Happy True Crime Thursday!
Let me just say this...
the title for this weeks blog is literally what my nightmares are made of.
This week were are talking about John Wayne Gacy AKA The Killer Clown.
You might want to grab a drink for this one because you're going to need it....
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| Young John Gacy |
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| Gacy's Parents |
Gacy ended up working at the Nunn-Bush Shoe Company and was eventually transferred to Springfield where he worked in sales and was eventually promoted to management. Gacy became involved with the local Jaycees and dedicated a lot of his spare time to the organization, he rose through the Jaycee ranks. In 1964 he began dating a coworker by the name of Marlynn Myers, just 9 short months later they were married. He was thriving in life....but couldn't help the thoughts that started accumulating in his mind, the want to be sexually involved with teenage boys.
Marlynn's father purchased 3 Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Waterloo, Iowa, soon Gacy and his bride moved there so Gacy could manage the restaurants. Him and Marlynn ended up having 2 children, a boy and a girl. Gacy joined the Waterloo Jaycees and quickly moved up the ranks, in 1967 he received recognition as "Outstanding Vice-President" and earned a seat on the Board of Directors. Unlike the Jaycee in Springfield the one in Waterloo had a dark side. There was illegal drug use, wife swapping, prostitutes, and pornography. Gacy didn't hesitate in joining in these activities. he also began to act on his desires to have sex with male teenagers, most of them worked at the KFC's he managed. He regularly was cheating on his wife. Around this same time Gacy decided to open up a "club" in his basement for young boys, where he allowed them to drink. Homosexual rumors swirled around town about Gacy, but those closest to him didn't believe it. He was an outstanding citizen and had the perfect life.
In March of 1968, the perfect life came to a halt. Two boys from town ages 15 and 16 accused Gacy of sexually assaulting them. Of course Gacy stated he was innocent and would beat the charges. In August of 1968 Gacy hired another teen to beat up one of his accusers, this teen was caught and confessed everything. Gacy was arrested, he was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to 10 years in the Iowa State Penitentiary. His wife quickly filed for divorce, Gacy never saw his children again. While in prison his father died on Christmas Day 1969 from cirrhosis. Gacy was paroled in 1970 after only serving 18 months! He moved back to Illinois, he moved back in with his mom and took a job as a chef. In 1971 with the help of his mothers finances he bought a home at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue. Just keep in mind a little fact for later, the house had a four foot deep crawl space.
February 12, 1971 a teenage boy claimed that Gacy picked him up and tried to force him into sex. The complaint was dropped when the teen didn't show up for court. The Iowa Board of Parole did not learn of this, so Gacy was discharged from parole in October 1971. So if this hasn't been infuriating to you yet let me just tell you...on June 22, 1972 Gacy was arrested and charged with battery when another teenage boy came forward saying that Gacy lured him into his car and forced him into sex....charges were dropped.
Gacy became a part of a "Jolly Joker" clown club whose members would perform at fund-raising events and parades. Gacy created his own clown characters "Pogo the Clown" and "Patches the Clown" He designed his own costumes and taught himself how to apply the clown makeup. He performed at several parties and charitable events.
Gacy got married June of 1972 to Carole Huff, an acquaintance from his teenage years. Carole and her 2 daughters moved in with Gacy. In 1975 Gacy started his own business (PDM Contractors) a construction company. It was also during this time that Gacy started staying out all night. His marriage began to deteriorate. Carole found wallets with the ID's from young men lying around, and Gacy began bringing gay porn into the house. They divorced in March 1976.
After his divorce and for the next couple years neighbors stated that Gacy had some odd behavior. They would hear his car arrive and depart in the early morning, lights switching on and off in his home at odd hours and him keeping company with young males. He also seemed to have a particular kind of employee to work for him...teenage males.
By December 12, 1978 Gacy would find himself in trouble again. A teenage stock boy at a local pharmacy by the name of Robert Piest went missing. Gacy was the last known person to be seen with the boy prior to his disappearance. When they ran a background check on Gacy they were surprised to discover he had previously served time for committing sodomy on a teenage boy. With this knowledge they were able to obtain a warrant to search Gacy's home. The first thing that police noticed was a rancid odor. The smell was the strongest in the crawl space, the ground seemed to be untouched and was sprinkled with lime, they believed the smell was from faulty sewage lines. They didn't notice any incriminating evidence, so they returned to headquarters to run tests on some items they took into evidence. During review of the items they discovered they in fact had seized a piece of critical evidence. A ring found in Gacy's home belonged to another teenager by the name of John Szyc who had gone missing earlier that year. They also discovered that three former employees of Gacy's had also mysteriously disappeared. With this coming to light they were able to obtain a second warrant to search Gacy's home. This is when they discovered Gacy was much more sinister than they possibly could have imagined.
