Detectives exhume bodies of eight unknown John Wayne Gacy victims in an effort to identify remains
By Associated Press
12th October 2011


They were murdered by one of America’s most notorious serial killers, but no one knew their names - perhaps until now.

Thirty years ago, the skeletal remains of eight young men were found under John Wayne Gacy's home and their identities were never confirmed.

Today, detectives secretly exhumed the bones in hopes of answering a final question: Who were they?





The Cook County Sheriff's Department says DNA testing could solve Gacy’s last mystery, and authorities planned today to ask for the public's help in determining the victims' names.

Investigators are urging relatives of anyone who vanished between 1970 and Gacy's 1978 arrest - and still unaccounted for - to undergo saliva tests to compare their DNA with that of the skeletal remains.

Detectives believe the passage of time might actually work in their favor.



Some families who never reported the victims missing and never searched for them could be willing to do so now, a generation after Gacy's homosexuality and pattern of preying on vulnerable teens were splashed across newspapers all over the world.

Detective Jason Moran said: "I'm hoping the stigma has lessened, that people can put family disagreements and biases against sexual orientation and drug use behind them to give these victims a name."

Sheriff Tom Dart added: "There are a million different reasons why someone hasn't come forward. Maybe they thought their son ran off to work in an oil field in Canada, who knows?"

After so many years, relatives could be anywhere, so the sheriff's department is setting up a phone bank to field calls from across the U.S.









Gacy, who is remembered as one of history's most bizarre killers largely because of his work as an amateur clown, was convicted of murdering 33 young men, sometimes luring them to his Chicago-area home for sex by impersonating a police officer or promising them construction work.

He stabbed one and strangled the others between 1972 and 1978.

Most were buried in a crawl space under his home. Four others were dumped in a river.



Gacy was executed in 1994. His last words were "Kiss my ass."

Despite his death, the anguish caused by his crimes still resounds today.
Just days ago, a judge granted a request to exhume one victim whose mother doubted the medical examiner's conclusion that her son's remains were found under Gacy's house.





Sheriff Dart said other families have the same need for certainty.

He said: "They were young men with futures, who at some point had families that cared about their kid. Until the dead are identified, 'it's like they didn't even exist."





The plan began unfolding earlier this year, when detectives were trying to identify some human bones found scattered at a forest preserve.

They started reviewing other cases of unidentified remains, which led them back to Gacy.

Sheriff Dart said: "I completely forgot or didn't know there were all these unidentified."









It was not a cold case in the traditional sense. Gacy admitted to the slayings and was convicted by a jury.

But Moran and others knew if they had the victims' bones, they could conduct genetic tests that would have seemed like science fiction in the 1970s, when forensic identification depended almost entirely on fingerprints and dental records.

After autopsies on the unidentified victims, pathologists in the 1970s removed their upper and lower jaws and their teeth to preserve as evidence in case science progressed to the point they could be useful or if dental records surfaced.

Detectives found out that those jaws had been stored for many years at the county's medical examiner's office.



But when investigators arrived, they learned the remains had been buried in a paupers' grave in 2009.

Detective Moran said: "They kept them for 30 years, and then they got rid of them."

A court order allowed them to dig up a wooden box with eight containers shaped like buckets, each holding a victim's jaw bones and teeth.

Back in June, Det Moran flew with them to a lab in Texas. "They were my carry-on," he said, smiling.








Weeks later, the lab called. The good news was that there was enough material in four of the containers to provide what is called a nuclear DNA profile, meaning that if a parent or sibling or even cousins came forward, scientists could determine whether the DNA matched.

But with the other four containers, there was less usable material.

That meant investigators had to dig up four of the victims.



Detectives found them in four separate cemeteries and removed their femurs and vertebrae for analysis.

Last week, the men who probed and prosecuted Gacy reminded the sheriff that many victims were already lost when they crossed paths with Gacy.

One had not even been reported missing when his body was found floating in the Des Plaines River.



Retired Detective Phil Bettiker said: "I can almost guarantee you that one or two of these kids were wards of the state. I don't think anybody cared about them."

Most of them were 17 or 18 years old and had been, "through God knows how many foster homes and were basically on their own."



At the same time, they recalled, others insisted their loved ones were among Gacy's victims, but no evidence ever came to light confirming it.

Robert Egan, one of the prosecutors who helped convict Gacy, said: "It's very conceivable that a kid in his teens didn't have dental records."

