Forty-one years ago, John Wayne Gacy was convicted of the murder of 33 young men and boys. But a new documentary series raises questions as to whether he may have killed even more people during his horrific series of murders in the 1970s.
‘John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise’, a six-part series presented on March 25 at Peacock, features an interview with a retired Illinois police detective who claims that the serial killer once alluded to the death of more than 33 people. (Peacock is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)
The documentation also includes an audio recording of Gacy, who was convicted in 1980 and executed by lethal injection in 1994, and recalls that he got rid of at least one additional body.
“If there are more victims there and they can be connected to him, it can give families who are still looking for answers,” said Alexa Danner, one of the series’ executive producers.
‘John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise’ features a lengthy prison interview with Gacy, of which the public has only seen a few minutes, as well as exclusive interviews with people who knew him, including a close confidant and his second ex-wife.
Gacy, a building contractor who acted like a clown at children’s parties, lured young men and boys after sex to his home outside Chicago, where many were handcuffed and raped; most of his victims were strangled and buried in the crawl space under his house.
In the fourth episode, Rafael Tovar, a former police investigator at Des Plaines, recalls a conversation with Gacy while the two were driving to Cook County Jail. Tovar, referring to Gacy’s victims, says he asked, “Is there more?”
‘[Gacy] says, ’45 sounds like a good number. ‘ I said, ‘Well, where are they?’ He said, ‘No, it’s your job. You have to find out. ‘We had 33 [victims], so that of course means that there are still 12 somewhere, ‘says Tovar.
Tovar, who allegedly retired from the police department in 2009, says in an interview recorded for the series that he spoke to Gacy enough times to feel confident that he was truthful during their car conversation.
“I firmly believe there is more,” Tovar said at one point. “He was the kind of guy who would be completely honest with you if he knew you already knew or was going to find out,” Tovar says at another point.
Danner said investigators have differing opinions on whether Gacy had more victims. No murders after the 33 that Gacy was convicted of were officially attributed to him by law enforcement.
The sixth installment features an audio recording of Gacy talking to a lawyer claiming he sold at least one more body in a wooded area through a high school. (He does not admit on tape that he committed murder.)
The series is careful to point out that Gacy often played mind games with interlocutors, raising doubts as to whether he should be seen as a credible narrator of his own crimes.
The series explores the possibility that additional victims could be buried at a Chicago property where he once worked.
Gacy’s neighbors at the property claim to have seen bizarre behavior, including Gacy carrying heavy garbage bags across a lawn in the middle of the night, as well as digging or filling trenches.
Gacy has previously been the subject of various films and documentaries, and his crimes overshadow fictional works such as ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ and Netflix’s ‘Mindhunter’.
