Now that December 2023 has arrived, it was 45 years ago this month that the serial murderer who was also known to some as “The Killer Clown” was revealed and apprehended.
John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942–May 10, 1994) became, at that time, the U.S.’s most notorious serial murderer. His crimes—his known victims (which numbered over 30)—ran a six-year span, but also seven consecutive years, between January 1972 to December 1978.
This occurred in an area of Chicago, Illinois—his house was in the suburb of Norwood Park Township—and his targets were teenage and young-adult males. Not all but most of the bodies were buried by Gacy under his house in its crawlspace. (That ranch-style house was demolished.)
Gacy was a non-typical serial murderer given that he blended into society and was considered, by those fellow citizens in his community, respectful and considerate. He was trusted. He was also involved in Democratic Party politics and, in a widely seen photograph, posed for a 1976 picture with a soon-to-be First Lady Rosalynn Carter (August 18, 1927–November 19, 2023).
Next year will mark 30 full years since the execution of John Wayne Gacy.
The above video is from ABC News’s archives and on the channel of Hezakya Newz & Films. The beginning minutes are incorporated with the 1971 song “Diana” by British progressive folk band Comus. That group’s violinist member, Colin Pearlson, wrote the music. It gives an eerie feeling to this video.
The last four weeks—Mondays, November 13, 20, 27 and December 4, 2023—of blog topics have covered “Flashback” anniversaries to crimes of murder. They consisted of multiple murders, mass murders, assassinations, and serial murders. This will be the last such kind of topic here in 2023. I initially intended to schedule this week’s blog topic for Monday, December 18, 2023. The discovery of the bodies, in the crawl space of Gacy’s house, occurred just days before Christmas. They were uncovered Thursday, December 21, 1978. Calendar was the same in 1978 as it is here in 2023. So, I chose to not schedule this topic timed with Christmas, or Christmas Eve on Sunday, December 24, 2023, so this week will do. Next week’s blog topic will be the last on politics for this year. I will close out the remaining two weeks—Mondays, December 18 and 25, 2023—with general, well wishes for everyone for the holidays. A new year, the year 2024, is just around the corner. It will bring us the 60th quadrennial presidential election in the history of the United States. So, I do try to time some of this appropriately.
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