Serial Killer Name
John Wayne Gacy
“The Killer Clown”
Date
Age
Life Event
03/17/1942
0
1944
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1945
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1946
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1947
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1948
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1949
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1950
1951
1953
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1956
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1959
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1960
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1961
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Born in Edgewater Hospital in Chicago, Illnois.
John’s younger sister Karen was born. Father abuses Mother. Mom takes kids
and moves to in-laws for a while.
Move back in with abusive dad/husband.
Caught playing “house” with a 15-year-old mentally retarded girl. Father
begins to abuse son.
Gets first seizures. Begins Catholic school.
Father’s brutality increases. Dad shoots his dog because he was mad at John.
John steals a toy truck and his mother makes him return it. Dad beats him with
a razor strap.
Starts Boy Scouts. Mom’s panties are found in sandbox. He “liked the feel of
it” and then his father whipped him.
Teachers say he’s a good student, but that he is harassed by other students.
Sexually abused by friend of his father.
John steals his mom’s panties and hides them under the deck. She made him
wear them to school. Father beats John when discovers the underwear. John is
struck in the head with a swing while on the playground. Suffered from blood
clots in his brain.
Transferred to public school. Gets first job as a grocery deliverer.
Has his tonsils taken out. Has appendicitis. Found with women’s panties again.
Suffers from blackouts.
Diagnosed with heart ailment. Attends 4 different high schools and eventually
drops out.
Creates a club at church to help keep teens involved. Thinks about becoming a
priest. Becomes a compulsively neat dresser to make up for being over weight
and unpopular. Has his first sexual encounter with a girl but faints before
completing the act. Starts political campaigns. Attaches a blue police light to
his car and speeds to accidents. Buys a new car with his father and makes
payments to him.
Leaves home. Works as an ambulance attendant in Vegas. Demoted to janitor
in a mortuary when his age was discovered. Later told doctors he conducted
experiments on the dead bodies. He memorized the embalming process. Climbs
into casket out of curiosity. Gets fired after a fight with his boss who finds the
1962
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1963
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1964
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1965
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1966
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1967
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1968
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1969
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1970
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1971
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1972
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clothes of the dead people lying on the floor beside the casket. Returns to
Chicago.
Enrolled in Northwestern Business College, did well and graduated with good
grades.
Got a job as manager trainee in Springfield. Moved in with his aunt and uncle.
Spent 23 days in the hospital for a spine injury.
First sexual encounter with a man. Marries Marlynn Myers. Moved to
Waterloo, Iowa to manage KFC franchises owned by father-in-law. Chosen
Jaycee Keyman for April.
Elected Jaycee’s first VP, named outstanding first year Jaycee and 3rd
outstanding member in the state. Marlynn gets pregnant with first child. He is
hospitalized for his nerves.
His son Michael is born.
Daughter Christine is born. Assaults a 16-year old boy and tries to molest him.
Starts an unofficial boys club for his male employees involving alcohol and
porn. Starts perverted games and has numerous sexual encounters with boys.
Becomes member of Jaycee’s board of directors and is Outstanding Man of the
Year. Joins the Merchant Patrol. Entered psychopathic hospital at State
University of Iowa for psychiatric evaluation.
Arrested and entered prison for the first time because a grand jury in Black
Hawk County indicted Gacy for committing an act of sodomy with a teenage
boy named Mark Miller. Four months later, he was arrested for paying another
boy named Dwight Andersson to beat up Miller. Gacy pled guilty to sodomy
and was sentenced to 10 years in Iowa's State Men's Reformatory in Anamosa.
His wife filed for divorce following the sentencing. Angered, Gacy informed
her he did not want to see his children again and would henceforth consider her
and the two kids dead.
He spent this year in prison. His father died but Gacy was unable to attend the
funeral. Gacy went through difficult periods of depression after his release
from prison because he regretted never saying goodbye to his father. He felt
cheated that he never had a chance to improve his relationship with John W.
Gacy, Sr., a man whom he loved dearly despite of his abusive behavior.
On June 18, 1970, Gacy left the confines of the prison gates and made his way
back to his place of birth in Chicago. He was paroled after eighteen months so
he never served the full ten year sentence.
Gacy moved in with his mother and obtained work as a chef (in a Chicago
restaurant),
He bought a house on West Summerdale Avenue.
