Crime
On this date, Dec. 22, 1978
December 21, 2008
John Wayne Gacy confessed to killing more than two dozen boys and young men and burying their bodies under his suburban Chicago home.
Gacy, who sometimes entertained kids while wearing a clown suit, committed his first murder in 1972. He usually lured his victims back to his home and tricked them into being handcuffed or having a rope tied around their necks. Then he’d knock them out with chloroform and torture them.
He came under suspicion in 1978 when authorities investigating the disappearance of Robert Piest discovered that the teenager was last seen with Gacy. After learning of a sex-crime conviction in Iowa, police searched Gacy’s home and found drivers’ licenses for other people, handcuffs, a syringe, clothing too small for Gacy, and a receipt from the pharmacy where Piest worked. Detectives noticed an offensive odor coming from the crawlspace beneath the house.
Gacy was convicted for the rape and murder of 33 people. He spent 14 years on death row, where he made paintings of clowns that sold for thousands of dollars. After his execution, Gacy’s brain was given to a doctor for study.
Gacy, who sometimes entertained kids while wearing a clown suit, committed his first murder in 1972. He usually lured his victims back to his home and tricked them into being handcuffed or having a rope tied around their necks. Then he’d knock them out with chloroform and torture them.
He came under suspicion in 1978 when authorities investigating the disappearance of Robert Piest discovered that the teenager was last seen with Gacy. After learning of a sex-crime conviction in Iowa, police searched Gacy’s home and found drivers’ licenses for other people, handcuffs, a syringe, clothing too small for Gacy, and a receipt from the pharmacy where Piest worked. Detectives noticed an offensive odor coming from the crawlspace beneath the house.
Gacy was convicted for the rape and murder of 33 people. He spent 14 years on death row, where he made paintings of clowns that sold for thousands of dollars. After his execution, Gacy’s brain was given to a doctor for study.
