Research Essay

Here is a ROUGH draft of my essay so far


John Wayne Gacy was from Chicago, owned a successful business , lived with his wife and owned a middle class suburban home. In 1980 Gacy was arrested for the deaths of 33 young men who were buried under the deck of his home. Gacy had given job opportunities to men only to lure them, gain there trust and then kill them afterwards. Gacy went to trial against the state of Illinois and to know ones surprise was sentenced to death by lethal injection on May 10th 1994. He is still one of the most spoken of serial killers even 16 years after his death.


John Wayne Gacy J.r was born at Edge water Hospital in Chicago on March 17th 1942 to John Wayne Gacy Sr and his thirty three year old wife born Marion Elaine Robinson. John had two younger sisters named Joanne and Karen who he stayed very close with throughout his childhood and teens. He grew up in the North side of Chicago where there was no urban violence and the freedom to do whatever. In high school Gacy was involved with many after school activities. He had a newspaper route in the morning and worked part time in a grocery store while also attending boy scouts.


Gacy went to four different high schools throughout his teens and failed to complete his senior year. He made friends and was easy to get along with. Many of his peers described him as someone who was indifferent and easy to get along with. On more than one occasion he was discovered trying on women's underwear and feared that his father thought him less of a man because of this. No matter how hard Gacy tried throughout his years as a child and a teen he could not impress his Dad.

Over the years the strain between Gacy and his father had been getting worse. Gacy described his father as someone who was to strict and demanding of him. He also resented his father due to the fact that he used to be drunk all the time and beat his mother. At the age of 19 after another big disagreement with his father Gacy left home and headed west where he would end up in Las Vegas, almost broke and with no place to go.

Execution
On May 9th 1994 after exhausting all of his appeals Gacys execution day had finally arrived It had been a date that so many people had been anticipating for the last 14 years. More than 1,000 people had gathered onto the meadow outside the illinois prison just waiting to celebrate the death of Gacy. The reason for this unusual attention tot his execution is because of the horror of his crimes, and because executions are a rarity in Illinois. In Chicago, members of the guardian angels demonstrated in a downtown plaza in support of the execution. They laid out 33 body bags to symbolize Gacys victims. Early Monday morning Gacy was flown by helicopter to Stateville from Menard Correctional Center near Chester.

Through out his final day he spent most of his time with several friends, relatives and lawyers. Gacys lawyers were given permission from the Illinois supreme court to stay with him until the execution. As the hours passed by Gacy remained in a “very chatty” mood, said prison spokesman Nic howell. Late Monday Gacy eat his last meal and met with a Roman Catholic priest later on to have mass before spending the last few hours alone in a barren cell. At 10 p.m a sedative offered to all men about to face death by lethal injection was offered to Gacy, but he refused. Two hours later he was wheeled into what would be the end of his life on death row for the past 14 years. An IV was to deliver three drugs at one minute intervals.

The first drug sodium Pentothal would anesthetize him, then pancuronium to stop his breathing followed by a final dosage of potassium chloride to stop his heart. The execution began at 12:40 a.m but because of a clog in the line hooked up to the lethal injection apparatus it took almost double the time and ended at 12:58. People described Gacys final moments saying that he heaved and gasped, slightly pursing his lips. His eyes remained closed and his fists went slack. The last words that came out of John Gacys mouth before his death were “kiss my ass”.