Investigators returned to Gacy's home. Gacy finally confessed to police that he did kill someone, but said it had been in self-defense. He said that he had buried the body under his garage, he showed them where. They marked the site in the garage, but were more interested in the crawl space. It wasn't long before they discovered a suspicious mound on dirt. They started digging. Soon they found the remains of a body. They called Cook County Medical Examiner Dr. Robert Stein in that evening to help with the investigation. When he arrived he immediately recognized a very familiar odor to him...the smell of death. He organized a search for more bodies by marking off the areas in sections, it looked like the site of an archaeological dig. He knew that they had to take precaution when digging to preserve the integrity of the remains and the grave site. The digging went on all night and for many many days.
By December 22nd Gacy finally confessed to the police that he killed at least 30 people and buried most of the remains in the crawl space. He stated he would lure his victims into being handcuffed, he would sexually assault them, to muffle the screams he would stuff a sock or underwear into their mouths and ultimately kill them by pulling a rope or board against their throats...as he raped them. He admitted that he sometimes would keep a body under his bed or in the attic for several hours before he buried them in the crawl space. WHAT A SICKO!
By the 29th of December police had removed a total of 27 bodies. They soon discovered that Gacy had also dumped bodies in the Des Plaines River and the Illinois River. They were tied to Gacy because of personal items found in his home. Gacy said he did this because he was running out of room in his crawl space and he had been experiencing back problems from digging the graves.
By end of February police were still digging up Gacy's property, they gutted the house and the entire crawl space. They believed there were still more bodies to be found and they weren't wrong. They discovered bodies under the concrete patio, under the recreation room, and under the garage. By the time police were done the home was destroyed and reduced to rubble. They worked hard to identify all the victims, all but nine were identified.
Known Gacy victims, with date of disappearance.
Gacy was indited for 33 murders and was found guilty and sentenced to death by lethal injection.
On May 9, 1994 Gacy received his last meal; a bucket of KFC original recipe chicken, french fries and strawberry shortcake washed down with a coke. Just after midnight Gacy was executed, but not before saying his last precious words of "Kiss my ass." What a gem.
There is so much detail to this case you guys, I could go on and on forever!
This story just confirms that clowns are not to be trusted.
See you guys next week!
Resources:
https://www.thoughtco.com/john-wayne-gacy-the-killer-clown-973164
https://murderpedia.org/male.G/g1/gacy-john-wayne.htm
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| John and Marlynn |
Marlynn's father purchased 3 Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Waterloo, Iowa, soon Gacy and his bride moved there so Gacy could manage the restaurants. Him and Marlynn ended up having 2 children, a boy and a girl. Gacy joined the Waterloo Jaycees and quickly moved up the ranks, in 1967 he received recognition as "Outstanding Vice-President" and earned a seat on the Board of Directors. Unlike the Jaycee in Springfield the one in Waterloo had a dark side. There was illegal drug use, wife swapping, prostitutes, and pornography. Gacy didn't hesitate in joining in these activities. he also began to act on his desires to have sex with male teenagers, most of them worked at the KFC's he managed. He regularly was cheating on his wife. Around this same time Gacy decided to open up a "club" in his basement for young boys, where he allowed them to drink. Homosexual rumors swirled around town about Gacy, but those closest to him didn't believe it. He was an outstanding citizen and had the perfect life.
In March of 1968, the perfect life came to a halt. Two boys from town ages 15 and 16 accused Gacy of sexually assaulting them. Of course Gacy stated he was innocent and would beat the charges. In August of 1968 Gacy hired another teen to beat up one of his accusers, this teen was caught and confessed everything. Gacy was arrested, he was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to 10 years in the Iowa State Penitentiary. His wife quickly filed for divorce, Gacy never saw his children again. While in prison his father died on Christmas Day 1969 from cirrhosis. Gacy was paroled in 1970 after only serving 18 months! He moved back to Illinois, he moved back in with his mom and took a job as a chef. In 1971 with the help of his mothers finances he bought a home at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue. Just keep in mind a little fact for later, the house had a four foot deep crawl space.
February 12, 1971 a teenage boy claimed that Gacy picked him up and tried to force him into sex. The complaint was dropped when the teen didn't show up for court. The Iowa Board of Parole did not learn of this, so Gacy was discharged from parole in October 1971. So if this hasn't been infuriating to you yet let me just tell you...on June 22, 1972 Gacy was arrested and charged with battery when another teenage boy came forward saying that Gacy lured him into his car and forced him into sex....charges were dropped.
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| This is just a whole lot of HELL NO! |
Gacy became a part of a "Jolly Joker" clown club whose members would perform at fund-raising events and parades. Gacy created his own clown characters "Pogo the Clown" and "Patches the Clown" He designed his own costumes and taught himself how to apply the clown makeup. He performed at several parties and charitable events.
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| John and Carole |
After his divorce and for the next couple years neighbors stated that Gacy had some odd behavior. They would hear his car arrive and depart in the early morning, lights switching on and off in his home at odd hours and him keeping company with young males. He also seemed to have a particular kind of employee to work for him...teenage males.
