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Upon his release, Gacy told friend and fellow Jaycee Clarence Lane—who picked him up from the prison upon release and had remained steadfast in his belief of Gacy's innocence—that he would "never go back to jail" and that he intended to re-establish himself in Waterloo. However, within 24 hours of his release, Gacy relocated to Chicago to live with his mother. He arrived in Chicago on June 19 and shortly thereafter obtained a job as a short-order cook in a restaurant.

Gacy would often proposition his workers for sex, or insist on sexual favors in return for acts such as the loaning of his vehicles, financial assistance, or promotions. He also claimed to own guns, telling employee Arthur Peterson: "Do you know how easy it would be to get one of my guns and kill you — and how easy it would be to get rid of the body?"

Gacy is known to have murdered at least 33 young men and boys, 26 of whom were buried in the crawl space. He typically abducted his victims from Chicago's Greyhound Bus station, Bughouse Square, or simply off the streets. Some victims were grabbed by force, or conned into believing Gacy (who often carried a sheriff's badge and had spotlights on his black Oldsmobile) was a policeman. Other victims were lured to his house with either the promise of a job with PDM, or an offer of drink, drugs, or money for sex. The victims were usually lured alone to his house; although on approximately three occasions, Gacy had what he called "doubles"—two murder victims killed the same evening.

Kozenczak and two other Des Plaines police officers visited Gacy at his home the following evening. Gacy indicated he had seen two youths working at the pharmacy and that he had asked one of them—whom he believed to be Piest—whether any remodeling materials were present in the rear of the store. He was adamant, however, that he had not offered Piest a job, and had only returned to the pharmacy shortly after 8:00 p.m. as he had left his appointment book at the store. Gacy promised to come to the station later that evening to make a statement confirming this, indicating he was unable to do so at that moment as his uncle had just died. When questioned as to how soon he could come to the police station, he responded: "You guys are very rude. Don't you have any respect for the dead?"

In the early morning hours of 22 December and in the presence of his lawyers, Gacy provided a formal statement, in which he confessed to murdering approximately 30 young males—all of whom he claimed had entered his house willingly. Some victims were referred to by name, but most names Gacy claimed not to know or remember. He claimed all were teenage male runaways or male prostitutes, the majority of whom he had buried in his crawl space. One victim hailed from Round Lake; another had been a Michigan native. When shown a driver's license issued to a Robert Hasten which had been found on his property, Gacy claimed not to know this individual, but admitted this license had been in the possession of one of his victims. Gacy claimed to have only dug five of the victims' graves in this location, and had his employees (including Gregory Godzik) dig the remaining trenches so that he would "have graves available". In January 1979, he had planned to further conceal the corpses by covering the entire crawl space with concrete.

Immediately after Cram had completed his testimony, Rossi testified for the state. When asked where he had dug in the crawl space, Rossi turned to a diagram of Gacy's home on display in the courtroom. This diagram showed where the bodies were found in the crawl space and elsewhere on the property. Rossi pointed to the location of the remains of an unidentified victim known as "Body 13". Rossi stated he had refused to dig any other trenches, but—at Gacy's request—had supervised other PDM employees digging trenches in the crawl space.

On March 11, final arguments from both prosecution and defense attorneys began, with the arguments concluding on the following day. Prosecuting attorney Terry Sullivan argued first, outlining Gacy's history of abusing youths, the testimony of his efforts to avoid detection and describing Gacy's surviving victims—Voorhees and Donnelly—as "living dead". Referring to Gacy as the "worst of all murderers", Sullivan stated: "John Gacy has accounted for more human devastation than many earthly catastrophes, but one must tremble. I tremble when thinking about just how close he came to getting away with it all".

In support of these arguments, the defense counsel repeatedly referred to the testimony of the doctors who had appeared for the defense, in addition to the testimony of defense witnesses such as Jeffrey Rignall and Gacy's former business associate Mickel Ried—both of whom had testified to their belief that Gacy had been unable to control his actions. Amirante then urged the jury to put aside any prejudice they held against his client, and requested they deliver a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, adding that Gacy was a danger to both himself and to others, and that studying his behavior would be of benefit to scientific research and that the psychology of his mind should be studied.

In interviews from death row, Gacy stated that at the time of his arrest, three PDM employees were also considered suspects in the disappearances of the missing boys investigators had linked to Gacy—all of whom he stated were in possession of keys to his house. In addition to Cram and Rossi, Gacy named his former employee Philip Paske, a young man who is known to have been a close associate of John Norman. At the time, Norman operated a nationwide sex trafficking ring based in Chicago known as the Delta Project. At least two victims believed to have been murdered by Gacy, Kenneth Parker and Michael Marino, are known to have last been seen alive close to where Norman resided at the time of their disappearance, and Gacy is known to have been aware of Paske's connections. This led to the theory Gacy may have been connected to this trafficking ring.

Disputed DNA and dental tests conducted between 2012 and 2016 indicates that neither body found in the common grave in Gacy's crawl space and identified as those of Kenneth Parker and Michael Marino in 1980 was actually Marino. Marino's mother had always doubted the identification of her son because the clothing found upon Body 14 (dark corduroy trousers, high top athletic shoes and red socks) was inconsistent with what her son had worn when she last saw him. In addition, the dental X-ray conducted upon the victim identified as Michael Marino had revealed the victim had all of his second molars, whereas a dental X-ray conducted upon Marino in March 1976 revealed one molar had not erupted. The original identification of the body identified as Michael Marino has been disputed because neither an upper nor a lower jaw bone was present upon the exhumed body. Nonetheless, the orthodontist who had identified Marino's remains has stated his conviction in the accuracy of his findings, adding he had "compared 32 teeth, probably half a dozen of them had very distinct fillings and every one of them was consistent with Michael Marino".