He added: "There could have been parents who would have loved to have brought in dental records but they didn't have any."





Sheriff Dart doubts all eight victims will be identified, but he is confident that the office will finally be able to give some of them back their names.

He said: "I'd be shocked if we don't get a handful. The technology is so precise."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2048363/John-Wayne-Gacy-Detectives-exhume-bodies-8-unknown-victims.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

I hope there is some closure for some families. DNA technology is so amazing.

It's so sad 8 kids are seemingly forgotten. no one should end up that way. if anyone is interested there is a movie called "Dear Mr. Gacy" that delves into what makes him tick. the book the film is based on "The Last Victim" by Jason Moss was good. and I felt the movie didn't glorify Gacy and made you think.

His known killing spree was before my time but is there anyone here old enough to remember if there was a widespread fear in the Chicago area of a serial killer at that time (most of the '70's)?

Was it sort of like NYC in the Summer of '77 or not really because all of the victims/missing (I presume) happened to be gay males and that specificity did not trigger panic in others who weren't? I'm just curious as I haven't ever really read or seen stuff about John Wayne Gacy in great detail.

Edit: from reading, I'm not getting the impression that many of the victims were gay (at least not openly), so that then goes back to my original question.

Nevermind, I'm reading about him now:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy

I feel bad for him in their details of his childhood and teenage years, but still it obviously doesn't make up for all the bad stuff he did. That's crazy that there's a photo of him with the First Lady in 1978 in the midst of all his raping and murdering that he had been doing.

I wasn't aware that there was a stigma attached to being a victim of Gacy. Obviously no one wants their loved one to be a victim of anybody... That the one mother disputes that her son was found under Gacy's home, (the way I read it) because she thinks if her son was killed by Gacy, that means her son was gay, etc... So sad that the stigma could make families not bring forth DNA to finally identify their loved one.

I wasn't aware that there was a stigma attached to being a victim of Gacy. Obviously no one wants their loved one to be a victim of anybody... That the one mother disputes that her son was found under Gacy's home, (the way I read it) because she thinks if her son was killed by Gacy, that means her son was gay, etc... So sad that the stigma could make families not bring forth DNA to finally identify their loved one.

I had always heard that Gacy's victims were not even homosexual? So even if one of those undidentified bodies turned out to be their loved ones, that doesn't mean they were gay. I'm fairly certain not all of Gacy's victims were homosexual, though some may have been.

I think its more the fact that no one wants to believe a loved one is dead, much less that they died at the hands of a lowlife like that.

What's disturbing is that both Jeffrey Rignall and Robert Donnelly had attempted to get Gacy prosecuted for his assaults on them, but police were dragging their feet with Rignall's case and the D.A.'s office refused to file charges in Donnelly's case (per his own testimony at Gacy's trial). John Butkovitch's parents couldn't get police to investigate Gacy further, even though he had worked for and had a dispute with Gacy immediately prior to his disappearance, and his car and wallet were found abandoned.

Most likely, some of victims were never filed as missing, not necessarily because they were all street kids or hustlers, but because they were hitchhiking, waiting around a train or bus depot when Gacy offered them a ride or kidnapped them at gunpoint (as he did with Donnelly, and some of the victims were last known to be hitchhiking or taking a train). Back then, it wasn't as easy to have a missing persons report filed with police as it is now; in some cases, the police department would refuse to take a report on anyone they suspected had ran off.

I wasn't aware that there was a stigma attached to being a victim of Gacy. Obviously no one wants their loved one to be a victim of anybody... That the one mother disputes that her son was found under Gacy's home, (the way I read it) because she thinks if her son was killed by Gacy, that means her son was gay, etc... So sad that the stigma could make families not bring forth DNA to finally identify their loved one.

Yep, because being gay is totally worse than being an unidentified murder victim. :rolleyes:

What's disturbing is that both Jeffrey Rignall and Robert Donnelly had attempted to get Gacy prosecuted for his assaults on them, but police were dragging their feet with Rignall's case and the D.A.'s office refused to file charges in Donnelly's case (per his own testimony at Gacy's trial). John Butkovitch's parents couldn't get police to investigate Gacy further, even though he had worked for and had a dispute with Gacy immediately prior to his disappearance, and his car and wallet were found abandoned.

Yeah the police really botched this one didn't they? Several lives could have been spared had they actually acted on Donnelly's assertion that Gacy kidnapped, tortured, and raped him. They accepted Gacy's explanation at face value and left it at that. Then when another man came forward and accused Gacy of the same thing is when they finally acted on it. And even that took months before he was actually apprehended.

