S1E6 John Wayne Gacy - Memento Mori Podcast

Season 1, Episode 6

John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

Left: Gacy, center, and former business associate Jim Van Vorous were hosts at a bicentennial party 7/4/1976 at Gacy’s home.

Right: Gacy dressed as a clown in front of his house in 1976.

Gacy’s house at

8213 W Summerdale Ave. in unincorporated Norwood Park Township.

Fist Lady, Rosalynn Carter Poses with Gacy twice at a private reception in Chicago after the Polish Constitution Day Parade on 5/6/1978.

Left: Robert Piest worked at the Nisson Pharmacy in Des Plaines, 1976.

Right: Piest with his family’s German Shepherds.

Des Plaines police Lt. Joe Kozenczak, center, had been chief of detectives for six months -- a self-described neophyte -- when the Gacy case broke in December 1978. He is flanked by Officers David Sommerschield, left, and Ron Adams in this 1980 photo. (Charles Osgood/Chicago Tribune)

An enlarged version of a customer receipt from the former Nisson Pharmacy in Des Plaines was used as evidence in Gacy's murder trial. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

The last meal of John Wayne Gacy before he was executed.

A razor strop (or strap) like the one John Wayne Gacy Jr was beat with by his Father.

The new house that was built on the Gacy lot.

A Maine West High School class ring belonging to John Szyc, right, was used as evidence at Gacy's trial.

Left: Gacy was known to collect clown artwork. Right: A photograph of Gacy's recreation room showing a Tiki-style bar. Both photos were used at his trial.

A parole sheet shows that Gacy was convicted of sodomy while living in Iowa.

Left: The door leading to the crawl space in Gacy's home was used as evidence at his trial. Right: Gacy's mug shot from his arrest Dec. 21, 1978.

Left: John Wayne Gacy hides his face as he is led through the Des Plaines police station on Dec. 22, 1978. Right: Chicago Tribune front page from Dec. 23, 1978

Sheriff's officers carry bodies to the county morgue on Dec. 22, 1978, from Gacy's house.

Removing floorboards in the kitchen of Gacy's house in late 1978 or early 1979.

Left: Sheriff's officers remove another body from Gacy's home on Dec. 23, 1978. Right: Firefighters from the Channahon Fire Department search for bodies in the Des Plaines River near Morris on Dec. 23, 1978.

Business card for John Wayne Gacy, Democratic precinct captain of Norwood Park Township.

Left: Frank Landingin, a Gacy victim. Right: Chicago Tribune front page from Dec. 27, 1978.

A diagram drawn by Gacy shows the location of bodies in the crawl space of his home. The map was used as evidence at his trial.

A large crowd of curiosity-seekers gathers outside Gacy's home, where more bodies were found Dec. 28, 1978.

Cook County Chief Medical Examiner Robert Stein examines the case tag of victim No. 18 on Dec. 29, 1978, in a crypt set aside for Gacy victims.

John Butkovich, from left, James Mazzara and Frank Landingin, all Gacy victims.

Gregory Godzik, from left, John Szyc and Rick Johnston, all Gacy victims.

A technician cuts carpet in Gacy's home, circa late 1978 or early 1979. This photograph was used in Gacy's trial.

The blue nylon jacket belonging to Robert Piest, left, is the jacket Piest was wearing when he disappeared. The coat was used as evidence against Gacy.

Michael Bonnin, clockwise from left, Robert Gilroy, Jon Prestidge and Russell Nelson, all Gacy victims.

Timothy O'Rourke's body was recovered June 30, 1978, near the Dresden Island Lock and Dam in the Illinois River.

John Mowery, left, and Matthew Bowman, both Gacy victims.

A simple ring recovered from the left ring finger of an unidentified victim was used as evidence at Gacy's murder trial.

People work at excavating the crawl space under Gacy's home circa late 1978 or early 1979. This photograph was used at Gacy's trial.

Grids were marked as the crawl space was excavated circa late 1978 or early 1979. This photograph was used in the Gacy trial.

