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To those who knew him, John Wayne Gacy appeared to be a genial contractor and part-time clown. However, beneath this facade lay a notorious serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least 33 young men and boys.
Gacy’s unassuming charm enabled him to gain the trust of his victims, whom he later assaulted, murdered, and then hid many of their remains beneath his house in Norwood Park Township, Illinois.
“It wasn’t like he had horns or a sign,” remarked police officer Michael Albrecht, as quoted in a 1994 article in The New York Times. “He was very popular, very well liked.”
Even after being imprisoned for his brutal crimes, Gacy continued to exploit his charm. He managed to secure special privileges on death row, set up a 900 number to assert his innocence, and gained notoriety as a somewhat unsettling artist.
What Was John Gacy’s Life Like in Prison?
In 1980, Gacy was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders he committed between 1972 and 1978. However, his manipulative behavior persisted.
As reported in a 1982 article by UPI, 20 inmates at Illinois’ Menard Correctional Center signed a petition alleging that Gacy was granted special privileges, allowing him to move freely in the visiting area, handle tools such as a putty knife, and enjoy amenities like a color TV and radio in his cell.
Corrections Department spokesman Nick Howell denied the claims at the time, telling the news outlet that Gacy was allowed to leave his cell to do maintenance work “because he has been no problem in prison and because of his experience as a contractor.”
He added that Gacy was given a job to “clean up the cell house” because of his good behavior behind bars and helped repair the visiting room after it was damaged by the inmates, insisting that, “basically, he pushes a broom.”
John Gacy’s Controversial Prison Artwork
As his years in prison stretched on, Gacy found more ways to occupy his time. He was responsible for orchestrating a 900 number that charged callers $23.88 to listen to a 12-minute recording of him proclaiming his innocence, according to The New York Times.
Gacy also took up painting, often creating self-portraits as “Pogo the clown.” As UPI reported in 1994, his paintings also depicted other clowns, Elvis Presley, Jesus Christ and the Snow White’s seven dwarfs.
As his execution date loomed, the demand for his paintings only grew. At the time of his death, The New York Times reported that the images were worth anywhere from $200 to $20,000.
“When he is put to death, there won’t be any more Gacy paintings,” James Quick, owner of James Quick Auctioneers Ltd. explained to UPI. “It will end the supply, and now it will be up to the demand to determine value.”
According to Quick—who sold some of Gacy’s images—some buyers were attracted to the “ghoulish factor” of collecting art from one of the country’s most notorious killers.
However, others didn’t believed that Gacy or his heirs should profit from the work.
Joe Roth and Wally Knoebel bought paintings and then burned the artwork, allowing victims’ families to toss the paintings into the fire themselves, Vice reported.
Illinois even filed a civil suit questioning whether Gacy should control the profits from his art. Though, the suit was dropped before his death.
Still, The New York Times estimated in 1994 that his two children, two stepchildren and sister could collect around $100,000 from the sales.
How Did John Gacy Die?
Fourteen years after he was sent to death row, Gacy died by lethal injection on May 10, 1994.
“He never expressed concerns about his death,” his death-row attorney Karen Conti told A&E True Crime. “I didn’t sense he even realized it was going to happen.”
One prison official described Gacy as being “very chatty” on his last day alive, before enjoying a final meal of fried chicken, fried shrimp, French fries and fresh strawberries, The New York Times reported in 1994.
Gacy’s execution was delayed after the tube delivering the fatal chemicals into his body got clogged, but he was officially pronounced dead at 12:58 a.m., TIME reported.
