He found a job cleaning up in a mortuary. ibid.
A childhood plagued by illness and failure. ibid.
In 1970 after serving time in prison for molesting teenage boys John Wayne Gacy remarried and began building a new life in Chicago. ibid.
Employing many of the young men that went undiscovered … In 1975 boys began disappearing. ibid.
A total of 29 young men were discovered buried on Gacy’s property; 27 of them in the crawl space beneath his home. ibid.
John Wayne Gacy was executed by lethal injection. ibid.
In total Gacy, the Killer Clown, had tortured and killed thirty-three young men over a five-year period; twenty-seven of the bodies were buried right beneath his own home … One of the world’s most evil killers. World’s Most Evil Killers s1e1: John Wayne Gacy, Pick TV 2017
Gacy’s behaviour grew more and more erratic. ibid.
Here in Chicago where the notion of killer clowns became a reality. And the most evil of them all was Pogo, the alter-ego of one of the most prolific serial killers in all of history – John Wayne Gacy … a sadistic serial killer who brutally slayed 33 young men between 1972 and 1978 in the Chicago suburbs. Killer Legends, Netflix 2014
A nightmare from long ago: serial killer John Wayne Gacy went to death row with a dark secret – now America’s killer clown is back in the headlines. Killer Clown: Deadly Legacy I, ID 2019
‘Gacy was arrested December 21 1978 for killing 33 boys … 8 of Gacy’s 33 victims were never identified.’ ibid. rozzer Moran
The new investigation has the power to bring closure to the loved ones left behind. In 2011 the Cook County Sheriff’s office announced their first success in their mission to identify the 8 remaining unnamed victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Killer Clown: Deadly Legacy II
‘He was a very jovial outgoing person.’ ibid. former rozzer
‘Some of these kids were pulled right off of the street: a stone-cold kidnapping. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.’ ibid.
Three years after reopening the investigation, Cook County detective Jason Moran hoped he had identified the second of John Wayne Gacy’s unnamed victims. Although Edward was not a Gacy victim, the 40-year-old murder case was still solved thanks to one simple fact: Detective Moran has already ID’ed Bill Bundy, but seven unknown Gacy victims still remain. Killer Clown: Deadly Legacy III, television news
Detective Jason Moran is exploring the case of Jimmy Haakenson, a 16-year-old boy who went missing in 1976. ibid.
Jimmy was murdered by John Gacy as victim #24. ibid.
But by night John Wayne Gacy became the stuff of nightmares. Cruising the streets of Chicago looking for prey. The things Gacy did to his victims were unspeakable. What made this seemingly normal guy into such a depraved monster? And how did police ultimately discover his evil secret? Very Scary People: John Wayne Gacy: Evil Secret I, CI 2020
Chicago December 1976: ‘He was on the prowl to find people to have sex with.’ ibid. Danny Broderick, co-author John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster
‘After taking the kid to his home, he would subdue them with a trick.’ ibid. researcher
‘He would do painful sexual things to them. Awful tortures.’ ibid.
‘He did express he appeared to become almost a monster. His face changed, his eyes changed.’ ibid. psychiatrist
The most prolific serial killer of his time without anybody noticing. Very Scary People: John Wayne Gacy: Evil Secret II
‘Gregarious and outgoing’ … ‘rather well liked by his neighbours’ … ‘He particularly wanted to help kids.’ ibid. witnesses
How many disappearances was he involved with? ibid. observer
‘Once they were in the ground they weren’t my problem. There was no feeling.’ ibid. Gacy
Police ultimately recovered the bodies of 33 young men. ibid. caption
February 6, 1980, trial of John Wayne Gacy: ‘The defense’s plea was Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity.’ ibid. attorney
In December 1978 the Chicago police department made a shocking discovery. They have uncovered a home-made cemetery beneath the house in the suburb of Norwood Park: the bodies of dozens of murdered young men were all stacking up neatly in a row … One of the worst serial killers the world has ever known. Making a Monster: John Wayne Gacy: The Killer Clown s1e7, CI 2020
‘His father treated him very badly: his father was an abusive, tyrannical, alcoholic, domineering, constantly judging Gacy.’ ibid. psychologist
Parental Abuse … Desecration … Self-Loathing … A Taste for Killing … Envy … Denial … Gacy was a sexual sadist of the most extreme kind … ibid.
His most colourful creation: Coco the Clown … Many killers develop a separate killing persona that they learn to hide from the world behind a mask. ibid.
Another killer preying on young men – John Wayne Gacy, otherwise known as the Killer Clown. The Clown & the Candyman s1e1, Sky Crime 2021
Evidence they [Corryl & Gacy] were linked to a secret nationwide [paedophile] network. It was a massive network and one of its masterminds a shadowy figure – John David Norman: ‘He’s a paedophile and he ran a ring.’ ibid.
The mass murders in Chicago bear a frightening resemblance to a case in Houston five years ago. John Gacy told investigators that some of his ideas came from another sensational mass murder cases: Dean Corll. The Clown & the Candyman s1e2
Over the next few hours Gacy confesses to killing dozens of boys and young men and burying their bodies under his house. ibid.
Since his conviction in 1980, the Killer Clown has been appealing his death sentence using the money from his art work to pay his legal bill and basking in his notoriety as a serial killer. The Clown & the Candyman s1e3
Police compiled the names of thirty juveniles from thirteen states who were allegedly procured as companions for older man known as sponsors. It was a nationwide child trafficking ring discovered one week after the Dean Corll mass murders in Houston made headlines. ibid.
Child pornography and prostitution operating across the country: it was organised, profitable and much of it was on film. ibid.
The longer they talk, the deeper Randy [White] digs into the victims and the details of the case, the stronger his suspicion grows that there’s more here than meets the eye. The Clown & the Candyman s1e4
Gacy showed no remorse and took to his grave clues to the identity of his last named victims. ibid.
Every time he [Norman] was arrested, they [index cards] were confiscated. Every time they were confiscated, they disappeared. ibid.