Yes, after reading that bio on Gacy it seems obvious that most of the teenage boys and young men that were his victims were probably not gay. Wow, he really got away with a lot of horribleness over that time period. At least he was exectued.

It's interesting how some serial killers are very selective in whom they prey on: Ted Bundy killed just females and Jeffrey Dahmer and Gacy preyed on just teenage boys/young men or as it appears in Gacy's case, white teenage/young adult males.

Yes, after reading that bio on Gacy it seems obvious that most of the teenage boys and young men that were his victims were probably not gay. Wow, he really got away with a lot of horribleness over that time period. At least he was exectued.

It's interesting how some serial killers are very selective in whom they prey on: Ted Bundy killed just females and Jeffrey Dahmer and Gacy preyed on just teenage boys/young men or as it appears in Gacy's case, white teenage/young adult males.

Dahmer targeted black males for whatever reason.

Ironically, he was killed by a black male as well. In fact I've hear thats part of what motivated Scarver to attack him, in his mind he was avenging the black race.

Dahmer targeted black males for whatever reason.

Ironically, he was killed by a black male as well. In fact I've hear thats part of what motivated Scarver to attack him, in his mind he was avenging the black race.

It has been explained that Dahmer chose ethnic minorities because he felt there was a far better chance of not getting caught. Racial profiling at its cruelest.

NBC News just reported on their evening news that along with trying to identify the remains of the 8 unknown victims, they have also uncovered new evidence. They found airline tickets showing Gacy travelled during that time and are gong to look into at least 20 cases of missing people from the places he travelled to. Very interesting.

This is such good news. I'm sure the victims' families that find out will be surprised and hopefully the closure will be cathartic for them. While the homosexuality may be a factor in some families coming forward, I think a lot of the young men were transient and the families didn't know they what state they were in, so hadn't considered the possibility of Gacy.

Blech, i saw a movie about Gacy. They kept showing under the house with tons of maggots and huge cockroaches and the sound effects of the bugs crawling just made me shudder.

This is such good news. I'm sure the victims' families that find out will be surprised and hopefully the closure will be cathartic for them. While the homosexuality may be a factor in some families coming forward, I think a lot of the young men were transient and the families didn't know they what state they were in, so hadn't considered the possibility of Gacy.

Blech, i saw a movie about Gacy. They kept showing under the house with tons of maggots and huge cockroaches and the sound effects of the bugs crawling just made me shudder.

Its almost inconceivable that so much death and evil took place in one spot and in one house. There is a video on youtube showing some rare actual footage of his house on the inside and outside. even down in the crawl space. It really gave you cold chills to see it.

I think it was a mistake to build another house on that spot, they should have just erected a memorial for the victims there and left it alone.

The Gacy case has always creeped me out, partly because I saw the photographs of some of his victims, and many of them looked a lot like I did in my teen years.

He was truly one of the worst human beings to ever live.

Dahmer killed only a few teens. (I think only 2) the rest of his victims were in their 20's and 30's. one of them was deaf and mute. he lured him with a handwritten note requesting nude photos in exchange for $. :/

well regardless of the ages it's still terrible. curious I looked up info about his victims and it actually showed a picture of one of his Victims bodies. I wish I hadn't seen that picture to say the least...

Its almost inconceivable that so much death and evil took place in one spot and in one house. There is a video on youtube showing some rare actual footage of his house on the inside and outside. even down in the crawl space. It really gave you cold chills to see it.

I think it was a mistake to build another house on that spot, they should have just erected a memorial for the victims there and left it alone.

The Gacy case has always creeped me out, partly because I saw the photographs of some of his victims, and many of them looked a lot like I did in my teen years.

He was truly one of the worst human beings to ever live.


Where did you hear that they erected another house on the site? The last I heard, there was nothing there.

Where did you hear that they erected another house on the site? The last I heard, there was nothing there.

I was wondering about that too. I did a quick search a few days ago, but didn't find anything, tho I didn't watch any video news reports. I was just looking for info in print.

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2010/06/03/murderous-homes-find-out-who-died-where-you-plan-to-live/

The house is supposedly where Gacy's garage was, and the address has been changed.

I've also previously read that Gacy's relatives didn't want the house razed, as they were hoping to sell it. Obviously wiser heads prevailed, due to possible structural damage when they excavated parts of the house and the fear it would turn into a macabre tourist attraction. The latter is also why the unidentified victims were buried in different cemeteries.

