The men — Micheal Rossi, David Cram, and Phillip Paske — were all employees of his company, P.D.M. Contracting and all had keys to Gacy’s suburban home. Gacy employees had a nasty habit of ending up dead: In his crawl space or dumped into the Des Plaines River. The Forensics Library: John Wayne Gacy". aboutforensics.co.uk. June 30, 2012 . Retrieved February 14, 2017. When questioned specifically about Piest, Gacy confessed to luring him to his house and strangling him on December 11. He also admitted to having slept alongside Piest's body that evening, before disposing of the corpse in the Des Plaines River in the early hours of December 13. [168] On his way to the police station, he had been in a minor traffic accident after disposing of Piest. His vehicle had slid off an ice-covered road and had to be towed free. [45] Diagram of Gacy's Norwood Park residence, depicting the dimensions of his crawl space

The victims were too decomposed to be Piest. As the body in the northeast corner was unearthed, a crime scene technician discovered the skull of a second victim alongside this body. Later excavations of the feet of this second victim revealed a further skull beneath the body. [99] Because of this, technicians returned to the trench where the first body was unearthed, discovering the rib cage of a fourth victim, confirming the scale of the murders. [165] Arrest Suspecting Gacy might be holding Piest at his home, Des Plaines police obtained a search warrant on December 13. [139] This search revealed several suspicious items, including several police badges; a starter pistol; a syringe and hypodermic needle; handcuffs; books on homosexuality and pederasty; [140] [141] [142] pornographic films; capsules of amyl nitrite; a dildo; [143] a two-by-four with two holes drilled into each end; bottles of Valium and atropine; several driver's licenses; a blue hooded parka; [139] and underwear too small to fit Gacy. [142] They also found a class ring engraved with the initials J.A.S. [144] and a Nisson Pharmacy photo receipt in a trash can, alongside a 36-inch (91cm) section of nylon rope. [69] SurveillanceBy December 16, Gacy was becoming affable with the surveillance detectives, regularly inviting them to join him for meals in restaurants and occasionally for drinks in bars or at his home. He repeatedly denied involvement with Piest's disappearance and accused the officers of harassing him because of his political connections or his recreational drug use. Knowing these officers were unlikely to arrest him on anything trivial, he taunted them by flouting traffic laws and succeeded in losing his pursuers more than once. [150] That afternoon, Cram consented to a police interview, in which he revealed that, because of his poor timekeeping, Gacy had once given him a watch, explaining he got it "from a dead person". [151] [p] Hillard, Terry G.; Jurkanin, Thomas Joseph (2006). Chicago police: an inside view—the story of superintendent Terry G. Hillard. Charles C Thomas Publisher. ISBN 978-0-398-07611-5. During his incarceration, Gacy rapidly acquired a reputation as a model prisoner. [8] Within months of his arrival, he had risen to the position of head cook. He also joined the inmate Jaycee chapter and increased its membership from 50 to 650 men in less than eighteen months. Gacy secured an increase in the inmates' daily pay in the prison mess hall and supervised several projects to improve conditions for inmates, including the installation of a miniature golf course; [35] [37] [38] he was presented with a distinguished service award for his efforts within the inmate Jaycee chapter in February 1970. [39] This book will appeal to those who remember the Gacy case and would like to know more about the victims. If you are as fascinated by the case as I am, you will want to read Inside the Mind of John Wayne Gacy. NamUs - National Unidentified Persons Data System Case Report - 10998". Archived from the original on March 26, 2016 . Retrieved July 31, 2017.

John Butkovich was labelled as Body 2; he was among the first to be identified, on December 29, 1978. [121] [167] On December 23, investigators returned to unearth the three corpses which had been buried in the same trench as Body 1. [221] Body 3 (John Szyc) was buried in the crawl space directly above Body 4 (Gregory Godzik); both were identified December 29, 1978. [99] [121] Body 5 was buried directly beneath Body 1; [112] this victim was discovered 36 inches (910mm) below the surface of the soil, indicating he was the first to be buried in this common grave. [222]

Gacy later recollected his memories of his final day of freedom as being "hazy", adding he knew his arrest was inevitable and that he intended to visit his friends and say his farewells. After leaving his lawyers' office, Gacy drove to a gas station where he handed a small bag of cannabis to the attendant, who immediately handed the bag to the surveillance officers, adding that Gacy had told him, "The end is coming (for me). These guys are going to kill me." Gacy then drove to the home of a fellow contractor and friend, Ronald Rhode. Gacy hugged Rhode before bursting into tears and saying, "I've been a bad boy. I killed thirty people, give or take a few." [156] Gacy left Rhode and drove to Cram's home to meet with Cram and Rossi. The surveillance officers noted he was holding a rosary to his chin, praying while he drove along the expressway. [162] On February 15, 1983, Henry Brisbon, a fellow death row inmate known as the I-57 killer, stabbed Gacy in the arm with a sharpened wire. He received treatment in the prison hospital. [201] By 1975, Gacy had told his wife that he was bisexual. [48] After the couple had sex on Mother's Day that year, he informed her this would be "the last time" they would do so. [42] He began spending most evenings away from home, only to return in the early morning with the excuse he had been working late, or conducting business meetings. [49] [e] Carole observed Gacy bringing teenage boys into his garage in the early hours and also found gay pornography and men's wallets and identification inside the house. When she confronted Gacy about these items, he informed her angrily that it was none of her business. [41]