John Wayne Gacy | Biography, Murders, Execution, & Facts

Murders and arrest

Gacy committed his first known murder in 1972. He met 16-year-old Timothy McCoy at the Greyhound bus station in Chicago. The teenager had a layover on his way home to Nebraska, and he agreed to go to Gacy’s house. There Gacy fatally stabbed him. Over the next six years, Gacy murdered 32 other young men. His crimes typically followed a pattern. He would lure victims to his house—sometimes offering a job at his company—and then give them alcohol or drugs. At some point he would mention a “magic trick,” which would involve the young men putting on handcuffs. Gacy would then rape and murder them, usually by strangulation or asphyxiation.

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In 1978 Gacy killed his final victim, 15-year-old Robert Piest. After his parents reported him missing, police learned that Gacy was the last person known to have seen him. (Piest had gone to his house to talk about a construction job.) After obtaining a search warrant, police searched the house and found suspicious items, including syringes, various drugs, and licenses belonging to other people. Gacy was placed under surveillance as detectives conducted an investigation, which included talking to young men who had previously accused Gacy of assault. In addition, several men mentioned digging trenches and spreading lime in the crawl space under the house.

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Police obtained a second warrant, and they discovered the bodies of 29 boys and young men in the crawl space or near Gacy’s house; four other bodies, including Piest’s, were later found in the nearby Des Plaines River. The area of the house had emitted a foul stench for years, but Gacy had told his houseguests and his wife that the smell was the result of moisture buildup.