ON THIS DAY

----------ooOoo----------

May 10, 1994

Serial killer John Wayne Gacy executed

John Wayne Gacy (1942 – 1994) was an American serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured, and murdered at least 33 young men and boys in Norwood Park Township, near Chicago, Illinois. He became known as the "Killer Clown" due to his public performances as a clown prior to the discovery of his crimes.

Gacy committed all of his known murders inside his ranch-style house. Typically, he would lure a victim to his home and dupe them into donning handcuffs on the pretext of demonstrating a magic trick. He would then rape and torture his captive before killing his victim by either asphyxiation or strangulation with a garrote. Twenty-six victims were buried in the crawl space of his home, and three were buried elsewhere on his property; four were discarded in the Des Plaines River.

His conviction for thirty-three murders (by one individual) then covered the most homicides in United States legal history. Gacy was sentenced to death on March 13, 1980. He was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center on May 10, 1994.

BTW:

In late 1975, Gacy joined the clown club and created his own characters "Pogo the Clown" and "Patches the Clown", devising his own makeup and costumes. He described Pogo as a "happy clown", whereas Patches was a "more serious" character. Gacy seldom earned money for his performances and later said that acting as a clown allowed him to "regress into childhood". He performed as both Pogo and Patches at numerous local parties, political functions, charitable events, and children's hospitals.

----------ooOoo----------