In March 2012, Cook County Sheriff's officials submitted a request to excavate the grounds of this property. The Cook County State's Attorney denied this request, stating a lack of probable cause as the reason the submission was denied (including the results of a previous 1998 search of the property). However, the sheriff's office had noted that in 1998, a radar survey conducted had noted 14 areas of interest within the property grounds, yet only two of these 14 anomalies had been excavated. Of the 12 remaining anomalies which police had not examined in greater detail on that occasion, four were described as being "staggeringly suggestive" as human skeletons. Moreover, Bill Dorsch had provided police with a letter from the radar company which confirmed the 1998 search of the grounds was incomplete.

A second request to excavate the grounds of West Miami Avenue was submitted to the Cook County State's Attorney by Sheriff Tom Dart in October 2012. This request was granted in January 2013, and a search of the property was conducted in the spring. Both FBI sniffer dogs and ground-penetrating radar equipment were used in the second search of West Miami Avenue; however, the search yielded no human remains.

Gacy also claimed that he was not present in Chicago when 16 of the identified victims had disappeared. In 2012, two Chicago lawyers claimed travel records show that Gacy had been in another state at the time of three of the murders, implying he was assisted by one or more accomplices. For example, Gacy had flown to Pittsburgh three days before the disappearance of Robert Gilroy, and only returned to Chicago the day after the youth disappeared.

In October 2011, Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart announced that investigators, having obtained full DNA profiles from each of the unidentified victims, were to renew their efforts to identify all of them. At a press conference held to announce this intention, Sheriff Dart stated investigators are actively seeking DNA samples from individuals across the United States related to any male missing between 1970 and 1979.

After Gacy's final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied in October 1993, the Illinois Supreme Court formally set an execution date for May 10, 1994.

On the morning of May 9, 1994, Gacy was transferred from the Menard Correctional Center to Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill to be executed. That afternoon, he was allowed a private picnic on the prison grounds with his family. For his last meal, Gacy ordered a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, a dozen fried shrimp, french fries, fresh strawberries, and a Diet Coke. That evening, he observed prayer with a Catholic priest before being escorted to the Stateville execution chamber to receive a lethal injection.

After Gacy's death was confirmed at 12:58 a.m. on May 10, 1994, his brain was removed. It is in the possession of Helen Morrison, a witness for the defense at Gacy's trial, who has interviewed Gacy and other serial killers in an attempt to isolate common personality traits of violent sociopaths. His body was cremated after the execution.

In the months following Gacy's execution, many of his paintings were auctioned. Some were bought so that they could be destroyed in a June 1994 communal bonfire held in Naperville, Illinois and attended by approximately 300 people, including family members of nine of Gacy's victims.

The 1985 decision that he be executed was again appealed by Gacy, although his conviction was again upheld on September 29, 1988, with the Illinois Supreme Court setting a renewed execution date of January 11, 1989.

In May 1986, the ninth victim exhumed from Gacy's property was identified as Timothy Jack McCoy, Gacy's first victim. Dental records and a distinctive belt buckle assisted this identification.

In mid-1984, the Supreme Court of Illinois upheld Gacy's conviction and ordered that he be executed by lethal injection on November 14. Gacy filed an appeal against this decision, which was denied by the Supreme Court of the United States on March 4, 1985. The following year, Gacy filed a further post-conviction petition, seeking a new trial. His then-defense lawyer, Richard Kling, argued that Gacy had been provided with ineffective legal counsel at his 1980 trial. This post-conviction petition was dismissed on September 11, 1986.

Isolated in his prison cell, Gacy began to paint. The subjects he chose were varied, from birds to skulls, even other murderers. Many were of clowns, including himself as Pogo or Patches. His "Hi Ho" series includes scenes from the Seven Dwarfs. Although Gacy was permitted to earn money from the sale of his paintings until 1985, he claimed his artwork was intended "to bring joy into people's lives".

In 1984, Sam Amirante, one of Gacy's two defense attorneys at his 1980 trial, authored procedures that were incorporated by the Illinois General Assembly into the Missing Child Recovery Act of 1984. Amirante has since stated that the primary inspiration for this legislation was the fact that at the time of the Gacy murders, there had been a 72-hour period which police in Illinois had to allow to elapse before initiating a search for a missing child or adolescent.

The Illinois Missing Child Recovery Act of 1984 removed the 72-hour waiting period. Other states across America subsequently adopted similar procedures and sensibilities, as a result of which a national network aimed at locating missing children was gradually formed. This national network has since developed into the Child Abduction Emergency—commonly known today as an Amber Alert.

On February 15, 1983, Gacy was stabbed in the arm by Henry Brisbon, a fellow death row inmate known as the I-57 killer. At the time of this attack, Gacy had been participating in a voluntary work program when Brisbon ran towards him and stabbed him once in the upper arm with a sharpened wire. A second death row inmate injured in the attack, William Jones, received a superficial stab wound to the head. Both received treatment in the prison hospital for their wounds.

The conviction for 33 murders was the largest number charged to one individual in United States. Gacy was sentenced to death on March 13, 1980. On death row at Menard Correctional Center he spent much of his time painting. He was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center on May 10, 1994.

Gacy was brought to trial on February 6, 1980, charged with 33 murders. He was tried in Cook County, Illinois, before Judge Louis Garippo; the jury was selected from Rockford because of significant press coverage in Cook County.

In the sentencing phase of the trial, the jury deliberated for more than two hours before sentencing Gacy to death for each murder committed after the Illinois statute on capital punishment came into effect in June 1977. Execution was initially set for June 2, 1980.

