The life of John Wayne Gacy
John Wayne Gacy was born in Chicago, Illinois in the year 1942. Growing up, Gacy was close to his mother and sisters, but abused by his alcoholic father. He was an overweight, non-athletic kid with a heart condition who struggled in school with bullying and school work.These flaws of Gacy’s only gave his father another reason to beat him with his belt. Gacy was both verbally and physically abused by his father on a regular basis. At the age of 9, Gacy also began to be molested by a family friend , but was too afraid to tell anyone. In the fourth grade, Gacy began to experience seizures, which caused him blackouts and kept him in and out of the hospital for a year. This caused Gacy’s grades in school to decline and he experienced no sympathy from his father. Gacy eventually dropped out of highschool and took on a job as a salesman in Springfeild, Illinois. He met a woman named Marlynn Myers at work, and married her in 1964.
Gacy moved to Iowa where he and his wife had two children, and Gacy became the manager for a few Kentucky Fried Chickens. This was the highest point in his life, and he was finally accepted by his father. However, his pleasure from his wife and job didn’t last long. In this same year Gacy had his first homosexual encounter with another one of his co-workers. Gacy began to cheat on his wife, and became involved in prostitution and drugs. He opened a club in his basement where he could socialize with his young male workers and offer underaged boys alcohol.
His first known sexual assault was with a teenage boy named Donald Voorhees, the son of one of Gacy’s friends. Voorhees opened up about the assault to his father who reported it to the police and charged Gacy for oral sodomy and an attempted assault on another boy named Edward Lynch. Gacy continuously denied all of his charges, and proceeded to pay a co-worker of his to assault young Voorhees with mase and make him promise not to testify against him in the upcoming trial in return for a payment of $300. Voorhees did not accept the offer and reported the second assault to the police. Gacy was arrested and charged once again for hiring his co-worker to assault Voorhees.
Gacy’s lawyers petitioned for Gacy to go on parole, but his charges were too extreme. On December 3, 1968, Gacy was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to ten years at the Anamosa State Penitentiary. That same day, Gacy’s wife petitioned for divorce and took possession of their home and children. In jail, Gacy attempted to rebuild his reputation by helping out with the kitchen staff, and requesting changes in the recreation yard. Gacy proceeded to request an early leave from jail, but was easily denied. He was even denied a supervised leave from prison to attend his father’s funeral. On June 18, 1970, Gacy was released from prison with twelve months probation after serving eighteen months in jail. During this time, Gacy moved back to Chicago to live with his mother. After keeping a job, Gacy bought the two of them a new house, where later, would be the place where Gacy would commit all of his known murders.
Only a year after Gacy was released, he was charged with sexually assaulting another teenage boy. However, the claim was dismissed when the boy failed to appear in court. Gacy then married another woman named Carole Hoff in 1972, who moved into his house with him when his mother moved out. After their marriage, Gacy quit his job as a cook, and started his own construction business; PDM contractors. His business was successful, and grossed $200,000 annually. Since Gacy had earned his fair share of money, he got involved in a non-profit job: dressing up as “Pogo the Clown” at various local parties and charitable events. Gacy’s clown makeup appeared much more frightening than the other clowns in the “Jolly Joker Clown Club” as his makeup that created his smile was pointed and sharp rather than round and happy like the other clowns.
In 1975, Gacy admitted to his wife that he was bisexual, and that he wouldn’t have sex with her any longer. She noticed him bringing teenage boys into their garage and also found gay pornography, and decided to divorce him in 1976. After their divorce is when Gacy began his murder spree. See page “Murders” to read more in depth on Gacy’s various murders. On December 22, 1978, Gacy admitted to police that he had committed approximately 25 to 30 murders. He showed police of the location in his garage where he had buried some of his victims, he showed the location where he tossed some over a bridge, and also the crawl space in his house. On February 6, 1980, John Gacy was brought to trial being charged with thirty-three murders. After a very long trial, the jury’s verdict was to have Gacy sentenced to death for twelve counts of murder on June 2, 1980. Gacy was taken to the Menard Correctional Center where he was on death row for fourteen years. Finally, the Illinois Supreme Court re-set Gacy’s execution date to May 10, 1994. Gacy was executed by the process of lethal injection, which took a total of eighteen minutes. It was said that Gacy’s final words were “Kiss my ass”. Gacy’s death was confirmed at 12:58 am on May 10, 1994.
