John Wayne Gacy - Murders

Murders

On January 2, 1972, Gacy picked up a 15-year-old youth named Timothy Jack McCoy from Chicago's Greyhound bus terminal. Gacy took McCoy—who was traveling en route from Michigan to Omaha—on a sightseeing tour of Chicago, and then drove him to his home on the promise that he could spend the night and be driven back to the station in time to catch his bus. Gacy later said that he awoke the following morning to find McCoy standing in his bedroom doorway with a kitchen knife in his hand. Gacy leapt from his bed and McCoy raised both arms in a gesture of surrender, tilting the knife upwards and accidentally cutting Gacy's forearm (Gacy had the scar on his arm to support this claim). Gacy twisted the knife from McCoy's wrist, banged his head against his bedroom wall, kicked him against his wardrobe and walked towards him. McCoy then kicked him in the stomach and Gacy grabbed the youth, wrestled him to the floor, then stabbed him repeatedly in the chest as he straddled him with his body. Gacy claimed he then went to his kitchen and saw an opened carton of eggs and a slab of unsliced bacon on his kitchen table. McCoy had also set the table for two; he had walked into Gacy's room to wake him while absentmindedly carrying the kitchen knife in his hand. Gacy subsequently buried McCoy in his crawl space and later covered the youth's grave with a layer of concrete.

In an interview after his arrest, Gacy stated that immediately after killing McCoy, he felt "totally drained", yet noted that he had experienced orgasm as he killed the youth. In this 1980s interview, he added: "That's when I realized that death was the ultimate thrill."

Gacy later stated that the second time he killed was around January, 1974. The victim was an unidentified teenage youth with medium brown, curly hair estimated to be aged between 15 and 17 whom Gacy strangled before stowing the youth's body in his closet prior to burial. Gacy later stated that fluid leaked out of this youth's mouth and nose as he was stored in his closet, staining his carpet. As a result of this experience, Gacy later stated he regularly stuffed cloth rags or the victims' own underwear in their mouths to prevent a recurrence of this incident. This particular unidentified victim was buried approximately 15 feet from the barbecue pit in Gacy's backyard.

By 1975, Gacy's business was expanding rapidly; by his own later admission, he began working 12- and 16-hour days to fulfill agreed commitments upon an increasing number of contracts. Much of the labor workforce of PDM Contractors consisted of high school students and young men. One of these youths was a 15-year-old named Anthony Antonucci, whom Gacy had hired in May 1975. In July 1975, Gacy arrived at the youth's home while the youth was alone, having injured his foot at work the day prior. Gacy plied the youth with alcohol, wrestled him to the floor and cuffed Antonucci's hands behind his back. The cuff upon Antonucci's right wrist was loose: Antonucci freed his arm from the handcuff after Gacy left the room. When Gacy returned, Antonucci—a member of his high school wrestling team—pounced upon him. The youth wrestled Gacy to the floor, obtained possession of the handcuff key and cuffed Gacy's hands behind his back. Gacy screamed threats, then calmed down and promised to leave if Antonucci removed the handcuffs. The youth agreed and Gacy left the house.

Antonucci later recalled that Gacy had told him as he lay on the floor: "Not only are you the only one who got out of the cuffs; you got them on me."

One week after the attempted assault on Antonucci, on July 29, 1975, another of Gacy's employees, 17-year-old John Butkovitch, disappeared. The day prior to his disappearance, Butkovitch had threatened Gacy over two weeks' outstanding back pay. Gacy later admitted to luring Butkovitch to his home while his wife and stepchildren were visiting his sister in Arkansas, ostensibly to settle the issue of Butkovitch's overdue wages. Gacy conned the youth into cuffing his wrists behind his back, then strangled him to death and buried his body under the concrete floor of his garage. Gacy later admitted to having "sat on the kid's chest for a while" before killing him. Butkovitch's Dodge sedan was found abandoned in a parking lot with the youth's wallet inside and the keys still in the ignition. Butkovitch's father called Gacy, who claimed he was happy to help search for the youth but was sorry Butkovitch had "run away". Gacy was questioned about Butkovitch's disappearance and admitted the youth and two friends had arrived at his apartment demanding Butkovitch's overdue pay, but claimed all three youths had left after a compromise had been reached. Over the following three years, Butkovitch's parents called police more than 100 times, urging them to investigate Gacy further.

