Who was John Wayne Gacy and how many people did he kill?

CHANNEL 5 is looking into the lies down 1 of the worst serial killers successful American history.

John Wayne Gacy killed and sexually assaulted astatine slightest 33 boys and young men utilizing the guise of a clown earlier helium was yet caught.

Who was John Wayne Gacy?

John was thought to person had rather a mean puerility aft being brought up successful a working-class family, however, his dada was known to beryllium an alcoholic.

Following his childhood, helium joined and had a lad and a daughter.

He often performed arsenic a clown astatine charitable events and children's hospitals arsenic "Pogo the clown oregon "Patches the clown".

He was convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage lad successful 1968, 4 years earlier helium went connected to perpetrate his archetypal murder.

His woman divorced John pursuing his conviction.

Following his merchandise successful 1970, John went connected to go a reasonably palmy autarkic contractor and bought a location successful Chicago.

How galore radical did John Wayne Gacy kill?

John is thought to person killed 33 radical implicit six years.

He claimed his archetypal victim successful 1972, Timothy McCoy, a 16-year-old lad who helium stabbed to decease aft picking him up from a autobus terminal.

It was astatine his Chicago location wherever helium would assertion his victims.

He would instrumentality boys and young men into his location and unreal to execute a magic instrumentality connected them, often successful his clown persona.

After convincing his victims to enactment connected a brace of handcuffs, helium would rape and torture them earlier sidesplitting his captive.

He would past hide galore of his victims nether his house.

The astir caller unfortunate of John to beryllium named is James "Jimmie" Byron Haakenson.

Haakenson had tally distant from his Minnesota location successful 1976 and crossed paths with John successful Chicago.

Jimmie's assemblage was recovered among dozens recovered successful a crawl space of John's Chicago-area location successful 1978.

The remains were lone precocious identified acknowledgment to DNA exertion that wasn't disposable then, the Cook County Sheriff's Department announced.

At the clip of John's arrest, helium had claimed to investigators that the full fig of execution victims could beryllium arsenic precocious arsenic 45.

However, lone 33 victims were ever linked to John. 

Investigators excavated the grounds of his spot until they had exposed the substratum of clay beneath the foundations, uncovering 29 bodies.

How was John Wayne Gacy caught?

Police were investigating the disappearance of teen Robert Piest with John, the past idiosyncratic thought to person been with the 15-year-old.

After securing a hunt warrant to John's home, constabulary discovered the bodies of 29 boys and young men portion 4 different bodies were recovered successful the Des Plaines River.

The odor of the bodies had been gathering up for years but John dismissed the questions by saying it was conscionable a build-up of dampness.

During the trial, John tried to transportation doctors that helium suffered from aggregate property disorder. 

He claimed to person 4 chiseled personalities: a hard-working, civic-minded contractor, a clown, an progressive politician, and a policeman named Jack Hanley, whom helium called "Bad Jack." 

The defence portrayed John arsenic a Jekyll-and-Hyde figure, presenting respective psychiatric experts who had evaluated him. 

Three of these experts testified that John was a paranoid schizophrenic with aggregate personalities. 

However, prosecutors contended that John was afloat sane and successful implicit power of his actions.

Prosecuting lawyer Terry Sullivan stated: "John Gacy has accounted for much quality devastation than galore earthly catastrophes... I tremble erstwhile reasoning astir conscionable however adjacent helium came to getting distant with it all."

John was recovered blameworthy of 33 charges of murder. 

He was besides recovered blameworthy of intersexual battle and taking indecent liberties with a child.

At the time, his condemnation for 33 murders was the astir for which immoderate idiosyncratic successful US past had been convicted.

The inhuman murderer was imprisoned for 14 years, earlier being enactment to decease by lethal injection successful 1994.

Now, 3 experts trained successful exposing the lies down serial killer's nationalist persona analyse the crimes of “The Killer Crown” successful a caller Channel 5 documentary.

Watch The Killer Clown: 33 Murders & Counting connected Channel 5 astatine 10 p.m. connected Sunday, October 27.