October 17, 2025 • 9 mins
It’s the Perfect Scenario for a Horror Movie. A Contractor Lures 33 Kids to His Normal Looking Home to Party and Talk About a Job . . and They’re Never Seen Again. But Did John Wayne Gacy, the So Called Killer Clown, Have Accomplices? He Maintained He Did Until His Execution. No One Was Ever Charged but There Is Some Evidence.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
I don't know about you, but there's something about Halloween
that kind of intrigues us when it comes to horror stories.
But nothing is more horrifying than the true stories surrounding
serial killers. John Wayne Gacy has been getting some attention lately,
almost fifty years after his arrest. He seemed like a
normal guy, a building contractor, family man who's involved in
(00:24):
his community. But in the end, at least thirty three
young men and boys met a horrifying end in his
very normal looking little ranch house outside of Chicago. I'm
Patty Steele. Did the killer clown have accomplices? That's next
on the backstory? The backstory is back, all right. So
(00:47):
when you think about a serial killer, what do you picture?
I know, I think about all the killers in horror
movies and how their looks and their weird personalities would
sort of tip me off to the danger. But in reality,
some of the most prolific killers have been regular looking guys,
many of them involved with their communities, local politics, even
(01:08):
their churches. Great personalities. That's the story of John Wayne Gacy.
He was a building contractor, he was involved in his community.
He was always ready to help. Now he'd had an
unhappy childhood. He had a good relationship with his mom
and two sisters, but his father was an abusive alcoholic
(01:28):
who constantly beat him and belittled him. On top of that,
he was repeatedly molested by a family friend, though he
never told his dad for fear he'd be blamed for
encouraging it. When he finally left home, he began to
get his life together. He had a series of somewhat
decent jobs while getting a little more education. Eventually he
(01:50):
got a management position at a shoe company. It was
nineteen sixty four and he became engaged to a coworker.
It was win win for a while. Her father bought
three KFC franchises in Iowa and paid John a big
salary to manage them. Gasey bought a house and set
up a club in his basement for his employees, mostly
(02:12):
young guys, to play pool and drink. He started making
sexual advances towards some of them, but laughed it off
when they said no. Thanks said he was just checking
their morals. In nineteen sixty six, his wife had a
little boy, and in nineteen sixty seven a girl and
Gasey became a leader in the local jay C's. He
(02:33):
later said life at that point was perfect, and that
his father had even apologized to him for abusing him
as a kid, saying, I was wrong about you, but
it didn't last. In late August of nineteen sixty seven,
Gaysey lurd the fifteen year old son of a local
politician and member of the jay Z's, to his house.
(02:53):
He gave him alcohol, turned on a porn movie, and
then told him he had to have sex with a
man before he could have it the woman. After the assault,
the boy told his father. Gasey was sentenced to ten
years in prison, and his wife left him, taking the kids,
the house and their property. He never saw his wife
and kids again behind bars, though he became a model prisoner.
(03:17):
Caasey took charge of the prison's JC club and in
a year and a half, increased membership from fifty to
six hundred and fifty inmates. He became an excellent cook.
Everybody loved him, and by June of nineteen seventy, after
serving just eighteen months of the ten year sentence, he
was paroled. Once back in Chicago, his mom bought a
(03:38):
house for them both. He started a contracting business. He
became a model neighbor shoveling other people's walks and driveways
for free, loaning them construction tools, and throwing regular neighborhood
block parties. After his mom moved out, he got married
again to a woman with two little girls. He even
got involved in local democratic politics. In fact, there are
(04:01):
pictures of him posing with the first Lady Rosalind Carter,
showing him wearing a special clearance pin. Later a major
embarrassment to the Secret Service, of course, and through his
involvement with several service clubs, Gasey joined a local clown club.
He started performing at fundraising events, children's hospitals and political
(04:22):
functions as Pogo, the Happy Clown, and also as the
more serious clown Patches. That's why he was later nicknamed
the Killer Clown. Now. At the same time, he gave
local young men and teenage boys jobs with his contracting company.
Parents were delighted again everybody liked him and people trusted him,
(04:44):
but behind the scenes, it was a whole lot darker.
He told his wife he was bisexual. Then he said
he just didn't want to have sex with her anymore.
She began to find gay porn around the house, and
then she saw him bringing young men into their late
at night. He was pressuring his young employees for sex,
(05:04):
trading money, and work for it. His wife finally asked
for a divorce, and she moved out in February of
nineteen seventy six. That's when Gaysey began his murder spree
in earnest Now, as far as investigators can tell, his
first murder took place a few years before the divorce,
when he raped, tortured, and murdered a sixteen year old
(05:25):
boy in January of nineteen seventy two. He buried the
body in a crawl space under his house. The next
murder happened three and a half years later. The eighteen
year old's body was buried under the garage. But within
six weeks of his wife's departure, he was on a roll.