Arrested Feb. 12 -- eight months after his release from prison -- and charged
with attempted rape and disorderly conduct. A gay youth had complained to
authorities that Gacy had picked him up at the Greyhound station in downtown
Chicago. A teen accused him of attempted rape and took Gacy to court.
Charges dropped because the teen failed to show up in court. Married Carole
Hoff, who had two daughters from a previous marriage. They lived together in
Gacy’s home.
Jan 3~ Kills greyhound bus boy by stabbing and buries body in his crawlspace. Gacy
claimed self-defense but doesn’t call police because he is scared they won’t believe
him.
June 1~ Marries Carol Huff. Mom moved to own apartment.
June 7~ Clubs down 24 year old male for refusing to perform oral sex. Posed as police
1973
31
1974
32
1975
33
1976
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1977
35
officer.
June 22~ Arrested and charges with aggravated battery and reckless conduct for
clubbing man. Charges are dismissed when John filed similar suit against the man.
Attempted to get visitation rights with kids but Marlynn refuses. John says his kids are
dead to him.
Forces mother-in-law from house with a court order. Has a stroke.
Established his own construction business, Painting , Decorating and
Maintenance or PDM Contractors, Inc. hiring only teenage boys
Carole and John had confrontations. She discovered magazines with naked
men and boys in the home and asked him about it. He claimed them as his own
and mentioned that he prefers men to women.
 Became secretary treasurer street lighting commission.
 Developed PoGo the clown.
 July~ Tony Antonucci (15) fights off Gacey.
 Seventeen-year-old Johnny Butkovich worked for Gacy. He confronted
Gacy when Gacy refused to pay him for two weeks of work. July 31~
Kills John Butovitch (little John) and buries his body under the garage.
Gacy's second wife divorced him in March of 1976. According to accounts in
Harlan Mendenhall's book, Fall of the House of Gacy, she felt she could no
longer cope with the marriage due to her husband's unpredictable moods and
bizarre obsession with homosexual magazines. The couple did not have
children. Divorce from Carole became final. He began abducting and killing
more victims.
 Darrell Sampson disappearing on April 6th.
 May 4~Randall Reffett (16) Samual Stapelton (14) disappear, remains
found in crawl space.
 June 10~Kills William Caroll (16) remains found in crawl space
 On June 13, 1976, Billy Carroll Jr. left his home and was never seen
alive again
 June 28~Kills Michael Bonnen’s remains found in crawl space
 July 3~David Cram moves in with Gacy;
 August~attacks David, but he escapes;
 August 6~Rick Johnston (18) went to rock concert and never returned
home, remains found in crawl space
 Gregory Godzik (17) disappeared on December 12~ never seen alive
again, remains found in crawl space
Gacy attempts to pick up David Daniel who refused his advances. Daniel is
one of two reported “survivors.”
 On January 20, 1977, nineteen-year-old John Szyc also disappeared
much like the other young men before him.
 March 15~Kills John Prestige (20)
 July 8~Kills Matthew Bowman (19)
 Robert Gilroy was an outdoorsman, avid camper and horse lover. On
September 15, 1977, eighteen-year-old Gilroy was supposed to catch a
bus with friends to go horseback riding but he never showed up.
 September 25~ Kills John Mowery (19)
 October 11~Kills Robert Winch
 October 18~Kills Tommy Baling (20)
 December 19~ Kills David Talsma (19)
 Robert Donnelly escapes Gacy’s attack, goes to cops, but assistant
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1978
36
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1979
37
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states attorney doesn’t prosecute. He has employees dig trenches in
crawl space at his house.
Kills 9 more young men whose bodies were found in crawl spacenever identified
February 16~Billy Kindred (20) disappeared after telling his girlfriend
he was going to the bar, remains found in crawl space
March 21~ picks up 26 year old male at park, posed as police officer,
chloroforms him, and brutally rapes him several times, then frees him
next morning.
May~ Last attempt at reconciliation with carol failed. Arrested for
kidnapping and deviant sexual assault
May 6~Polish Day parade- meets with 1st lady, Rosalind Carter. He
obtained security clearance from CIA to be near her.
