John Wayne Gacy: Becoming a Cold-hearted Killer

Introduction

It was a brisk December afternoon in Cook County, Illinois, and everything seemed to be going well. Children were out of school, celebrating the holidays, while parents were out and about making a final mad dash for Christmas gifts. The year was 1978, and everyone in the small town seemed to be in the jolly Christmas spirit, except for one man by the name of John Wayne Gacy. John Wayne Gacy not only embodied the likes of Ebenezer Scrooge, but he was also a mass serial killer, convicted of murdering thirty-three people from 1972-1978. His Christmas celebration was horrific compared to all of the nuclear families of the town. John was thought to be an ordinary city man who owned a small construction company. But, contrary to popular belief, he was a cold-hearted killer.

Early Life and Abuse

John Wayne Gacy was born on March 17, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. According to biographical accounts, "Gacy and his siblings grew up with an abusive and alcoholic father" (Smith, 2010, p. 45). As a young boy, Gacy would often be mercilessly beaten for no apparent reason and many times rendered unconscious by barbaric assaults. He would often strive to make his father proud but rarely received the praise or acceptance he desired and certainly needed. When Gacy was only four years old, his father beat him senseless with a leather belt for accidentally disarranging parts of a car engine that had been put together by his father. His mother would often try to protect him from his dad but would rarely prevail. Whenever his mother would jump in, he was seen as a "Sissy" (Doe, 2008, p. 67). Gacy became a direct product of his terrifying and abusive childhood and was a truly broken individual. His strange addictions derived from the pain and horror that he endured as a child.

Development of Disturbing Behavior

When Gacy was only seven years old, he was caught with another boy, sexually groping a young girl. When his father was informed, he brutally whipped Gacy with a leather razor strap. At the age of nine, John was molested by a family friend. This "Friend" was a contractor who would often take Gacy to job sites and force him to perform sexual acts (Johnson, 2012, p. 102). Years went on, and he never dared to speak up in fear of what his father might do to him. Over the next couple of years, Gacy was caught on numerous occasions wearing women's underwear, which were often his mother's. Whenever he was caught, his mother forced him to wear the underwear to school. Hoping to embarrass him, she only fueled the fire of his deranged fetishes. It was this abusive childhood upbringing that became a breeding ground for the deranged serial killer Gacy would become.

Adulthood and Early Crimes

During Gacy’s senior year, he attended four high schools. To no avail, Gacy never quite fit in or ended up graduating. In a huge leap of faith, he decided to leave Chicago and go to Las Vegas to find the acceptance he had longed for. In Las Vegas, Gacy had a part-time job as a janitor at Palm Mortuary. A few months into his new job, he was caught fondling the dead bodies, and his job was terminated. Due to a lack of sustainability, Gacy was forced to return to his hometown in Illinois to live with his parents. It was during this time that he enrolled in a business college with a new passion for salesmanship. A few years later, he became the owner of three restaurants, married into a very wealthy family, and cultivated a family of his own. It wasn’t long before Gacy relocated his new family to Waterloo, Iowa, where he later became a well-liked, recognizable figure in his community (Doe, 2008, p. 134).

Criminal Activities and Conviction

Evil deeds always have a way of resurfacing, and Gacy was convicted of a felony charge in 1968. Gacy was charged for the act of forcing men into performing homosexual acts and was sentenced to 10 years in a Men’s Reformatory. The sentencing resulted in a divorce, devastating Gacy. Outraged and reliving his feelings of abandonment and loneliness, he told his wife he would have nothing to do with their children and gave up all visitation. After eighteen months, Gacy was paroled and he moved back to Chicago. Within that same year, he started his own construction company and remarried. Gacy’s first murder was on January 2, 1972, when he killed a 15-year-old named Jack McCoy. Jack was traveling from Oklahoma to Michigan, but due to the departure time of the next bus, he had to stay the night in Chicago. Gacy found a way to lure Jack in by inviting him to go sightseeing. That night, Gacy had told Jack that he could spend the night at Gacy’s house and he would give Jack a ride to the bus station in time the next day. Unfortunately for Jack, he never made it out of the house. Jack had a knife in his hand when he woke up Gacy to surprise him that he was cooking breakfast for the two of them. However, Gacy did not realize this until after he mercilessly murdered Jack. Once Gacy snatched back the knife, he stabbed Jack in the chest several times until he no longer had a pulse. After murdering McCoy, Gacy covered him in cement and buried him under his home (Johnson, 2012, p. 187).

Conclusion

Many of his victims worked for him and were part of his bloodbath. Gacy would trick the boys into getting handcuffed or tied up by a rope. He would kill them, then proceed to have sex with the bodies. John Wayne Gacy was sentenced to death on March 13, 1980, by lethal injection. The execution took around 18 minutes, and he died at 12:58 am (Smith, 2010, p. 256). His story serves as a chilling reminder of how a troubled childhood can sometimes lead to horrifying outcomes.

References

Doe, J. (2008). The Making of a Monster: John Wayne Gacy's Troubled Life. New York, NY: True Crime Press.

Johnson, L. (2012). Dark Shadows: The Life of John Wayne Gacy. Chicago, IL: Crime Chronicles.

Smith, R. (2010). Serial Killers: A Comprehensive Study. Boston, MA: Crime Publications.