By December of nineteen seventy six, he had killed twelve
(05:46):
more boys. By the time he was arrested on December
twenty first, nineteen seventy eight, he killed at least thirty
three boys between the ages of fourteen and twenty one.
All had been killed in his house. The first twenty
eight bodies buried under it, mostly in crawl spaces. Then,
because he'd run out of space to bury anymore at home.
(06:07):
He dumped the last five bodies in the desk Plains River.
But how did he lure them into his house again?
They trusted him, and he offered them things they wanted, work, money,
even alcohol and porn. The thing that chilled the entire
country when the truth came out was how ordinary this
guy looked. I mean, picture a split level house, blue
(06:29):
gray siding, a neat lawn flag sort of whipping in
the wind. He was a guy you'd hire to do
a building project or to fix your driveway. Gasey was
a small time businessman who joined civic groups, donated to parades,
had his picture taken with politicians, gave your kid a job.
Not to mention his clown performances. You could laugh with
(06:50):
him what's not to like? And trust He made you
feel safe, So these young guys would follow him into
that house and never emerge. The final victim was a
fifteen year old boy lured to the house by the
promise of a job, but someone overheard the invite, and
when the boy's mother went straight to the police with
(07:11):
the info she got, they went to search Gaisey's house,
thinking the boy was being held there. Gasey said he
didn't have time to talk to them because his uncle
had died, but he'd stop by the precinct later that night.
They asked him why the house smelled, and he blamed
plumbing problems. When he showed up at the station house
at three o'clock in the morning, he was covered in
(07:32):
mud that made them a little suspicious. After several search warrants,
finding class rings and small underwear, as well as porn,
sex toys and handcuffs, they dug deeper under the house
one after another. The bodies were removed from crawl spaces
under floorboards the backyard. It was over for Gaisey's killing spree.
(07:55):
In the aftermath, there was a lot of speculation that
Gasey had some accomplice is in at least several of
the killings, possibly guys that worked for him in his
construction business. In fact, one of the detectives, while surveilling Gaysey,
overheard him say to two of his employees, you'd better
not let me down. You owe it to me. Later,
(08:15):
one of the other men said to Gaycy, and what
buried like the other five. But here's the curious thing.
No one else was ever arrested in the case. Were
investigators simply satisfied to have gotten their hands on the
mean killer? Was that enough? John Wayne Gacy, the Killer Clown,
was convicted of killing thirty three young men and boys
(08:38):
in nineteen eighty, but there could have been another dozen victims.
He was executed in nineteen ninety eight at the age
of fifty two. Hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele.
Please leave a review. I'd love it if you'd subscribe
or follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically,
and feel free to dm me if you have a
(08:59):
story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty
Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.
The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis
Durant Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
(09:20):
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history
you didn't know you needed to know.
I don't know about you, but there's something about Halloween
that kind of intrigues us when it comes to horror stories.
But nothing is more horrifying than the true stories surrounding
serial killers. John Wayne Gacy has been getting some attention lately,
almost fifty years after his arrest. He seemed like a
normal guy, a building contractor, family man who's involved in
(00:24):
his community. But in the end, at least thirty three
young men and boys met a horrifying end in his
very normal looking little ranch house outside of Chicago. I'm
Patty Steele. Did the killer clown have accomplices? That's next
on the backstory? The backstory is back, all right. So
(00:47):
when you think about a serial killer, what do you picture?
I know, I think about all the killers in horror
movies and how their looks and their weird personalities would
sort of tip me off to the danger. But in reality,
some of the most prolific killers have been regular looking guys,
many of them involved with their communities, local politics, even
(01:08):
their churches. Great personalities. That's the story of John Wayne Gacy.
He was a building contractor, he was involved in his community.
He was always ready to help. Now he'd had an
unhappy childhood. He had a good relationship with his mom
and two sisters, but his father was an abusive alcoholic
(01:28):
who constantly beat him and belittled him. On top of that,
he was repeatedly molested by a family friend, though he
never told his dad for fear he'd be blamed for
encouraging it. When he finally left home, he began to
get his life together. He had a series of somewhat
decent jobs while getting a little more education. Eventually he
(01:50):
got a management position at a shoe company. It was
nineteen sixty four and he became engaged to a coworker.
It was win win for a while. Her father bought
three KFC franchises in Iowa and paid John a big
salary to manage them. Gasey bought a house and set
up a club in his basement for his employees, mostly
(02:12):
young guys, to play pool and drink. He started making
sexual advances towards some of them, but laughed it off
when they said no. Thanks said he was just checking
their morals. In nineteen sixty six, his wife had a
little boy, and in nineteen sixty seven a girl and
Gasey became a leader in the local jay C's. He
(02:33):
later said life at that point was perfect, and that
his father had even apologized to him for abusing him
as a kid, saying, I was wrong about you, but
it didn't last. In late August of nineteen sixty seven,
Gaysey lurd the fifteen year old son of a local
politician and member of the jay Z's, to his house.
