What Happened To John Wayne Gacy? The Serial Killer's Last Words ...

A new Netflix series uses never-heard-before audio recordings from the interrogation of serial killer John Wayne Gacy to shed light on his mindset.

Conversations With a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes is the second instalment in an ongoing project from filmmaker Joe Berlinger. The first was built around similar recordings of Ted Bundy.

Gacy was an aspiring politician, local contractor, and part-time clown-for-hire, who murdered 33 young men between 1972 and 1976.

Here’s what you need to know.

What happened to John Wayne Gacy?

Gacy buried the majority of his victims in the crawl space of his home, in the quiet north-west suburbs of Chicago.

They included people he knew, and random victims lured off the streets with promises of jobs, drink or money for sex.

Once inside his home, the victims would usually be plied with drink or drugs, before Gacy offered to perform a trick using a pair of handcuffs.

Gacy would cuff his hands behind his own back, subtly freeing himself with a key hidden between his fingers, before offering to show his victim how to perform the trick themselves.

Having restrained his victim, Gacy proceeded to rape and torture them before they were killed, typically by strangulation with rope.

Police began to investigate Gacy following the disappearace of Robert Piest, a 15-year-old pharmacy worker.

A co-worker of Piest had seen him speaking to Gacy outside the shop. He never returned.

On searching Gacy’s home, officers discovered police badges, a starter pistol, bottles of valium and atropine and small underwear.

During a second interview, Gacy confessed to killing around 30 people to his lawyer, revealing that Piest was dead.

Fifty years later, scientists are still trying to identify all of his victims through DNA profiling.

Gacy was ultimately found guilty of 33 murder charges in March 1980 and sentenced to death, but remained on death row for 14 years, making numerous appeals.

When did he die?

After Gacy’s final appeal failed in October 1993, the Illinois Supreme Court formally set an execution date for 10 May, 1994.

Gacy’s last meal, on 9 May, was a bucket of KFC, a dozen fried shrimp, French fries, fresh strawberries and a Diet Coke.

He prayed with a Catholic priest before being transferred to the Stateville Correctional Centre’s execution chamber to receive a lethal injection.

The procedure took 18 minutes, after the chemicals used in the execution solidified unexpectedly, clogging the IV drip into Gacy’s arm. He was confirmed dead shortly before 1am on 10 May.

According to reports, his final spoken words were: “Kiss my ass.”

Conversations With a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes is available on Netflix now.