2. Introduction
How could a man considered by so many to be an upstanding citizen actually be the
murderer of thirty three young men? John Wayne Gacy was this man that so many of his peers
thought to be an upstanding citizen. Little did they know he was a serial killer, who would be
later convicted of thirty-three murders, which were all teenage boys. John Wayne Gacy buried
the majority of his victims in a crawl space underneath his home. Gacy lived a double life,
frequently attending charitable and political events, even having his picture taken with First Lady
Rosalyn Carter, all this was while he was committing some of the most heinous crimes now
known in the USA.
Early Childhood
John Wayne Gacy was born March 17, 1942 to John W. Gacy Sr. and Marion Elaine
Robinson. He grew up in Norridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, with two sisters. Up until age
eleven he attended a Catholic School and then later moved and enrolled in public school. It
would seem on paper Gacy had the ideal home life, but unfortunately for Gacy it was the
opposite for him. He was frequently beaten and belittled by his father, who was an alcoholic and
short tempered, which is believed what caused these violent rages against a young Gacy. Though
Gacy was a victim of his father’s abuse, he would still seek the approval of his father, which
never came. Due to these episodes with his father and the constant belittling and being called a
queer, Gacy at a young age developed an identity crisis and began to doubt his own masculinity.
At age nine, one of his father’s friends began to give John frequent visits. Often taking him on
rides in his truck and ending up putting young Gacy’s face in between his legs. John knew he
was being victimized, but feared telling his father because he thought he would taunt him more
3. for being a homosexual. Besides the relationship with his father, Gacy seemed to have a normal
childhood; he was close to his mother and sisters. (Murderpedia.org).
Teenage Years
Gacy, as many middle-class boys in that era would, had part time jobs as a newspaper
boy and a grocery store bag boy and stock clerk. Gacy also was a member of Boy Scouts troop
and seemed to really enjoy the troop’s outdoor activities. During his mid teenage years he
became interested in police and other volunteer work. He began a civil defense squad in high
school which gave him a sense of acceptance and belonging amongst his peers. Soon after his
creation of his club at school Gacy got involved with politics. He volunteered to work at a
campaign office of a local candidate, which Gacy enjoyed. Later that same year he joined a local
church and formed a group called Chi Ro Club in which he organized dances and other activities
for the club. All seemed to be normal in the life of John Wayne Gacy, and the dark secrets of his
past were going away. (Murderpedia.org).
Late Teenage and Early Twenties
As John Wayne Gacy grew older he desperately wanted the approval of his father, who
continued his abuse of the whole Gacy family, but JWG found to be on the worst of the abuse.
The road seemed to get more difficult for Gacy, when he attended four different high schools
before dropping out his senior year. After dropping out of high school and the years of abuse by
his father, Gacy at the age of nineteen packed himself up and moved west to Las Vegas where he
was not as successful as he hoped he would be. Gacy found a job at Palm Mortuary, where he
began to become curious about dead bodies. Three months after starting the job, Gacy quit his
job due to a run in with his boss, when his boss began to question Gacy about the bodies ending
4. up nude in the coffins. After this incident, it was not much time before Gacy ran out of money
and he moved back home to Chicago. After moving back home Gacy would attend a business
college and later become successful in employment after college. Later that year he joined the
Junior Chamber of Commerce, the Jaycees and very quickly he became sociable and involved in
the Jaycees. Due to this Gacy earned the respect and recognition he had been dreaming about all
of his life. In 1964, Gacy married Marlynn Myers a co-worker at the department store Gacy was
working at and had their first child. Gacy was then offered a job by Marlynn’s father, to come
manage three Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets he owned in Waterloo, Iowa which he accepted.
Everything in Gacy s life was excellent; Gacy was feeling on top of the world, but soon that
would all come crashing down. (Murderpedia.org).
The Beginning: Criminal Activity
In March 1968, Gacy was accused of sexually assaulting a Kentucky Fried Chicken
employee, Donald Voorhees, in Waterloo, IL. Gacy maintained his innocence throughout it all,
though many other young employees came forward at trial and said they were assaulted by Gacy
as well. Gacy was then convicted of sodomy and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment to an Iowa
State Reformatory for Men. Gacy served eighteen months of this sentence but it could be these
eighteen months of his life that may have made him snap completely and become one of the
most notorious serial killers known today. During this time frame Gacy's wife petitioned for
divorce and took their child away from him, as well as Gacy’s father passed away in December
of 1969, it is believed that Gacy felt even in his death he disappointed his father because he was
not there with him but instead incarcerated and unable to be there. After his release Gacy would
move back to Chicago and move in with his mother. Shortly after moving back to Chicago, Gacy
would get re-married in 1972 to Carole Hoff, and they would purchases a ranch style home
5. addressed, 8213 West Summerdale Dr. Des Plaines, Illinois, and little did Carole know this
would later become the burial ground for almost all of Gacy’s victims (28 of the 33 victims).
John Wayne Gacy: The Serial Murders
After going without any charges to the many accusations of sexual assaults and sexual
advancements by Gacy to teenage boys, Gacy would finally turn to murder on January 3, 1972.
