People who personally knew John Wayne Gacy never would have suspected that he would come to be known as one of the most prolific serial killers in the history of the United States. Gacy was a respected member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce in Des Plaines, Illinois, a precinct captain in the local Democratic party, a performing clown at neighborhood kid's parties and the owner of a contacting business. He was a well known and well respected individual in the eyes of his community.

How could a man that appeared on the outside to be calm, collected and in control of his life end up being such a threat to society? Well, keep reading and hopefully you will gain a better understanding.

According to the book Killer Clown, by Terry Sullivan and Peter Maiken, Gacy seemed to have a regular childhood with the exception of his turbulent relationship with his father, John Wayne Gacy Sr.Both of the authors described Gacy's father as a violent, abusive alcoholic who very often would both physically, emotionally and verbally assault his children and his wife. He was out of control with his consumption of alcohol and his family paid dearly for that. His wife was not able to control him when he got drunk and would attack his children.

John Wayne Gacy was eager for his father's approval and often times went above and beyond what was required of him as a child. But, he failed to win his father's love and attention. This deeply affected the already disturbed child. Gacy's first marriage occured in 1964. He married Marilyn Myer, someone he had worked with for a few years. Shorty after the couple's wedding, they moved to Waterloo, Iowa. This move was due to the fact that Gacy had accepted a job offer to work in the family's chicken restaurant.

A few years later, at the request of his father-in-law, Gacy took over management of the family restaurant. Underneath the facade, all was not well with Gacy. The future serial killer would be arrested for the first time in 1968. The felony charge was attempting to coerce a male employee into homosexual activity. For those people who thought they knew Gacy, this came as a huge shock. After all, this man was a likable father of two toddlers that had been married for four years. His friends and family were shocked at the accusations and swore up and down that this had to be a big a mistake.

Gacy shocked everyone by admitting to the charges and pled guilty to the act of sodomy. As a result, he was sentenced to serve in the Iowa Men's Reformatory for a period of ten years. His wife was embarrassed, angered, shocked and disappointed with the man she thought she knew. She filed for divorce soon after his sentencing in court and this angered Gacy to such a degree that he informed her that she and her children were dead to him. How could any man in his right mind turn away his family? The people that loved him and tried to support him, even through his faults.

Gacy was parolled on October 18, 1971. He had served eighteen months in prison. He traveled back to Chicago but could not seem to stay out of trouble. Eight months after he was released, he was charged with rape and diorderly conduct.

A young gay man had reported to police officials that Gacy had picked him up at the Greyhound station in downtown Chicago and took him back to his place to have sex with him. The charges by the youth were dropped however, due to failure to appear in court for the hearing. Gacy lucked out as his parole officer did not have any knowledge of this last arrest, or he would have been surely sent back to prison to do some more time.

On Dec. 12, 1978, the police again focused their attention on John Wayne Gacy. Robert Piest, a teenage stock boy at a Nisson Pharmacy in Des Plaines, had come up missing. Gacy was the last person seen with the boy prior to his disappearance. Police officials were starting to realize that this man had too many connections to too many crimes.

Investigators decided to run a background check on Gacy. Much to their surpirse, they discovered that he had previously been locked up for committing sodomy on a teenage boy. They asked for a search warrant and permission was granted. What they were about to find next, would truly blow their minds!

During the execution of the warrant, investigators entered a crawlspace located beneath Gacy's home. The quickly noticed a rancid odor but the smell was believed to be faulty sewage lines and was not given any more thought. Investigators returned to headquarters with the evidence they had seized inside the home.

During a thorough review of the items that were confiscated from Gacy's house, investigators soon realized that they had seized a piece of critical evidence. One of the rings found at Gacy's house belonged to a teenage boy who had disappeared a year earlier.

They also discovered that a receipt from a roll of film found at Gacy's home had belonged to a co-worker of the missing Robert Piest. The co-worker told police that he had given it to Robert the day of his disappearance.

With this break in the case, investigators began to see that the case was unfolding before their very eyes. Following the discovery of their new information, it was not long before they were able to obtain a second search warrant for Gacy's home.