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2010/06/03/murderous-homes-find-out-who-died-where-you-plan-to-live/

The house is supposedly where Gacy's garage was, and the address has been changed.

I've also previously read that Gacy's relatives didn't want the house razed, as they were hoping to sell it. Obviously wiser heads prevailed, due to possible structural damage when they excavated parts of the house and the fear it would turn into a macabre tourist attraction. The latter is also why the unidentified victims were buried in different cemeteries.

Who would want to live in a house where 33 boys were raped and murdered and buried?

Who would want to live in a house where 33 boys were raped and murdered and buried?

Either someone who relishes the notoriety of it, or who really likes the property and isn't paranoid about what occurred there.

I don't know why anyone would willingly purchase it, in that you would have people regularly harassing you, similar to what happened to the family who bought the DeFeo (Amityville) house. The owners of the Amityville house had to hire security on Halloween to keep people from trespassing and vandalizing the property. Depending on the state's laws, realtors aren't obligated to mention that a homicide took place on the premises either.

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2010/06/03/murderous-homes-find-out-who-died-where-you-plan-to-live/

The house is supposedly where Gacy's garage was, and the address has been changed.

Thanks for the info. Quite interesting.

I don't think I could handle living in a house of "gacy" level horror, but I've lived across the street from a cemetery and it wasn't weird or creepy. We could even see the former owner's headstone right from the kitchen window. :eek:

Its almost inconceivable that so much death and evil took place in one spot and in one house. There is a video on youtube showing some rare actual footage of his house on the inside and outside. even down in the crawl space. It really gave you cold chills to see it.

I think it was a mistake to build another house on that spot, they should have just erected a memorial for the victims there and left it alone.

The Gacy case has always creeped me out, partly because I saw the photographs of some of his victims, and many of them looked a lot like I did in my teen years.

He was truly one of the worst human beings to ever live.


Yes I tend to agree with you about not building another House on the Site. The block in Cromwell Street, Gloucester U.K. where "House of Horrors" Fred and Rosemary West killed and buried all their victims is now a Walkway with some trees. Once the House was demolished nothing was ever rebuilt there.

wOW!:eek:


Man thought to be Gacy victim found alive in Fla.
AP – 43 mins ago



CHICAGO (AP) — Siblings who long suspected that their brother was one of serial killer John Wayne Gacy's eight unidentified victims have instead found that he has been living in Florida for decades.

Harold Wayne Lovell was 19 when he left home in May 1977 in search of construction work. His brother and sister feared Gacy may have killed their brother because Gacy lured many of his 33 victims by offering them construction work.

Lovell's siblings planned to see if their DNA matched any of the recently-exhumed remains of Gacy's unidentified victims. But before they did, they found an online booking photo of their brother and discovered he has been living in Florida.

The three had a joyful reunion on Tuesday.

Lovell says he left home because he was clashing with his mother.

Wow, thanks for posting that. Here's a larger article about it:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-gacy-victims-20111026,0,6538687.story

and another which is more personable: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20111025/news/710259517/

Will wonders never cease? Gacy victim found alive: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45049026

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2010/06/03/murderous-homes-find-out-who-died-where-you-plan-to-live/

The house is supposedly where Gacy's garage was, and the address has been changed.

That was a fun read. Thanks for sharing :)

Who would want to live in a house where 33 boys were raped and murdered and buried?


I'm sure there would be some sicko out there who'd want to. :confused:

Well that guy being found alive is probably the only positive story to ever be connected (supposedly they thought) with John Wayne Gacy's infamy.

Update: http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/29/justice/illinois-gacy-victim/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

One of the 8 unknown victims was ID'd

Ironic that his name was Bundy.

Another Presumed Gacy Victim Comes Forward; Movie On Serial Killer In Development
12/21/11


Another man presumed to have been a John Wayne Gacy victim has been found alive.

Theodore Szal, believed to have been one of the eight victims recently exhumed, was tracked down in Beaverton, Ore., by the Cook County Sheriff's office after no DNA matches were found among the dead.

His race, age and the date he disappeared bore so many similarities to Gacy's 33 known victims that his family's DNA had been compared to the never-identified Gacy victims.



NBC Chicago reports Szal went missing at the age of 24. His family is reportedly "ecstatic and amazed" that he is alive after disappearing in 1977.

