One of the most notorious serial killers and criminals in American History was John Wayne
Gacy.
He was a disgusting killer who is known to have had at least 33 victims, and he sickeningly
performed at children’s hospitals and events as a clown, and he was known as The Killer
Clown.
His murders occurred inside of his home in Chicago, and he would lure his victims back
to his house and would then coerce them into handcuffs, saying he would perform a magic
trick.
But then his bloody actions and violent acts would result in the deaths of the victim.
He was one of the most deadly serial killers in American History, and he was sentenced
to death for his crimes.
He remained on death row for 14 years until on the 10th May 1994 he was executed in Illnois.
Join us today as we look at the execution of John Wayne Gacy, the Killer Clown.
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John Wayne Gacy was born on the 17th March 1942, and he was raised by an alcoholic father
that would beat him with a strap if they misbehaved.
His father also assaulted his mother, and Gacy was alienated at school, and he had a
heart condition which isolated him from others, and his father saw this as a weakness.
He worked as a manager of a fast food chain in the 1960s, and then worked as a building
contractor in Chicago in the 1970s.
He was a man who was at the time considered well liked in the community, and he was active
in a number of political groups, and he was married and divorced twice, and he had two
biological children.
He was also a member of the ‘Jolly Joker,’ clown club in Chicago, and he was often seen
performing at children’s parties and other events as ‘Pogo or Patches the Clown.’
This would later go on to give him the reputation as the Killer clown.
He would lure his victims with the promise of work or other benefits, but then he would
torture, assault and often strangle his victims with his bare hands or with a rope.
He was a physically imposing man, and one who was noted as saying ‘Clowns can get
away with murder.’
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1968 for assaulting two boys but two years
later was released on parole before ehe was arrested again the following year.
Further accusations by young boys were levelled against Gacy, and he was questioned about
disappearances of other boys and men.
In the mid 1970s, Gacy said this was his cruising years, and where he committed most of his
killings.
In December 1978, 15 year old Robert Priest went missing, and it was said he had gone
to meet Gacy to discuss a job, but then 10 days later a police search of his home turned
up evidence of many different crimes including murder.
It’s believed that he committed his first murder in 1972, murdering a 16 year old boy.
The police kept their eye on John Wayne Gacy, and then investigated, and human remains were
found in a crawl space beneath the house, and further trenches revealed human bones.
Many of those could not be identified, and he then confessed to over 30 murders.
Gacy’s trial started on the 6th February 1980, and there was much debate whether he
should have been declared insane and then sent and incarcerated inside of a mental health
facility.
However, Gacy said the murders had been committed by a different personality, and there was
much investigation by mental health experts as to try to work out his capacity.
But the jury would deliberate for just a short time, and he was found guilty of committing
33 murders, and he was then given 12 death sentences, and 21 life prison sentences.
He had been sentenced to death and it was lethal injection which would be the way the
Clown Killer would go.
On the 9th May 1994, he was transferred to Stateville Correctional Centre in Crest Hill
for execution.
That afternoon he was allowed a private picnic with his family in the grounds of the prison.
He was allowed a final meal, and for this ordered a bucket of KFC and a dozen fried
shrimp, along with French fries, strawberries and a Diet Coke.
He spent the evening in prayer with a priest who gave him the last rites, before he was
then taken into Stateville execution chamber for his death.
As mentioned he was to die by lethal injection, but things did not go well.
The plan would have seen John Wayne Gacy quickly administered the deadly cocktail of medication,
however before the execution began, the chemicals which were used to effect the execution solidified,
and crystallised and they clogged up the IV tube which was used to administer the chemicals
into Gacy’s arm.
He had been strapped on a wooden bench, but as the witnesses watched on, the anaesthetic
drug was administer to John Wayne Gacy’s IV line, and this did not go to plan.
The line got clogged, and nothing else could get in.
Because of this, the doctors did not really know what to do, and they briefly shut the
curtains of the execution chamber to keep the eyes of the public away, whilst they worked
out what had happened.
Anaesthesiologists would later blame the prison officials and said that they set the equipment
up the wrong way which caused the tube to block.
It took 18 minutes for John Wayne Gacy to be killed, and then the lethal cocktail was
administered with a new tube fetched to complete the job.
A prosecutor at his trial would say that he received an easier death than any of his victims,
and his final words were allegedly when he told the prison officials to kiss his backside.
Crowds had gathered outside the prison where the sentence was carried out, and around 1000
people waited for the news that Gacy had been killed.
His death was confirmed at 12:58am on the 10th May 1994, and following his death his
brain as removed, and was given to a witness for the defence who interviewed the killer
to try and work out personality traits of violent murderers.
But John Wayne Gacy was the Clown Killer who was responsible for at least 33 murders, and
it’s believed that he was the man behind more killings.
It’s believed that he was a diagnosed psychopath and he did not express remorse for his crimes.
He said that killing him would not make up for the loss of his victims, and he has gone
down in history as the terrifying Killer Clown.
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