John Wayne Gacy
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| John Wayne Gacy Jr. | |
|---|---|
 Mug shot of John Wayne Gacy, Jr. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name: | John Wayne Gacy Jr. |
| Alias(es): | The Killer Clown, Pogo the Clown, The Clown Killer |
| Born: | March 17, 1942 Chicago, Illinois |
| Died: | May 10, 1994 (aged 52) |
| Cause of death: | Lethal injection |
| Penalty: | Death |
| Killings | |
| Number of victims: | 33 |
| Span of killings: | January 1972 through 1978 |
| Country: | United States |
| State(s): | Illinois |
| Date apprehended: | December 1978 |
John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) also known as The Killer Clown, was an American serial killer.
He was convicted and later executed for the rape and murder of 33 boys and young men between 1972 and his arrest in 1978, 27 of whom he buried in a crawl space under the floor of his house, while others were found in nearby rivers. He became notorious as the "Killer Clown" because of the many block parties he threw for his friends and neighbors, entertaining children in a clown suit and makeup, under the name of "Pogo the Clown." He was also in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest sentence imposed on a mass murderer; he was given 21 consecutive life sentences and 12 death sentences.
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[edit] Early life
Born John Wayne Gacy, Jr. at the Edgewater Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, he was raised a Catholic, in a suburb of Chicago. He had a troubled relationship with his father, John Samuel Gacy, Sr. (Illinois, June 20, 1900 - December 25, 1969), a physically abusive alcoholic who often called his son a "sissy."[1] He was close to his mother, Marion Elaine Robinson (Racine, Wisconsin, May 4, 1908 – Cabot, Arkansas, December 1, 1989).[2]
After attending four high schools his senior year, Gacy dropped out. He worked briefly in Las Vegas before returning to Illinois. He attended a business college and started a moderately successful career as a shoe salesman, in Springfield, Illinois, where he became a prominent member of the Jaycees.[3] Gacy married in 1964. The same year, he had his first known homosexual encounter, while his wife was in labour with their son, Michael. Years later, Gacy would deny that he was gay.
He moved to Waterloo, Iowa, where he managed a KFC restaurant belonging to his wife's family.
Gacy's marriage fell apart after he was convicted of child molestation, in December 1968, and was sent to prison. He was paroled in 1970, after serving 18 months of a 10-year sentence. During his incarceration, Gacy's father died from liver cirrhosis, on Christmas Day 1969. After Gacy was released, he moved back to Illinois. He successfully hid this criminal record, until police began investigating him for his later murders.
In 1971, he bought a house at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue, in an unincorporated area of Norwood Park Township, Cook County, which is surrounded by the northwest side Chicago neighborhood of Norwood Park. Gacy became active in the local Democratic Party, first volunteering to clean the party offices. He eventually earned the title of precinct captain.[4] In this capacity, he met and was photographed with future First Lady Rosalynn Carter.[5] During the search of Gacy's house after his arrest, this photo caused a major embarrassment to the U.S. Secret Service, as the photo depicted Gacy wearing an "S" lapel pin, which meant the Secret Service had given him a high-level security clearance.[6]
[edit] Murders
Gacy's wife divorced him in March 1976; the killings began in earnest the following month. Darrell Sampson disappeared on April 6, 1976. In 1977, David Daniel would state that Gacy offered him a ride at the bus depot, but Daniel refused. He further states that Gacy was very insistent, asking him seven times, offering marijuana as a lure.[7] Daniel is one of only two known survivors alive to describe Gacy's approach, the other being Jeffrey Rignall.
No suspicion fell on Gacy until December 12, 1978, when he was investigated following the disappearance of 15-year-old Robert Piest, who was last seen with Gacy. A search of his house, by Des Plaines detective Joseph Kozenczak, revealed a number of incriminating items related to other disappearances.
On December 22, 1978, Gacy went to his lawyers and confessed to 33 murders and indicated the location of 31 bodies to police — they were buried under his house and on his property. The two others he said were thrown into the nearby Des Plaines River. Gacy would often stick clothing in their mouths to muffle their screams. After he would choke them with a rope or a board as he sexually assaulted them. Gacy would also keep the bodies with him for as long as decomposition would allow. He picked up at least one of his victims at the bus station. The youngest identified victims were Samuel Stapleton and Michael Marino, both 14 years old; the oldest were Russell Nelson and James Mazzara, both 21 years old. Nine of the victims were so badly decomposed that they were never identified. The bodies were uncovered from December 1978 until April 1979, when the last known victim was found downstream in the Des Plaines river.