By December 12, 1978 Gacy would find himself in trouble again. A teenage stock boy at a local pharmacy by the name of Robert Piest went missing. Gacy was the last known person to be seen with the boy prior to his disappearance. When they ran a background check on Gacy they were surprised to discover he had previously served time for committing sodomy on a teenage boy. With this knowledge they were able to obtain a warrant to search Gacy's home. The first thing that police noticed was a rancid odor. The smell was the strongest in the crawl space, the ground seemed to be untouched and was sprinkled with lime, they believed the smell was from faulty sewage lines. They didn't notice any incriminating evidence, so they returned to headquarters to run tests on some items they took into evidence. During review of the items they discovered they in fact had seized a piece of critical evidence. A ring found in Gacy's home belonged to another teenager by the name of John Szyc who had gone missing earlier that year. They also discovered that three former employees of Gacy's had also mysteriously disappeared. With this coming to light they were able to obtain a second warrant to search Gacy's home. This is when they discovered Gacy was much more sinister than they possibly could have imagined.
Investigators returned to Gacy's home. Gacy finally confessed to police that he did kill someone, but said it had been in self-defense. He said that he had buried the body under his garage, he showed them where. They marked the site in the garage, but were more interested in the crawl space. It wasn't long before they discovered a suspicious mound on dirt. They started digging. Soon they found the remains of a body. They called Cook County Medical Examiner Dr. Robert Stein in that evening to help with the investigation. When he arrived he immediately recognized a very familiar odor to him...the smell of death. He organized a search for more bodies by marking off the areas in sections, it looked like the site of an archaeological dig. He knew that they had to take precaution when digging to preserve the integrity of the remains and the grave site. The digging went on all night and for many many days.
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| Crawl Space |
By the 29th of December police had removed a total of 27 bodies. They soon discovered that Gacy had also dumped bodies in the Des Plaines River and the Illinois River. They were tied to Gacy because of personal items found in his home. Gacy said he did this because he was running out of room in his crawl space and he had been experiencing back problems from digging the graves.
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| Floor plan of home and where bodies were discovered |
Known Gacy victims, with date of disappearance.
Timothy McCoy, 18, January 3, 1972
John Butkovitch, 17, July 21, 1975
Darrell Sampson, 18, April 6, 1976
Randall Reffett, 15, May 14, 1976
Sam Stapleton, 14, May 14, 1976
Michael Bonnin, 17, June 3, 1976
William Carroll, 16, June 13, 1976
Rick Johnston, 17, August 6, 1976
Kenneth Parker, 16, October 25, 1976
Michael Marino, 14, October 25, 1976
Gregory Godzik, 17, December 12, 1976
John Szyc, 19, January 20, 1977
Jon Prestidge, 20, March 15, 1977
Matthew Bowman, 19, July 5, 1977
Robert Gilroy, 18, September 15, 1977
John Mowery, 19, September 25, 1977
Russell Nelson, 21, October 17, 1977
Robert Winch, 16, November 10, 1977
Tommy Boling, 20, November 18, 1977
David Talsma, 19, December 9, 1977
William Kindred, 19, February 16, 1978
Timothy O'Rourke, 20, June 1978
Frank Landingin, 19, November 4, 1978
James Mazzara, 21, November 24, 1978
Robert Piest, 15, December 11, 1978
John Butkovitch, 17, July 21, 1975
Darrell Sampson, 18, April 6, 1976
Randall Reffett, 15, May 14, 1976
Sam Stapleton, 14, May 14, 1976
Michael Bonnin, 17, June 3, 1976
William Carroll, 16, June 13, 1976
Rick Johnston, 17, August 6, 1976
Kenneth Parker, 16, October 25, 1976
Michael Marino, 14, October 25, 1976
Gregory Godzik, 17, December 12, 1976
John Szyc, 19, January 20, 1977
Jon Prestidge, 20, March 15, 1977
Matthew Bowman, 19, July 5, 1977
Robert Gilroy, 18, September 15, 1977
John Mowery, 19, September 25, 1977
Russell Nelson, 21, October 17, 1977
Robert Winch, 16, November 10, 1977
Tommy Boling, 20, November 18, 1977
David Talsma, 19, December 9, 1977
William Kindred, 19, February 16, 1978
Timothy O'Rourke, 20, June 1978
Frank Landingin, 19, November 4, 1978
James Mazzara, 21, November 24, 1978
Robert Piest, 15, December 11, 1978
Gacy was indited for 33 murders and was found guilty and sentenced to death by lethal injection.
On May 9, 1994 Gacy received his last meal; a bucket of KFC original recipe chicken, french fries and strawberry shortcake washed down with a coke. Just after midnight Gacy was executed, but not before saying his last precious words of "Kiss my ass." What a gem.
There is so much detail to this case you guys, I could go on and on forever!
This story just confirms that clowns are not to be trusted.
See you guys next week!
Resources:
https://www.thoughtco.com/john-wayne-gacy-the-killer-clown-973164
https://murderpedia.org/male.G/g1/gacy-john-wayne.htm
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