His house was a graveyard.
His garage was a torture chamber.
And his desire to kill was insatiable.
So why did so many people
hire him as a children's clown?
Known by many as the "Killer Clown",
John Wayne Gacy
was an American serial killer
who shocked the world
with his gruesome crimes.
Gacy killed 33 young men.
He hid most of the bodies
in the crawlspace of his house
in suburban Chicago.
The killings came as a surprise
to his community,
which saw him as
an upstanding family man.
He owned a successful
construction business,
hosted big parties at his house
and performed as Pogo the Clown
at hospitals.
Gacy was meticulous and organized.
That's how he was able to hide
his crimes for so long.
It's hard to believe anyone
could face this monster and live,
but some lucky young men did.
Today, we'll see how they cheated death.
Is a person born evil?
Or do they become evil?
These are the questions
David Bolton asks himself
after surviving Gacy's attack decades ago.
In 1956,
when David was nine or ten years old,
he and his mother
went to a resort in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.
He met a teenager named John,
who was about 16 years old
and worked at the resort.
Bolton recalls Gacy doing odd jobs
and not having any friends there.
David became his friend.
Gacy said he had some time off
and invited David to go on a boat with him.
He'd never been in a rowboat before,
so Bolton agreed.
They tied up the boat,
and Gacy took David to some bushes.
What had started as a fun trip
quickly became a nightmare.
Gacy suddenly turned menacing,
grabbed the boy by the shoulders
and threatened to kill him.
Then Gacy sexually abused Bolton.
When remembering the incident,
a distressed David finished by saying,
"Thank god it was over quickly."
In July 1975,
15-year-old Anthony Antonucci
was alone at home
when John Gacy paid him a visit.
Antonucci worked for
Gacy's contracting firm
and had injured his foot days before.
The killer brought some wine
and claimed he just wanted to
check on Anthony.
After watching an adult movie,
Gacy wrestled the teen to the ground
and cuffed him.
Gacy left the room for a moment.
Antonucci managed to slip
the right cuff off his wrist
and prepared to attack back.
Anthony was on his school wrestling team
and took Gacy down easily
as soon as he returned.
Antonucci kept him pinned to the ground
and managed to cuff him.
Gacy told him,
"Not only are you the only one
who got out of the cuffs,
you got them on me."
Antonucci thought it was
some kind of test
and eventually let Gacy go.
Before we go to our number one story,
let's see what we can learn
from these two survivors.
In "The Wrestler",
Anthony taught us that serial killers
are not invincible.
If you're strong and know how to fight,
it could help you escape.
"A Young Monster" reminds us
that we should never trust strangers,
especially if we're alone with them.
David and Anthony were lucky
to make it out alive.
But another victim
took things even further
to make sure Gacy
couldn't attack anyone else.
Jeffrey Rignall was 26
when John Wayne Gacy picked him up
in March 1978.
The killer offered Jeffrey some marijuana.
Then Gacy covered Rignall's face
with a rag soaked in chloroform,
making him unconscious.
Rignall was driven to Gacy's house,
handcuffed and sexually attacked.
Then Gacy dumped Rignall
near the place he picked him up.
Badly injured,
with his face burned by the chloroform,
Rignall went to the police.
But since he couldn't remember
details about the house,
they wrote a short report
and didn't really investigate.
Rignall claimed that
because he was a homosexual,
the police ignored his case.
What Rignall did remember was Gacy's car
and hearing airplanes during the assault.
And he took it upon himself
to find his attacker.
Whenever he could,
he stalked the area near the airport
and found Gacy in less than a month.
Rignall pushed the case
until the police arrested Gacy.
But he easily got out on bond.
Nine months after Rignall was attacked,
the police were looking for a missing boy.
They discovered human remains
under Gacy's house.
The police arrested John Wayne Gacy
and charged him with murdering
33 young men.
The serial killer was convicted,
sentenced to death
and executed on May 10, 1994.
His death brought peace
to the victims' families.
But not all cases end up like this.
Did they ever catch the Zodiac Killer?
Or could he still be among us?
Find out here.