From simple things come intricate twists. John Wayne Gacy, on the outside, seemed to be a normal American man. He married a co-worker named Marilyn Jean Myer and eventually took over her fathers company. The couple had twins, lied the model suburban dream and everyone that knew them never suspected that a monster was lurking in the shadows. That first glimmer of horror came in June of 1968 when Gacy tried to blackmail and force a male employee to perform sexual favors to keep his position in the company. He was arrested, charged, found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison. He served a total of eighteen months behind bars before being released on parole. It wouldn’t be long before he was in trouble again, this time for soliciting an under aged male in a park.
From late 1971 to 1974 Gacy worked for various construction companies in the Chicago area. After learning the tricks of the trade he started his own company, PDM Contractors, and used it as a cover for his growing bloodlust. It is suspect that he molested, raped, tortured and killed at least four of the teenage boys that he hired to work for him but since police were leery to release such information when excavation took place at his 8213 West Summerdale Drive residence.
How was Gacy able to lure young men into his web? His construction company offered him the perfect excuse; they worked for less, rarely complained and Gacy supplied them with alcohol and drugs. From the outside looking in, a teen boy on summer vacation looking to make some easy money and have someone buy them alcohol was the perfect scenario for Gacy to spring his trap. His reign of terror lasted for more than two years. All the while Gacy put up a brave front; hosting parties for the community, donating time and supplies to repair properties of the elderly and volunteering at local hospitals to entertain children.
It took only ten days for police to investigate Gacy and find him in the center of several missing local boys; on December 12, 1978 police officially opened an investigation into the disappearance of Robert Piest. Gacy was the last person to see the youth alive and while not considered an immediate suspect in the disappearance, a background check was done. Gacy was not hunted down, there were no television pleas for his capture. He strolled into the Des Plaines police station and asked to talk to someone “about some killings”. What officers heard, recorded and later recalled in court were chillingly cold recants of how Gacy lured young men to his home or worksites, raped them and eventually killed them. Gacy’s initial questioning lasted ten hours and exhausted over fifteen officers and detectives. All the while he smoked, drank soda and smiled.
This was also when Gacy disclosed that he was not alone in the killing. This made detectives and officers present in the interview rooms it up and listen. No, he didn’t have outside help, he was laying the groundwork for a ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ plea. He claimed that there were several different John’s that were to blame for the murders; from a criminal justice aspect this was sheer brilliance on the part of Gacy. By wedging this information into the initial interview as well as acting completely cool, calm and collected when telling his tales, he provided a very big challenge to the defense team to prove that he wasn’t criminally insane.
Throughout the trial Gacy remained cool, often smiling and nodding to the over one hundred people that came to the courthouse. After he was found guilt and sentenced to consecutive life sentences his popularity grew. Books were written about him, case studies revolved around his activities and requests for interviews flooded the prison. He was sentenced to 21 consecutive life sentences and 12 individual death penalties for murder, rape, sodomy, corrupting the morals of a minor, lewd and lascivious acts with a minor and 24 other charges.
Gacy welcomed any chance he had to speak with the press about his crimes; he also afforded criminal justice teams, psychologists, criminologists and detectives a look into his twisted and deranged world. By all accounts the man was not sane, that is a blistering fact. His suave and slick demeanor was what most people remember about Gacy years after his death.
After studying his case files, reading the books that have been written about him and watching several documentaries I have a rather tinged view of the serial killer. There is no justification for his crimes, you have to admit that preying on teenagers is only a stones throw away from being a pedophile. Even so, he perfected a plan that seemed to work perfectly for him, his situation and circumstances. It’s this cold, cunning and calculating side of Gacy that was rarely seen but his friends, family and neighbors.
Much can be learned from his pathos. What you see on the outside isn’t necessarily what is present on the interior. Gacy is ranked as one of the top ten serial killers not just for the body count but for the way that he lured victims into his world, buried bodies under his home and his panache for brutal homosexual acts before and during the murders. Can there be a copycat to Gacy’s crimes? In this day and age of modern forensics it is slim but you never know what lurks in the shadows.
Oddly enough, there are several websites that claim to be selling authentic John Wayne Gacy letters, personal effects and photographs with his autograph on them. Seeing has how Gacy is not alive to verify the authenticity of them, spending anywhere from $200.00 to $3,5000.00 on an item that may or any not be a Gacy artifact seems ludicrous. Even so, people visit these sites in droves; morbid curiosity didn’t just kill the cat, it skinned it first.