In March 1980, Bodies 14 and 15 were identified via dental and radiology records as those Michael Marino and Kenneth Parker. Their identities were confirmed too late to include among the identified victims at Gacy's trial.

In the 1980s, he also informed Robert Ressler that "two or three" PDM employees had assisted in several murders. Ressler replied that he believed there were unexplained avenues to the case and stated his belief that Gacy had killed more than 33 victims. Gacy neither confirmed nor denied Ressler's suspicions.

Operations were suspended due to the Chicago Blizzard of 1979, but resumed in March despite Gacy's insistence that all the buried victims had been found. On March 9, Body 28 was found wrapped within several plastic bags and buried beneath the patio approximately 15 feet (4.6 m) from the barbecue pit in Gacy's backyard. On March 16, Body 29 was found beneath the dining room floor.

Stein concluded 12 victims recovered from Gacy's property died not of strangulation, but of asphyxiation. Gacy's vacant house was demolished in April 1979.

The victim found 6 miles (10 km) downstream from the I-55 bridge on June 30 was not initially connected to Gacy. In January 1979, this victim was identified via fingerprint records and a distinctive tattoo upon his left biceps reading "Tim Lee" (a homage to Bruce Lee) as Timothy O'Rourke. An autopsy was unable to discount strangulation as the cause of death. This victim was numbered 31. Following Gacy's arrest, investigators discovered he was a further victim.

On April 9, 1979, a decomposed body was discovered entangled in exposed roots on the edge of the Des Plaines River in Grundy County. The body was identified via dental records as being that of Robert Piest. A subsequent autopsy revealed that three wads of "paper-like material" had been shoved down his throat while he was still alive, causing him to die of suffocation.

The sixth victim exhumed from Gacy's property was identified via dental records as Samuel Stapleton on November 14, 1979. On November 16, Body 17 was identified as David Talsma via comparison of radiology records of a healed fracture of the left scapula. Two days later, the final victim recovered from Gacy's property, Body 29, was identified as Darrell Samson.

Gacy was convicted of the sodomy of a teenage boy in Iowa in 1968 and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, but served only 18 months. He first murdered in 1972, and at least 29 subsequent victims were killed after he divorced his second wife in 1976. The investigation into the disappearance of Des Plaines teenager Robert Piest led to Gacy's arrest on December 21, 1978.

In 1975, Gacy was appointed director of Chicago's annual Polish Constitution Day Parade—he supervised the annual event from 1975 until 1978. Through his work with the parade, Gacy met and was photographed with First Lady Rosalynn Carter on May 6, 1978. She signed one photo: "To John Gacy. Best wishes. Rosalynn Carter". The event later became an embarrassment to the United States Secret Service, as in the pictures taken, Gacy can be seen wearing an "S" pin, indicating a person who has been given special clearance by the Secret Service.

Donnelly reported the assault and Gacy was questioned by police on January 6, 1978. Gacy admitted to having had "slave-sex" with Donnelly, but insisted everything was consensual, adding that he "didn't pay the kid" the money he had promised him. The police believed him and no charges were filed. The following month, Gacy killed 19-year-old William Kindred, who disappeared on February 16 after telling his fiancée, who knew Gacy, that he was to spend the evening in a bar. Kindred was the final victim to be buried in Gacy's crawl space.

By 1978, the crawl space could store no further bodies. Gacy later confessed to police that he initially considered stowing bodies in his attic, but had been worried of complications arising from "excessive leakage". Therefore, he chose to dispose of his victims off the I-55 bridge into the Des Plaines River. Gacy stated he had thrown five bodies into a river in 1978, one of which he believed had landed upon a passing barge. Only four of these five bodies were ever found.

On the afternoon of December 11, 1978, Gacy visited the Nisson Pharmacy in Des Plaines to discuss a potential remodeling deal with the store owner, Phil Torf. While Gacy was within earshot of 15-year-old, part-time employee Robert Piest, he mentioned that his firm often hired teenage boys at a starting wage of $5 per hour—almost double the pay Piest earned at the pharmacy.

Jeffrey Rignall testified on behalf of the defense on February 21. Recounting his ordeal, Rignall wept repeatedly while describing Gacy's torture of him in March 1978. Asked whether Gacy appreciated the criminality of his actions, Rignall said he believed that Gacy was unable to conform his actions to the law's expectations because of the "beastly and animalistic ways he attacked me". During specific cross-examination relating to the torture, Rignall vomited and was excused from further testimony.

After his incarceration, Gacy read numerous law books and filed voluminous motions and appeals, although he did not prevail in any. Gacy's appeals related to issues such as the validity of the first search warrant granted to Des Plaines police on December 13, 1978, and his objection to his lawyers' insanity plea defense at his trial. Gacy also contended that, although he held "some knowledge" of five of the murders (those of McCoy, Butkovich, Godzik, Szyc and Piest), the other 28 murders had been committed by employees who were in possession of keys to his house while he was away on business trips.

The first victims to be identified were John Butkovich (Body 2), John Szyc (Body 3), and Gregory Godzik (Body 4). Their identities were confirmed via dental records on December 29, 1978. The thirty-third victim linked to Gacy, James Mazzara, was identified the following day. The twenty-third victim exhumed from Gacy's property was identified as Rick Johnston on January 1.

Gacy stated that after he had assaulted and then released Jeffrey Rignall in March 1978, he had begun to throw his murder victims into the Des Plaines River. He confessed to having disposed of five bodies in this manner. However, only four bodies recovered from the Des Plaines River were linked to Gacy.