"I believe Christmas has come early for the Szal family," Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said in a statement. "Being able to tell an 88-year-old father that his son, whose picture he has been carrying around for 34 years in his breast pocket, has been found alive is something special."









In other Gacy news, the lawyer who represented the convicted serial killer in his 1980 criminal trial has sold the rights to his book about the case for a feature film, as well as a possible documentary.

Defending a Monster, written by Sam Amirante, who represented Gacy, along with Lake Zurich attorney Danny Broderick, chronicles Gacy's conviction for 33 sexual assaults and murders. The book further features Amirante's interpretations of his client's mental state and the unique challenges presented by the trial.



The authors sold the movie option to a Hollywood production company last week, the Daily Herald reports, and shooting also began last week for a 90-minute documentary film based on the book.

A previous film on the topic, the low-budget Gacy starring Mark Holton that was released direct-to-video, received poor reviews, CBS Chicago reports.





The productions are kicking off at a time when new developments in the case have reinvigorated public interest.

In October, the bodies of eight victims were exhumed to be reexamined for connections to the case, prompting Patrick Dati, a Gacy sexual assault victim, to come forward with his story.

The renewed focus on the case also prompted Harold Wayne Lovell, a man who had disappeared at age 19 in 1977 and was believed to have been a Gacy victim, to come forward and reconnect with his family.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/21/gacy-victim-found-gacy-movie_n_1162738.html?

It begs the question though why did Szal not contact his family in 34 years?? I mean I'd be more then a little apprehensive if my presumed dead child was alive and chose to cut off contact with me. Makes you wonder what happened between them.

Thankfully this man is alive and is not a murder victim.

One of my adult cousins voluntarily went missing a few decades ago. I was a child, so don't know the details. All I can figure out from family whispers is that he got p*ssed and moved on. We've never seen him again. It's been about 40 years.

His father had been killed in a bar fight in 1962, when this guy was a teen. I don't know if that factors in to his mindset or not. My great-grandma (his grandma) was a saint, seriously was the most kind and giving person I've ever known, very selfless, and really took her son's death hard. I can't believe her grandson added that to the pain my g.grandma was suffering. He left behind his mother and sister, too. The whole family does know he left, though, so there's no concern that he's a victim of foul play.

As to why people do it, I'm sure there's everything from mental illness to family feuds involved. Personally, I've recently lived through circumstances with my parents that could make me be able do it and never look back. Not even to say I'm alive but I'm just sick of your drama, so you'll never see me again. I'd just go. Now. Wish I could, really. I'm tired of the verbal and mental abuse aimed at myself, my husband, and my kids, and the sexual abuse aimed at me. If I wan't trapped, I would cut ties and never have contact again.

All I can say is Trace is that there is help out there if you seek it out. I have lived through similar circumstances. (I was sexually abused by a neighbor when I was younger.) With the risk of sounding cliched' it does get better after talking to a professional.

Thanks for the support Orange Sody. :) It looks like I might be able to get out of here in about six months. My daughter just got married and left the toxic environment, but it's messing with my son's head, and making me crazier than usual.

I used to have a decent psychiatrist to talk to, but things were actually going great back then! We weren't broke, jobless, and homeless with a dismal future. My only problem was a "normal" level of depression that was well controlled. Now that I actually need a good shrink, I can't afford one.

Six more months.... Health insurance situation should be better and I expect to be moved out. (I'm a bit afraid to talk to any kind of a professional about the entire situation though, I don't want to press charges or be pressured to pursue that, I just want out.)

So.... there's my big personal sob story, all to say that I can understand why some people would leave and not let anyone know they're okay. I'm glad they're finding these people safe, and they just left voluntarily. I can't think of anything much worse than being a Gacy victim, so I'm sure these families are relieved. But how awful for the poor folks who still don't know what happened, or have confirmed that their loved ones were murdered.

Gacy Victim Search: Chicago Housing Complex Warrant Approved by County Prosecutors
by DON BABWIN - AP
01/12/13


Detectives who have long wondered if John Wayne Gacy killed others besides the 33 young men he was convicted of murdering may soon get to search for bodies underneath an apartment complex where his late mother once lived, a law enforcement official said Saturday.

Frank Bilecki, a spokesman for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, confirmed a Chicago Sun-Times report that Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez agreed to ask a judge for a warrant to search the housing complex on the city's Northwest Side. Such requests for search warrants are routinely approved.