Following a heated argument with his wife regarding her failing to correctly balance a PDM Contractors checkbook in October 1975, Carole Gacy asked for a divorce. Gacy agreed to his wife's request although by mutual consent, Carole continued to live at 8213 West Summerdale until February 1976, when she and her daughters moved into their own apartment. One month later, the Gacys' divorce was finalized.

Within one month of his divorce, Gacy had abducted and murdered an 18-year-old youth named Darrell Sampson. Sampson was last seen alive in Chicago on April 6, 1976. Five weeks later, on the afternoon of May 14, a 15-year-old named Randall Reffett disappeared while walking home from Senn High School; the youth was gagged with a cloth and strangled. Hours after Reffett had been abducted, a 14-year-old named Samuel Stapleton vanished as he walked to his home from his sister's apartment. Both youths were buried in the same grave in the crawl space.

On June 3, 1976, Gacy killed a 17-year-old Lakeview youth named Michael Bonnin. Bonnin was strangled with a ligature and buried in the crawl space. Ten days later, a 16-year-old Uptown youth named William Carroll was murdered and buried directly beneath Gacy's kitchen. Carroll may have been the first of four youths known to have been murdered between June 13 and August 6, 1976 and who were buried in a common grave located beneath Gacy's kitchen and laundry room. (This common grave also held the body of a fifth youth estimated to have been killed after this date.) The two identified youths killed between June 13 and August 6 were aged 16 and 17 years old; the two unidentified youths are respectively estimated to have been aged between 15 and 19 and 22 and 30 years old. The first of these two unidentified youths known to have been murdered between these dates is a youth with medium dark brown hair estimated to have been aged between 22 and 30 years old and between 5'1" and 5'6" tall. This youth is also known to have had two missing upper front teeth at the time of his disappearance, leading investigators to believe this particular victim most likely wore a denture. All that is known about the second unknown youth known to have been murdered between these dates is that he had dark brown hair, was estimated to have been aged between 15 and 19 years old and that he was strangled to death.

On July 26, 1976, Gacy employed an 18-year-old named David Cram. On August 21, Cram moved into his house. The following day, Gacy conned the youth into donning handcuffs while the youth was inebriated. Gacy swung Cram around while holding the chain linking the cuffs, then informed the youth that he intended to rape him. Cram, who had spent a year in the Army, kicked Gacy in the face, then freed himself from the handcuffs as Gacy lay prone. One month later, Gacy appeared at Cram's bedroom door with the intention to rape the youth and said: "Dave, you really don't know who I am. Maybe it would be good if you give me what I want." Cram resisted Gacy's attempts to assault him and Gacy left his bedroom. After this incident, Cram moved out of Gacy's home and subsequently left PDM Contractors.

Two further unidentified youths are estimated to have been killed between August and October 1976. One of these youths was buried directly above the body of William Carroll, who had been murdered on June 13, yet higher than the body of a 17-year-old Bensenville youth named Rick Johnston, who was last seen on August 6. This particular unidentified youth is estimated to have been aged between 21 and 27 years old and sequential burial patterns of victims within the crawl space, plus the circumstancial fact that Cram had not lived with Gacy between the dates of August 6 and August 20, leave a possible date of between August 6 and August 20, 1976 as the time this particular youth was murdered. The second unidentified youth likely to have been murdered between August and October 1976 is a youth with dark brown hair aged between 19 and 21 years old, who is known to have suffered from an abscessed tooth at the time of his murder. This youth was buried in the northeast corner of the crawl space. Subsequent recollections by an employee of PDM Contractors of a trench Gacy had ordered him to dig on or prior to October 5, 1976 being the location where this particular victim was buried suggest a date between August and October 5, 1976 as being when this youth was murdered.

