Pogo the Killer Clown

Gacy dressed as Pogo -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
If you’re 40 or older, you probably recall the grisly details of the John Wayne Gacy murders. He was apprehended in 1978 after the bodies of 26 young men (mostly teens) were found buried in the crawl space of his Norwood Park home in Illinois. Seven others were found variously buried near his garage or dumped into the Des Plaines River (which he used after the crawl space filled up). These ghastly deeds were executed across six years (1972-1978) and Mr. Gacy cheated fate several times – from the missteps of police and potential witnesses.

Gacy was one of three children in a middle class family of Polish descent. People have tried to reason away Gacy’s atrocities as the result of an abusive alcoholic father, possibly an injury caused by a swing striking his head in a childhood accident or an alleged sexual molestation that he suffered at the age of nine. But forensic psychiatrists examined his brain after his execution at age 52 and found no obvious abnormalities.

What surprises one in looking at Gacy’s story is the almost-Horatio Alger success quality that gloms to it, in the early years. Right out of college, he became a department manager for Nunn-Bush shoes in Springfield, Illinois. He married a coworker, Marilynn Myers, and fathered two children – a boy and a girl. He then moved to Waterloo, Iowa where his father-in-law elevated him to district manager of 3 KFC restaurants. Here, his extroverted personality led him to become vice president of the Waterloo Jaycees.

At this juncture, the Horatio Alger story is interrupted. It seems the Jaycees operated a secretive “swingers” club which introduced Gacy to extramarital partners and a world of new kinks. Gacy created his own sex club in the basement of a KFC restaurant and lured his male teenage staff into the “dungeon” where they were plied with alcohol and cigarettes. Two local boys testified that Gacy had molested them; Gacy was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in the Iowa Penitentiary. His wife also divorced him at this point, and he never saw his children again. Gacy was a model prisoner, promoted to Head Cook, and released after only two years in 1970.

If only that were the end, but sadly this is where Gacy’s horrific spree commenced -- when he was paroled and then returned to Illinois. He married a second time, to a friend of his sister, becoming step-father to two young daughters. He also continued, at least outwardly on a journey of career milestones and social success. He established his own construction company, called PDM Contractors (which happened to hire many young males). He became a Democratic precinct captain of the Norwood Park area and was even photographed with Rosalynn Carter. He had a successful sideline career as “Pogo the Clown” who performed at children’s birthday parties. And he even was a prolific artist who created dozens of acrylic paintings (posthumously now seen as creepy and disturbing).

During this period in the 1970’s, Gacy was also abducting, chloroforming, raping, torturing and choking young men to death. This monster in human guise had to be secretive at first and wait for his wife to be out. His wife divorced him after finding gay porn and signs of sexual infidelity – she had no clue about the crawl space. When she left, Gacy was able to let his demons run wild. He was actually careless in several instances, but indifference and incompetence were his allies. Oddly, many of Gacy’s victims were not gay. They were in fact former or potential employees, or hitch-hikers. Most were chloroformed or drugged – taken against their will. Gacy was actually suspected by the parents of his 2nd victim, an ex-employee, but the case was never pursued by police. Gacy sold one victim’s car to a young criminal and the car was impounded. But no follow-thru was done on how Gacy had acquired the car and he cheated justice once more.

One “fortunate” Gacy victim was tortured and raped but not murdered. He was dumped in a park and left for dead. When he filed a complaint with the Chicago Police, they basically dismissed it. (Chicago Police do not shine in this tale). The man, Jeffrey Rignall, did his own sleuthing and pieced together what happened from his drugged stupor. He found Gacy’s house and the police finally issued a search warrant. Simultaneously a last victim was seen talking to Gacy by both a shop keeper and the boy’s Mother, and they specifically identified Gacy. The Killer Clown probably became overconfident in his prowess and let his guard down.

I’ll skip the gory details of what was found – we all know. Gacy spent 16 years on death row after his arrest and never expressed remorse. He said jokingly to an officer, “You know … a clown can get away with murder”. His final words at lethal injection were, “Kiss my ass”. It’s hard to wrap my own mind around the fact that this hideous beast was a father, business owner, community leader and political activist. It makes me want to reexamine the criteria for being human, much less being successful. I don’t think a swing set is to blame for the unconscionable acts so much as a twisted vagary of nature itself.

My father once said, “You can’t blame a rattle snake for being one, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is one”. The Gacy reptile was finally dispensed with as he should have been – it’s too bad it took so long to find that the snake was a snake.

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