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An Illinois sheriff wants to dig up a backyard where serial killer John Wayne Gacy was once spotted at dawn, shovel in hand. Gacy, convicted of 33 murders, was executed in 1994.
An Illinois sheriff hopes to excavate a Cook County backyard in hopes of finding more victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, the Chicago Tribune reported. Gacy, convicted of killing 33 boys and young men and then stuffing them in the crawl space beneath his house, was executed in 1994.
But Anita Alvarez, the state’s attorney for Cook County, has so far denied Sheriff Tom Dart’s request, saying the sheriff does not have enough new information to merit a warrant.
The yard was dug up in 1998 after a retired homicide detective tipped off authorities that he had seen Gacy there one early morning in the 1970s, shovel in hand, the Tribune reported. They chatted briefly, and the detective went on his way. That dig produced a glass marble and flattened sauce pan.
Dart started looking into Gacy last year. He also wants to excavate Gacy’s mother’s yard, and the yard where Gacy once worked as a maintenance man, the Tribune reported.
Last year, his office exhumed bodies of victims and identified one, William George Bundy, who went missing at age 17, the Tribune reported.
Gacy reentered the news again in February, when friends of a Gacy victim announced they believe that he had an accomplice in the murder of their roommate, John Mowery, a 19-year-old former Marine who disappeared on the night of Sept. 25, 1977.
Witnesses suggest John Wayne Gacy had an accomplice
Attorney Robert Stephenson told msnbc.com that he conclusively believes that “this individual was involved as an accomplice at least in this one (murder) and we suspect others as well.”
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Wasn't he Michelle Bachman's idol?
Yikes! Will this Gacy horror story ever end?
But out of respect for all the families out there who have lost a child not yet found-if this new search uncovers a mystery for even ONE family, the Sheriff is correct and doing his job.
No LE officer would pursue a case of this notoriety on rumor or whim; proceeding on less than valid, supportable evidence would surely end a career. And - even if nothing is found - the certainty of faithful, persistent and complete prosecution is the cold chill that, historically, deters most would-be criminals. And, Ms. Alvarez, your objection seems contrary to the purposes of your Office. The killer is gone, but the families of the missing deserve every effort, however "merit"-less you may think it to be.
Good luck, Sheriff Dart, in the search for truth.
May I suggest using ground-penetrating radar before digging up the tulips?
This man Gacy was a monster by any definition of the word. If one of my children was missing and thought to be one of his many victims, I would want to keep looking no matter how long it took. I normally am not for the death penalty, but in this case, I was happy to hear he had fried. Too bad he couldn't have done one decent thing in his life by first telling where his victims were buried.
Wasn't there a story a few months back about a "believed Gacy victim" found alive and well in Florida? The man has been dead for 18 years and the majority of answers went with him to the grave or where ever his remains may be. I would not want my grief and hope re-ignited every time some small bit of information came to light if it were one of my children believed to be a victim.