1 00:00:01,480 --> 00:00:04,040 Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but there's something about Halloween 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: that kind of intrigues us when it comes to horror stories. 3 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: But nothing is more horrifying than the true stories surrounding 4 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: serial killers. John Wayne Gacy has been getting some attention lately, 5 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:19,919 Speaker 1: almost fifty years after his arrest. He seemed like a 6 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:24,079 Speaker 1: normal guy, a building contractor, family man who's involved in 7 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: his community. But in the end, at least thirty three 8 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: young men and boys met a horrifying end in his 9 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,559 Speaker 1: very normal looking little ranch house outside of Chicago. I'm 10 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: Patty Steele. Did the killer clown have accomplices? That's next 11 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: on the backstory? The backstory is back, all right. So 12 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: when you think about a serial killer, what do you picture? 13 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: I know, I think about all the killers in horror 14 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: movies and how their looks and their weird personalities would 15 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: sort of tip me off to the danger. But in reality, 16 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: some of the most prolific killers have been regular looking guys, 17 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,559 Speaker 1: many of them involved with their communities, local politics, even 18 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: their churches. Great personalities. That's the story of John Wayne Gacy. 19 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,479 Speaker 1: He was a building contractor, he was involved in his community. 20 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: He was always ready to help. Now he'd had an 21 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: unhappy childhood. He had a good relationship with his mom 22 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:28,480 Speaker 1: and two sisters, but his father was an abusive alcoholic 23 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: who constantly beat him and belittled him. On top of that, 24 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,840 Speaker 1: he was repeatedly molested by a family friend, though he 25 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: never told his dad for fear he'd be blamed for 26 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:43,320 Speaker 1: encouraging it. When he finally left home, he began to 27 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:46,480 Speaker 1: get his life together. He had a series of somewhat 28 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: decent jobs while getting a little more education. Eventually he 29 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: got a management position at a shoe company. It was 30 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four and he became engaged to a coworker. 31 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: It was win win for a while. Her father bought 32 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:05,559 Speaker 1: three KFC franchises in Iowa and paid John a big 33 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: salary to manage them. Gasey bought a house and set 34 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: up a club in his basement for his employees, mostly 35 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: young guys, to play pool and drink. He started making 36 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: sexual advances towards some of them, but laughed it off 37 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: when they said no. Thanks said he was just checking 38 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: their morals. In nineteen sixty six, his wife had a 39 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: little boy, and in nineteen sixty seven a girl and 40 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: Gasey became a leader in the local jay C's. He 41 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: later said life at that point was perfect, and that 42 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: his father had even apologized to him for abusing him 43 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,680 Speaker 1: as a kid, saying, I was wrong about you, but 44 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:46,360 Speaker 1: it didn't last. In late August of nineteen sixty seven, 45 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: Gaysey lurd the fifteen year old son of a local 46 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:53,079 Speaker 1: politician and member of the jay Z's, to his house. 47 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: He gave him alcohol, turned on a porn movie, and 48 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: then told him he had to have sex with a 49 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: man before he could have it the woman. After the assault, 50 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: the boy told his father. Gasey was sentenced to ten 51 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: years in prison, and his wife left him, taking the kids, 52 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,360 Speaker 1: the house and their property. He never saw his wife 53 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,800 Speaker 1: and kids again behind bars, though he became a model prisoner. 54 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: Caasey took charge of the prison's JC club and in 55 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: a year and a half, increased membership from fifty to 56 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: six hundred and fifty inmates. He became an excellent cook. 57 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: Everybody loved him, and by June of nineteen seventy, after 58 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: serving just eighteen months of the ten year sentence, he 59 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: was paroled. Once back in Chicago, his mom bought a 60 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: house for them both. He started a contracting business. He 61 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: became a model neighbor shoveling other people's walks and driveways 62 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: for free, loaning them construction tools, and throwing regular neighborhood 63 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: block parties. After his mom moved out, he got married 64 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: again to a woman with two little girls. He even 65 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: got involved in local democratic politics. In fact, there are 66 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: pictures of him posing with the first Lady Rosalind Carter, 67 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,920 Speaker 1: showing him wearing a special clearance pin. Later a major 68 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: embarrassment to the Secret Service, of course, and through his 69 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: involvement with several service clubs, Gasey joined a local clown club. 70 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: He started performing at fundraising events, children's hospitals and political 71 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: functions as Pogo, the Happy Clown, and also as the 72 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: more serious clown Patches. That's why he was later nicknamed 73 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: the Killer Clown. Now. At the same time, he gave 74 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: local young men and teenage boys jobs with his contracting company. 75 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 1: Parents were delighted again everybody liked him and people trusted him, 76 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 1: but behind the scenes, it was a whole lot darker. 77 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: He told his wife he was bisexual. Then he said 78 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:53,640 Speaker 1: he just didn't want to have sex with her anymore. 