

The Survivors of John Wayne Gacy

• Robert Donnelly, 19
• Jeffrey Rignall, 26

Gacy was married twice but he hid his sexual preferences from both of his wives. He later told his second wife that he was gay and she soon divorced him. After his second wife left the home he began his murder spree. The investigation into the disappearance of teenager Robert Piest led to Gacy's arrest on December 21, 1978. Robert was different than the other teenagers he was from an upper middle class family and went to school with one of the policemen son so his case was taken seriously. Piest went to speak to Gacy for a job because it paid more than the salary he was making at the pharmacy where he worked. Gacy’s was seen with Piest even though he denied it. The police open an investigated and discovered Gacy’s other crimes against teenaged boys and young men.

Lady Justice

John Wayne Gacy was convicted for thirty-three murders in which at that time in history made him the most prolific serial killer in the United States. Gacy was sentenced to death on March 13, 1980. John Wayne Gacy was executed on May 10, 1994, putting an end to his murderous reign of terror.

Reference

Wikipedia - John Wayne Gacy
Chicago Tribune timeline on John Wayne Gacy
BBC News - John Wayne Gacy murder victim named 45 years after vanishing