Based on the life of a man who set a record for the most homicides in the United States legal history at the time of his conviction, Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy chronicles the disturbing crimes of an unrepentant psychopath. Gacy gained trust from his community by getting involved in local politics and entertaining children as a clown at events. As such, it was easy for him to operate as a serial killer unnoticed while maintaining his charming aura. On several occasions, survivors reported him to authorities, but the cases were usually dismissed without proper investigation.
The life and crimes of John Wayne Gacy have inspired other film and television projects, including Conversations with a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes (2022). Like the previous ones, Devil in Disguise dissects the chilling escapades of one of America’s most deadly serial killers. The documentary series also goes in-depth to analyze Gacy’s victims and how society aided him in committing those unsettling crimes, focusing on systemic failures, societal prejudices, homophobia, and apathy. Meet the man behind the “killer clown” mask.
John Wayne Gacy Had a Troubled Childhood
Of Polish and Danish descent, the notorious serial killer was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He was born on March 17, 1942, as the only son and second child in a family of five. His father, John Stanley Gacy, a World War I veteran, worked as an auto repair machinist, while his mother, Marion Elaine Robison, was a homemaker. Gacy shared a strong bond with his mother and sisters but never developed a healthy relationship with his alcoholic father, who physically abused him and the others.
Gacy’s father was violent towards him from an early age, as early as four. He also called him demeaning names like dumb, patsy, sassy, and stupid, telling him he would “probably grow up to become queer.” He also accused him of feigning sickness to gain attention. Meanwhile, Gacy was an overweight child with a heart condition. In 1949, Gacy experienced sexual abuse from a family friend but didn’t breathe a word of it to his father for fear of being called a liar.
His Career Exploits Endeared Him To People
John Wayne Gacy became active in local politics at age 18. He was an assistant precinct captain for a local Democratic Party candidate. Following more abuse from his father, Gacy left home in 1962 and settled in Las Vegas, Nevada. There, he worked in health services, including the Las Vegas ambulance service and Palm Mortuary. He later furthered his education at Northwest Business College before securing a management trainee position with the Nunn-Bush Shoe Company, where he met the woman he would later marry.
Gacy became a Jaycee in the 1960s and rose to become the third-most outstanding member in Illinois. He later moved to Waterloo, Iowa, to manage his father-in-law’s KFC restaurants and continued to work with the local Jaycees there. He served on the board of directors and was named outstanding vice president by other Jaycees. In 1970, Gacy moved back to Chicago after serving time for the conviction of sodomy on a 15-year-old boy named Donald Voorhees Jr.
Back in Chicago, he established a construction business called PDM Contractors while doing other jobs on the side. He employed mostly teenage boys and young men in his company with the intention of getting sexual favors from them. In 1975, Gacy joined the Jolly Joker clown club and performed as two characters: “Pogo the Clown” and “Patches the Clown.” This gave him access to perform around children at parties, hospitals, and charitable events. Gacy’s political interests also led him to join the Democratic Party, rising through the ranks to become a prominent member.
John Wayne Gacy Discovered the Ultimate Orgasm Lies in Death After Murdering His First Recorded Victim in 1972
Having a prior conviction for sodomy wasn’t enough reason to supervise Gacy’s reintegration after his parole. As such, he continued his sexual abuse of young boys, often offering jobs to entice them. His frequent style was to lure them to his house, get them high on drugs and alcohol, before handcuffing them in the guise of doing a magic trick to have his way. He would proceed to rape and torture his victim, inflicting inhuman acts on them like burning with cigars and riding them like a horse (with reins and all).
John Wayne Gacy’s first recorded murder victim was 16-year-old Timothy McCoy on January 3, 1972. He picked him from Chicago’s Greyhound Bus Terminal while the young lad was waiting for a bus to visit his father in Nebraska. According to Gacy, he woke up to see McCoy holding a knife, and while fighting him off, stabbed him several times in the chest. As he watched the young boy struggle before his death, he discovered that the ultimate thrill is in murder, not sex. Apparently, he began killing more. His subsequent victims include 18-year-old PDM employee John Butkovich, 18-year-old Darrell Samson, 15-year-old Randall Reffett, 14-year-old Samuel Stapleton, 17-year-old Michael Bonnin, 20-year-old Timothy O’Rourke, and 21-year-old Francis Alexander.
He murdered most of his victims (whom he called male prostitutes) through strangulation or asphyxiation and stored their corpses under his bed before burying them in his crawl space, or disposing of them in a river. However, few survivors lived to tell the story, including 15-year-old Anthony Antonucci. Sadly, the law enforcement officers didn’t pursue earlier reports against him. Nevertheless, the disappearance of Robert Piest, whom he murdered in December 1978, led to heated investigations into Gacy and his subsequent arrest. After a rigorous investigation and trial, John Wayne Gacy, who maintained he was innocent, was eventually sentenced to death. He was on death row for 14 years before his execution by lethal injection on May 9, 1994.
John Wayne Gacy Was Married Twice
The notorious killer clown met his first wife, Marlynn Myers, at the Nunn-Bush Shoe Company in Springfield, Illinois, where they both worked. The co-workers became engaged and married in 1964. They welcomed two children, a son in February 1966 and a daughter in March 1967. Myers filed for divorce and sole custody of their two children following Gacy’s conviction and imprisonment for sodomy in 1968. He never saw them again.
In 1971, John Wayne Gacy became engaged to Carole Hoff, a former high school flame, and they got married on July 1, 1972. However, Gacy couldn’t desist from his homosexual acts with young boys, leading to a rift between him and his second wife. Hoff later asked for a divorce but remained in his house until February 1976. Gacy’s second marriage didn’t produce any kids.
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