On May 23, 1978, 25-year-old Charles Hattula was found drowned in a river near Freeport, Illinois. Hattula had been missing since May 13. He was an employee of PDM and had been linked to the initial investigation of Gacy after Michael Rossi informed investigators of both Godzik's disappearance and Hattula's death. Moreover, Rossi had stated that Hattula was known to have conflicts with Gacy, and when Hattula had "failed to show up at work", Gacy had informed him and several other employees Hattula had drowned. Hattula's body was later recovered from the Pecatonica River. Des Plaines authorities had contacted colleagues in Freeport during their investigation into Gacy, but were told Hattula had fallen to his death from a bridge. At the time of Hattula's death, Gacy's crawl space could store no further bodies, which leaves a possibility Gacy had disposed of Hattula's body in the Pecatonica River as opposed to burying the man in his crawl space. However, Hattula's death has been officially ruled as asphyxia by drowning.

Jeffrey Rignall, who had been assaulted and tortured by Gacy in March 1978, was adamant that at one point during his abuse and torture, a young man with brown hair, kneeling before him, watched his abuse. Rignall also said that as Gacy was assaulting him he saw a light switch on in another part of the house.

On January 20, 1977, John Szyc, a 19-year-old acquaintance of Butkovich, Godzik, and Gacy, disappeared. Szyc was lured to Gacy's house on the pretext of selling his Plymouth Satellite to Gacy, who later sold Szyc's car to Michael Rossi for $300. Szyc had recently purchased new license plates for his car and his final paycheck remained with his employer.

Gacy murdered one further unidentified youth and buried him in the crawl space in the spring or early summer of 1977, although the timing of this murder is inconclusive. On July 5, Gacy killed a 19-year-old from Crystal Lake named Matthew Bowman. Bowman was last seen by his mother at a suburban train station.

By the end of 1977, Gacy is also known to have murdered an additional six young men between the ages of 16 and 21. The first of these six victims was 18-year-old Robert Gilroy, the son of a Chicago police sergeant, who was last seen alive on September 15. Gilroy lived just four blocks from Gacy. He was murdered and buried in the crawl space. On September 12, Gacy had flown to Pittsburgh to supervise a remodeling project and did not return to Chicago until September 16. As Gacy is known to have been in another state at the time Gilroy was last seen, this is cited to support Gacy's claim of being assisted by one or more accomplices in several homicides. Ten days after Gilroy was last seen, 19-year-old former U.S. Marine John Mowery disappeared after leaving his mother's house to walk to his apartment. Mowery was strangled and buried beneath Gacy's master bedroom.

The same evening, Michael Rossi was interviewed a second time: on this occasion, Rossi was more cooperative, informing detectives that in the summer of 1977, Gacy had had him spread ten bags of lime in the crawl space of the house.

The prosecutors presented a case that indicated Gacy was sane and fully in control of his actions. To support this contention, they produced several witnesses to testify to the premeditation of Gacy's actions and the efforts he went to in order to escape detection. Those doctors refuted the defense doctors' claims of multiple personality and insanity. Cram and Rossi both confessed that Gacy had made them dig trenches and spread bags of lime in his crawl space. Both testified that Gacy periodically looked into the crawl space to ensure they and other employees ordered to dig these trenches did not deviate from the precise locations he had marked. Cram testified that in August 1977, Gacy had marked a location in the crawl space with sticks and told him to dig drainage trenches "a couple of feet wide and knee high" in order that a plumber could install piping.

Robert Donnelly testified the week after Voorhees, recounting his ordeal at Gacy's hands in December 1977. Donnelly was visibly distressed as he recollected the abuse he endured and came close to breaking down on several occasions. As Donnelly testified, Gacy repeatedly laughed at him, but Donnelly finished his testimony. During Donnelly's cross-examination, one of Gacy's defense attorneys, Robert Motta, attempted to discredit his testimony, but Donnelly did not waver from his testimony of what had occurred.

Body 5 is a man with brown hair, approximately 5 ft 9 in (180 cm) in height, and estimated have been between 22 and 32 years old. An inscription upon a leather key fob found with his body suggests his first name may have been Greg or Gregory. This victim was almost certainly murdered between December 1976 and March 15, 1977.

Investigators also note that Robert Young, the traveling companion with whom victim Russell Nelson was visiting Chicago at the time of his October 1977 disappearance, gave differing accounts of Nelson disappearance to both Nelson's family and investigators. To Nelson's family, Young had stated Nelson failed to arrive at a bar at a prearranged time; to investigators, Young claimed he had last seen Nelson standing among a crowd who had gathered outside a Chicago bar and when his attention was diverted for a few moments, Nelson simply disappeared. Investigators contend this could not have happened without his traveling companion noticing.

In a third case, travel records indicate Gacy was at a scheduled job site in Michigan at 6:00 a.m. on September 26, 1977—the day following the disappearance of 19-year-old John Mowery, who was last seen leaving his mother's house at 10:00 p.m. on September 25. Mowery's roommate was a PDM employee who had formerly lived with Gacy and had moved into Mowery's apartment less than one week before Mowery's disappearance. Two witnesses have stated that this roommate had recommended to Mowery that he meet "a man who is going out of town" two days before Mowery disappeared.

On July 26, 1976, Gacy picked up 18-year-old David Cram as the teenager hitchhiked on Elston Avenue. Gacy offered Cram a job with PDM, and Cram began working for his firm the same evening. On August 21, Cram moved into his house. The following day, Gacy—dressed as Pogo the Clown—conned Cram into donning handcuffs while Cram was drunk. Gacy swung Cram around while holding the chain linking the cuffs, then said he intended to rape him. Cram kicked Gacy in the face and freed himself from the handcuffs. One month later, Gacy appeared at Cram's bedroom door with the intention to rape him, saying: "Dave, you really don't know who I am. Maybe it would be good if you give me what I want". Cram resisted, straddling Gacy, who left the bedroom, stating, "You ain't no fun". Shortly thereafter, Cram moved out and left PDM, although he did periodically work for Gacy over the following two years.

