Research Paper On John Wayne Gacy

John Wayne Gacy was a serial killer who was born on March 17, 1942. He was born in Chicago, Illinois. He murdered young men and teenagers in Norwood Park Township, Illinois, a town near Chicago. Gacy murdered at least 33 young men. John Wayne Gacy would often dress up as a clown, and would host parties for his neighborhood. Later, he would be known as the “Killer Clown”. Gacy grew up in an abusive home. According to the article, “John Wayne Gacy, the Killer Clown”, “From age 4, Gacy was verbally and physically abused by his alcoholic father.” (Montaldo 2019.) That can make a person wonder if Gacy’s murders were instigated from his life growing up. There are several serial killers that have been traumatized by events that occurred in their

Gacy lured a young boy to do odd tasks around his house, then molested the young boy. This happened in 1967. This should have been the first warning sign about Gacy. Gacy of course got arrested for his crime and was sentenced for ten years in prison, but before he was arrested, he hired someone to intimidate the victim into staying quiet so he would not get caught.. (Ott 2021). The article, “John Wayne Gacy: A Timeline of the 'Killer Clown' Murders, Trial and Execution”, states, “Reportedly a well-behaved prisoner, Gacy is allowed to leave the Iowa State Reformatory for Men at Anamosa after just 18 months.” (Ott 2021). Gacy got released on probation for a year, and went back to live with his mother in Chicago, Illinois. It was not a year later when Gacy was brought back into the spotlight when he was accused of assault, but the charges were later dropped, when the boy did not show up in court. (Ott

This was his first known murder, the young boy was 16 at the time and was named Timothy McCoy. McCoy was the first of at least 33 young boys that were murdered by Gacy. According to The Chicago Tribune, “Gacy usually lured his victims into his car, knocked them out with chloroform, and sometimes tortured them at his house for hours before stabbing or garroting them to death.” (Smith 1978). This is how insane he was, and for him to do this repeatedly to several young men and teenagers is outrageous. After he would murder the victims, he would bury 26 of them under his house in his crawl space. Gacy went on killing teenagers and young adults over a span of 11 years till he was finally caught in late 1978. During Gacy’s trial, he claimed he was insane. John Philip Jenkins stated in the article, “John Wayne Gacy Serial Killer”, “ At his trial Gacy’s plea of innocent by reason of insanity was supported by the testimony of several psychologists, who diagnosed him as schizophrenic.” (Jenkins 2023). The jury did not believe that and they found him guilty of his crimes. Gacy tried to pass his acts off as insanity, but in reality, he was just a very sick and twisted person. He may have been schizophrenic, but that does not justify the torture he caused his victims and their