85°F
weather icon Mostly Clear

Sheriff: DNA identifies John Wayne Gacy victim

CHICAGO -- More than 30 years after finding bones beneath John Wayne Gacy's house, authorities have identified a 19-year-old Chicago construction worker who disappeared in 1976 as one of Gacy's eight unnamed victims.

The announcement by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart on Tuesday came nearly seven weeks after the sheriff's office issued a public plea for families of young men who disappeared in the 1970s to submit DNA samples for comparison with the victims' remains.

William George Bundy's sister always suspected that Gacy killed her brother, and detectives confirmed those suspicions using genetic tests.

Laura O'Leary said revisiting the mystery of her brother's disappearance has been difficult, but identifying his remains brings the family closure.

Gacy, who is remembered as one of history's most bizarre killers largely because of his work as an amateur clown, was convicted of murdering 33 young men, sometimes luring them to his Chicago-area home for sex by impersonating a police officer or promising them construction work.

He stabbed one and strangled the others between 1972 and 1978. Most were buried in a crawl space under his home. Four others were dumped in a river.

Gacy was executed in 1994.

MOST READ
Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
Military parade barrels through DC with tanks, troops and 21-gun salute

At times, President Trump saluted as troops marched past the reviewing stand. But attendance appeared to fall far short of early predictions that as many as 200,000 people would attend the festival and parade.

War rages on in Gaza after Israel opens a new front with Iran

The 20-month war with Hamas has raged on even as Israel has opened a new front with heavy strikes on Iran that sparked retaliatory drone and missile attacks.

Iran launches new retaliatory wave at Israel as conflict widens

Iran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles against Israel following an unprecedented direct attack on its nuclear facilities, ramping up a conflict between sworn enemies that threatens to engulf the Middle East and disrupt global oil supplies.

MORE STORIES