Shortly after Cram moved out of Gacy's house another employee, 18-year-old Michael Rossi, moved in. Rossi had worked for PDM Contractors since May 1976. He lived with Gacy until April 1977.

Although Gacy remained gregarious and civic-minded, several neighbors noticed erratic changes in his behavior after his 1976 divorce. This included keeping company with young males, hearing his car arrive or depart in the early hours of the morning, or seeing lights in his home switch on and off in the early hours. One neighbor later recollected that, for several years, she and her son had repeatedly been awoken by the sounds of muffled high-pitched screaming, shouting, and crying in the early morning hours, which she and her son identified as emanating from a house adjacent to theirs on Summerdale Avenue.

One month after his divorce was finalized, Gacy abducted and murdered 18-year-old Darrell Samson. Samson was last seen alive in Chicago on April 6, 1976. He was buried under the dining room, with a section of cloth lodged in his throat. Five weeks later, on the afternoon of May 14, 15-year-old Randall Reffett disappeared while walking home from Senn High School. Reffett died of asphyxiation; his body was buried in the crawl space. Hours after Reffett had been abducted, 14-year-old Samuel Stapleton vanished as he walked to his home from his sister's apartment. Investigators later stated they believed both victims were murdered the same evening.

On June 3, Gacy killed a 17-year-old Lakeview teenager named Michael Bonnin. He disappeared while traveling from Chicago to Waukegan, and was strangled with a ligature and buried beneath Gacy's spare bedroom. Ten days later, a 16-year-old Uptown youth named William Carroll was murdered and buried in a common grave in the crawl space. Carroll seems to have been the first of four males known to have been murdered between June 13 and August 6, 1976. Three were between 16 and 17 years old, and one unidentified murder victim appears to have been an adult.

Two further unidentified males are estimated to have been killed by Gacy between August and October 1976. On October 24, 1976, Gacy abducted and killed teenage friends Kenneth Parker and Michael Marino: the two were last seen outside a restaurant on Clark Street. Two days later, a 19-year-old construction employee, William Bundy, disappeared after informing his family he was to attend a party. Bundy died of suffocation. His body was buried beneath Gacy's master bedroom. Apparently he had worked for Gacy.

In December 1976, another PDM employee, 17-year-old Gregory Godzik, disappeared: he was last seen by his girlfriend outside her house after he had driven her home following a date. Godzik had worked for PDM for only three weeks before he disappeared. He had informed his family that Gacy had had him "dig trenches for some kind of (drain) tiles" in his crawl space. Godzik's car was later found abandoned in Niles. His parents and older sister, Eugenia, contacted Gacy about Greg's disappearance. Gacy claimed to the family that Greg had run away from home, having indicated to Gacy before his disappearance that he wished to do so. Gacy also claimed to have received an answering machine message from Godzik shortly after he had disappeared. When asked if he could play back the message to Godzik's parents, Gacy stated that he had erased it.

Between December 1976 and March 1977, Gacy is known to have killed an unidentified adult man. 20-year-old Michigan native Jon Prestidge was visiting friends in Chicago when he disappeared on March 15. Shortly before his disappearance, Prestidge mentioned to acquaintances he had obtained work with a local contractor. No cause of death could be determined for Prestidge. He was buried in the northeast section of the crawl space.

Cram informed investigators of Gacy's attempts to rape him in 1976 and stated that after he and Gacy had returned to his home after the December 13 search of his property, Gacy had turned pale upon noting a clot of mud on his carpet which he suspected had come from his crawl space. Cram then stated Gacy had grabbed a flashlight and immediately entered the crawl space to look for evidence of digging. When asked whether he had been to the crawl space, Cram replied he had once been asked by Gacy to spread lime down there and had also dug trenches upon Gacy's behest with the explanation they were for drainage pipes. Cram stated these trenches were 2 feet (0.61 m) wide, 6 feet (1.8 m) long and 2 feet (0.61 m) deep—the size of graves.

Body 26 was a man with medium dark brown hair estimated to have been aged between 23 and 30 years old and between 5 ft 1 in and 5 ft 6 in (150 and 170 cm) in height. This man had two missing upper front teeth at the time of his disappearance, leading investigators to believe this particular victim most likely wore a denture. This victim was almost certainly murdered between June 13 and August 5, 1976.

Body 13 was a man likely to have been murdered between August and October 1976. This victim was between 5 ft 9 in and 6 ft 2 in (180 and 190 cm) in height. He had long, dark brown, wavy hair and was between 18 and 22 years old. This victim is known to have suffered from an abscessed tooth. While Rossi also claimed to dig this grave in 1977, Cram claimed Gacy had him dig a trench in the southwest corner of the crawl space where Body 13 was recovered before he left Gacy's residence on October 5, 1976. In 2018, an updated facial reconstruction was made.

Body 21 is estimated to have been aged between 15 and 24 years old and between 5 ft 8 in and 6 ft (170 and 180 cm) in height. He had light brown hair. This victim was buried directly above the body of William Carroll, indicating his murder had occurred on or after June 13, 1976. As David Cram did not live with Gacy until August 21, 1976, a possible date for this murder is between August 6 and 20, 1976, although investigators have not discounted the possibility this victim may have been murdered later in 1976.

