The next day, Jeffrey awoke from one of his blackouts fully clothed and under a statue in Lincoln Park. He went to see his girlfriend and then to a hospital. Along with the understandable emotional trauma, he had suffered skin lacerations, burns and permanent liver damage caused by the chloroform. During his 6-day hospitalization, he reported the what little he could remember of the incident to police.

Yet Jeffrey was fortunate to be alive--he was one of the very few of John Wayne Gacy's victims to have survived. Over a 3-year-period, Gacy brutally tortured, raped and murdered at least 33 other boys and young men, who were later discovered under the floorboards of his home and in the local river.

In spring of 1968, Gacy was indicted by a grand jury in Black Hawk County for committing sodomy with a teenage boy named Mark Miller. Miller told how he had been tied up and raped while visiting in Gacy's home. Gacy denied all charges, stating that Mark had willingly had sex with him in order to earn extra money. Four months later Gacy was charged with hiring an eighteen-year-old boy to beat up Mark Miller. Gacy had offered Dwight Andersson $10 plus $300 more if he carried out the beating. Andersson lured Mark to his car and drove him to a wooded area where he sprayed mace in his eyes and attacked him. Mark fought back and managed to get away. When police picked Andersson up, he gave Gacy's name as the man who hired him for the attack. The court ordered Gacy to undergo psychiatric evaluation to determine if he were mentally competent to stand trial. Gacy was found to be mentally competent; however, he was considered to be an antisocial personality who would probably not benefit from medical treatment. Soon after health authorities submitted the report, Gacy pled guilty to the sodomy charge.

At sentencing, Gacy received 10 years at the Iowa State Reformatory for men, the maximum time for such an offence. John Wayne Gacy, Jr. was 26 years old when he entered prison for the first time. Shortly after Gacy entered prison, his first wife divorced him on the grounds that Gacy had violated their marriage vows. Gacy was a model prisoner, realizing there was possibility of early parole if he behaved himself. 18 months later, Gacy was paroled.

In June, 1970, Gacy left the prison and returned home to Chicago. He moved in with his mother and was hired as a chef in a Chicago restaurant. Four months later, his mother helped him purchase a home of his own just outside Chicago; Gacy owned one-half, and his mother and sisters owned the other. In February, Gacy was charged with 'disorderly conduct.' The charges stated that Gacy had picked up a young boy at a bus terminal and forced him to commit sexual acts. Gacy had been officially discharged from his parole for only a few months. However, due to the accuser's no-show in court, all charges against him were dropped.

In June, 1972 Gacy married Carole Hoff. She had been attracted to Gacy's charm and generosity and believed he would be a good provider for herself and her two daughters. She and the girls moved into Gacy's home. The couple were close with their neighbors, the Grexas, who were frequently invited to Gacy home for parties and barbecues. The Grexas enjoyed their friendship with their neighbors, but were disturbed by the horrible stench that filled the house. Mrs. Grexa suggested that a rat had died beneath the floorboards, but Gacy explained that the stench was due to moisture build-up in the crawl space under the house.

In 1974, Gacy began a contracting business named Painting, Decorating, and Maintenance or PDM Contractors, Incorporated. He employed teenaged boys, telling friends that he hired them so young to keep costs down. However, homosexual urges and promptings to do harm were gradually becoming apparent to those around him, especially his wife.

By 1975, the Gacys had drifted apart. Their sex life had died and Gacy became more and more emotioanlly unstable. He would suddenly burst into an uncontrollable rage, break things and throw furniture. Not only did Gacy show no sexual interest in his wife, but she began to find pornographic magazines around the house, featuring men and boys. Gacy behaved casually about this reading material, and told Carole that he preferred boys to women. Of course, Carole was devastated and soon filed for divorce, which became final in March of 1976.

Gacy then turned to politics, hoping to one day run for public office. He realized that he had to make his name known by participating in community activities and volunteer projects. As a free service to the community, Gacy and his employees volunteered to clean-up Democratic Party headquarters, and dressed up as 'Pogo the Clown' to entertain children at parties and hospitals.

In 1975, Gacy became the Democratic secretary treasurer. However, rumors began to circulate about Gacy having homosexual interest in teenage boys. One of the teenagers who worked with Gacy while cleaning up the party headquarters was 16-year-old Tony Antonucci. The boy claimed that Gacy made sexual advances towards him, backing off after he threatened to hit Gacy with a chair. Gacy joked about the situation and left Tony alone for a month. Even after this incident, the boy was foolish enough to visit Gacy at his home, where Gacy attempted to trick him into handcuffs and, believing he was securely bound, began to undress him. However, Tony had made sure that one of his hands was loosely cuffed and was able to free himself and wrestle Gacy to the ground. Once he had Gacy on the ground he handcuffed him, but eventually released him when he promised he would never touch the boy again.