May 7~26 year old male files charges which were dismissed. Files civil
suit against Gacy
June 23~Tim O’Rourke found in river, and was identified by tattoo.
September~ Civil case settled out at court for $3000
November 4~Carol remarries
November 11~Kills Frank Landington (19), body found in river
Thanksgiving~Kills James Mazzara (21), body found in river
December 11~Gacy’s uncle Harold goes into coma and dies. Kills Rob
Piest (15) and dumps body. He took phone calls while killing Piest.
Arrested in connection with the disappearance of 15-year-old Robert
Piest of Des Plaines.
On Dec. 12, 1978, the police again focused their attention on Gacy.
Robert Piest, a teenage stock boy at a Nisson Pharmacy in Des Plaines,
had come up missing. Gacy was the last person seen with the boy prior
to his disappearance. Investigation of Gacy’s past revealed his
previous arrest for sodomy of a teenage boy. Police search his house
for evidence and discovered rancid odor.
Gacy was put under twenty-four hour surveillance after search of his
home
On Dec. 22, 1978, Gacy, realizing that his dark secrets were about to be
exposed, went to the police to confess.
He further confessed that he would lure his victims into being
handcuffed and then he would sexually assault them. To muffle the
screams of his victims, he would stuff a sock or underwear into their
mouths and kill them by pulling a rope or board against their throats, as
he raped them
By the 28th of December, police had removed a total of twenty-seven
bodies from Gacy's house.
On the 28th, police removed from the Des Plaines River the body of
James "Mojo" Mazzara, who still had his underwear lodged in his
throat.
thirty-first body to be found: Timothy O'Rourke who was identified by
a “Tim Lee” tattoo on his arm
Finally in April 1979, the remains of Robert Piest were discovered in
the Illinois River.

1980
1994
38
52
Autopsy reports on Piest determined that he had suffocated from paper
towels being lodged down his throat. The family soon after filed a $85million suit against Gacy for murder and the Iowa Board of Parole, the
Department of Corrections and the Chicago Police Department for
negligence.
Gacy's murder trial began:
 Feb. 6, 1980 in the Cook County Criminal Courts Building in Chicago.
During the five-week trial the prosecution and the defense called more
than 100 witnesses to testify. The defense strategy was to establish that
Gacy was insane and out of control at the time of the killings. To
bolster this claim the defense put on the stand psychiatrists who had
interviewed Gacy prior to trial. The prosecution, on the other hand,
vigorously opposed the notion that Gacy was insane, contending that
his claim of multiple personalities was a death-penalty dodge.
 On March 13, 1980, Gacy was sentenced to die. He was sent to Menard
Correctional Center in Illinois. He would remain there for just over 14
years until he was transported to the Statesville Penitentiary near Joliet
for execution.
On May 9, 1994, Gacy sat down for his last meal: fried chicken, French fries,
Coke and strawberry shortcake.
Just after midnight on May 10, 1994, Gacy was executed by lethal injection.
For his last words, Gacy snarled, ''Kiss my ass.''
General Information
Sex
Race
Number of victims
Country where killing
occurred
States where killing occurred
Cities where killing occurred
Type of killer
Height
Childhood Information
Date of birth
Location
Birth order
Number of siblings
XYY?
Raised by
Birth category
Parent’s marital status
Family event
Age of family event
Problems in school?
Teased while in school?
Physically attractive?
Physical defect?
Male
White
33
United States
Illinois
Chicago
Sadist, rapist, necrophiliac
6’2”
03/17/1942
Chicago, Illinois
2nd of 3
2
Two sisters
Both parents
Middle
Married
Alcoholic father that berated his children and physically abused his wife
Late teens
Yes, even attended 4 different high schools his senior yeaar
Yes
Negative
Born with enlarged bottleneck heart
Speech defect?
Head injury?
Physically abused?
Psychologically abused?
Sexually abused?
Father’s occupation
Age of first sexual
experience
Age when first had
intercourse
Mother’s occupation
Father abused drugs/alcohol
Mother abused drugs/alcohol
Cognitive Ability
Highest grade in school
Highest degree
Grades in school
IQ
Source of IQ information
Work History
Served in the military?
Branch
Type of discharge
Saw combat duty
Killed enemy during
service?
Applied for job as a cop?
Worked in law enforcement?
Fired from jobs?
