John Wayne Gacy Biography Essay Example

John Wayne Gacy, a friendly man who loved to entertain young children, was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 17th, 1942. He suffered from a congenital heart condition as a child. While growing up, John Wayne Gacy and his siblings suffered horrible abuse from their alcoholic father, John S. Gacy, Sr. He would beat the children with a razor strap if they misbehaved. Soon the children learned to deal with the abuse and John Wayne Gacy would no longer cry while being beaten. Gacy often felt attracted to other men, he feared this would cause his father to beat him even more. Gacy’s mother, Marion Elaine Robinson Gacy, also suffered physical assault from Mr. Gacy, Sr. John Wayne Gacy was extremely close to his mother and two sisters. His older sister Joanne Gacy and younger sister Karen Gacy. Gacy went to college for business. Shortly after he started working at a shoe store in Waterloo, Iowa. There he met a woman, Marlynn Myers and married her on April 9th, 1964. He then started working for her family’s fast food chain, KFC. There he was a manager. Marlynn and Gacy had two children together. Their son, Michael Gacy, and their daughter, Christine Gacy.  

John Wayne Gacy’s first run in with the law was when he was arrested in 1964 for sodomizing two young boys who worked in his chain restaurant. Gacy hired a thug to beat up the witness. This attempt failed and increased his charges. Gacy plead guilty to sodomy. He was sentenced to 10 years but only spent eighteen months in prison for his crimes. After his release, Gacy divorced his wife and moved to chicago in hopes to start a new life. Once settled in Chicago, Gacy would throw neighborhood block parties and would dress up as “Pogo the clown” for children’s parties.

On February 12th, 1971, Gacy was once again charged with sexual misconduct with a young man. The witness never showed up for court which caused all charges against Gacy to be dropped. Eight short months later, Gacy ended his parole on October 8th, 1972. During his time on parole Gacy remarried a woman named Carole Hoff. They married on June 1st, 1972. He then committed his first murder on January 3rd, 1972. He found his victims by driving around town searching for young men, such as runaways, jailbirds, and even male prostitutes. He preferred his victims to be between the ages of 9 and 20 years old. He never wanted any females, his choice was young boys. He would then take them back to his house and tourture them, sodomize them, then he would kill his victims and then bury them in the crawl space under his house. When he ran out of space in his house he would dump the bodies in the nearby rivers. 

In the mid 1970s, Gacy was accused of raping two young males. During this time he was also questioned in the disappearance of other young boys. He was not arrested for these crimes at the time. Gacy referred to this time in his life as “Cruising years,” this is when he committed most of his murders.  

On March 2nd, 1976 Gacy and his 2nd wife, Carole, divorced. Once this had happened he discovered he had more time and space to commit more murders in his home. There was no more need to sneak around so he didn’t get caught. He now had all the freedom in his home to commit as many murders as he pleased.

On December 12th, 1978 a 15-year old boy went missing. HIs name was Robert Piest. His mother, who reported the boy missing to police, last saw him at his job at a drugstore before he left to talk to Gacy about a potential construction job. Ten days later, the police searched Gacy’s house in Norwood Park, Illinois. That is when they uncovered all the heinous crimes John Wayne Gacy committed. Including all of the bodies in the crawl space beneath his house.

Gacy’s first known killing was in 1972 when he stole the young life of Timothy McCoy. McCoy was only passing through town after visiting his aunt in Michigan. He was only 16 years old. Gacy lured this young man to his house and killed him in “Self-defense” but that was never proven. 

In 1978, Gacy confessed to killing approximately 30 people only after the police had found the bodies in the crawl spaces beneath Gacy’s house. The police were able to identify all bodies except eight. In 2017 cook county authorities used DNA to identify another victim. Almost 30 years later, victim 24 was identified as 16-year old James “Jimmie” Bryon Haakenson. In 1976 Haakenson ran away from home in st paul, minnesota to travel to Chicago. On August 5th he called his mom to notify her he had arrived in chicago. Shortly after Gacy killed Haakenson. Haakenson was a funny, good natured boy who was troubled at times. He had three other siblings who loved him very much. In fact, Haakenson’s nephew who never met him could not stop wondering what happened to his long lost uncle. When the nephew and multiple other relatives heard of Gacy they got together and submitted their DNA for testing. The family was finally able to rest knowing what had happened to Haakenson.

Gacy was arrested and awaited trial in Cook County. His trial began on January 6th, 1980. Gacy had already admitted to killing all 30 boys. Gacy didn’t want to spend any time in jail so instead he pleaded insane for his trial. He claimed his alternate personality committed the murders. Since he was being investigated and tested for insanity, he was admitted to a state mental facility. He was being tested and observed for his trial to determine if he was actually insane or if he was faking it. The jury deliberated for a very short time before they came back and determined John Wayne Gacy was guilty of 33 murders. He was sentenced to 12 death sentences and 21 natural life sentences. He was deemed the most ruthless serial killer in U.S. history. 

Gacy studied visual arts while imprisoned. He specifically loved to paint. He mainly painted clowns. He called them “Pogo the clown.” When Gacy was living in Chicago he often dressed up as a clown for children's parties and called himself “Pogo the clown.” Some often wonder if Gacy did have an alternate personality and if his name was Pogo the clown. Gacy’s paintings were sold at an exhibition. Some of the paintings sold for up to $5,000.

Gacy was imprisoned at Menard Correctional Center for ten years and six months. He spent his time appealing the sentence. Gacy offered contradictory statements in multiple interviews. He denied his guilt and made a 12 minute recorded statement declaring his innocence. During this time, Gacy’s house and the surrounding buildings on the property were demolished. Now stands a new home with no demons, or bodies, inside.

Gacy was executed on May 10th, 1994 by lethal injection at the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois.