John Wayne Gacy was a prolific American serial killer who terrorized the state of Illinois in the 1970s. Known for his predilection for wearing clown costumes, getting involved in his community, and most notably, killing at least 25 young men, there are plenty of odd facts about John Wayne Gacy that circulated in the news after his capture.
Not only were his crimes gruesome and horrific, his life itself was pretty bizarre. Among the true stories about John Wayne Gacy - who was executed on May 10, 1994 after receiving the death penalty for his crimes in 1980 - is the fact his brain was saved for medical research purposes. There were many unbelievable things that happened in the John Wayne Gacy case that are so odd, they can only be true.
Truly WTF Details About The John Wayne Gacy Case,
He Spent Three Months Working In A Mortuary And Quit Because He Fantasized About Sleeping With The Corpses
In 1962, Gacy escaped the clutches of his physically and mentally abusive father and moved to Las Vegas. While there, he spent three months working as a janitor, and found he enjoyed being around dead bodies. He reportedly slept on a cot near the morgue during his stay, and even ventured into the coffin of a deceased young man, lying down beside his body. After a few months, Gacy realized that his love for the job produced weird feelings, so he called his mother and asked her to help him come back home.
Many Believe He Had Accomplices
In 2012, years after Gacy's execution, witnesses came forward saying they believed he had at least one accomplice - possibly one of his employees. The revelation came after the friends of John Mowery, one of Gacy's victims, came forward.
They said an unidentified man who knew Gacy moved into Mowery's apartment complex days before he disappeared. The man said he knew a house where bodies were buried underneath and he was former employee of Gacy's. The day after Mowery's murder, Gacy was at a job in Michigan, leading lawyers to believe he had help disposing of his bodies.
They suspect at least three of Gacy's murders happened with accomplices because he wouldn't have time to move around the dead bodies based on his work schedule. One of his victims, Robert Gilroy, disappeared while Gacy was in Pittsburgh. Another, Russell Nelson, was nabbed outside of a bar. They doubt Gacy could've overpowered the man by himself.
He Was Executed By Lethal Injection, And Had Kentucky Fried Chicken As His Last Meal
Despite multiple appeals, Gacy was put to death on May 10, 1994. He was killed via lethal injection at the Stateville Penitentiary in Joliet, IL. According to his lawyers, Gacy was chatty and jovial before his death, even cracking jokes.
Gacy's elaborate last meal included 12 fried shrimp, a bucket of original recipe KFC chicken, fries, and a pound of strawberries. His lawyer Karen Conti later said he requested the strawberries as a joke, because they were out of season.
He Had An Extremely Abusive Father
Gacy's father, John Sr., was an extremely abusive man who used to ruthlessly beat his son in drunken rages. At school he was also ridiculed, adding to his anxiety. Because of a congenital heart issue, Gacy wasn't allowed to play sports or engage in physical activity when he was a kid. That, coupled with his discovery he was bisexual, made him extremely isolated from his friends and family.
He Was Politically Involved And A Successful Business Owner In Many Regards
Despite having a terrible childhood, Gacy actually became fairly successful. He ran a chain of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Waterloo, IA. During his time in Norwood Park, IL, Gacy started his own business. He called it PDM, short for Painting Decorating and Maintenance.
In Iowa, Gacy became involved with the local Jaycees, short for the United States Junior Chamber. Gacy was such a successful Jaycee that he was named the Third Most Outstanding Jaycee in his state back in 1965. He was truly dedicated to the cause. Ironically, he isn't the only serial killer to be a former member of the organization - Edmund Kemper, the Co-Ed Killer - was one as well.
Gacy's civic mindedness extended to his local Democratic Party in Illinois, too. He became an Assistant Precinct Captain in the mid-1970s, which is a electable position - his fellow Democratic citizens had to vote him into it. Gacy also served on the Norwood Park Township street lighting committee, and his neighbors highly respected him.
In May 1978, he served as the leader of Chicago's Polish Constitution Day Parade. Part of his job involved inviting a celebrity to take part in the parade festivities, so he reached out to the White House and got Rosalynn Carter to come to Chicago. He managed to pass the required Secret Service background check to get close enough to her to have his picture taken with her.
He Took Up Oil Painting While In Prison - And His Paintings Sold For Big Bucks
While in prison awaiting his execution, Gacy started a new hobby - painting. However, he didn't paint pretty landscapes or nice still lives; he painted clowns. Creepy pictures of clowns that were displayed at a Chicago art gallery and sold for upwards of $4,500. He also painted religious art, disturbing self-portraits, and works inspired by other serial killers, such as a skull he called "Dahmer Skull."
He Worked At Children's Parties Dressed As Pogo The Clown, Who Also Had Split Personalities
While living in Norwood Park, IL, in the 1970s, Gacy became involved in a local group called the Jolly Jokers. The men dressed up like clowns and went around entertaining children at hospitals. They also went to children's parties, ostensibly to make the birthday boy or girl laugh, not cower in fear. Gacy's "clown" personas were Patches the Clown and Pogo the Clown. After his arrest, this led to his nickname - the Killer Clown.
Gacy allegedly told psychiatrists after his arrest he thought of Pogo as a good and evil character. There was the side of Pogo he called "compassion clown" and another called "hatred clown." He could turn to be the good version of the clown or the bad. In once case, he recalled cussing out a child who lied to him about not getting any candy at a birthday party before he skipped off in a jovial manner. Even when he killed, he would do one of the tricks he used during "clowning" - which involved getting out of a pair of handcuffs. He challenged his victims to do the same, essentially trapping them.
He Spent 18 Months In Prison For Sodomy
In 1967, Gacy was living in Iowa and started to give in to his desires. He lured several teenage boys to his house under the guise of "homosexual experiments." One of those boys was Donald Voorhees, the son of one of his fellow Jaycee club members. Voorhees told his dad what had happened, and Gacy was arrested. Gacy maintained his innocence, saying Voorhees was a rival who wanted to ruin his political aspirations. In fact, Gacy had many supporters after his original arrest because many believed an upstanding citizen like him was innocent.
He pled guilty to sodomy and spent 18 months in prison. During part of his pre-trial examinations, he was diagnosed with an antisocial personality disorder by two different psychiatrists. Despite this, he was never placed on any sort of treatment program.
He Killed 33 Young Men And Boys
John Wayne Gacy's first murder was in 1975. While it's unclear he attempted killing anyone before this time, he did sexually assault (or attempted to) several young boys he knew through community groups or work. In total, police believe he killed 33 people. His first victim, 17-year-old John Butkovitch, was an employee of his who came to Gacy's house asking for back pay. Gacy strangled him to death and then buried him underneath his house.
Between 1976 and 1976, Gacy began murdering exponentially. His wife divorced him and left him alone in his house, giving him plenty of free time to pick up young men. Many of them were employees at his contracting company, others he abducted off the street and at bus stops. His last victim, 15-year-old Robert Piest, was lured to his house by the prospect of a job.
He Buried His Victims Under His Crawl Space - And Other People Saw His Grave-Sized Holes
After killing his young victims by strangling them to death, he buried their bodies in the crawl space under his house and around his garage. His neighbors suspected that something odd was going on, as they would see him removing trash bags or dirt and even digging in his yard, but no one seemed to believe that a man who was so involved with his community could possibly be burying the bodies of his victims, despite the smell.
At least two people had some knowledge Gacy was digging underneath his house. Gacy employed two young men - Michael Rossi and David Cram - who were instructed to spread lime underneath the house to mitigate how "damp" it was. Cram said he saw holes in the ground that were about the size of graves.