79 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,359 Speaker 1: She began to find gay porn around the house, and 80 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: then she saw him bringing young men into their late 81 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: at night. He was pressuring his young employees for sex, 82 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: trading money, and work for it. His wife finally asked 83 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: for a divorce, and she moved out in February of 84 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six. That's when Gaysey began his murder spree 85 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:19,480 Speaker 1: in earnest Now, as far as investigators can tell, his 86 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 1: first murder took place a few years before the divorce, 87 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: when he raped, tortured, and murdered a sixteen year old 88 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 1: boy in January of nineteen seventy two. He buried the 89 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: body in a crawl space under his house. The next 90 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,520 Speaker 1: murder happened three and a half years later. The eighteen 91 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:39,799 Speaker 1: year old's body was buried under the garage. But within 92 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:42,920 Speaker 1: six weeks of his wife's departure, he was on a roll. 93 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: By December of nineteen seventy six, he had killed twelve 94 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:50,160 Speaker 1: more boys. By the time he was arrested on December 95 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:53,840 Speaker 1: twenty first, nineteen seventy eight, he killed at least thirty 96 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 1: three boys between the ages of fourteen and twenty one. 97 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: All had been killed in his house. The first twenty 98 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: eight bodies buried under it, mostly in crawl spaces. Then, 99 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:07,359 Speaker 1: because he'd run out of space to bury anymore at home. 100 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:10,640 Speaker 1: He dumped the last five bodies in the desk Plains River. 101 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: But how did he lure them into his house again? 102 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: They trusted him, and he offered them things they wanted, work, money, 103 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:22,800 Speaker 1: even alcohol and porn. The thing that chilled the entire 104 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 1: country when the truth came out was how ordinary this 105 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: guy looked. I mean, picture a split level house, blue 106 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: gray siding, a neat lawn flag sort of whipping in 107 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: the wind. He was a guy you'd hire to do 108 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:38,840 Speaker 1: a building project or to fix your driveway. Gasey was 109 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:43,280 Speaker 1: a small time businessman who joined civic groups, donated to parades, 110 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: had his picture taken with politicians, gave your kid a job. 111 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 1: Not to mention his clown performances. You could laugh with 112 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: him what's not to like? And trust He made you 113 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: feel safe, So these young guys would follow him into 114 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: that house and never emerge. The final victim was a 115 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: fifteen year old boy lured to the house by the 116 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 1: promise of a job, but someone overheard the invite, and 117 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: when the boy's mother went straight to the police with 118 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: the info she got, they went to search Gaisey's house, 119 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,280 Speaker 1: thinking the boy was being held there. Gasey said he 120 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:19,679 Speaker 1: didn't have time to talk to them because his uncle 121 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: had died, but he'd stop by the precinct later that night. 122 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: They asked him why the house smelled, and he blamed 123 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 1: plumbing problems. When he showed up at the station house 124 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 1: at three o'clock in the morning, he was covered in 125 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:37,480 Speaker 1: mud that made them a little suspicious. After several search warrants, 126 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: finding class rings and small underwear, as well as porn, 127 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: sex toys and handcuffs, they dug deeper under the house 128 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: one after another. The bodies were removed from crawl spaces 129 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:55,200 Speaker 1: under floorboards the backyard. It was over for Gaisey's killing spree. 130 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: In the aftermath, there was a lot of speculation that 131 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: Gasey had some accomplice is in at least several of 132 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,560 Speaker 1: the killings, possibly guys that worked for him in his 133 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: construction business. In fact, one of the detectives, while surveilling Gaysey, 134 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: overheard him say to two of his employees, you'd better 135 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:15,800 Speaker 1: not let me down. You owe it to me. Later, 136 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:18,400 Speaker 1: one of the other men said to Gaycy, and what 137 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: buried like the other five. But here's the curious thing. 138 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: No one else was ever arrested in the case. Were 139 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: investigators simply satisfied to have gotten their hands on the 140 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: mean killer? Was that enough? John Wayne Gacy, the Killer Clown, 141 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: was convicted of killing thirty three young men and boys 142 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty, but there could have been another dozen victims. 143 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:46,480 Speaker 1: He was executed in nineteen ninety eight at the age 144 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: of fifty two. Hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. 145 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:53,199 Speaker 1: Please leave a review. I'd love it if you'd subscribe 146 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 1: or follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, 147 00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: and feel free to dm me if you have a 148 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:02,040 Speaker 1: story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty 149 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. 150 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 1: The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis 151 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:20,000 Speaker 1: Durant Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. 152 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday 153 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:26,440 Speaker 1: and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with 154 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty 155 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:34,000 Speaker 1: Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening 156 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history 157 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: you didn't know you needed to know.