Forty-one years ago, John Wayne Gacy was convicted of killing 33 boys and boys. But a new series of documentaries raises questions about whether he could have killed even more people during his terrible series of murders in the 1970s.
“John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise,” a six-part series that opens on March 25 at Peacock, features an interview with a retired Illinois police detective who claims that the serial killer once alluded to the murder of more than 33 people. (Peacock is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)
The documentation also contains an audio recording of Gacy, who was convicted in 1980 and executed by lethal injection in 1994, recalling that he disposed of at least one additional body.
“If there are more victims out there and they can be connected to it, that would provide a solution for any family that is still looking for answers,” said Alexa Danner, one of the series’ executive producers.
“John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise” features a long prison interview with Gacy, of which a few minutes were seen by the public, as well as exclusive interviews with people who knew him, including a close confidant and his second ex-wife.
Gacy, a contractor who acted as a clown at children’s parties, attracted boys and boys to his home outside of Chicago for sex, where many were handcuffed and raped; most of his victims were strangled and buried in the underground space of his home.
In the fourth episode, former Des Plaines Police Department investigator Rafael Tovar recalls a conversation with Gacy as the two drove to Cook County Jail. Tovar, referring to Gacy’s victims, said he asked, “Is there more?”
“[Gacy] says, ’45 looks like a good number. ‘I said,’ Well, where are they? ‘ He said, ‘No, this is your job. You have to find out. ‘We had 33 [victims], so that would obviously mean there are 12 more somewhere, ”says Tovar.
Tovar, who allegedly retired from the police department in 2009, said in a taped interview for the series that he spoke to Gacy enough to feel confident he was being truthful during the conversation about the car.
“I firmly believe there is more,” said Tovar at one point. “He was the type of guy who would be totally honest with you if he knew that you already knew or were going to find out,” says Tovar at another time.
Danner said investigators had different opinions on the question of whether Gacy had more victims. No murder other than the 33 for which Gacy was convicted was officially attributed to him by law enforcement.
The sixth episode features an audio recording of Gacy talking to a lawyer, during which he claims to have disposed of at least one more body in a wooded area of a high school. (He does not admit on the tape that he committed murder.)
The series is careful to point out that Gacy used to play mind games with interlocutors, raising doubts about whether he should be seen as a credible narrator of his own crimes.
The series explores the possibility that other victims may have been buried on a property in Chicago where he worked.
Gacy’s neighbors on the property claim they saw bizarre behavior, including Gacy carrying what appeared to be heavy garbage bags across a lawn in the middle of the night, as well as digging or filling trenches.
Gacy has been the subject of several films and documentaries, and his crimes shadow works of fiction such as “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Mind Hunter” from Netflix.