[edit] Names and ages of known victims and date last seen alive
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[edit] Unidentified victims
Nine of Gacy's victims were so badly decomposed that they could not be identified. Below are the reconstruction images of the eight still-unidentified victims. All of these images are courtesy of The Doe Network.[8] and provide links to the individual case files.
The ninth unidentified victim, case file, 959UMIL[9] was identified in June 2007 as Timothy McCoy from Nebraska. McCoy was believed to have been Gacy's first victim.[citation needed]
 Formerly the Doe Network case file 959UMIL(IDENTIFIED) Identified as Timothy McCoy from Nebraska |
[edit] Trial and execution
On February 6, 1980, Gacy's trial began in Chicago. During the trial, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. However, this plea was rejected outright; Gacy's lawyer, Sam Amirante, said that Gacy had moments of temporary insanity at the time of each individual murder, but regained his sanity before and after to lure and dispose of victims.
While on trial, Gacy joked that the only thing he was guilty of was "running a cemetery without a license." At one point in the trial, Gacy's defense also tried to claim that all 33 murders were accidental deaths as part of erotic asphyxia, but the Cook County Coroner countered this assertion with evidence that Gacy's claim was impossible. Gacy had also made an earlier confession to police, and was unable to have this evidence suppressed. He also later denied having committed the murders and claimed that the bodies found on his property were planted there by his employees.[citation needed] He was found guilty on March 13 and sentenced to death.
On May 10, 1994, Gacy was executed at Stateville Correctional Center[10] in Joliet, Illinois, by lethal injection. His last meal consisted of a dozen deep fried shrimp, a bucket of original recipe chicken from KFC, a pound of fresh strawberries and french fries. His execution was a minor media sensation, and large crowds of people gathered for "execution parties" outside the penitentiary, with numerous arrests for public intoxication, open container violations, and disorderly conduct. Vendors sold Gacy-related T-shirts and other merchandise, and the crowd cheered at the moment when Gacy was pronounced dead.
According to reports, Gacy did not express remorse. His last words to his lawyer in his cell were to the effect that killing him would not bring anyone back, and it is reported his last words were "kiss my ass," which he said to a guard while he was being sent to the execution chamber.[citation needed]
After the execution began, the lethal chemicals unexpectedly solidified, clogging the IV tube that led into Gacy's arm, and prevented any further passage. Blinds covering the window through which witnesses observed the execution were drawn, and the execution team replaced the clogged tube with a new one. Ten minutes later, the blinds were reopened and the execution resumed. It took 18 minutes to complete. Anesthesiologists blamed the problem on the inexperience of prison officials who were conducting the execution, saying that proper procedures taught in "IV 101" would have prevented the error. This apparently led to Illinois' adoption of a different method of lethal injection. On this subject, the chief prosecutor at Gacy's trial, William Kunkle, said "He still got a much easier death than any of his victims."
[edit] Dr. Helen Morrison
After his execution, Gacy's brain was removed. It is currently in the possession of Dr. Helen Morrison, who interviewed Gacy and other serial killers in an attempt to isolate common personality traits of violent sociopaths; however, an examination of Gacy's brain after his execution by the forensic psychiatrist hired by his lawyers revealed no abnormalities.
Dr. Morrison spent over 70 hours with Gacy in prison. She was first asked to meet with him by his defense lawyer, Sam Amirante, who insisted on it as he was planning Gacy's defense on a not-guilty plea by reason of insanity. During her interviews over the course of his imprisonment, she always described John Gacy as "unclassifiable", though in many aspects Gacy reminded Morrison of Richard Macek.[citation needed] Gacy's psychological complexity was probably the reason why so many different psychiatrists gave different diagnosis and opinions during trial. For instance James Cavanaugh, the state psychiatrist, who in contrast to what Morrison believed, stated while testifying on Gacy's trial that his condition was actually "curable" and that in time would be able to rejoin society. The judge rejected him as a witness and told the jury not to take into account his testimony.
She has said Gacy did not fit into any psychological profile associated with serial killers, and the psychological reasons for his crimes will probably never be known. During Gacy's trial, Morrison appeared as a psychiatric witness and told the court that he had "the emotional makeup of an infant".
"You say to yourself, 'How could anybody do this to another human being?' " she asks. "Then you realize they don't see them as humans. To them, it's like pulling the wings off a fly or the legs off a daddy longlegs. .... You just want to see what happens."