(02:53):
He gave him alcohol, turned on a porn movie, and
then told him he had to have sex with a
man before he could have it the woman. After the assault,
the boy told his father. Gasey was sentenced to ten
years in prison, and his wife left him, taking the kids,
the house and their property. He never saw his wife
and kids again behind bars, though he became a model prisoner.
(03:17):
Caasey took charge of the prison's JC club and in
a year and a half, increased membership from fifty to
six hundred and fifty inmates. He became an excellent cook.
Everybody loved him, and by June of nineteen seventy, after
serving just eighteen months of the ten year sentence, he
was paroled. Once back in Chicago, his mom bought a
(03:38):
house for them both. He started a contracting business. He
became a model neighbor shoveling other people's walks and driveways
for free, loaning them construction tools, and throwing regular neighborhood
block parties. After his mom moved out, he got married
again to a woman with two little girls. He even
got involved in local democratic politics. In fact, there are
(04:01):
pictures of him posing with the first Lady Rosalind Carter,
showing him wearing a special clearance pin. Later a major
embarrassment to the Secret Service, of course, and through his
involvement with several service clubs, Gasey joined a local clown club.
He started performing at fundraising events, children's hospitals and political
(04:22):
functions as Pogo, the Happy Clown, and also as the
more serious clown Patches. That's why he was later nicknamed
the Killer Clown. Now. At the same time, he gave
local young men and teenage boys jobs with his contracting company.
Parents were delighted again everybody liked him and people trusted him,
(04:44):
but behind the scenes, it was a whole lot darker.
He told his wife he was bisexual. Then he said
he just didn't want to have sex with her anymore.
She began to find gay porn around the house, and
then she saw him bringing young men into their late
at night. He was pressuring his young employees for sex,
(05:04):
trading money, and work for it. His wife finally asked
for a divorce, and she moved out in February of
nineteen seventy six. That's when Gaysey began his murder spree
in earnest Now, as far as investigators can tell, his
first murder took place a few years before the divorce,
when he raped, tortured, and murdered a sixteen year old
(05:25):
boy in January of nineteen seventy two. He buried the
body in a crawl space under his house. The next
murder happened three and a half years later. The eighteen
year old's body was buried under the garage. But within
six weeks of his wife's departure, he was on a roll.
By December of nineteen seventy six, he had killed twelve
(05:46):
more boys. By the time he was arrested on December
twenty first, nineteen seventy eight, he killed at least thirty
three boys between the ages of fourteen and twenty one.
All had been killed in his house. The first twenty
eight bodies buried under it, mostly in crawl spaces. Then,
because he'd run out of space to bury anymore at home.
(06:07):
He dumped the last five bodies in the desk Plains River.
But how did he lure them into his house again?
They trusted him, and he offered them things they wanted, work, money,
even alcohol and porn. The thing that chilled the entire
country when the truth came out was how ordinary this
guy looked. I mean, picture a split level house, blue
(06:29):
gray siding, a neat lawn flag sort of whipping in
the wind. He was a guy you'd hire to do
a building project or to fix your driveway. Gasey was
a small time businessman who joined civic groups, donated to parades,
had his picture taken with politicians, gave your kid a job.
Not to mention his clown performances. You could laugh with
(06:50):
him what's not to like? And trust He made you
feel safe, So these young guys would follow him into
that house and never emerge. The final victim was a
fifteen year old boy lured to the house by the
promise of a job, but someone overheard the invite, and
when the boy's mother went straight to the police with
(07:11):
the info she got, they went to search Gaisey's house,
thinking the boy was being held there. Gasey said he
didn't have time to talk to them because his uncle
had died, but he'd stop by the precinct later that night.
They asked him why the house smelled, and he blamed
plumbing problems. When he showed up at the station house
at three o'clock in the morning, he was covered in
(07:32):
mud that made them a little suspicious. After several search warrants,
finding class rings and small underwear, as well as porn,
sex toys and handcuffs, they dug deeper under the house
one after another. The bodies were removed from crawl spaces
under floorboards the backyard. It was over for Gaisey's killing spree.
(07:55):
In the aftermath, there was a lot of speculation that
Gasey had some accomplice is in at least several of
the killings, possibly guys that worked for him in his
construction business. In fact, one of the detectives, while surveilling Gaysey,
overheard him say to two of his employees, you'd better
not let me down. You owe it to me. Later,
(08:15):
one of the other men said to Gaycy, and what
buried like the other five. But here's the curious thing.
No one else was ever arrested in the case. Were
investigators simply satisfied to have gotten their hands on the
mean killer? Was that enough? John Wayne Gacy, the Killer Clown,
was convicted of killing thirty three young men and boys
(08:38):
in nineteen eighty, but there could have been another dozen victims.
He was executed in nineteen ninety eight at the age
of fifty two. Hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele.
Please leave a review. I'd love it if you'd subscribe
or follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically,
and feel free to dm me if you have a
(08:59):
story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty
Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.
The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis
Durant Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
(09:20):
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history
you didn't know you needed to know.
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