For years, John Wayne Gacy was the kind of man communities trust without question. A local businessman. A political volunteer. A neighbor who hosted parties and shook hands with police officers. Parents let their sons work for him. Politicians posed for photos beside him.

And beneath his house on Summerdale Avenue, dozens of boys and young men were disappearing.

In this episode, we trace Gacy’s life from a violent childhood and early warning signs to the calculated double life that allowed him to murder at least 33 victims while hiding in plain sight. We examine how power, respectability, and institutional failure created the perfect cover — and why so many warning signs were ignored until it was far too late.

This is not the story of a clown costume.

It’s the story of how authority, charm, and silence buried the truth under one ordinary suburban home.

Listener discretion advised.

Sources & Research

• Kolar, John Douglas, The Clown and the Candyman: The Murders of John Wayne Gacy and the Man Who Got Away With It (Dutton, 2021).

• Rule, Ann. Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders (Signet, 1980).

• Sullivan, Kevin. The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer (Doubleday, 1993).

• Illinois Supreme Court Records, People of the State of Illinois v. John Wayne Gacy (1979–1980).

• Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office reports and victim identification records.

• Chicago Tribune archival reporting on the Gacy investigation and trial (1978–1994).

• FBI Behavioral Science Unit commentary on John Wayne Gacy (archival interviews and case analyses).