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John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise (Docuseries, 2021)

Episode 1 Des Plains, Illinois- the location of Gacy’s house

Police were investigating the disappearance of a 15-year-old boy, which lead them to the discovery of 29 bodies buried under his home. 4 bodies found in a nearby stream. Grand total: 33 victims

Craig Bowley- corresponded with Gacy while he was in prison.

Robert Ressler: FBI profiler who worked the Behavior Science Unit in the FBI. He went with Bowley to interview Gacy on May 4, 1992.

News anchor Jay Levine- ABC 7 He got a tip in December 1978 to head to 8213 W. Summerdale Avenue for a major story.

Robert Piest was Gacy’s downfall: Piest was 15 and working at a Nisson Pharmacy in Des Plains. His mother came to pick him up, and Piest came out to say he wanted to talk to a contractor about a possible job. She said she would wait for him, and he never came back. They launched a full-scale search for him immediately. This kid was unlike Gacy’s other victims. Piest shared a close relationship with his family and was not one to just disappear.

Gacy’s business: P.D.M Contractors. He remodeled pharmacies and hired teenagers to do the work.

Former employees described Gacy as easygoing and kind.

May 1978- Gacy organizes a Polish parade and has his picture taken with First Lady Rosalynn Carter. He had Secret Service clearance.

As police search for Piest, they put Gacy under surveillance. Gacy got chummy with the cops and started eating with them at restaurants. The detectives reported he would sometimes invite them in to use his restroom. Gacy was very arrogant.

He invited them to dinner at his house. In Gacy’s bathroom, Bob Shell smelled the distinct odor of death when the heat kicked on. This gives them probable cause to get a search warrant. They find bodies in the crawl space of Gacy’s home.

Episode 2 The episode starts with Gacy talking about having fun being a clown. He called it a “release.” Clowning helped him relax.

Gacy’s time in Iowa:

First wife’s father owned several KFCs. John took over 3 restaurants. Waterloo Jr. Chamber of Commerce: the Jaycees- Gacy was a member and the Chaplain. Gacy was a recruiter for the Jaycees. Gacy claims they showed “Stag” films to boost membership from 100 to 400 members. John and his first wife were swingers.

1968- John is arrested for sodomy in Waterloo. 16 y/o son of a state representative goes to the police and says Gacy coerced him into committing a sex act. At the time, Gacy was running for president of the Jaycees.

Gacy claimed the boy was blackmailing him for money, and when Gacy refused, he went to the police and said Gacy raped him.

Gacy hired another man to beat up the complainant. He eventually pleaded guilty to the sodomy charge and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Anamosa Men’s Reformery. Gacy recruited for the reformatory Jaycees in prison.

Gacy’s father was an abusive alcoholic. Gacy’s sister said John was the usual target of their father’s rage. The father thought the mother coddled John, and called him names and beat him.

John Gacy was paroled 1.5 years into his sentence.

He married his second wife, Carol, who was a friend of his sister’s, in the early 70s. According to her, she knew he was a bi-sexual when they got married. Their marriage started deteriorating after 2 years. She described their house at night as Grand Central Station; she would look out her bedroom window in the middle of the night, see Gacy’s car and hiim standing there talking to a young man.

Mother’s day- Carol said that was the last day they had anything to do with each other. Gacy told her it was the last time they were ever having sex.

The arrest: December 21, 1978.

Gacy’s lawyers pull the surveilling officers into their office to sit with Gacy. They tell the officers, We can’t tell you anything, but if he tries to leave, shoot his tires.” Gacy fell asleep on the couch, and at 8 am he jumped up and ran to his car. Detectives scrambled to follow him. They follow him to a gas station and witness him putting a bag of marijuana in the pocket of the gas station attendant. The cops went in after Gacy left, and the attendant threw the bag at them and said he didn’t ask for it, Gacy just gave it to him saying he needed to get rid of it.

They followed him to one of his associate’s houses (Michael Rossi), and the associate came out and asked the cops if it was okay for him to drive Gacy’s car. They said yes, and they followed the associate and Gacy to a restaurant. Gacy gets out and goes inside, and the associate jumps out of the car and runs over to the detectives. He tells them Gacy just told him he killed 33 kids. Detectives arrest him for the marijuana.

Once detectives find the bones, they charge him with 1 count of homicide while they sorted out the rest of the bodies at the scene.

Confession: December 22, 1978 He confessed in graphic detail how he killed Rob Piest.

The handcuff trick: he put handcuffs and made a trick out of getting out of them. Rob Piest thought it was cool and asked him to show him how he did it. Piest put the handcuffs on, and asked what the trick was. Piest pulled the key out of his pocket and said, “The trick is you have the key.”

He put a rope cravat around his neck, performed oral sex on him, and twisted the cravat until he died.

Episode 3

Major police failures leading up to the 1978 arrest.

This episode has several interviews with victim’s families.

Jeffrey Rignall (confirm) was abducted, chloroformed and raped. The police didn’t investigate, so Jeff took matters into his own hands Rand found Gacy’s car and took down the license place number. Police arrested him, but he bonded out immediately. Jeff tried to have the charges trumped up. The DA told Jeff and his partner “It was just another butt fuck.”

Episode 4 Gacy’s house is raised in April 1979.

Gacy’s lawyers: Sam Amirante and Robert Morra they were going for an insanity defense.

Gacy drew a diagram of his home depicting where the bodies were buried. He says, “Jack Hanley did this.” Investigators think he’s trying to inject a multiple personality disorder for his insanity defense. Trial: Feb 6-March 12, 1980 Prosecutors: Bill Kunkle, Robert Egan, Terry Sullivan Judge Louis Garippo

Did Gacy have an accomplice? The fact that Gacy could hardly fit into the crawl space made it unlikely he dug 29 graves and buried 29 victims by himself. Jeff Rignall testified that he came to during his attack and saw a third person with light hair parted in the middle. Per https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2405&context=wvlr

He threw up on the stand in the middle of his testimony. They had to shut down the courthouse to clean it before he could resume his testimony. Michael Rossi and David Cramm, two long-time employees of Gacy, testified against him at his trial. Cramm testified to digging trenches in Gacy’s crawl space, and Rossi testified he poured lime in the crawl space at Gacy’s request to “cover the foul odor.”

Rossi drove one of the victim’s cars- John Szyc. Apparently, Gacy took the car from Szyc, and sold it to Michael Rossi.

Prosecutors allege Gacy was a pathological liar.

Childhood: Sleepwalker at 3 yrs old. He had heart problems by age 10 and would lose consciousness periodically. Gacy claims he was sexually abused by a contractor at the age of 9. His mother and sister corroborated this story. Dad was Dr. Jeckle/Mr. Hyde when he drank. Hospitalized for 3 weeks with a head injury after falling down three flights of stairs.

Did he kill more than just the 33? A detective testified that while driving Gacy in a squad car, Gacy said, “45 sounds like a good number.”

Episode 5

Prosecutor’s closing statement: “If you want to show this man mercy…” he walks over to the victim board and peels the 22 photos of the known victims off one by one and walks over to the crawlspace opening they had cut out of Gacy’s home, and he said, “You show him the same mercy he showed these young lives he rippe...