Offender Record · OFF-2026-071
John Wayne Gacy Jr.
Sex
Male
Race
White
Born
1942
Custody
Deceased
States
IL, IA, NV
Distinguishing featuresKnown as 'The Killer Clown' due to his public performances as a clown named Pogo at children's parties and charitable events; 1978 mugshot on file with law enforcement.
Custody
Deceased at Stateville Correctional Center
Custody record at the facility
Executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994 at Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois.
This record documents arrests, charges and convictions reported by courts, law enforcement agencies and news organizations. Every statement is tied to a cited source with an archived copy. A charge is an accusation, not proof of guilt; a person charged is presumed innocent unless convicted. Solve the Case does not allege that this person committed any offense beyond what the cited records state, and this record is not a suggestion that the person is connected to any unsolved case. How records are built, corrected and removed.
Summary of the record
John Wayne Gacy was an American serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured and murdered at least thirty-three young men and boys between 1972 and 1978 in Norwood Park Township, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. John Wayne Gacy was convicted of murdering 33 boys and young men. On May 10, 1994, he was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois.
Documented Arrests, Charges and Convictions
Dispositions are shown exactly as the cited records report them. Pending charges are updated when a court acts; a record with no remaining conviction or pending charge is removed from the site.
Offense date Feb 12, 1971, Chicago, Illinois
Indecent Liberties with a Minor / Attempted Rape
Chicago Police Department · Cook County Circuit Court · Arrested Feb 12, 1971 · Charges dismissed Charges dismissed · Sentence: Charges dismissed when accuser failed to appear in court
Gacy's serial crimes began to surface when he was arrested on February 12, 1971, for disorderly conduct and attempted rape. However, Gacy's accuser, a young male, failed to appear in court, and Gacy's charges were subsequently dismissed.
SourcesJohn Wayne Gacy
Offense date Jun 07, 1972, Northbrook, Illinois
Attempted Rape / Aggravated Battery and Reckless Conduct
Northbrook Police Department · Cook County Circuit Court · Docket 7204499 · Arrested Jun 22, 1972 · Charges dismissed Charges dismissed · Sentence: Dismissed; Gacy filed counter suit against victim
Gacy was arrested on June 22, 1972 for Aggravated Battery and Reckless Conduct, which was a sex-related offense. The charge related to an incident where Gacy posed as police officer and struck a male victim.
SourcesPeople v. Gacy :: 1984 :: Supreme Court of Illinois Decisions
Murder (33 counts); Deviate Sexual Assault; Indecent Liberties with a Minor; Aggravated Kidnapping
Des Plaines Police Department / Cook County State's Attorney · Cook County Circuit Court · Docket 79C-69 et seq · Illinois Murder Statute · Arrested Dec 21, 1978 · Convicted Convicted · Sentence: 12 death sentences (for murders committed after Illinois reinstated capital punishment in 1977); 21 life sentences (for murders committed 1972-1977)
Crimes Charged: Murder, murder during the commission of a felony, aggravated kidnapping, deviate sexual assault, indecent liberties with a minor. Following his arrest Gacy was questioned intensively by police, and on January 3, 1979 he confessed to the killing of Robert Piest and six others. He also gave the police information that led to the eventual recovery of the remains of 33 young men and boys. Four were found in the Des Plaines River near Gacy's home, and the rest were buried in the crawl space under his house and under the floor of the garage. Typically, he would lure a victim to his home and dupe them into donning handcuffs on the pretext of demonstrating a magic trick. He would then rape and torture his captive before killing his victim by either asphyxiation or strangulation with a garrote.
SourcesJohn Wayne Gacy Trial: 1980; John Wayne Gacy; John Wayne Gacy
Pattern and Background
Victim counts and the pattern of the offenses as stated by courts, agencies and the cited reporting. Suspected counts are what officials have said publicly, not a finding of this site.
33
Victims convicted
33
Victims confessed
0
Victims suspected
Active years
1972–1978
Stated motive
Sexual, Power or control
Range from home
local
Confessed
Yes
Cooperated with investigators
Yes
Education
some high school
Marital history
Married, Divorced
Children
2
Died
1994-05-10 · executed
Places Lived, Worked and Frequented
Each place and date range comes from a cited record. Dates marked approximate are as reported. Know a place that is missing? Use Edit record under the photo; a moderator reviews it before it appears.
IA
Waterloo, Iowa
1964 – 1968 · Manager of 3 KFC franchises owned by father-in-law
Waterloo, Iowa
1964 – 1970 · Lived with wife Marlynn Myers after marriage September 1964
Waterloo, Iowa
Sep 10, 1968 – Jun 1970 · Anamosa State Penitentiary (Iowa State Men's Reformatory)
IL
Chicago, Illinois
approx. 1942 – 1964 · Childhood and early adulthood residence in Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
approx. 1961 – 1962 · Returned to Chicago after Las Vegas employment
Springfield, Illinois
approx. 1963 – 1964 · Manager trainee with Nunn Bush Shoes
Chicago, Illinois
approx. Jun 1970 – 1972 · Lived with mother after release on parole; worked as chef at Bruno's
Chicago, Illinois
approx. Jun 1970 – 1971 · Chef at Bruno's restaurant
Norwood Park Township, Illinois
1971 – Dec 21, 1978 · 8213 West Summerdale Avenue; purchased with mother; all known murders committed at this residence
Chicago, Illinois
approx. 1971 – 1978 · PDM Contracting, owned contracting business specializing in remodeling
Chicago, Illinois
Dec 21, 1978 – Mar 13, 1980 · Cook County jail pending trial
Chester, Illinois
Mar 13, 1980 – May 10, 1994 · Menard Correctional Center on death row for 14 years
NV
Las Vegas, Nevada
approx. 1961 – 1961 · Ambulance attendant, later demoted to janitor at mortuary
Photographs by Year
Photo from www.aetv.com
Photo from en.wikipedia.org
Black-and-white mugshot of Gacy facing forward
Timeline
Mar 17, 1942
John Wayne Gacy was born at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, on March 17, 1942, the second of three children and only son of John Stanley Gacy and Marion Elaine Robison.