Dart has been pushing Alvarez's office for months to sign off on the warrant, but Bilecki said the sheriff's office was asked for more evidence. Dart's office then found records showing that Gacy, a contractor, had done handyman work at the complex, and it located witnesses whose sworn affidavits raised intriguing questions about Gacy's activities there.

"These people in their affidavits stated that he was seen at odd hours doing odd jobs around the building," said Bilecki.





Bilecki said that investigators would bring in high-tech thermal imaging devices that detect that detect underground anomalies indicating something may have been buried. At the same time, searchers would bore holes in the ground and have FBI cadaver dogs sniff the holes' openings for the scent of human remains.

"It should initially be a pretty non-invasive search," said Bilecki, adding that the search could become much more involved if the initial search indicates any sign of human remains.








A search would be the latest twist in one of the most terrifying crime sprees in American history, one that ended when investigators discovered 29 bodies buried in the crawlspace of Gacy's Chicago-area home and yard in the 1970s. Gacy, who was arrested in 1978, convicted in 1980 and executed in 1994, has been the subject of countless articles and books, as well as at least one movie.

Gacy's case has remained in the headlines thanks largely to Dart, who has been trying to identify the remains of still unknown victims and who has voiced questions about whether there may be victims whose remains either haven't been found or haven't been linked to one of the most notorious serial killers in American history.

A few weeks ago, the sheriff's department announced it was submitting the DNA of Gacy and other condemned murderers who were executed in Illinois to a national database in the hopes of clearing the coldest of cold cases across the country. Detectives say that because Gacy traveled extensively, he may have killed people in other locations.





Dart previously exhumed for DNA testing the remains of young men whose bodies were found in Gacy's crawlspace but never identified, an effort that led to the identification of one of the young men.

"The apartment complex was searched in 1998, and more than a dozen underground anomalies were located, but for whatever reason, not all of those sites were investigated further", Bilecki said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/12/gacy-victim-search-chicag_n_2463947.html

thanks for the info, James

"The apartment complex was searched in 1998, and more than a dozen underground anomalies were located, but for whatever reason, not all of those sites were investigated further", Bilecki said.

I wonder what that means. Did they find anomalies that were inconsistent with what they were looking for so just didn't pursue it, did they suspect they'd found small amounts of evidence and didn't have the budget to check it out any further, or did they drop the ball or what...

Bill Dorsch, a police officer, gave a tip to Cook County sheriff's officials at the time of Gacy's arrest that he had encountered Gacy with a shovel at the Miami Avenue apartment building in the early morning hours in 1975. Gacy's mother had resided at and was the superintendent of the building from 1972 to 1975; during this time, Gacy was the maintenance man.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/john-wayne-gacy-house-118135019.html

Bill Dorsch's site:

http://johnwaynegacynews.com/tag/detective-bill-dorsch/

This is a story that was developed from numerous interviews with individuals who took part in the investigation and prosecution. It raises some good questions about the thoroughness of the 1998 Miami building search. Both a tenant of the building and a junior maintenance man, Lynn Troester and Mike Nelson, saw Gacy digging large trenches on a part of the property that investigators didn't search in 1998, as well as a part of the basement being filled in with concrete and the windows being blacked out:

http://shadowreports.com/2011/02/07/exclusive-find-the-bodies-if-you-can-should-the-john-wayne-gacy-case-be-reopened/

“Sgt. Cappitelli asked us how many targets we had and, to the best of my recollection, we flagged 17 areas that merited further investigation,” LaBarca says. “He said pick our best two and if nothing was found that would be the end of the investigation.

“This is where the rub is – all anomalies should have been investigated. The bottom line is, there were 17 areas that merited further investigation and 15 of them didn’t get investigated,” LaBarca says.

...we flagged 17 areas that merited further investigation,” LaBarca says. “He said pick our best two and if nothing was found that would be the end of the investigation.


Wow! What a crappy excuse. They knew they were dealing with a convicted serial killer and this location was a possible "dump" site for victims but they decided not to investigate. Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. And what an injustice to the victims and their families!

Am I the only one here completely creeped out by JamesG's Avatar? :eek: :eek: :eek:

Am I the only one here completely creeped out by JamesG's Avatar? :eek: :eek: :eek:


lol Nope, it sure gives me the creeps too.