On October 24, 1976, Gacy abducted and killed two teenage youths named Kenneth Parker and Michael Marino: the teenage friends were last seen outside a restaurant on Clark Street. Both youths were strangled and buried in the same grave in the crawl space. Two days later, a 19-year-old employee of PDM Contractors named William Bundy disappeared after informing his family he was to attend a party. Bundy was also strangled and buried in the crawl space, buried directly beneath Gacy's master bedroom.

In December 1976, another PDM employee, 17-year-old Gregory Godzik, disappeared: he was last seen by his girlfriend outside her house having driven her home following a date. Godzik had worked for PDM for only three weeks before he disappeared. In the time he had worked for Gacy, he had informed his family Gacy had had him "dig trenches for some kind of (drain) tiles" in his crawl space. Godzik's car was later found abandoned in Niles. His parents and older sister, Eugenia, contacted Gacy about Greg's disappearance. Gacy claimed to the family that Greg had run away from home, having indicated to Gacy prior to his disappearance that he wished to do so. Gacy also claimed to have received a recorded answering machine message from Godzik shortly after the youth had disappeared. When asked if he could play back the message to Godzik's parents, Gacy stated that he had erased it.

A month later, on January 20, 1977, John Szyc, a 19-year-old acquaintance of Butkovich, Godzik and Gacy, disappeared. Szyc was lured to Gacy's house on the pretext of selling his Plymouth Satellite to Gacy. He was buried in Gacy's crawl space directly above the body of Godzik. A ring worn by Szyc, which bore his initials, was retained in a dresser in Gacy's master bedroom. Gacy also kept Szyc's portable Motorola TV in his bedroom and later sold the youth's car to another of his employees, 18-year-old Michael Rossi.

Between December 1976 and March 1977, Gacy is known to have killed an unidentified young man estimated to be around 25 years old. His body was buried in the crawl space beneath the body of a 20-year-old named Jon Prestidge, a Michigan youth visiting friends in Chicago whom Gacy killed on March 15. After the murder of Prestidge, Gacy is believed to have murdered one further unidentified youth exhumed from his crawl space, although the timing of this particular youth's murder is inconclusive. The youth was buried parallel to the wall of Gacy's crawl space directly beneath the entrance to his home. The two victims murdered on the same day in May 1976 were buried alongside this youth, yet sequential burial patterns of three victims murdered in 1977 leave an equal possibility this particular victim may have been murdered in the spring or summer of 1977. All that is known about this particular youth is that he was aged between 17 and 21 years old and that he had suffered a fractured left collarbone prior to his disappearance.

In March 1977, Gacy was hired as a construction supervisor for PE Systems; a firm which specialized in the nationwide remodeling of drugstores. As a result of this contract, Gacy regularly traveled to other states to supervise construction projects and he later stated that, through both businesses (PDM Contractors and PE Systems), almost 80 buildings alone were successfully remodeled in 1977. In April 1977, Gacy became temporarily engaged to a woman he had been dating for three months and his fiancée moved into his house. By mutual agreement, the engagement was called off in June of that year and his fiancée moved out of his home. The following month, Gacy killed a 19-year-old Crystal Lake youth named Matthew Bowman. He was buried in the crawl space with the tourniquet used to strangle him still knotted around his neck.

In August 1977, a clue emerged to the disappearance of John Szyc. Michael Rossi, who had bought Szyc's car from Gacy, was arrested for stealing gasoline from a service station while driving the car. The attendant noted the license plate number and police traced the car to Gacy's house. (Rossi lived with Gacy at this point and had worked for PDM Contractors since May, 1976.) When questioned, Gacy told officers that Szyc had sold the car to him in February with the explanation that he needed money to leave town. The police did not pursue the matter further, although they did inform Szyc's mother that her son had sold his car to Gacy.