Body 10 was aged between 17 and 21 years old, between 5 ft 7 in and 5 ft 11 in (170 and 180 cm), and had suffered a fractured left collarbone months or years before his disappearance. The two victims murdered on the same day in May 1976 were buried alongside this victim, yet sequential burial patterns of three victims murdered in 1977 leave an equal possibility he may have been murdered in the spring or summer of 1977. Statements made by Gacy following his arrest leave a possibility this unidentified victim may have been murdered as early as 1974. In 2018, an updated facial reconstruction was made.

By 1975, PDM was expanding rapidly and Gacy was working up to 16 hours per day. In March 1977, he became a supervisor for PE Systems, a firm specializing in the remodeling of drugstores. Between PE Systems and PDM, Gacy worked on up to four projects at once and frequently traveled to other states. By 1978, PDM's annual revenue was over $200,000. Much of the labor workforce of PDM consisted of high school students and young men.

In May 1975, Gacy hired 15-year-old Anthony Antonucci. In July 1975, Gacy went to Antonucci's home. The two drank a bottle of wine, then watched a heterosexual stag film before Gacy wrestled Antonucci to the floor and cuffed his hands behind his back. One cuff was loose and Antonucci freed his arm while Gacy was out of the room. When Gacy returned, Antonucci—a high school wrestler—pounced upon him. He wrestled Gacy to the floor, obtained possession of the handcuff key and cuffed Gacy's hands behind his back. Gacy at first threatened Antonucci, then calmed down and promised to leave if Antonucci would remove the handcuffs. Antonucci agreed and Gacy left. Antonucci later recalled that Gacy told him: "Not only are you the only one who got out of the cuffs, you got them on me".

Through his membership in a local Moose Club, Gacy became aware of a "Jolly Joker" clown club, whose members regularly performed at fundraising events and parades in addition to voluntarily entertaining hospitalized children. In late 1975, Gacy joined the Jolly Jokers and created his own performance characters: "Pogo the Clown" and "Patches the Clown". He performed as Pogo at numerous local parties, political functions, charitable events, and children's hospitals. Patches was used at the grand opening of stores of his PDM clients. Gacy designed his own clowning costumes and taught himself how to apply clown makeup. For these reasons, Gacy is known as the "Killer Clown".

By 1975, Gacy had told his wife that he was bisexual. After the couple had sex on Mother's Day that year, he informed her this would be "the last time" they would ever have sex. He began spending most evenings away from home only to return in the early hours of the morning with the excuse he had been working late. His wife observed Gacy bringing teenage boys into his garage and also found gay pornography and men's wallets and identification cards inside the house. When she once confronted Gacy about who these items belonged to, he angrily informed her the property was none of her business.

Following a heated argument regarding her failing to balance a checkbook correctly in October 1975, Carole Gacy asked her husband for a divorce. Gacy agreed to his wife's request although, by mutual consent, Carole continued to live at 8213 West Summerdale until February 1976, when she and her daughters moved into their own apartment. One month later, on March 2, the Gacys' divorce—decreed upon the false grounds of Gacy's infidelity with women—was finalized.

One week after the attempted assault of Antonucci, on July 31, 1975, another of Gacy's employees, an 18-year-old from Lombard, John Butkovich, disappeared. Butkovich's car was found parked near the corner of Sheridan and Lawrence with his jacket and wallet inside and the keys still in the ignition.

In addition to being the year of his business expanding, Gacy freely admitted 1975 was also when he began to increase the frequency of his excursions for sex with young males. He often referred to these jaunts as "cruising". Gacy committed most of his murders between 1976 and 1978, as he largely lived alone following his divorce. He later referred to these as his "cruising years".

In the northwest bedroom, investigators found a Maine West High School ring, but the ring was not Piest's. This ring was a class of 1975 ring engraved with the initials J.A.S. A photo receipt from Nisson Pharmacy was also recovered from a trash can, alongside a section of nylon rope measuring thirty-six inches.

Gacy's second murder victim, Body 28, is believed to have been an unidentified teenager with brown hair, approximately 5 ft 9 in (180 cm) in height, and estimated to be aged between 14 and 18. This victim was buried near Gacy's barbecue pit, possibly in 1975. He wore a silver ring on the fourth finger of his left hand, indicating the possibility he had been married.

Gacy later stated the second time he committed murder was around January 1974. This victim is still unidentified. Gacy strangled this victim before stowing his body in his closet prior to burial. He later stated that bodily fluids leaked from the mouth and nose of this victim while stored in his closet, staining his carpet. As a result, Gacy regularly stuffed cloth rags, or the underwear of subsequent victims, in their mouths to prevent this leakage from recurring.

In 1973, Gacy and a teenage employee of PDM traveled to Florida to view property Gacy had purchased. On the first night in Florida, Gacy raped the employee in their hotel room. After returning to Chicago, he drove to Gacy's house and beat him in his yard. Gacy told his wife he had been attacked for refusing to pay the employee for poor-quality work.

In August 1971, shortly after Gacy and his mother moved into the house, he became engaged to Carole Hoff, a divorcee with two young daughters. Hoff, whom he had briefly dated in high school, had been a friend of his younger sister. His fiancée and stepdaughters moved into his home soon after the couple announced their engagement. Gacy's mother subsequently moved out of the house shortly before his wedding, which was held on July 1, 1972.

Gacy's first known murder occurred on January 2, 1972. According to Gacy's later account, following a family party, he decided to drive to the Civic Center in the Loop to view a display of ice sculptures before luring a 16-year-old named Timothy Jack McCoy from Chicago's Greyhound bus terminal into his car. McCoy was traveling from Michigan to Omaha. Gacy took McCoy on a sightseeing tour of Chicago, and then drove him to his home with the promise that he could spend the night and be driven back to the station in time to catch his bus. Prior to McCoy's identification, he was known simply as the "Greyhound Bus Boy".

