80°F
weather icon 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
Lombardo signs Reba’s Law on animal cruelty, rescue

Assembly 381 came from an animal cruelty case that is pending in court. Known as Reba’s Law in honor of an English bulldog that died after being taped into a plastic bin, the bill stiffens animal cruelty penalties and sets guidance for how a bystander can intervene if they see an animal locked in a car during extreme weather.

MORE STORIES