LOL, it's from Killjoy 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVGrV_QB6P4

LOL, it's from Killjoy 3

Nooooo!!!! Shouldn't have watched it! lol

Loved the pop up disclaimer tho: clown sex censored by (youknowwhotube). :rotflmao:

Another victim has been identified: Steven Soden

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/14/18256566-search-for-john-wayne-gacy-victims-solves-decades-old-missing-person-case?lite

Another victim has been identified: Steven Soden

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/14/18256566-search-for-john-wayne-gacy-victims-solves-decades-old-missing-person-case?lite

I read a similar article today. The way I understood it was that Steven Soden was NOT a Gacy victim, but the family had worried he might have been simply because his father lived in Chicago.

Because of this concern, Steven Soden's sister submitted DNA to be checked against the Gacy victims. None of them matched her. When this boy's remains were found, his DNA was entered into the system and unexpectedly matched the sister.

Steven Soden went missing in New Jersey with another boy, Donald Caldwell, (who has not yet been located) while they were on a camping trip with their orphanage.

They were last seen running away from the campground, together. Steven Soden's body was found near where they were last seen. If this is reported correctly, it makes me wonder why was he living in an orphanage if he had a father, and why were these boys "running" away from the campground? Were they abused at the orphanage and tried to escape? Why was his body found so close to where he went missing? It seems that he wasn't far enough away to suffer from exposure and die. Was he murdered? Where's the other boy's body? Did he run away or die in the woods too?

I was wondering if there has been any more progress in the ID'ing of these 8 unknown Gacy victims?

I believe they confirmed the identity of one shortly after the remains were exhumed. What has happened since then?

Whilst no further victims have been identified (yet). Here's an interesting new article about it and other "John Doe" type cold cases which have been solved after decades.

http://nypost.com/2015/12/28/hunt-for-serial-killers-victims-unlocks-cold-cases/

I read a few articles awhile back that this case was being reopened because some compelling evidence came to light that Gacy might not have acted alone. I'm not completely sure but the one intended victim of his that ended up being alive in Florida actually stayed in hiding due to fear of Gacy's accomplices still being out there.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099744/Did-killer-clown-John-Wayne-Gacy-accomplice.html

Victim of 1970s Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy Identified as Minnesota Teen
by TIMOTHY MCLAUGHLIN
July 20, 2017


A 16-year-old boy who went missing more than 40 years ago from his home in Minnesota was identified by Chicago authorities on Wednesday as a victim of the serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

James "Jimmie" Byron Haakenson of St. Paul, Minnesota, told his family in the summer of 1976 that he wanted to visit Chicago and then traveled there. He is the second of Gacy's eight unknown victims to be identified through DNA testing by the Cook County Sheriff's Department since 2011, the department said in a statement.





Gacy worked as a building contractor and sometimes performed as a clown at fundraising events. According to prosecutors, he lured many of his victims to his suburban Chicago home with the promise of construction work.

Haakenson, previously known only as Victim No. 24, was last heard from on Aug. 5, 1976, when he spoke to his mother by telephone and told her he was in Chicago, the sheriff's department said on Wednesday.

Haakenson's mother – who has since died - attempted in 1979 to learn if her son was killed by Gacy, but was unable to do so because of a lack of dental records, the sheriff's department said.





DNA samples from Haakenson's two siblings were collected by their local police departments and submitted to the University of Northern Texas Center for Human Identification to test against the unidentified victims' remains, the sheriff's department said.

The results found a "strong genetic association" between Haakenson's siblings and that of the remains of Victim No. 24.



In addition to this information, detectives also used the original missing person report on Haakenson, Social Security Administration data as well as post-mortem reports to identify him.

Haakenson's family was notified of the development on Monday, the department said.





The first success of the push to identify Gacy's still-unknown victims came in November 2011 when investigators were able to name William "Bill" George Bundy as one of Gacy's victims.

Through the process, the sheriff's department has also solved four cold cases, unrelated to Gacy, the department said on Wednesday.

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/07/20/victim-of-1970s-serial-killer-gacy-identified-as-minnesota-teen/23040201/

Well that's reassuring for the family. Its sad the mom did not live to see it

One thing that always puzzled me about the Gacy murders is why did it take so long to suspect something was up with him? I admit I haven't read a ton on the subject, but I did read that many, not all, of his victims were kids he had work for him. I would assume that having multiple kids he was employing disappear during their period of employment would be a huge red flag no? These were a whole 2 or 3 years before he was investigated/arrested.

One thing that always puzzled me about the Gacy murders is why did it take so long to suspect something was up with him? I admit I haven't read a ton on the subject, but I did read that many, not all, of his victims were kids he had work for him. I would assume that having multiple kids he was employing disappear during their period of employment would be a huge red flag no? These were a whole 2 or 3 years before he was investigated/arrested.