For Morrison, it was a strange final chapter to her 14-year history with the clown-turned-killer. The forensic psychiatrist had interviewed Gacy many times, listening to his rants, raves, lies, boasts, explanations and evasions.
In 2004, Dr. Helen Morrison published My Life Among the Serial Killers as a final word on John Wayne Gacy, as well as a purported text on the truth about all serial killers who have ever lived. In the book she tries to explain just how the phenomenon of serial killing occurs and how it can possibly be stopped.
[edit] Gacy as an artist
During his 14 years on death row, Gacy took up oil painting, his favorite subject being portraits of clowns. He said he used his clown act as an alter ego, once sardonically saying that "A clown can get away with murder." His paintings included pictures of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and his fellow serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein. They are among the most famous examples of serial killer art.
Many of Gacy's paintings were sold at auction after his execution. Steve Koschal, a Florida dealer who corresponded with Gacy while he was on death row, bought about 200. Nineteen were put up for sale, prices ranging from $195, for an acrylic painting of a bird, to $9500 for a depiction of dwarfs playing baseball against the Chicago Cubs[citation needed] "You'd be surprised who buys these paintings", Koschal told the Associated Press. "You might think some tough motorcycle gang off the street, but it's doctors, lawyers, professional people, Hollywood and media types."[11]
Others bought Gacy's paintings to destroy them. A bonfire in Naperville, Illinois in June 1994 was attended by 300 people, including family members of nine victims who watched 25 of the paintings burn.[11]
One of Gacy's famous paintings is of the punk rock singer/songwriter/performance artist GG Allin, who had visited Gacy in prison and corresponded with him until Allin's death in 1993; the painting is in the possession of Allin's brother and bassist, Merle, and a black and white reproduction of the painting can be seen on the front cover of the soundtrack to the GG Allin documentary Hated: GG Allin And The Murder Junkies. His paintings were also used as artwork for the Acid Bath album When the Kite String Pops. Gacy also did some paintings for performance artist, musician and actor Glen Meadmore, who corresponded with him for a while. A portrait of Meadmore painted by Gacy appears on the front cover of Meadmore's recording, Hot, Horny and Born Again.
Other paintings of Gacy belong to Dani Filth, frontman of the extreme metal band Cradle of Filth; Wednesday 13, frontman of The Murderdolls, and artist/musician Stephen Kasner who had a long running correspondence with Gacy before his execution, and featured Gacy's paintings in a serial killer exhibition called "Human".[12]
Humorist Jon Hendren purchased three of the cheapest paintings he could find and currently stores them in his garage. When asked what he is to do with them, he is unable to offer a response.[citation needed] Filmmaker John Waters owns one of Gacy's paintings, which Waters says hangs in his guest bedroom "so people don't stay too long."[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Killer Psychology: John Wayne Gacy. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
- ^ Ancestry of John Wayne Gacy
- ^ Crime Library: John Wayne Gacy. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
- ^ Clark County Prosecuting Attorney file. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
- ^ Gacy & Carter photo. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
- ^ Sullivan, Terry and Peter Maiken. Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders. Grosset & Dunlap (April 1983). ISBN 0448166003.
- ^ Chalcraft, D. (1983) Aimless Lives, The Primal Connection. 4, 5-6)
- ^ The Doe Network. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
- ^ Case File 959UMIL. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
- ^ Kuczka, Susan and Rob Karwath. "All Appeals Fail: Gacy is Executed. Serial Killer Dies of Lethal Injection." Chicago Tribune. 10 May 1994.
- ^ a b "Sale of Chicago serial killer's art draws protests", [St. Petersburg Times, 6 June 2004. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.
- ^ The official website for artist Stephen Kasner // Select Exhibitions // Bibliography // Client List
[edit] Further reading
- Cahill, Tim. Buried Dreams: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer. Bantam Books 1986.
- Kozenczak, Joseph R. & Karen Henrikson. The Chicago Killer. Xlibris Corporation 3 November 2003. ISBN 1401095321.
- Sullivan, Terry and Peter Maiken. Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders. Grosset & Dunlap (April 1983). ISBN 0448166003.
[edit] External links
- John Wayne Gacy's FBI file
- Crimelibrary.com's entry on John Wayne Gacy
- Find A Grave Entry
- John Wayne Gacy Documentary - Unlicensed Cemetery
- Artwork by John Wayne Gacy
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gacy, John Wayne, Jr. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Killer Clown (nickname) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | serial killer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 17, 1942 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago, Illinois |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 10, 1994 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Crest Hill, Illinois |