Mar 1968
In March 1968, Voorhees told his father that Gacy had sexually assaulted him.
May 10, 1968
On May 10, 1968, Gacy was indicted on the sodomy charge.
Sep 10, 1968
Gacy pleaded guilty to the sodomy charge on November 7, 1968, in exchange for other charges against him being dropped. He was sentenced to 10 years at Anamosa State Penitentiary.
Jun 1970
Gacy was out on parole by June 1970 after serving 18 months of his sentence.
Feb 12, 1971
Gacy's serial crimes began to surface when he was arrested on February 12, 1971, for disorderly conduct and attempted rape. However, Gacy's accuser, a young male, failed to appear in court, and Gacy's charges were subsequently dismissed.
Jan 03, 1972
Gacy committed his first known murder in 1972, luring 16-year-old Timothy McCoy to his home, stabbing him repeatedly, then burying McCoy's body in the crawl space under his house.
Jun 07, 1972
Gacy was arrested on June 22, 1972 by the Northbrook, Ill. for Aggravated Battery and Reckless Conduct, which was a sex related offense.
Dec 21, 1978
The investigation into the disappearance of Des Plaines teenager Robert Piest led to Gacy's arrest on December 21, 1978.
Jan 03, 1979
Following his arrest Gacy was questioned intensively by police, and on January 3, 1979 he confessed to the killing of Robert Piest and six others.
Feb 06, 1980
Trial began on February 6, 1980 in Cook County, Illinois.
Mar 12, 1980
The jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning a verdict of guilty. Gacy was found guilty of 33 murders.
Mar 13, 1980
Gacy was sentenced to death on March 13, 1980.
May 10, 1994
On May 10, 1994, he was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois.
Sources
Solve the Case is never the original source. Each item below is the public record a statement on this page rests on, with an archived copy where one exists.
News report · Britannica ·
John Wayne Gacy“John Wayne Gacy was convicted of murdering 33 boys and young men. On May 10, 1994, he was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois.”
News report · Wikipedia ·
John Wayne Gacy“John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured and murdered at least thirty-three young men and boys between 1972 and 1978 in Norwood Park Township.”
News report · NBC Chicago ·
1994: John Wayne Gacy executed at Stateville Correctional Center“In 1994, convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy was executed at a correctional facility in Illinois.”
News report · Biography.com ·
John Wayne Gacy's Crimes Went Undetected for Years“In 1968, Gacy was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy and attempting to assault another. He was convicted and received a 10-year prison sentence.”
News report · A&E Television Networks ·
John Wayne Gacy's Execution: What Were the Serial Killer's Final Days Like?“For his execution, Gacy was flown by helicopter from Menard Correctional Center—in downstate Illinois, where he'd been incarcerated for 14 years—to Stateville Penitentiary, just outside of Chicago.”
News report · A&E Television Networks ·
Case File: John Wayne Gacy“At the time of his conviction in 1980, the 'Killer Clown' held the most murder convictions in U.S. history with 33. His crimes spanned from 1967 to 1978 in the Greater Chicago area and Iowa.”
News report · Grunge ·
Why John Wayne Gacy Only Served 18 Months After Receiving a 10-Year Prison Sentence“Gacy pleaded guilty to the sodomy charge on November 7, 1968, in exchange for other charges against him being dropped.”
Other · Radford University Department of Psychology ·
Radford University serial killer biography: Gacy, John Wayne“Timeline and biographical summary of John Wayne Gacy from birth through execution”
News report · Deseret News ·
Serial Killer Executed by Injection in Illinois“Gacy, 52, was pronounced dead at 12:58 a.m., 18 minutes after two anonymous executioners tripped switches to send the chemicals into his bloodstream. The procedure was delayed by a clog in the tubing.”
Court record · Justia (Illinois Supreme Court) ·
People v. Gacy :: 1984 :: Supreme Court of Illinois Decisions“John W. Gacy was arrested and convicted in Waterloo, Iowa in 1968 for Sodomy and sentenced to 10 yrs in prison. The Sodomy arrest involved 15 and 16 year old youths.”
Court record · Encyclopedia.com (Great American Trials) ·
John Wayne Gacy Trial: 1980“Crimes Charged: Murder, murder during the commission of a felony, aggravated kidnapping, deviate sexual assault, indecent liberties with a minor. Date of Trial: February 6-March 12, 1980. Verdict: Guilty.”
Law enforcement release · Federal Bureau of Investigation ·
John Wayne Gacy“In 1979, John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994) was arrested in Cook County, Illinois for a series of murders. In 1980, Gacy was convicted of murdering 33 young men ranging in age from 14 to 21.”
Discussion
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