The Killer Clown’s former attorney, Karen Conti, claims that the number of John Wayne Gacy’s victims is much higher than authorities know and that he may have murdered at least 20 more people than the 33 for which he was convicted in 1980.
Public DomainAlthough the number of John Wayne Gacy’s victims was long reported as 33, new statements from his former lawyer suggest that the truth about the number of people killed by Gacy is actually much worse.
Karen Conti, one of the lawyers representing serial killer “Killer Clown” John Wayne Gacy, recently said that she believes he may be responsible for far more murders than previously thought.
The number of John Wayne Gacy’s victims has long been reported as 33. That is the total number of young men and boys he was convicted of murdering between 1972 and 1978. But Conti says the truth about the number of people killed by John Wayne Gacy is much worse than his convictions suggest.
Not only does she claim that there may be at least 20 more unknown victims of John Wayne Gacy, but also that his murders may have extended beyond the borders of his hometown of Chicago and that he may have had help in doing so.
Who was John Wayne Gacy and what did he do?
John Wayne Gacy was an American serial killer who was active primarily in the Chicago, Illinois area during the 1970s. To his neighbors and acquaintances, Gacy was an active member of his community, generally well-liked, and seemed friendly. He was also known for his alter ego, Pogo the Clown, and performed at children’s birthday parties and other local events.
World History Archive/Alamy Stock PhotoJohn Wayne Gacy dressed as clown Pogo.
But behind closed doors, Gacy had intense, sexually motivated urges to kill. He is responsible for the brutal murders of at least 33 young men and boys, many of whom he sexually abused and/or tortured before killing and burying them on his property.
Police eventually found 26 bodies hidden in the crawl space of John Wayne Gacy’s house, as well as three more buried in the yard. John Wayne Gacy’s other four victims were dumped in the Des Plaines River.
The contrast between his murderous nature and his seemingly friendly personality, as well as his clown appearances, have earned him the nickname “Killer Clown.”
Gacy even painted numerous pictures of himself as Pogo and other subjects, which sparked a morbid fascination for some collectors. As a result, the fascination with Gacy continues to this day, as true crime buffs, psychologists and criminologists continually study his life and crimes.
However, few people knew the real John Wayne Gacy as well as his death row attorney, Karen Conti. When Gacy spoke to her for several years in the early 1990s while she tried to spare him the death penalty, he no longer had to hide his true colors. He spoke openly with Conti about his crimes and who he was as a person, offering a clearer insight into the man behind the murders.
Why the number of John Wayne Gacy’s victims may be much higher than everyone thought
It may seem strange that someone would argue against the death penalty for John Wayne Gacy, whose crimes are objectively reprehensible by any standard. Conti himself admitted this in an interview with NewsNation: “If there is anyone who deserves the death penalty, it is someone like John Gacy.”
However, Conti also said she does not believe in the death penalty. “I have never done that,” she said. “And I never will.” And for her, that included John Wayne Gacy.
Karen ContiKaren Conti, John Wayne Gacy’s death row lawyer, claims the truth about the number of people Gacy killed is worse than authorities thought.
Conti recently published a book about her time with Gacy entitled Killing time with John Wayne Gacyin which she details her conversations with the notorious killer and provides insight into his psyche. In particular, she talks about the dichotomy between his heinous crimes and his self-presentation.
“Sitting with John Gacy was like sitting with your favorite uncle or a bus driver or someone you knew and saw every day,” she said. “He didn’t seem evil.”
But as Conti can attest, appearances can be deceiving. John Wayne Gacy was responsible for the deaths and brutal torture of at least 33 young men and boys. Worst of all, these 33 victims of John Wayne Gacy may not represent the full extent of his crimes.
Conti recently stated that she was “almost certain” that there were other victims of John Wayne Gacy who had not yet been discovered.
Bettman/Getty ImagesInvestigators in John Wayne Gacy’s house after his arrest.
“I’m almost certain of that,” she said. “Gacy was traveling during his crime spree, traveling to rural areas to do construction work. I’ve actually seen his business records, which were carefully kept. He was away for two or three weeks at a time, in the middle of his crime spree. I just can’t imagine why he would have stopped killing during that time.”
Although Gacy committed most of his crimes in his own home, Conti pointed out that in rural areas it would have been easier for him to “recruit young men and boys, kidnap them and bury the bodies.”
Based on this information and her conversations with the killer, Conti believes there are at least 20 more victims of John Wayne Gacy’s rampage who have not yet been found.
“We didn’t have an integrated database back then, but I guess if a podcaster or an investigator went into those areas and looked at those business records and tried to figure out if people had disappeared, they could see the connections and come to the conclusion that what I’m saying is true,” Conti said.
The “killer clown” may have had help in committing his crimes
Karen Engstrom/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty ImagesInvestigators carry the body of one of John Wayne Gacy’s victims out of his Chicago home. Now his former lawyer claims the truth about the number of people killed by John Wayne Gacy is even more horrific than was thought at the time.
Karen Conti also said that she does not believe that John Wayne Gacy’s victims were his alone and that he had help in some cases. During his murder spree, two men lived with him and had sex with him and, in her opinion, it is likely that they helped him commit his heinous crimes.
“They took money and drugs from him and testified in court that they actually dug the trenches under the house,” Conti said. “It’s impossible to me that they didn’t know what they were doing and why they were doing it. And I just can’t imagine that Gacy, who was very stocky, could actually go down into that crawl space and carry bodies down there and bury them by himself.”
This theory appears to be supported by the testimony of one of John Wayne Gacy’s victims who escaped in 1978, Jeffrey Rignall, who said Gacy was “assisted at one point by an accomplice.” Potential co-conspirators were never mentioned during Gacy’s trial, however, because prosecutors did not want to “taint” the case, Conti said.
NetflixProtesters hold signs calling for the death penalty for John Wayne Gacy.
“I have a strong feeling that these two young men helped procure the young men for Gacy and detain them. They may even have helped commit the crimes. They certainly helped bury the bodies,” she added.
Given the many years that have passed and the difficulty in proving these claims, we will probably never know how many victims John Wayne Gacy actually had, or whether he had help. What can be said for sure is that the people of Chicago were somewhat at ease when John Wayne Gacy was executed in 1994.
After reading this possible news about John Wayne Gacy’s victims, learn more about the lives of Gacy’s children, Christine Gacy and Michael Gacy, and his wife, Carole Hoff.