17-year-old Johnny Butkovich began doing remodeling work for Gacy at PDM Contractors, but the working relationship ended abruptly when Gacy refused to pay Johnny for two weeks of work -- something Gacy commonly did to his employees in order to save money. Johnny went over to Gacy's house with two friends to collect his earnings. When Johnny confronted him about paymeny, Gacy still refused and a large argument erupted. Johnny threatened that he was going to report to authorities that Gacy was not deducting taxes from earnings. Gacy became enraged and screamed at him, still denying payment. Eventually, the boys realized that the effert was futile and finally left Gacy's house. Johnny dropped off his friends and drove away, never to be seen alive again.

Michael Bonnin, also 17, disappeared while on route to catch a train to meet his stepuncle.

At 16, Billy Carroll Jr. was making money by arranging meetings between teenaged boys and adult male clients for a commission. On June 1976, he left his home and was never seen alive again.

17-year-old Gregory Godzik loved his job with PDM Contractors. One night in December of 1976, Gregory dropped off his date at her house and drove towards his home. The following day police found Gregory's Pontiac, but Gregory was missing.

In January 1977, nineteen-year-old John Szyc also vanished mysteriously. He had driven off in his 1971 Plymouth Satellite and was never seen alive again. A short while after John had disappeared, another young man was picked up by police in a 1971 Plymouth Satellite while trying to leave a gas station without paying. The teenager said that the man he lived with could explain the situation. The man was Gacy, who explained to police that John Szyc had sold him the car. Police never checked the car title which had been signed eighteen days after John's disappearance with a signature which was not his. In The Man Who Killed Boys, author Clifford Linedecker states that John had not only known Gregory Godzik and Johnny Butkovich but had been acquaintanced with Gacy, although he hadn't worked for him.

In September of 1977, 18-year-old Robert Gilroy was supposed to go horseback riding with friends but never showed up. His father, a Chicago police sergeant, immediately began searching for his son when he heard that he was missing. A full-scale investigation ensued, but Robert was nowhere to be found.

Over a year later another young man, Robert Piest, disappeared suddenly. The investigation led not only to the discovery of his body but also those of Butkovich, Bonnin, Carroll, Szyc, Gilroy and 27 other young men who had suffered similar fates. Robert Piest was only 15 when he disappeared from just outside the pharmacy where he had been working. His mother had been waiting inside the pharmacy for Robert, who said he'd be right back after talking with a contractor who had offered him a job. He never returned, and his mother became anxious after awhile. Eventually she searched the pharmacy inside and out, but her son was still nowhere to be found. Three hours after Robert's disappearance, the Des Plaines Police Department was notified.

After finding out the name of the contractor who had offered Robert the job, Lt. Joseph Kozenczak appeared at Gacy's home. He told Gacy about the missing boy and informed him that he must go to the police station for questioning. Gacy claimed he was unable to leave his home at the moment because there had been a death in the family and he had to attend to some phone calls. Gacy arrived at the station hours later and gave his statement to police, insisting that he knew nothing about the boy's disappearance.

The following day Lt. Kozenczak decided to run a background check on Gacy, and was surprised to find that he had been imprisoned for committing sodomy on a teenager years earlier. Soon after this discovery, he obtained a warrant to search Gacy's home.

On December 13, 1978, police entered John Wayne Gacy, Jr.'s home on Summerdale Avenue. Gacy was not present during the investigation. Some items that were confiscated from Gacy's house were:

• A jewelry box containing two driver's licenses and several rings including one which had engraved on it the name Maine West High School class of 1975 and the initials J.A.S.
• A box containing marijuana and rolling papers
• Seven pornographic movies made in Sweden
• Drugs including Valium and Amyl Nitrite
• A switchblade
• A stained piece of carpeting
• Photographs of pharmacies and drug stores
• Books with titles such as: Tight Teenagers, Bike Boy, Pederasty: Sex Between Men and Boys, Twenty-One Abnormal Sex Cases, Heads & Tails and The Great Swallow
• A pair of handcuffs with keys
• A six mm. Italian pistol with possible gun caps
• Police badges
• An eighteen-inch rubber dildo
• A hypodermic needle and a small brown bottle
• Clothing sized much too small for Gacy
• A receipt for a roll of film with a serial number on it, from Nisson Pharmacy
• Nylon rope

Later in the investigation, police entered the crawl space beneath Gacy's house. Investigators were immediately struck by the rancid odor which they believed to be sewage. The dirt in the crawl space was sprinkled with lime but seemed to have been untouched. Police found nothing else during this first search and eventually returned back to headquarters to test some of the evidence and further research the case.