On January 3, 1972 Gacy took the life of his first victim Tim McCoy, (Murderpedia.org). Gacy
recalls picking up the boy by a Greyhound Bus Station and bringing him back to his home where
they had sex and went to sleep. In the morning Gacy claims he woke up to the boy coming at
him with a knife and they struggled, and the boy fell on the knife. Gacy would note that he had a
sexual release during the struggle and murder of McCoy, (Murderpedia.org). Over the next six
years Gacy would have a total of thirty – three victims all ranging from runaways to employees
of his. He would often use a police badge to scare his victims into going with him, or other times
he would promise the victims free alcohol and drugs to go with him. After luring the teens back
to his house he would use what he called the “handcuff trick” in which he would cuff the teens
behind their backs, then proceed to his “rope trick” and strangle them with a tourniquet, and
sexually assault them, (Murderpedia.org). Gacy admitted to sticking rags or other materials in the
victim’s mouths to muffle the screams. Gacy was a creature of habit; all of his victims died
between the hours of 3:00am to 6:00am, and after the victim was killed, Gacy would put the
body under his bed for twenty-four hours before their burial in his crawl space underneath his
home. Twenty – eight of Gacy’s victims were buried in the crawlspace under the home; he
would pour quicklime in the crawlspace to accelerate the decomposition of the bodies.
Ultimately Gacy planned to conceal the whole crawlspace with concrete in January of 1979.
After running out of space in the crawlspace, Gacy began disposing of his final five victims over
6. the I-55 Bridge into the Des Plaines River. On December 13, 1978 when Gacy made what was
considered his “one big mistake” by showing up to the police station for questioning about
Robert Piest, in a disheveled manner, covered in mud, as well as his car from the disposing of his
final victim who would turn out to be Robert Piest. Gacy would final confess to the murder of
Piest and the other victims, even drawing a map of the crawlspace and locations of the victims
for police. On February 6th, 1980, John Wayne Gacy was charged with thirty – three counts of
murder. He was tried in Cook County, Illinois, before Judge Louis Garippo and after only two
hours of jury deliberation, John Wayne Gacy was found guilty on all counts of murder. Gacy was
sentenced to death for the twelve counts of murder in which the prosecution had sought this
penalty. The original date for Gacy’s execution was June 2nd, 1980. After many years of appeals,
Gacy finally met his fate on May 9th, 1994 by lethal injection; his final words were “Kiss my
ass.”
General Strain Theory Analysis
“General Strain Theory maintains that it is not one type of strain but individuals reacting
to several individualized strains at once are more likely to commit crime.” (Siegel, 2007) This
theory best fits the serial killer in the fact that most of them seem to have several different
problems all at once. John Wayne Gacy is a perfect example of this. Gacy grew up in a strict
Irish catholic family. He had a bad relationship with an abusive father, in which he wanted to
gain approval from desperately. At the age of nine, Gacy was sexually abused by a friend of his
fathe. At the age of eleven, Gacy injured his head while playing on a swing, receiving a blood
clot in his brain. This clot caused him to have severe blackouts and headaches that went
undiagnosed until he reached the age of sixteen. Even though doctors removed the blood clot,
Gacy’s health problems continued. In less than a year later Gacy received a diagnosis of an
7. unspecified heart condition. Gacy was also a homosexual, in which could not be revealed
because of what his father, might think. The combinations of all these things, make me feel that
the General Strain Theory is one of the many Criminological Theories connected to John Wayne
Gacy.
Psychodynamic Theory: Inferiority Complex Analysis
Inferiority Complex falls under the study of the Psychodynamic Theory and is defined as
“people who have feelings of inadequacy and compensate for them with a drive for superiority,
such as through controlling others.” (Chapter 5 – Trait Theories, 2015). The fact that Gacy was
continually looking for ways to receive that pat on his back, that he never got from his father is
my driving force behind this theory. Aside from the dominant behavior displayed in his
gruesome murders, and the control he wanted over his victims to show his superiority over them,
Gacy was always looking to prove himself as a superior person. Gacy constantly put himself at
the forefront to receive awards and to show how successful he can be. The feeling of inadequacy
he felt from his father was the driving force behind all of this, he always wanted his father’s
approval. When Gacy did not get his father’s approval, due to his father’s death, Gacy seemingly
snapped and began his life as one of the most infamous Serial Killer’s known today.
Conclusion
How could a man considered by so many to be an upstanding citizen actually be the
murderer of thirty three young men? John Wayne Gacy was this man that so many of his peers
thought to be an upstanding citizen. Gacy reeked more havoc over his lifetime than most could
imagine, becoming one of the most dangerous men in American history. John Wayne Gacy for
six years terrorized his community, that so many thought he was such a big part of in a good
8. way. Though Gacy did not the most ideal situations growing up, if you met him on any occasion
other than the heinous crimes he committed, you would think he is a normal guy with a normal
background. Some people have a hard life growing up and can learn to function normally in
society, but in the case of John Wayne Gacy, the only normal he knew was the satisfaction he got
while committing the gruesome crimes against the thirty – three teens.
9. Citations
Serial Killers A&E Biography: John Wayne Gacy [Motion picture on DVD]. (1999).
Hall, E. (n.d.). Works Cited. Retrieved March 17, 2015, from
http://criminologyjust.blogspot.com/2011/05/social-construction-study-of-theory-
in.html#.VTEnw9zF98E
John Wayne Gacy Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2015, from
http://www.biography.com/people/john-wayne-gacy-10367544#synopsis
John Wayne Gacy | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17,
2015, from http://www.murderpedia.org/male.G/g1/gacy-john-wayne.htm
John Wayne Gacy-The Psychology Behind the Killer Clown. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2015,
from https://prezi.com/ar43ehjbk_du/john-wayne-gacy-the-psychology-behind-the-killer-
clown/
