Few other serial killers have attracted as much attention as John Wayne Gacy, "The Killer Clown," one of the most prolific murderers of all time. Born on March 17, 1942, he appeared to have experienced a rather normal childhood, but there were a few dark sides. His father, Gacy Sr., was an alcoholic and frequently mistreated the family by beating his wife, abusing John, and terrorizing his daughters. John could never seem to gain the approval of his father regardless of the efforts he made. As a child, John was accidentally struck in the head by a swing. For five years he experienced blackouts until a blood clot was diagnosed and dissolved by medications. He dropped out of high school in his senior year and left home for a short time, working in a mortuary in Las Vegas. But Gacy had been strongly influenced by his mother since childhood, and, succumbing to that influence, he returned home to live. After finally graduating from a business college, he began selling shoes. His friends found him to be a braggart, because he frequently talked about his time in the military. However, Gacy had never served time in the military.

In 1964, Gacy, now 22, married and went to work for his father-in-law as a worker for, then manager of, a chain of Kentucky Fried Chicken establishments. Gacy joined the local Jaycees and became chaplain of the Waterloo, Iowa, chapter and chairman of the group's first citywide prayer breakfast. In 1967 he was named outstanding vice president and honored as the best Jaycee club chaplain in the state of Iowa. In the spring of 1968, Gacy started his downward spiral, a trip that would take ten years before ending. A grand jury indicted Gacy for handcuffing an employee and trying to sodomize him and also for paying a youth to perform fellatio on him. He had also hired someone to beat up the youth when he testified against Gacy. He pled guilty to one charge and was incarcerated at the Psychiatric Hospital, State University of Iowa. After being diagnosed as a bisexual with a personality that was "thrill-seeking or exploratory," Gacy was sent to prison. Because of being a model prisoner and an active community member, Gacy was paroled after serving only 18 months.

Gacy's first wife, who had two children by John, had divorced Gacy during his trial. Upon his release from prison, Gacy went back to Chicago to live with his mother again. For a while he worked as a cook and then told his mother he had decided to buy his own home. In 1971 he was arrested for picking up a teenager and attempting to force the youth to engage in sex. The case was dismissed when the youth failed to appear on the court date. Gacy was now living in Des Plaines, near Chicago, and had begun his own construction business. He married again to Carol Hoff, who remembered how John started bringing home pictures of naked men. After four years the marriage ended because of a lack of sexual relations between the couple and because John would often stay out very late at night in his car. John's wife had also learned not to ask questions about personal items she found while cleaning. Gacy had become enraged when she asked him about her discovery of some wallets belonging to young men.

Gacy had begun to add onto his home, and part of the construction included building a large crawl space under the addition. He frequently had some of his young employees help in digging a trench in the crawl space. During this time Gacy was actively involved in the community. In 1970 he had become a Democratic precinct captain and even had his picture taken with First Lady Rosalynn Carter shortly before his arrest in 1978. He also became a local celebrity, dressing up as Pogo the Clown and performing at children's parties and at hospitals. He also frequently held summer parties at his home, inviting local dignitaries and neighbors. Sometimes people would comment about the peculiar smell, but John simply explained that there was a lot of dampness in the crawl space that created the odor.

Only Gacy knew that the crawl space held his personal collection of bodies of young males whom he sexually tortured to death. Some of his victims were young males who worked for Gacy; others were male prostitutes he picked up late at night at "Bughouse Square," a well-known locale in Chicago frequented at night by homosexuals and male prostitutes. Gacy would lure the victim to his home promising money or employment. When they arrived at Gacy's home, he would talk his victim into participating in his "handcuff trick." Once he had the youth in handcuffs, he would chloroform the victim and then sodomize him. Next followed the "rope trick," usually when the victim was conscious. Gacy would tie a rope around the victim's neck and, after fashioning two knots, would insert a stick and proceed to twist it slowly like a tourniquet. The terrifying deaths sometimes were accompanied by Gacy reading passages from the Bible.

John managed to bury 29 victims in the crawl space and cement driveway. Four other victims, for want of space, were discarded in the Des Plaines River. Police were led to Gacy after one of his intended victims escaped and reported him. Investigators eventually demolished Gacy's house and dug up most of his yard in search of bodies. Gacy confessed at least five times, only to later recant his statements. He now claims other people must have put the bodies there. "Where the hell could I have found time? I was working 16 hours a day, and the rest of my time was devoted to the community, charity affairs, and helping you people." During the determination of Gacy's sanity, he was described as a veritable Jekyll-and-Hyde. His defense attorney, Mr. Amirante, cited passages from Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, quoting Dr. Jekyll: "If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers, also. Both sides of me were in dead earnest." The prosecution, however, described Gacy as having an "antisocial personality," as "a psychopath, a person who commits crimes without remorse."

In 1980, John Wayne Gacy was found guilty of all counts of murder and sentenced to die in the electric chair at Menard Correctional Center in Chicago. Three years after his trial, Gacy stated he was opposed to capital punishment on religious grounds: "Let he who is free of sin cast the first stone." He believes the lengthy appeals process will save him from execution. Today Gacy claims to be a quiet and kind person. He blames some of the parents for the deaths of their children because their sons were prostitutes. He says he is incapable of violence and continues to receive letters every day from "kind people," most of them women. "Ninety percent of the writers are women, and I have 41 people on my visiting list. I'm allowed three visits a month," explains Gacy. Although the prosecution portrayed Gacy as a skillful, competent torturer and killer who enjoyed the "God-like power" of life and death, Gacy says it's a lie: "How could I live on top of those bodies?" (Simon, 1983). Yet in a 1986 interview with author Tim Cahill, he remarked that if he could spend 15 minutes in a room with the parents of the people he killed, "they would understand."

Here are some of Gacy's drawings that are being bought and sold for large sums of money: