John Wayne Gacy (a.k.a the killer clown) was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 17, 1942. He was a serial killer in the 1970s, murdering his first victim in 1972. He kidnapped boys in his car, took them to his house & sexually abused them, then murdered them. Murdering boys ages 14-21 primarily. In total, he killed 33 people between the years of 1972-1978. In 1978 he was arrested & in 1994 he was executed by lethal injection.

 

Early Life

John was born on March 17, 1942. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois with his two sisters, Karen & Joanne. Growing up, he & his sisters were abused by their alcoholic father with a razor strap. His Father also abused his mother. When he started to get older he realized he liked men & had a great turmoil over his sexuality. John also had a heart condition so he wasn’t able to be active causing him to be overweight.

 

Family Life

John was married twice, both times he got divorced. His first wife was Marlynn Myers & his second wife was Carole Hoff. He also has 2 biological children, 1 boy, & 1 girl. & he also has 2 stepchildren, both girls. 

 

Clown

Gacy worked as a party clown & would go to children’s hospitals, birthday parties, & more under the name “Pogo the clown” or “Patches the clown” & sometimes kidnapped & murdered his victims while dressed up as a clown. Hence the nickname, Killer Clown.

 

Gacy’s First Victim

In the early ’70s, a college hitchhiker was looking for a ride home. Gacy let him in the car & started driving. But almost immediately the man knew something was wrong so at the next stop he jumped out of the car & left. After that Gacy took off the handles of his car so no one could escape again. 

 

Murders

Gacy murdered 33 people between the years of 1972-1978. But in 1968 he was convicted of sexually assaulting two teenage boys & was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was released on parole in 1970. Gacy was arrested once again a year later by another boy who accused Gacy of sexual assault but the charges were dropped when the boy didn’t show up to the trial. 

On December 11, 1978, 15-year-old Robert Piest, disappeared shortly after leaving work at a pharmacy where Gacy had recently completed a remodeling job. Police had put him under surveillance & soon the police had found out that two other boys that worked with Gacy had also gone missing so they immediately searched his home. They found around 26 bodies under the crawlspace of his home & had found the boy’s driver’s licenses in Gacy’s kitchen. Later finding the rest of the victims in the Des Plaines River. 

 

Arrest

Gacy had been to prison previously but this time it was permanent. Gacy was arrested after the bodies of his victims had been found & confessed almost immediately. He was sentenced to a death sentence & he was incarcerated in 1980. He sat on death row for a long 14 years.

 

Paintings

In prison & before he got arrested he did a lot of artwork. He did thousands of paintings, most of which are self-portraits of him as a clown. His paintings prices range from $6,000 – $175,000. A lot of them are also painted with blood.

Death

John Wayne Gacy died on May 10th, 1994. He died from Lethal injection. His last meal was 12 fried shrimp, a bucket of KFC, french fries, & a pound of strawberries. People speculate that he wanted KFC because before being arrested he managed 3 KFC restaurants. But with that, his life was over. 

 

John Wayne Gacy had several jobs in his life. The most prominent being a party clown since he was a party clown during the years of his murders. So in other words… 

 

“A clown can get away with murder”