The missing persons cases weren't connected in part due the most of them not being investigated seriously, lack of communication between investigative agencies, and failure to check Gacy's criminal record. They were simply missing and some were labeled as runaways. Des Plaines P.D., who were investigating Robert Piest's disappearance, discovered Gacy's sodomy conviction. The other police departments involved in missing persons cases where there were ties to Gacy and the two sexual assault accusations (Donnelly and Rignall) failed to do so. Rignall, due to his own determination, managed to get Gacy arrested for battery but both surviving victims allegations were treated with skepticism.

The go to response in the 70's by police if your child went missing was to immediately write them off as a runaway. It didn't matter what your situation was at home. Even children who were happy, got good grades, had tons of friends and had absolutely no reason to run away were given the same response; they ran away. We're not investigating.

When all those bodies were finally retrieved from Gacy's house, the families of many of those boys angrily went on national television and blasted the police. They were correct in saying that if their reports were taken seriously and not written off as runaways, many of those boys might have been spared. But sadly, that all fell on deaf ears. It would still take years for this mentality by investigators and police to finally change.

I had forgotten about this thread!

As referred to a few times in this thread, it is false that most of Gacy's victims were gay (at least openly). Most of them were simply victims of what appeared to be an unassuming man that, publicly, showed no signs of the evil desires and deeds that he carried out.

This guy was such trash.

I was watching a documentary about him on YouTube a few days back. I don't know how he have gotten away with murder after murder for so long.

Another Victim of Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy is Identified
by Don Babwin - Associated Press
Oct. 25, 2021


Authorities have identified the remains of one of the victims of John Wayne Gacy, who was convicted of killing 33 young men and boys in the Chicago area in the 1970s.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart was expected to release the victim's name at a news conference later Monday. The victim's remains were one of six unidentified sets that authorities hadn't yet identified.




In 2011, Dart's office exhumed the unknown victims' remains in the hopes of identifying them through advances in DNA testing. He asked anyone who had a male relative disappear in the Chicago area in the 1970s, when Gacy was luring victims to his house to kill them, to submit DNA for comparison.

Dozens of people heeded Dart's request in the immediate aftermath, and samples have continued to be trickle in since then.




Within weeks of the 2011 announcement, the office announced that it had identified one set of remains as those of William Bundy, a 19-year-old construction worker.

In 2017, the office identified a second set as those of 16-year-old Jimmy Haakenson, who disappeared after he phoned his mother in Minnesota and told her that he was in Chicago.

https://www.aol.com/news/another-victim-serial-killer-john-160409118-163922563.html







Chicago Man Identified as One of John Wayne Gacy's Victims
by Jake Griffin
Oct. 25, 2021


Investigators at Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart's office have identified another of serial killer John Wayne Gacy's previously unknown victims.

Dart said the latest identified victim is Francis Wayne Alexander, a Chicago man and North Carolina native who would have been 21 or 22 when killed by Gacy sometime between early 1976 and early 1977.




Alexander is survived by a mother, two half-sisters and two half-brothers. The family was notified of the findings Oct. 22.

"It is hard, even 45 years later, to know the fate of our beloved Wayne," the family wrote in a statement issued by Dart's office. "He was killed at the hands of a vile and evil man. Our hearts are heavy, and our sympathies go out to the other victims' families. Our only comfort is knowing this killer no longer breathes the same air as we do."




While most of Gacy's 33 known victims were identified following his Dec. 21, 1978 arrest, six of the bodies discovered mostly under the killer's home near Des Plaines have still not been identified.

Investigators say at least another 11 cold cases unrelated to Gacy have also been solved through this renewed investigation, including the death of a Washington, Illinois man who was a student at Northwestern University.

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20211025/chicago-man-identified-as-one-of-john-wayne-gacys-victims

One thing that always puzzled me about the Gacy murders is why did it take so long to suspect something was up with him? I admit I haven't read a ton on the subject, but I did read that many, not all, of his victims were kids he had work for him. I would assume that having multiple kids he was employing disappear during their period of employment would be a huge red flag no? These were a whole 2 or 3 years before he was investigated/arrested.

If you have access to Peacock, watch "Devil In Disguise". It's a 6 part doc on John Wayne Gacy and it goes into depth not just the vics, but the crimes and the environment itself of the 1970s. Very good.