ipl-logo

Research Paper On John Wayne Gacy

2716 Words11 Pages

Introduction

My presentation was over John Wayne Gacy and the use of forensic anthropology and odontology in identifying the decomposed victims under his crawl space in 1978 and the advances in forensic DNA and genetic genealogy that led to the identification of multiple victims 45 years after his arrest.

John Wayne Gacy, also known as the "Killer Clown," was an American serial killer who committed at least 33 murders between 1972 and 1978 in the Chicago area. Gacy was a well-respected member of his community, dressing up as a clown for children's birthday parties and even volunteering for local political campaigns. However, aside from his public image as an outstanding community member, Gacy would lure young men and boys to his home under …show more content…

During his parole, Gacy moved to Chicago where he sexually assaulted another young boy, but the Chicago court dismissed the complaint after the boy failed to show up in court. Unfortunately, the Iowa Board of Parole never heard about this incidence and Gacy’s parole ended in 1971 where his criminal records in Iowa were sealed [8].

Killing Spree & Arrest

After becoming a free man, Gacy would establish a construction company, remarry, get involved in more politics and continue to kidnap, rape, torture, murder and bury over 33 young boys and men between the ages of 14-21 from 1972 to 1978.

It was not until the kidnapping and murder of Robert Piest in December of 1978, that led detectives to Gacy’s home where they found evidence linking him to Piest and obtained warrants to dig through Gacy’s crawl space. They found 29 bodies buried in his property, with another 4 victims, including Piest, to have been dumped in the Des Plaines River.

Gacy was arrested and charged with 33 counts of murder.

Forensic Anthropology & …show more content…

In 1913, a case involving the identification of the remains of a man killed in a train accident was solved using dental evidence. The victim's dental records were compared to the teeth of the unidentified body, and a match was made. This case led to the development of a national database of dental records, which has since become a standard tool for forensic odontologists. During World War II, forensic odontology played a crucial role in identifying the remains of soldiers killed in battle as dental records were used to identify thousands of soldiers

Show More
Related
551 Words | 3 Pages

After they uncovered all the bodies from his crawl space, he was then convicted of thirty-three murders and was put on death row for thirteen years following his conviction (source 6). Police and other investigators obtained remains from some of the deceased bodies and took DNA tests on those parts to help find out who the bodies were (source 6). They needed evidence to confirm each missing person in Gacy's crawl space (source 7). There are still six people who were not able to be identified. During his thirteen years at the Stateville Correctional Center, Gacy started selling some art from prison.

Read More
470 Words | 2 Pages

Being a well known and well liked community figure who sometimes dressed as clowns to perform at children's birthday parties, his crimes went undetected for six years. It wasn't until 1978 until police started getting suspicious of Gacy when he was the last person to be seen with Robert Priest before going missing. After the police learned of his sexual crime conviction from when he lived in Iowa they searched his home where they would find a strong gut wrenching odor coming from a crawl space, they originally thought the odor was coming from a busted sewage pipe. Several items, including store receipts, were found in his house that specifically linked him to Robert and several other young men and teens who were reported missing. After Gacy confessed to murder, police and investigators found 29 corpses buried on his property as well as four more that he dumped in nearby rivers as he ran out of room to bury them on his property.

Read More
675 Words | 3 Pages

Gacy was trialed for this crime and was convicted, he

Read More
540 Words | 3 Pages

In addition to the 33 murders that were committed, Gacy was also accountable for many, many rapes. A couple of times before his killing period, he was found guilty of sodomizing several minors. Even during the period of his murders, he would commit numerous acts of rape. Gacy would chloroform the victim, or sometimes hold gunpoint, take them back to his house, and then brutally rape and torture the victim. Even with complaints by the numerous victims, the Chicago police department did not take action (Blanco).

Read More
1049 Words | 5 Pages

Introduction John Wayne Gacy was an american serial killer convicted of 33 murders; mostly teenage boys. He was sentenced to death for 12 of those murders and to natural life in prison for the others. Most of the victims bodies were unearthed in the crawl

Read More
872 Words | 4 Pages

On March 17, 1942 John Wayne Gacy was born into a dysfunctional middle class family, this led to his alcoholic father berating and beating him. In 1968, he sodomized two boys illustrating his mental instability. Gacy received a ten year prison sentence for his first offense; however, he was released on parole in the summer of 1970. However in 1975, two more young men accused him of rape and the police again questioned him but no charges were filed. After this Gacy continued on his killing spree in the end killing a total of 33 victims over the course of 11 years.

Read More
1357 Words | 6 Pages

After Gacy was executed one of the doctors took out his brain to look at it, they were trying to find common personality traits of other serial killers. Surprisingly his brain didn’t show any

Read More
788 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
2265 Words | 10 Pages

John Wayne Gacy, an American serial killer who committed 33 tragic murders during his lifetime. Gacy didn’t have the desire to be a serial killer, but his early childhood contributed to the devastating murderer and child predator he came to be. After Gacy’s first murder, he felt a rush of exhilaration which changed the path of his life, as well as the path’s of his victims' lives forever. Ultimately, forensic evidence found in the Gacy home led to the downfall of this killer clown. John Wayne Gacy is a serial killer who will forever go down in history.

Read More
1097 Words | 5 Pages

When news got out of Gacy’s murders it shocked his suburban community where he was known as a “Man of the community” . In 1980 Gacy pleaded guilty to all 33 killings. Gacy spent 14 years on Death Row before receiving the lethal injection in May of

Read More
1407 Words | 6 Pages

Sexuality played a huge part in why Gacy killed 33 young men and boys. Gacy married two women and was engaged on two different occasions In an interview Gacy said that he was married twice, engaged two other times,

Read More
1458 Words | 6 Pages

) When he was 7 years old, he and a childhood friend were accused of molesting a girl, not knowing if it was true or not, his father beat him very badly. (“John Wayne Gacy: The Real Life Serial Killer Clown.”) There were also two incidences where Gacy almost lost his life due to appendicitis, but his father thought he was faking so he neglected him.

Read More
435 Words | 2 Pages

Gacy recounted committing his murders in his Pogo the Clown costume, providing the ghastly image of a killer clown that people associate Gacy with today. Gacy´s murder track lasted for six years without drawing substantial suspicion from authorities or associates. That ended when he raped and murdered a young man who was well known and respected in the community. The boy was last seen with Gacy, which caused law enforcement to investigate and eventually uncover the large amount of evidence that was buried under his house. The Pogo the Clown persona is a prime example of Gacy´s ability to manipulate the individuals with whom he interacted with.

Read More
1042 Words | 5 Pages

Around 1977 is when Gacy’s “web of secrets “ began to unravel after Robert Piest vanished. Gacy’s mother was picking him up at the Pharmacy where he worked and he told her that he would be a minute because he had to talk to the contractor, but never returned. She called the Des Plaines police and Kozenczak led the investigation. Kozenczak went to Gacy’s home and when he asked Gacy to come to the station he refused saying that someone in his family died and he had to make some call. He came into the station later and gave his statement saying that he knew nothing and was allowed to leave, but Kozenczak had other feelings about

Read More
983 Words | 4 Pages

He put a chain on their arm and raped them. But he does not feel guilt for what he had done, but was a vice versa where he was feeling satisfied by getting his needs. Few years after he got captured, the police showed him photos of the victims but said that he does not remember any of the face of the victim so he did not commit crime. Therefore Gacy definitely showed interpersonal

Read More

More about Research Paper On John Wayne Gacy

Related Topics

Open Document