John Wayne Gacy “The Killer Clown” By: Jane Moon Gina Legaluppi (Bury, 2011)

Basic Information Born: March17, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois (Wikipedia, 2013) Died: May 10, 1994 (Wikipedia, 2013) Years active: 1972-1978 (Wikipedia, 2013)

Childhood Background Overweight and nonathletic (Wikipedia, 2013) Heart condition (Wikipedia, 2013) Father was an alcoholic and physically abusive to him, his sisters, and mother (Wikipedia, 2013) Criticized and not favored by his father (Wikipedia, 2013) 6 years old- stole a toy truck from a store (Wikipedia, 2013) 9 years old- molested by a family friend and contractor (Wikipedia, 2013) Bullied in school (Wikipedia, 2013) 14-18 years old- hospitalized for burst appendix, blackouts, and seizures (Wikipedia 2013)

General Serial Killer Profile White male born and lived in the US Main motive: sex First murder at age 30 Dropped out of high school, but graduated from a business college Persuasive salesman who could get away with almost anything IQ-118 (Varma) Psychologist Thomas Eliseo considered Gacy to be an extremely intelligent man who “suffered from borderline schizophrenia” and possibly multiple personality disorder (Taylor, 2003)

Trolling/ Common Characteristics of Victims Young men who ran away from home Young male prostitutes Ex-jailbirds Drove around to find young men wandering the streets

Wooing Tricked victims into being handcuffed using magic tricks that he performed as “Pogo the Clown” (Taylor, 2003) Pretended to be an officer and arrested victims after flashing a badge or gun (Varma) Promised money for sex (Altered Dimensions, 2012) Grabbed by force (Altered Dimensions, 2012)

Capture Victims were handcuffed (Taylor, 2003) Stuffed socks or underwear into victim’s mouth (Taylor, 2003) Knocked Jeffrey Rignall out with chloroform (Altered Dimensions, 2012)

Murder Phase January 2, 1972- killed with a knife (1st News, 2013) 1975- Twisted a rope around boys neck to cut off air circulation. (1st News, 2013) After his second murder he killed his next 31 victims with a rope.

Totem Phase John Wayne Gacy took items, often jewelry from his victims. (1st News, 2013) He kept them organized and polished in elegant jewelry boxes. Jewelry consisted of mostly rings and pendants.

Death Toll By the end John Wayne Gacy took the lives of 33 teenage boys. (1st News, 2013) His first kill was on January 2,1972 His last kill was on December 11, 1978 (A&E Network, 2013)

Transient or Stable? Stable He killed in the same area he worked in. He often took kids from the neighborhood to help him with construction for his business. He disposes of the bodies in his cross bass or was buried in piping around town. (1st News, 2013) He never was known to travel he always stayed in the same area.

Organized or Disorganized? High victim count of 33 (Wikipedia, 2013) Cleaned up after because the murder was in his own house. Raped before killing took place. (Serial Killer Central, 2013) If buried the bodies in the area he already previously dug the hole for the body. He personalized with victims by talking about job opportunities (1st News, 2013)

Conviction On December 21,1978 John Gacy was arrested for murder. (1st News, 2013) February 1980 he was tried in trial and he pleaded not guilty for reason of insanity. He was thought to have multiple personality disorder. (Serial Killer Central, 2013) March 13, 1980 John Gacy was sentenced to death. (A&E Network, 2013) May 10, 1994 at 12:40 pm he was injected with a needle and died 18 minutes later. At 3 am a forensics psychologist extracted Gacy’s brain to look for developmental issues and found nothing. (Wikipedia, 2013)

Bibliography 1st News hd Channel. (n.d.). KILLER CLOWN - John Wayne Gacy - Serial Killer - YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved May 3, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=sTU9cX0n60o Bury, C. (2011, November 22). Texas Lab Holds Key to John Wayne Gacy Secrets - ABC News. ABCNews.com - Breaking News, Latest News & Top Video News - ABC News. Retrieved May 6, 2013, from http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/11/texas-lab-holds-key-to-john-wayne-gacy-secrets/ Gacy- The Killer Clown . (n.d.). Serial Killer Central. Retrieved May 4, 2013, from http://www.serialkillerscentral.com/serial-killers-list/american-serial-killers/gacy-the-clown-killer John Wayne Gacy - the Clown Killer | Altered DimensionsAltered Dimensions. (2012, December 26). Altered Dimensions | Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknownAltered Dimensions. Retrieved May 6, 2013, from http://altereddimensions.net/2012/john-wayne-gacy-clown-killer John Wayne Gacy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved May 6, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_ John Wayne Gacy Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story- Biography.com (n.d.).Famous Biographies & TV Shows- Biography.com. Retrieved May 7, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/john-wayne-gacy-10367544 References Taylor, T. (n.d.). JOHN WAYNE GACY -- THE CLOWN THAT KILLED. AMERICAN HAUNTINGS: WHERE DEAD MEN STILL TELL TALES. Retrieved May 6, 2013, from http://www.prairieghosts.com/gacy.html Varma, S. R. (n.d.). John Wayne Gacy - Biography. IMDb - Movies, TV and Celebrities. Retrieved May 6, 2013, from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0300475/bio