Last Updated on July 4, 2026
John Wayne Gacy was a serial killer who murdered at least 30 teenage boys and young men between 1972 and 1978 in the Chicago area.
John Wayne Gacy worked as a clown called Pogo the clown and as a result gained the nickname The Killer Clown.
John Wayne Gacy was executed by lethal injection on 10th May 1994.
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Crimes
Gacy does not know the identity of all of his victims.
Many are unidentified because there are a large number of missing and homeless young men from the Chicago area.
Some victims have been identified after John Wayne Gacy’s death.
John Wayne Gacy was given a 10 year sentence for oral sodomy on December 3rd 1968 after assaulting 15 year old Donald Voorhees.
Gacy also paid someone to beat him up so he would not testify.
He was also charged with assaults on a number of young boys.
He was a model prisoner and within months was the Head Cook at the prison.
As a result of his good behaviour he was released after serving just 18 months.
John Wayne Gacy Victims
The first victim of John Wayne Gacy was Timothy McCoy, who was killed on 2nd January 1972.
Gacy claims that he awoke after a sexual encounter to find Timothy stood in his bedroom doorway with a kitchen knife.
He believed he was about to be attacked therefore he attacked taking the knife and stabbing him multiple times.
After the killing he found that Timothy was preparing breakfast but he had misunderstood his intentions to wake him.
Timothy was buried in John Wayne Gacy’s crawl space in his home.
Gacy’s second victim is an unknown victim. He was strangled by Gacy in January 1974 and was buried in his back garden.
Later in July 1975, Antony Antonucci, an employee of Gacy was targeted and he was given alcohol to subdue him.
However, he was able to get loose of the handcuffs and attack Gacy, forcing him to allow him to leave his property.
On July 31st 1975, he killed John Butkovich, another employee by strangling him.
He had lured him to his home with the promise of paying unpaid wages but was killed and was buried under the floor of Gacy’s garage.
Gacy was questioned over the disappearance but told police he had came to the house but had left after being paid.
Darrell Sampson was strangled to death by Gacy on April 6th 1976. He was buried beneath the dining room in John Wayne Gacy’s house.
Randall Reffett was walking home from school when he was approached by Gacy.
He died after being gagged with cloth and was buried in Gacy’s crawl space.
Later the same day he killed Sam Stapleton by strangulation.
He was walking home from visiting his sister and he was buried alongside Randall in his crawl space.
In June 1976, Michael Bonnin was strangled to death.
His body was discovered in the crawl space with a ligature around his neck.
Also found in Gacy’s crawl space was William aka Billy Carroll. His cause of death was strangulation.
An Unidentified Victim was killed sometime during the summer of 1976.
He was strangled and buried in the crawl space of Bundy’s home.
James Haakenson was a runaway who was strangled to death in August 1976 by Gacy.
He was identified in 2017 because of DNA evidence and was buried alongside Rick and another unknown male.
On August 6th 1976 Rick Johnston went to a rock concert but was never seen again.
His cause of death was strangulation and he was buried alongside James and another unknown male.
Alongside the above victims was an Unknown Male.
Little is known about him but he was in his late teens/early twenties and had damaged teeth.
Another Unknown male was killed sometime between August and October.
He was aged 15-24 years old and the cause of death was strangulation.
On October 5th 1976, John Wacy murdered Kenneth Parker by strangling him.
He was last seen playing with his friend Michael Marino.
Michael Marino was believed to be a Gacy victim but DNA tests in 2016 revealed that the body she received and buried in his grave is not Michael.
The medical examiner and sheriffs office believe that Michael was buried in Gacy’s crawl space but she may not have received the correct remains.
William Bundy was a casual worker for Gacy and went missing after leaving home to go to a party.
He was found in Gacy’s crawl space and was formally identified in 2011.
Another worker who went missing was Gregory Godzik.
His wallet was found in Gacy’s house and his remains were discovered in his crawl space.
John Szyc also worked for PDM and he went missing in January 1977. His cause of death was strangulation and he was found in Gacy’s crawl space.
Unidentified victim Greg was aged 23-33 and was found in Gacy’s crawl space with a keyring bearing the name Greg.
Jon Prestidge was visiting friends in Chicago in Match 1977. He was strangled to death and buried in Gacy’s crawl space.
An Unidentified Male was found in Gacy’s crawl space and estimated time of death is June or July 1977. The victim was aged 18-21 and had a broken collar bone.
Matthew Bowman was killed by Gacy in July 1977. The rope he was strangled with was still around his neck when he was buried in Gacy’s crawl space.
Robert Gilroy was the son of the local police sergeant and he went missing in September 1977. He was suffocated and buried in Gacy’s crawl space.
On September 25th 1977 John Mowery was murdered by John Wayne Gacy after going to his house to enquire about summer work. He was strangled with a ligature.
Russell Nelson died from asphyxiation on October 17th 1977. He was last seen in a nightclub before he went missing but was discovered in the Gacy’s crawl space.
Robert Winch was murdered by Gacy on November 10th 1977. He had been strangled and was buried in Gavy’s crawl space.
Tommy Boling was found in Gacy’s crawl space and he had been strangled to death on November 18th 1977.
David Talsma was a US Marine who was found in Gacy’s crawl space and he was identified in 1979 using xrays.
The last Gacy victim to be buried in his crawl space was William Kindred. He was killed on February 16th 1978 is cause of death was strangulation.
The first body to be thrown into the Des Plaines River was that of Timothy O’Rourke. He was murdered in June 1978 and his cause of death was strangulation.
Frank Landingin was also discovered in the Des Plaines river. His cause of death was asphyxiation as his underwear had been forced down his throat. Frank’s drivers license was found in John Wayne Gacy’s home.
