Serial Killers: John Wayne Gacy

The United States is responsible for 67.41% of the entire world’s serial killers on record, approximately 2,743 killers. One man who is a part of this statistic, named John Wayne Gacy, was born on March 17th, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. Over a period of six years, Gacy murdered over thirty young men. For the first few years, police were not suspicious of Gacy, and he was only investigated for a few months before his capture. Due to the severity and nature of his crimes John Wayne Gacy was categorized as an organized, power-oriented serial killer.

John Wayne Gacy’s poor childhood greatly influenced his actions as an adult. He was the only boy in a family of three children, and throughout his life as an adolescent, Gacy was subjected to the

Throughout his trial, Gacy pled insanity but was determined to be legally sane (Bonn). Therefore, he was entirely aware of everything he was doing to his victims and was able to put extensive amounts of thought into his plans to capture and murder his victims. John Wayne Gacy sexually assaulted and murdered thirty-three teenage boys and young men between 1972 and 1978, although it is believed that the number may be more (“John Wayne Gacy Biography”). He was sure to keep their bodies well hidden, deciding against disposing of them in a public place where they would be found rather quickly. After murdering his young victims, Gacy buried them in a crawl space underneath his home (Bonn). As a contractor, John Wayne Gacy would often offer his future victims job opportunities, assaulting and murdering them when they arrived. He would also appear as his jester alter ego “Pogo the Clown” for local parades, fundraising events, charities, and sick children in hospitals. His affinity for this zany avocation later earned him the nickname “The Killer Clown” (“John Wayne Gacy Biography”). While he appeared to be innocent to the public eye, the business mogul and bright clown persona was just a perverted cover for a killer who craved

The investigation for the death of these young men and teenage boys continued for approximately 6 years, Gacy not being a true suspect until the awful end. One of the key factors in Gacy’s incarceration was the statement made by a boy named Donald Vorhees. No one could believe it when Vorhees came forward, claiming that John Wayne Gacy had molested him and then hired an employee to attack Vorhees in order to prevent him from testifying (“John Wayne Gacy Biography”). Gacy was finally caught when a surveillance detective on the case was in his home and smelled something awful coming from the heating vent. It would later be revealed that this smell was the decomposing bodies of twenty-nine teenage boys and young men (Bonn). When his house was searched, police found a class ring that seemed to belong to one of the victims, clothes that were much too small for Gacy, and an assortment of other suspicious items (“John Wayne Gacy”). The lack of suspicion surrounding John Wayne Gacy allowed him to get away with more crimes than any other, less respected member of