Biography of John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

John Wayne Gacy, Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois March 17, 1942. As a child, Gacy was fat and did not play sports. He was described as being close to his mother, but not so with his father, an alcoholic who was abusive toward his wife and children. The Senior Gacy was described as “An Archie Bunker type, but with all humor removed.” At the age of 4, his father beat him with a belt for rearranging car parts he had removed, and another time beat him unconscious with a broomstick. He was also vebally abused by his father, often called “dumb and stupid,” “Sissy,” “Mama’s boy,” and told that he would “Probably grow up to be a queer” This verbal abuse was a constant for the younger Gacy, lasting all throughout his childhood and adolescence, however Gacy stated multiple times after his arrest that he did not hate his father. At the age of nine, Gacy was molested by a family friend, who would take him on long rides in a truck, and fondle him. Gacy never reported these incidents, as he was afraid his father would blame him. At school, he was often the target of bullying. He would assist the truant officer, no doubt earning more disdain from the other children, and was known to volunteer to run errands for teachers. He was told to avoid all sports due to a heart condition, and age eight he began to suffer blackouts. He was hospitalized for many of these blackouts, and again in 1957 for a burst appendix. His father did not believe him, and once accused him of faking even as he was hospitalized. A childhood friend, Richard Dalke described several instances where his father mocked and beat Gacy without any reason at all. Dalke said that Gacy would “put up his hands to defend himself” but that he never hit his father back....

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...mother-in-law stopped the attack. Gacy explained it away, saying that he refused to pay the man for his shoddy work. Thus began a pattern that would carry through until his arrest in 1978: those who fought back, survived. Those who did not or could not, were raped and usually murdered.
Gacy’s second murder occurred in 1974. The victim was a fifteen to seventeen year old boy with dark, curly hair, and remains unidentified to this day. Gacy choked this victim to death, and stashed the body in his bedroom closet prior to burial. As the body decomposed in his closet, fluid leaked from the mouth and stained his carpet. In response to this, during all future murders, he would stuff a rag or the victim’s own underwear down his throat to prevent this from happening. The unidentified boy was buried in Gacy’s yard, approximately fifteen feet from his barbeque pit.