Test results thus far conducted have confirmed the identification of two victims, ruled out the possibility of numerous other missing youths as being victims of Gacy, and solved four unrelated cold cases dating between 1972 and 1979. In November 2011, the victim previously known as Body 19 was identified through DNA testing as William Bundy, who may have worked for Gacy. Shortly after Gacy's arrest, Bundy's family had contacted his dentist in the hope of submitting his dental records for comparison with the unidentified bodies. However, the records had been destroyed after the dentist had retired. The most recent victim to be identified is 16-year-old James Haakenson, who was identified in July 2017 using DNA testing. He was the twenty-fourth victim exhumed from beneath Gacy's property.

On February 12, 1971, Gacy was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy who claimed that Gacy had lured him into his car at Chicago's Greyhound bus terminal and driven him to his home, where he had attempted to force the boy into sex. This complaint was dismissed when the boy failed to appear in court. The Iowa Board of Parole did not learn of this incident (which violated the conditions of his parole) and eight months later, in October 1971, Gacy's parole ended. The following month, records of Gacy's previous criminal convictions in Iowa were sealed.

In 1971, Gacy established a part-time construction business, PDM Contractors (PDM being the initials for 'Painting, Decorating, and Maintenance'). With the approval of his probation officer, he was allowed to work evenings to commit to his employment contracts while working as a cook during the day. The business initially undertook minor repair work, such as sign-writing, pouring concrete and redecorating, but later expanded to include projects such as interior design, remodeling, installation, assembly and landscaping. In mid-1973, Gacy quit his job as a cook so he could fully commit to his construction business.

Gacy was granted parole with 12 months' probation on June 18, 1970, after serving 18 months of his 10-year sentence. Two of the conditions of his probation were for Gacy to relocate to Chicago to live with his mother and to observe a 10:00 p.m. curfew, with the Iowa Board of Parole receiving regular updates as to his progress.

In June 1969, Gacy first applied to the State of Iowa Board of Parole for early release: this application was denied. In preparation for a second scheduled parole hearing in May 1970, Gacy completed 16 high school courses, for which he obtained his diploma in November 1969.

On Christmas Day 1969, Gacy's father died from cirrhosis of the liver. When told the news, Gacy collapsed to the floor sobbing. His request for supervised compassionate leave to attend the funeral was denied.

In March 1968, Voorhees reported to his father that Gacy had sexually assaulted him. Voorhees Sr. immediately informed the police and Gacy was arrested and subsequently charged with oral sodomy in relation to Voorhees and the attempted assault of 16-year-old Edward Lynch. Gacy vehemently denied the charges and demanded to take a polygraph test. This request was granted, although the results indicated Gacy was nervous when he denied any wrongdoing in relation to either Voorhees or Lynch.

Gacy publicly denied any wrongdoing and insisted the charges against him were politically motivated – Voorhees Sr. had opposed Gacy's nomination for appointment as president of the Iowa Jaycees. Several fellow Jaycees found Gacy's story credible and rallied to his support. However, on May 10, 1968, Gacy was indicted on the sodomy charge.

Section of report detailing Gacy's 1968 psychiatric evaluation.

On August 30, 1968, Gacy persuaded one of his employees, 18-year-old Russell Schroeder, to physically assault Voorhees in an effort to discourage the boy from testifying against him. Gacy promised to pay Schroeder $300 to lure Voorhees to a secluded spot, spray Mace in his face, and beat him. Schroeder agreed, and in early September, he lured Voorhees to an isolated country park, sprayed Mace into the youth's eyes, then beat him.

On November 7, 1968 Gacy pled guilty to one count of sodomy in relation to Voorhees, but not guilty to the charges related to other youths. Gacy claimed Voorhees had offered his sexual services to him and that he had acted out of curiosity. His story was not believed. Gacy was convicted of sodomy on December 3 and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, to be served at the Anamosa State Penitentiary. That same day, his wife petitioned for divorce, requesting award of the couple's home and property, sole custody of their two children, and alimony. The Court ruled in her favor and the divorce was finalized on September 18, 1969. Gacy never saw his first wife or children again.

On the morning of March 12, William Kunkle continued to argue for the prosecution. Kunkle referred to the defense's contention of insanity as "a sham", arguing that the facts of the case demonstrated Gacy's ability to think logically and control his actions. Kunkle also referred to the testimony of a doctor who had examined Gacy in 1968. This doctor had diagnosed Gacy as an antisocial personality, capable of committing crimes without remorse. Kunkle indicated that had the recommendations of this doctor been heeded, Gacy would have not been freed.

In Waterloo, Gacy joined the local chapter of the Jaycees, regularly offering extended hours to the organization in addition to the 12- and 14-hour days he worked managing three restaurants. Although considered ambitious and something of a braggart by other Jaycees, he was highly regarded for his fund-raising work. In 1967 he was named "outstanding vice-president" of the Waterloo Jaycees. At Jaycee meetings Gacy often provided fried chicken and insisted on being called "Colonel" (for Colonel Sanders). The same year, Gacy served on the Board of Directors for the Waterloo Jaycees. Many Jaycees in Waterloo were involved in wife swapping, prostitution, pornography, and drug use; Gacy was deeply involved in many of these activities and regularly had sex with local prostitutes.

