Pogo the Clown: American Serial Killer

Pogo the Clown, otherwise known as the infamous serial killer of Chicago: John Wayne Gacy, was a twenty-nine year old man who was well known for his career as a friendly clown who performed in children’s parties. However, one day this view of him would be changed forever when he began his six year long killing spree. Gacy was known during his killing spree to murder young teens and men ranging from the ages of fourteen to twenty-one. All of Gacy’s known victims were male, his first being sixteen year old boy Timothy McCoy.

McCoy first encountered Gacy at Chicago’s Greyhound bus terminal in the early hours of the morning on a chilly day in January, 1972. McCoy had been waiting for a connecting bus to his father’s home in Nebraska that was due to arrive the following afternoon. Timothy’s body was later buried in the crawlspace underneath Gacy’s house, which was noticed to be a pattern made by the serial killer. McCoy’s body was only discovered following Gacy’s arrest in December, 1978, and his body was not identified until May of 1986. Following his identification that May, McCoy’s remains were returned for his family so that they could give him a final resting place.

Over the course of six years, Gacy killed thirty-three young men, twenty-six of which were found in the crawlspace underneath Gacy’s home at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue, three of which were buried elsewhere on Gacy’s property after he had run out of room in his crawlspace, and four of which had been dumped in the Des Plaines River.

Fifteen year old Robert Piest was Gacy’s final known victim, having gone missing in December of 1978. Piest had worked at a pharmacy at the time when Gacy entered during his shift to offer him a new job that would have better pay, twice as much money he was currently making to be exact. Piest said he would think about it, leading to an agreement between the two for Gacy to come back after Piest’s shift was over so they could discuss the opportunity further. At nearly nine o’clock that night Piest’s mother came by the pharmacy to pick him up from his shift. It was her birthday that day and the family was waiting to celebrate at home. Little did they know that nothing would be celebrated that night. Piest came out to greet his mother, asking her to park and wait for him because he was waiting on a man to talk to him about an opportunity for a job in construction. During the conversation between Piest and Gacy, Piest was convinced to go back to Gacy’s house in order to sign paperwork before he officially had the job. After a while of waiting, Piest’s mother became suspicious. She began looking around for her son, and upon discovering his absence she gathered her family and two german shepherd dogs to search for their missing relative. After nearly three hours of searching to no avail, Piest’s mother made an appearance at the local police station ready to do the one thing all parents could never imagine doing: file a missing person’s report for her child. Despite the tragedy of the loss of the teen, Piest’s case was what ultimately led to the capture of Gacy as he was the key suspect in the investigation.

The following information includes the names and ages of Gacy’s known victims: Timothy McCoy, sixteen years; John Butkovich, nineteen years; William Carroll, sixteen years; Michael Bonnin, seventeen years; Rick Johnston, seventeen years; Gregory Godzik, seventeen years; Jon Prestidge, twenty years; JohnSzyc, nineteen years; Matthew Bowman, nineteen years; Robert Gilroy, eighteen years; John Mowery, nineteen years; Russel Nelson, twenty-one years; Robbery Winch, sixteen years; Tommy Boling, twenty years; David Talsma, nineteen years; William Kindred, nineteen years; Timothy O’Rourke, twenty years; Francis Wayne Alexander, age unknown; James Haakenson, sixteen years; William Bundy, nineteen years; Randall Reffett, nineteen years; Samuel Stapleton, nineteen years; Frank Landingin, nineteen years; James Mazzara, twenty years; and Robert Piest, fifteen years.

Gacy’s past criminal record consists of various sodomy conviction and sexual assault charges. On May 10th, 1994, John Wayne Gacy was finally executed after remaining on death row for fourteen long years.