On Dec. 22, 1978, Gacy, realizing that his dark secrets were about to be exposed, went to the police to confess. He informed investigators that his first killing took place in January 1972, and the second two years later in January 1974. He further confessed that he lured his victims into being handcuffed. He seemed incoherent at times during his confessions and confused on specific details.

Gacy's recollection of how he murdered his victims was horrific. He stated that he would simply lure young boys to his home by promising to show them how certain tricks worked. The most popular trick that he used to gain the attention of his victim's was the "trick handcuffs" that he used in his clown acts for children's parties. He explained that there was a special way to open up the cuffs and would dare the youth to try and figure it out and break free. As soon as the child was secured by the cuffs, Gacy would proceed to use rope for strangulation or by pushing a board or pipe against their throats, while he was raping them the entire time.

Gacy had a fetish for dead bodies, and admitted to keeping them under his bed or in the attic for several hours, sometimes even several days, before he would get around to burying them under the house in the crawl space. He voluntarilly admitted to committing over two dozen murders.

Some of the victims that were found in the crawlspace had been buried so close together that the police assumed they were killed or buried at the same time. By the time the month of Januray was coming to close, the grand body count total was twenty-seven bodies.

The search had taken longer than expected due to the frozen ground and the winter cold. During this time, four bodies that had been discovered in the Des Plaines River were linked to Gacy by driver's licenses and other personal items found in his home.

While the identities of the 32 victims began to surface, investigators discovered that all of the victims were young men ranging from their early teens to mid-twenties. Finally in April 1979, the remains of Robert Piest were discovered along the Illinois River. An autopsy later determined that he had died as a result of suffocation. Gacy was charged with his death.

Gacy was up for a murder trail to decide if he was guilty or not. On February 6, 1980, the trial officially begain in the Cook County Courts Building in Chicago, Illinois. The trial lasted for five weeks and more than 100 witesses were called to the stand to testify against Gacy. The defense was doing everything in it's power to prove that Gacy was clinically insane and out of control when he committed the murders.

The defense tried to make their claim stick by putting psychiatrists on the stand who had interviewed Gacy before the beginning of his trial. The prosection rejected the claim that he was insane and conteded that his perception of multiple personalities was a weak attempt to dodge the death-penalty. After all, this appeared to be a fitting punishment for such horrific crimes.

On March 13, 1980, Gacy was sentenced to die. He was sent to Menard Correctional Center in Illinois. He would remain there for just over 14 years until he was transported to the Statesville Penitentiary near Joliet for execution.

The jurors made their decision after deliberating the facts of the case before them for two hours. The final result was that John Wayne Gacy was indeed guilty of murdering 33 people. He was taken into custody and on March 13, 1980, was given the death sentence. He was then transported to Menard Correctional Center in Illinois where he would remain for just over 14 years. His final trasportation was to Statesville Penitentiary near Joliet, Illinois. This would be his final resting place as this is where he was scheduled to be exectued by lethal injection.

I remember the night he was executed, I went to the prison with a bunch of friends to stand outside and support the decision. There was a huge crowd of people standing at the entrance of the prison; many had created signs showing their approval of the execution. It was an event that will never slip from my memory. Finally, the familes and friends of the the 33 victims that had been brutally raped and murdered had some closure. This man would never ever be able to hurt another human being. The crowd cheered as the clock hit midnight as the end for this monster was very near.

It is reported by prison officials that Gacy ate fried chicken, french fries, coke and strawberry shortcake for his last meal. He appeared to have no regret, remorse or sadness for what he had done and for the harm he had caused to his victims. In fact, this man was so vial that right before he was injected, he snarled at the prison officials to "Kiss my ass!" Justice was served in the early morning hours of May 9, 1994.

What was really going on inside John Wayne Gacy's head? Why did he continue to commit such horrendous acts on young boys? Did the abuse from his childhood instill this much evil inside of his soul? These questions will never be answered and all we can do is wonder what exactly is the recipe for a monster like this?