James Mazzara went missing on Thanksgiving of 1978. The cause of death was strangulation and he was discovered in the Des Plaines river. There was evidence found in Gacy’s home that linked him to the murder.
John Wayne Gacy’s final victim was Robert Piest. He had died after paper towels were forced down his throat and he was found in the Des Plaines river 5 months later.
Investigation
Gacy was questioned in the case of missing boy Robert Piest.
The last sighting of Robert was in a shop where he went with his mother.
He was last seen talking to Gacy about the possibility of summer work and Gacy was identified by a member of staff.
He became a suspect after the authorities discovered his previous conviction and history of abusing young boys and men.
Gacy played with the authorities, by leading them on car chases and he invited detectives surveiling him into his home for dinner.
When a detective excused himself to use the bathroom he discovered a foul smell in the room.
He immediately recognised the stench as one of corpses and due to this a search warrant was gained for the crawl space of John Wayne Gacy’s home.
Investigators removed remains from the John Wayne Gacy crime scene over a number of weeks and had to remove all of the flooring in the home to gain access to the crawl space.
The investigation continued for more than two years as there were so many bodies that they had fused together and it took over two years to assemble each skeleton for identification.
After the investigation John Wayne Gacy’s home was demolished and a new home was built on the site.
What has become known as the John Wayne Gacy house is often for sale.
Arrest
After the search warrant was gained Gacy knew his number was up and called his lawyer.
John Wayne Gacy’s house was filled with the bodies of his victims and he knew they would be discovered.
His confession lasted for over four hours but later recanted parts of this.
He was arrested on December 21st 1978 but lapped up the attention from the media and gave many interviews to police and lawyers.
Trial
John Wayne Gacy’s trial begun in February 1980.
Gacy was defended by Sam Amirante, who wrote a book about his time as Gacy’s lawyer in John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster (AD*)
Gacy’s defence had claimed he was not mentally competent to stand trial.
After 300 hours of observation and testing three experts had diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic with a personality disorder.
The prosecution disputed these claims.
Prosecutor Terry Sullivan goes into more details of his crimes in Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders (AD*)
It was discovered at trial that Gacy’s employees had dug the graves in his crawl space under strict instruction from Gacy.
Victim Gregory Godzik had dug graves in the crawl space along with employees Michael Rossi and David Cram.
Jeffrey Rignall, a John Wayne Gacy survivor testified against Gacy as did survivor Robert Donnelly.
Both were subjected to horrifying abuse at the hands of Gacy and gave graphic testimony to the court.
Donald Voorhees from Gacy’s 1968 sodomy conviction also testified in court against him.
Gacy laughed during Robert’s testimony.
The jury found him guilty of all 33 murders and one count of sexual assault.
Sentence
John Wayne Gacy was given a death sentence for 12 of the murders where the death penalty was asked for.
A provisional date for his execution was set for 1980.
During his sentence he regularly answered mail from fans and sent fans a number of paintings of clowns in exchange for money.
John Wayne Gacy paintings were often resold and one of the paintings sold for $20,000!
John Wayne Gacy art is highly collectable.
Appeals
During his sentence Gacy began to read legal books and articles and filed a number of appeals and motions.
He claimed that the search warrants were illegal and that he had only committed some of the murders.
The majority he claimed were committed by his employees.
His Supreme Court of Illinois appeal was rejected and a date of execution was set for November 1984.
This was delayed due to an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1985, this was also denied.
Two further appeals were denied in the John Wayne Gacy case but after his final appeal was denied a date of execution was set for 10th May 1994.
Execution
John Wayne Gacy’s execution by lethal injection was on 10th May 1994.
It took three injections before John Wayne Gacy died due to a clogged tube during the execution.
John Wayne Gacy last words were “Kiss my ass” and John Wayne Gacy’s last meal was a bucket of KFC, fried shrimp, fries, strawberries and a Diet Coke.
John Wayne Gacy does not have a grave, he was cremated and his ashes were given to his sister.
Childhood and Family Life
John Wayne Gacy’s childhood was not a happy one.
His father was an alcoholic who would beat Gacy, his brothers and his mother if they misbehaved.
John Wayne Gacy married Marlynn Myers in September 1964.
The couple moved to Iowa to help her father run a chain of KFC restaurants he had purchased.
John Wayne Gacy was made manager of three KFC stores.
John Wayne Gacy has two children, a son Michael Gacy and daughter Christine Gacy.
The couple divorced in 1969 before the murders took place.
John Wayne Gacy’s second wife Carole Hoff had no idea that there were bodies buried under their home.
She believed that the smell was due to a vermin infestation in the crawl space after being told the story by Gacy and did not investigate further.
John Wayne Gacy’s sister Karen Gacy appeared on Oprah.
They spoke about family life growing up together and how she believed he was innocent when he was arrested the first time.
Karen was shocked when he was arrested a second time and had noticed a smell at the home that Gacy had told her was standing water under the home.
She had no idea her brother was the clown serial killer.
Media
The John Wayne Gacy movie was released in 2003.
The film was called Gacy (AD*) and also known as The Crawl Space.
It follows the story of Gacy leading up to the brink of discovery of the bodies in John Wayne Gacy’s basement.
In a John Wayne Gacy interview, he speaks to CBS claiming that he never committed the murders and is a victim of circumstance.
The John Wayne Gacy documentary Serial Killers: John Wayne Gacy, an A&E documentary is a chilling insight into the crimes of Gacy.
John Wayne Gacy, Defending a Monster, based on the book by his former attorney, has yet to be released following a small screening.
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