Gacy was ordered into the police department and told of the articles that they had confiscated. Gacy was outraged and immediately contacted his attorney. When Gacy was presented with a Miranda waiver stating his rights and asked to sign it, he refused as instructed by his lawyer. Police had insufficient evidence to arrest him and, after further questioning about Piest's disappearance, eventually had to release him, but did place Gacy under 24-hour surveillance.

In the days that followed the search of Gacy's house, some of his friends were called for police interrogation. Gacy had told friends earlier that police were trying to pin a murder on him, but of course insisted upon his complete innocence. Police gathered meager information on Gacy's connection to Robert Piest. Friends refused to believe he was capable of killing anyone.

Due to lack of evidence linking Gacy to Piest, police could only arrest Gacy on possession of marijuana and Valium. At this time they were unaware that Gacy had confided in a friend and co-worker the day before his arrest that he had indeed committed murder. Gacy further admitted to having killed about thirty people, supposedly because they were trying to blackmail him.

About the time Gacy was arrested, he was awaiting action on the rape charge in the Jeffrey Ringall case. Ringall had months earlier waited by one of the highway exits that he was able to remember during one of his conscious moments in Gacy's car, before being knocked out again. Finally, after hours of waiting, he recognized the Oldsmobile and followed it to Gacy's house. After learning the name of his attacker, he immediately filed charges of sexual assault.

Finally, police obtained critical evidence against Gacy. One of the rings confiscated from Gacy's house belonged to another boy, John Szyc, who had disappeared a year earlier. They also discovered that three former employees of Gacy had also disappeared. The receipt for the roll of film that was found in the home had belonged to a co-worker of Piest's who had given it to him on the day of his disappearance.

Soon investigators returned to search Gacy's house. By this time Gacy had confessed to police that he did kill someone but claimed it was in self-defense. He said that he had buried the body beneath his garage. Gacy told police where they could find the body and police marked the gravesite in the garage, but did not begin digging immediately. First they wanted to search the crawl space under Gacy's house. They discovered a suspicious mound of soil, and soon after digging, the remains of a body were uncovered.

On Friday, December 22, 1978, John Wayne Gacy finally admitted to murdering at least thirty boys. He also explained that he would trick his victims into being handcuffed and then sexually assault them. He would stuff a sock or underwear into the boys' mouths to stifle their screams, and kill them by pulling a rope or board against their throats as he sodomized them. Gacy admitted to sometimes keeping the corpses under his bed or in the attic for several hours before eventually burying them in the crawl space.

On the first day of digging, two bodies were found. One was the one found in the crawl space; the other was that of John Butkovich, who was buried beneath the garage. As days passed, the body count mounted.

By the 28th of December, police had removed twenty-seven bodies from Gacy's house. There was also another body, that of Frank Wayne Landingin, found in the Des Plaines River weeks earlier. At that time police were not yet aware of Gacy's crimes and the case was still under investigation. Police confiscated Landingin's driver's license from Gacy's home and connected him to the young man's murder; he was not the only victim to be found in the river. The same day, police removed the body of James "Mojo" Mazzara from the river; he still had his underwear lodged deep in his throat. The coroner reported that it was the underwear stuffed down the victim's throat which had caused Mazzara to suffocate.

By the end of February, police were still digging on Gacy's property. Workmen found the well-preserved body of a man while breaking up the concrete of the patio. The following week, the body of Tim O'Rourke was discovered in the Illinois River. Still another corpse was discovered on Gacy's property around the time Tim's remains were pulled from the river. This body was found beneath the rec room of Gacy's house. This was the last body to be found on Gacy's property. Even after all this--with a total 32 bodies uncovered--Robert Piest was left unaccounted for.

Finally in April 1979, the remains of Robert Piest were discovered in the Illinois River. The corpse had supposedly been lodged somewhere along the river making it difficult to find, but eventually the body became dislodged and it drifted into the locks at Dresden Dam where it was found. Autopsy reports determined that Piest had suffocated from paper towels being stuffed down his throat.

Police investigators continued to match dental records and other clues to help identify the remaining victims who were found on Gacy's property. All but nine of the victims were finally identified.

In February 1980, John Wayne Gacy's murder trial began in the Cook County Criminal Courts Building in Chicago, Illinois. After the testimony of over a hundred witnesses over a period of five weeks, closing arguments were made, and the jury was left to make their decision. It took only two hours of deliberation for the jury to return with its guilty verdict. Gacy was convicted of murdering 33 people, more than anyone else in American history. Gacy was sent to Menard Correctional Center where in 1994, after years of appeals, he was finally put to death by lethal injection.

SOURCES:
The Chicago Tribune (photos also courtesy of the Tribune)
The Man Who Killed Boys, Clifford Linedecker, 1994
Killer Clown, Terry Sullivan and Peter T. Maiken, 1997