** The video below is an interview conducted by Walter Jacobson. In this interview, Gacy claims that he didn't commit any of the charged murders.
Gacy moved to Iowa where he and his wife had two children, and Gacy became the manager for a few Kentucky Fried Chickens. This was the highest point in his life, and he was finally accepted by his father. However, his pleasure from his wife and job didn’t last long. In this same year Gacy had his first homosexual encounter with another one of his co-workers. Gacy began to cheat on his wife, and became involved in prostitution and drugs. He opened a club in his basement where he could socialize with his young male workers and offer underaged boys alcohol.
His first known sexual assault was with a teenage boy named Donald Voorhees, the son of one of Gacy’s friends. Voorhees opened up about the assault to his father who reported it to the police and charged Gacy for oral sodomy and an attempted assault on another boy named Edward Lynch. Gacy continuously denied all of his charges, and proceeded to pay a co-worker of his to assault young Voorhees with mase and make him promise not to testify against him in the upcoming trial in return for a payment of $300. Voorhees did not accept the offer and reported the second assault to the police. Gacy was arrested and charged once again for hiring his co-worker to assault Voorhees.
Gacy’s lawyers petitioned for Gacy to go on parole, but his charges were too extreme. On December 3, 1968, Gacy was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to ten years at the Anamosa State Penitentiary. That same day, Gacy’s wife petitioned for divorce and took possession of their home and children. In jail, Gacy attempted to rebuild his reputation by helping out with the kitchen staff, and requesting changes in the recreation yard. Gacy proceeded to request an early leave from jail, but was easily denied. He was even denied a supervised leave from prison to attend his father’s funeral. On June 18, 1970, Gacy was released from prison with twelve months probation after serving eighteen months in jail. During this time, Gacy moved back to Chicago to live with his mother. After keeping a job, Gacy bought the two of them a new house, where later, would be the place where Gacy would commit all of his known murders.
Only a year after Gacy was released, he was charged with sexually assaulting another teenage boy. However, the claim was dismissed when the boy failed to appear in court. Gacy then married another woman named Carole Hoff in 1972, who moved into his house with him when his mother moved out. After their marriage, Gacy quit his job as a cook, and started his own construction business; PDM contractors. His business was successful, and grossed $200,000 annually. Since Gacy had earned his fair share of money, he got involved in a non-profit job: dressing up as “Pogo the Clown” at various local parties and charitable events. Gacy’s clown makeup appeared much more frightening than the other clowns in the “Jolly Joker Clown Club” as his makeup that created his smile was pointed and sharp rather than round and happy like the other clowns.
In 1975, Gacy admitted to his wife that he was bisexual, and that he wouldn’t have sex with her any longer. She noticed him bringing teenage boys into their garage and also found gay pornography, and decided to divorce him in 1976. After their divorce is when Gacy began his murder spree. See page “Murders” to read more in depth on Gacy’s various murders. On December 22, 1978, Gacy admitted to police that he had committed approximately 25 to 30 murders. He showed police of the location in his garage where he had buried some of his victims, he showed the location where he tossed some over a bridge, and also the crawl space in his house. On February 6, 1980, John Gacy was brought to trial being charged with thirty-three murders. After a very long trial, the jury’s verdict was to have Gacy sentenced to death for twelve counts of murder on June 2, 1980. Gacy was taken to the Menard Correctional Center where he was on death row for fourteen years. Finally, the Illinois Supreme Court re-set Gacy’s execution date to May 10, 1994. Gacy was executed by the process of lethal injection, which took a total of eighteen minutes. It was said that Gacy’s final words were “Kiss my ass”. Gacy’s death was confirmed at 12:58 am on May 10, 1994.
** The video below is an interview conducted by Walter Jacobson. In this interview, Gacy claims that he didn't commit any of the charged murders.
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"DNA Shows Gacy Victim Misidentified." The Top Sheet. N.p., 26 Oct. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2012. <http://thetopsheet.com/dna-shows- gacy-victim-misidentified/>.
"John Wayne Gacy." HubPages. N.p., 15 Apr. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2012. <http://crazyhorsesghost.hubpages.com/hub/John_Wayne_Gacy>.
"John Wayne Gacy." Wikipedia. N.p., 14 Dec. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy>.