In August 1967, Gacy committed his first known sexual assault upon a teenage boy. The victim was 15-year-old Donald Voorhees, the son of a fellow Jaycee. Gacy lured Voorhees to his house with the promise of showing him pornographic films. Gacy plied Voorhees with alcohol and persuaded Voorhees to perform oral sex upon him. Over the following months, several other youths were sexually abused in a similar manner, including one whom Gacy encouraged to have sex with his own wife before blackmailing him into performing oral sex upon him. Gacy tricked several teenagers into believing he was commissioned with conducting homosexual experiments in the interests of "scientific research", for which each was paid up to $50.

On February 29, Donald Voorhees, whom Gacy had sexually assaulted in 1967, testified to his ordeal at Gacy's hands and Gacy's attempts to dissuade him from testifying by paying another youth to spray Mace in his face and beat him. Voorhees felt unable to testify, but did briefly attempt to do so, before being asked to step down.

Gacy's wife gave birth to a son in February 1966 and a daughter in March 1967. Gacy himself later described this period of his life as "perfect" – he had earned his father's approval, which he had long sought. When Gacy's parents visited in July 1966, his father apologized for the abuse he had inflicted during Gacy's childhood, and said: "Son, I was wrong about you".

During his courtship with Marlynn, Gacy joined the local Jaycees and became a tireless worker for the organization, being named Key Man for the organization in April 1964. The same year, Gacy had his second homosexual experience. According to Gacy, he acquiesced to this incident after one of his colleagues in the Springfield Jaycees plied him with drinks and invited him to spend the evening upon his sofa; the colleague then performed oral sex upon him while he was drunk. By 1965, Gacy had risen to the position of vice-president of the Springfield Jaycees. The same year, he was named as the third most outstanding Jaycee within the state of Illinois.

After a six-month courtship, Gacy and Myers married in September 1964. Marlynn's father subsequently purchased three Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Waterloo, Iowa, and the couple moved to Waterloo so he could manage the restaurants, with the understanding that they would move into Marlynn's parents' home (which was vacated for the couple). The offer was lucrative: Gacy would receive $15,000 per year (the equivalent of $115,513 as of 2020), plus a share of profits earned via the restaurants.

Upon his return, despite the fact he had failed to graduate from high school, Gacy successfully enrolled in the Northwestern Business College, from which he graduated in 1963. Gacy subsequently took a management trainee position within the Nunn-Bush Shoe Company. In 1964, the shoe company transferred Gacy to Springfield to work as a salesman. He was eventually promoted to manager of his department. In March of that year, he became engaged to Marlynn Myers, a co-worker in the department he managed.

The same year Gacy became a Democratic candidate, his father bought him a car, with the title of the vehicle being in his father's name until Gacy had completed the monthly repayments. These repayments took several years to complete, and his father would confiscate the keys to the vehicle if Gacy did not do as his father said. On one occasion in 1962, Gacy bought an extra set of keys after his father confiscated the original set. In response, his father removed the distributor cap from the vehicle, withholding the component for three days. Gacy recalled that as a result of this incident, he felt "totally sick; drained".

In 1960, at the age of 18, Gacy became involved in politics, working as an assistant precinct captain for a Democratic Party candidate in his neighborhood. This decision earned more criticism from his father, who accused his son of being a "patsy". Gacy later speculated the decision may have been an attempt to seek the acceptance from others that he never received from his father.

Because of a heart condition, Gacy was ordered to avoid all sports at school. During the fourth grade, Gacy began to experience blackouts. He was occasionally hospitalized because of these seizures, and also in 1957 for a burst appendix. Gacy later estimated that between the ages of 14 and 18, he had spent almost a year in the hospital for these episodes, and attributed the decline of his grades to his missing school. His father suspected the episodes were an effort to gain sympathy and attention, and openly accused his son of faking the condition as the boy lay in a hospital bed. Although his mother, sisters, and few close friends never doubted his illness, Gacy's medical condition was never conclusively diagnosed.

One of Gacy's friends at high school recalled several instances in which his father ridiculed or beat his son without provocation. On one occasion in 1957, the same friend witnessed an incident at the Gacy household in which Gacy's father began shouting at his son for no reason, then began hitting him. Gacy's mother attempted to intervene. The friend recalled that Gacy simply "put up his hands to defend himself", adding that he never struck his father back during these physical altercations.

In 1949, Gacy's father was informed that his son and another boy had been caught sexually fondling a young girl. Gacy's father whipped him with a razor strop as punishment. The same year, Gacy was molested by a family friend, a contractor who would take Gacy for rides in his truck and then fondle him. Gacy never told his father about these incidents, afraid that his father would blame him.

John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer and sex offender known as the Killer Clown who assaulted and murdered at least 33 young men and boys. Gacy regularly performed at children's hospitals and charitable events as "Pogo the Clown" or "Patches the Clown", personas he had devised. He was also active in his local community as a precinct captain and building contractor.

John Wayne Gacy was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 17, 1942, the second child and only son of John Stanley Gacy (June 20, 1900 – December 25, 1969) and Marion Elaine Robinson (May 4, 1908 – December 6, 1989). His father was an auto repair machinist and World War I veteran, and his mother was a homemaker. Gacy was of Polish and Danish ancestry. His paternal grandparents (who spelled the family name as "Gatza" or "Gaca") had immigrated to the United States from Poland (then part of Prussia in Germany).

Gacy typically murdered his victims by placing a rope tourniquet around their neck before progressively tightening the rope with a hammer handle. He referred to this act as the "rope trick", frequently informing his captive: "This is the last trick". Gacy occasionally read sections of the 23rd Psalm as he tightened the rope around his captive's neck. Occasionally, the victim convulsed for an "hour or two" before dying, although several victims died by asphyxiation from cloth gags stuffed deep into their throat. With the exceptions of his first and last victims, all were murdered between 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.