Throughout the autumn and winter of 1977, Gacy began dating Carole Hoff in the hope of a reconciliation. (Carole became engaged to another man the following year.) By the end of 1977, Gacy is also known to have murdered a further six young men between the ages of 16 and 21. The first of these six victims, 18-year-old Robert Gilroy, was last seen alive on September 15. Gilroy—the son of a Chicago Police Sergeant—was suffocated and buried in the crawl space. On September 12, Gacy had flown to Pittsburgh to supervise a remodeling project and did not return to Chicago until September 16. As Gacy is known to have been in another state at the time the youth was last seen, it is possible that Gacy's subsequent claims that he had not acted alone in some murders may have held credence. Ten days after Gilroy was last seen, a 19-year-old U.S. Marine named John Mowery disappeared after leaving his mother's house to walk to his own apartment. Mowery was strangled to death and buried in the northwest corner of the crawl space perpendicular to the body of William Bundy.

On October 17, a 21-year-old Minnesota youth named Russell Nelson disappeared: he was last seen outside a Chicago bar. Nelson died of suffocation and was also buried in the crawl space. Less than 4 weeks later, a 16-year-old Kalamazoo youth named Robert Winch was murdered and buried in the crawl space and on November 18, a 20-year-old father-of-one named Tommy Boling disappeared after leaving a Chicago bar. Both Winch and Boling were buried beneath the hallway in Gacy's crawl space and on December 9, a 19-year-old U.S. Marine named David Talsma disappeared after informing his mother he was to attend a rock concert in Hammond. Talsma was also buried in the crawl space.

On December 30, 1977, Gacy abducted a 19-year-old student named Robert Donnelly from a Chicago bus stop at gunpoint. Gacy drove Donnelly home with him, raped him, tortured him with various devices, and repeatedly dunked his head into a bathtub filled with water until he passed out, then revived him. Donnelly later testified at Gacy's trial that he was in such pain that he asked Gacy to kill him to "get it over with", to which Gacy replied: "I'm getting round to it". After several hours of assaulting and torturing the youth, Gacy drove Donnelly to his place of work, removed the handcuffs from the youth's wrists, and released him. Donnelly reported the assault and Gacy was questioned about it on January 6, 1978. Gacy admitted to having had "slave-sex" with Donnelly, but insisted everything was consensual. The police believed him and no charges were filed. The following month, Gacy killed a 19-year-old youth named William Kindred, who disappeared February 16, 1978, after telling his fiancée he was to spend the evening in a bar. Kindred was the final victim to be buried in Gacy's crawl space, and Gacy began disposing of his victims in the Des Plaines River.

In March 1978, Gacy lured a 26-year-old named Jeffrey Rignall into his car. Upon entering the car, the young man was chloroformed and driven to the house on Summerdale, where he was raped, tortured with various instruments including lit candles, and repeatedly chloroformed into unconsciousness. Rignall was then driven to Lincoln Park, where he was dumped, unconscious but alive. Eventually he managed to stagger to his girlfriend's apartment. Rignall was later informed the chloroform had permanently damaged his liver. Police were again informed of the assault, but did not investigate Gacy. Rignall remembered, through the chloroform haze of that night, Gacy's black Oldsmobile, the Kennedy Expressway and particular side streets. He staked out the exit on the Expressway where he knew he had been driven until—in April—he saw Gacy's distinctive black Oldsmobile, which Rignall and his friends followed to 8213 West Summerdale. Police issued an arrest warrant, and Gacy was arrested on July 15. He was facing an impending trial for a battery charge for the Rignall incident when he was arrested in December for the murders.

Gacy later confessed to police that he had thrown a total of five bodies off the I-55 bridge into the Des Plaines River in 1978, one of which he believed had landed upon a barge, although only four of these five bodies were ever found. The first known victim thrown from the I-55 bridge into the Des Plaines River, 20-year-old Tim O' Rourke, was killed in mid-June and found six miles downstream on June 30. The two further victims known to be thrown into the river were murdered in November, one of whom, Frank Landingin, was found on November 12 and the other, James Mazzara, was found on December 28. Both Landingin and Mazzara were found with their own underwear lodged down their throat. The cause of death in both these cases was suffocation.