Types of jobs worked
Employment status during
series
Relationships
Sexual preference
Marital status
Number of children
Lives with his children
Living with
Triad
Animal torture
Fire setting
Bed wetting
No
At age 11, he hit his head against swings and developed a blood clot in
his brain
Berated by his father
Yes, verbally abused by father and teased by classmates
Yes, by father’s friend and next door neighbor
Unknown
4
18
Pharmacist until married
Father was an alcoholic
Alcohol
12
Bachelors (Northwestern Business College)
Average
134
www.directessays.com (1995)
No
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
No, but pretended to be one
No
Yes, Ambulance attendant
Newspaper boy, grocery bagger, management trainee at Nunn-Bush
Shoe Company, Kentucky Fried Chicken, construction contractor
Employed
Bisexual
Married Marlynn Myers
2: one boy and one girl
No
Mother
Yes, http://www.parrotparrot.com/articles/aa072699.htm
No
Yes
Killer Psychological Information
Abused drugs?
Abused alcohol?
No
No
Been to a psychologist?
Time in forensic hospital?
Diagnosis
Yes
None
Anti Social Personality Disorder
Killer Criminal History
Committed previous crimes?
Spend time in jail?
Spend time in prison?
Killed prior to series? Age?
Convicted of child molestation in 1964; in 1977, arrested for assault of a
teenager;
No
Spent 18 months for child molestation
No
Serial Killing
Number of victims
Victim type
Killer age at start of series
Date of first kill in series
Date of final kill in series
Gender of victims
Race of victims
Age of victims
Type of victim
Method of killing
Weapon
Was gun used?
Type
Did killer have a partner?
Name of partner
Sex of partner
Type of serial killer
How close did killer live?
Location of first contact
Location of killing
Killing occurred in home of
victim?
Killing occurred in home of
killer?
Victim abducted or killed at
contact?
Behavior During Crimes
Rape?
Tortured victims?
Stalked victims?
Overkill?
Quick & efficient?
Used blindfold?
Bound the victims?
After Death Behavior
Sex with the body?
Mutilated body?
33
Young men
30
Male
White
14-24
Scrawny, semi-defenseless
Beating, strangling, stabbing
Killer brought with him
No
N/A
No
N/A
N/A
Organized lust
Walking distance but crimes normally occurred at his home
Various
Killer’s home
No
Yes
Sometimes, not always
Yes (sodomy)
No
Yes, but not for long before murdering
Yes
No, semi-prolonged
No, used clown paint
Yes in handcuffs and rope
Yes
Yes
Ate part of the body?
Drank victim’s blood?
Posed the body?
Took totem – body part
Took totem – personal item
Robbed victim or location
Disposal of Body
Left at scene, no attempt to
hide
Left at scene, hidden
Left at scene, buried
Moved, no attempt to hide
Moved, buried
Cut-op and disposed of
Moved, too home
Sentencing
Date killer arrested
Date convicted
Sentence
Killer executed?
Did killer plead NGRI?
Was the NGRI plea
successful?
Name and state of prison
Killer committed suicide?
Killer killed in prison?
Date of death
No
No
No
Yes, took entire body
Yes, whatever was on victim
No
Taken and buried
Hidden in crawl space under his home; some thrown into nearby river.
Not left at scene of crime
No
Buried
No, simply taken and buried
Yes
December, 1978
March 12, 1980
12 death sentences and 21 life sentences
Yes
Yes
No
Stateville Prison, Illinois
No
Yes, received the death penalty.
May 10, 1994
References
http://www.prairieghosts.com/gacy.html
http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/gacy237.htm
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=john+wayne+gacy+arrest+date+of
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20075991,00.html
http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial_killer_timelines.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=d9lIoA5jurUC&pg=PA257&lpg=PA257&dq=john+wayne+gacy+
wet+the+bed+as+a+child&source=bl&ots=s0IBkrMMSj&sig=I4PSZCpVTa5DhWtWy2jHYHhDKnk&hl=
en&ei=TYzoSa7eGMzznQfu4PGTBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1
http://www.villainabode.com/gacy.html
http://www.crimemagazine.com/boykillergacy.htm
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/gacy/trial_7.html
maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Gacy,%20John%20Wayne%20-%202004.doc