John Wayne Gacy Research Papers

John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

Under the common law murder is considered the unlawful killing of another human being with intent and malice aforethought. Statistics about murders in the year 2015 show that murder rates have risen in many major U.S. cities, such as Baltimore and Chicago. Although, overall crime has decreased in the U.S. compared to the year before. Serial killers are people who kill 3 or more people, usually due to some sort of mental disorder. John Wayne Gacy, Jr. was a serial killer and rapist who assaulted and murdered at least 33 teenage boys in Cook County, Illinois between 1972 and 1978. Gacy is one of the most well-known serial killers in America. Gacy is also widely known for his very interesting background. John Wayne Gacy,

had a very horrific history though. In 1968 he was convicted of sexually assaulting two teenage boys. Gacy was released on parole in 1970. The year after 1970 Gacy was accused again of sexually assaulting another boy. Charges were dropped though because the victim didn’t show up to the trial. Gacy was convicted of assaulting and killing at least thirty-three young men. Most of his murders occurred between 1972-1978 in Chicago. Gacy would offer the young men a job doing construction work. His first murder happened January 2, 1972, the victim was Jack McCoy. Gacy usually found the young boys at the bus station. After luring the boys, Gacy would capture them. Gacy would usually begin by showing the boy a magic trick with handcuffs. They would end up restrained where he would proceed to sexually assault them. After the victim was defenseless he would either strangle them with a rope or force articles of clothing down their throat to suffocate them. Gacy confessed that his favorite killing method was his rope trick. Sometimes he would even dress as his other ego, “Pogo the Clown” to murder the boys. As the bodies of the victims piled up, Gacy found different ways to dispose of the bodies. Gacy used a product called Quicklime to help decompose the bodies. He then would store the bodies in the crawl space in his house. Twenty-nine bodies were discovered in his crawl space. Other victims were thrown of a nearby bridge into the Des Plaines

Some, though, have psychological disorders such as OCD, PTSD, or dementia. On the trial of John Wayne Gacy his motives were often discussed. Gacy was abused by his father when he was young. He suffered a head injury when he was a child. He also experienced several blackouts throughout his childhood. The court brought in a psychologist during the trial. The psychologist was Thomas Eliseo interviewed Gacy before the trial. The psychologist said that he found Gacy to be very intelligent. Although, he believed that Gacy suffered from borderline schizophrenia. Other medical experts testified also. The other specialists thought that he may even suffer from multiple personality disorder or antisocial behavior. All of the experts found him to be insane at the time of committing the murders. Dr. Helen Morrison studied Gacy and interviewed him several times. Morrison says that the most frightening part about a serial killer is that there is no reason for