William Carroll's body was identified March 17, 1979.

A photo from March 19, 1979, shows that the backyard structures at Gacy's home in unincorporated Norwood Park Township have been demolished.

Workers tear down Gacy's house April 10, 1979.

Randall Reffett's body was identified almost three years after he went missing.

All of the young men murdered by the evil clown.

William Kindred's identity was confirmed with dental records on May 21, 1979.

Tommy Boling, left, and Robert Winch vanished days apart from each other.

Left: Gacy's belongings, including a painting from his clown art collection, inside a South Side warehouse in January 1979. Right: Advertisement for the auction in the Chicago Tribune on June 10, 1979.

Left: A bracelet belonging to Samuel Stapleton was used as evidence at Gacy's trial.

Right: Stapleton, 14, was one of Gacy's youngest victims.

It's unknown what Gacy victim David Talsma was doing before disappearing Dec. 9, 1977.

Kenneth Parker, from left, Michael Marino and Darrel Samson, all Gacy victims.

Newspaper clippings.

A police car carrying Gacy (second from right) arrives Jan. 26, 1980, in Rockford, where jury selection in his trial will take place.

Personal effects seized from Gacy's home are displayed at the sheriff's station in Niles on April 2, 1980.

Cook County Chief Medical Examiner Robert Stein and sculptor Betty Pat Gatliff speak during a news conference July 14, 1980, about facial reconstructions of unidentified Gacy victims.

Nine unidentified Gacy victims were buried June 12, 1981, more than two years after their remains were pulled from the crawl space under Gacy's home.

Prison guard Sgt. Edward Bradley holds a painting by Gacy on Aug. 9, 1982. The painting, titled " Hi-Ho Hi-Ho," was offered for sale along with other art objects by prisoners at the Illinois State Fair.

Where Gacy's ranch home once stood in unincorporated Norwood Park Township is on June 5, 1984, a weed-choked lot.

Left: Protesters gather outside Stateville Correctional Center on May 10, 1994, for Gacy's execution. Right: Sue Morris, left, and Amanda Atkins, 16, of Springfield, wait quietly as Gacy's scheduled time of execution approaches.

Harold Piest, father of Gacy victim Robert Piest, throws a piece of Gacy's artwork on a bonfire at James Quick Auctions on June 18, 1994, in Naperville. Family members of Gacy victims joined dozens of others in destroying Gacy's art.

Sheriff Tom Dart addresses the media about the Gacy investigation Oct. 12, 2011.

Sheriff Tom Dart announces the identity of one of Gacy's unknown victims during a news conference Nov. 29, 2011. William George Bundy had gone missing in October 1976.

Gacy’s house being torn down.

The empty lot where the house of horrors once stood.

The modest home built after Gacy's house was demolished, is now on the market for $459,000.

More of the digging and excavation process of the victims.

*Gacy stated he had lost count of the number of victims buried in his crawl space and had initially considered stowing bodies in his attic before opting to dispose of them off the I-55 bridge into the Des Plaines River.

*Gacy returned to his house on December 22 and showed police the location in his garage where he had buried the bodies. The police then drove to the spot on the I-55 bridge from which he had thrown the body of the five victims.

Gacy’s mugshot.

Police at the home of serial killer John Wayne Gacy in unincorporated Norwood Park Township.

Des Plaines Police detective Rafael Tovar, center, watches as police officers remove a body from the Norwood Park Township home serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

Police officers with one of the bodies found in the crawl space of serial killer John Wayne Gacy at the home in unincorporated Norwood Park Township in 1978.

The team of Des Plaines Police investigators who broke the case of notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Jr., all of whom are no longer with the department and some are deceased. In the front row from left are, the late detective James Pickle, Detective James Ryan, officer Michael Albrecht; back row from left, officer David Hachmeister, the late detective James Kautz, officer Ronald Robinson, Sgt. Joseph Kozenczak, Sgt. Walter Lang, the late detective Ronald Adams, detective Rafael Tovar, and officer Robert Schultz.