John Wayne Gacy - Potential Accomplices

Potential Accomplices

One of the first things Gacy told investigators after his arrest was that he had not acted alone in several of the murders: he questioned whether individuals he referred to as "my associates" had also been arrested. When questioned as to whether these individuals had participated directly or indirectly in the killings, Gacy replied "Directly."

Gacy specifically named two employees of PDM Contractors as being the individuals he had referred to as being involved in several of the murders. In the 1980s, he also informed Robert Ressler that "two or three" employees had assisted him in several murders. Ressler replied that he did indeed believe there were unexplained avenues to the case and stated he believed Gacy had killed more than 33 victims. Gacy neither confirmed or denied Ressler's suspicions.

Moreover, on one occasion during his surveillance, two of the surveillance officers followed Gacy to a bar Gacy had driven to meet two of his employees. At the bar, the surveillance officers overheard a hushed conversation between one of the employees and Gacy in which the youth asked Gacy the question: "And what? Buried like the other five?"

In addition, 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 watched his abuse as he kneeled in front of him. When this youth realized Rignall had regained consciousness, he was again chloroformed into unconsciousness. Rignall had also informed police that as Gacy had raped and assaulted him, lights in the room in which he had been manacled were switched on and off.

In 2012, two Chicago lawyers named Steven Becker and Robert Stephenson publicly stated that, having reviewed archived records relating to Gacy's business travels for both PDM Contractors and PE Systems, it is likely that Gacy may have been assisted by one or more accomplices in a minimum of three murders. In each case, Becker and Stephenson state that official documents attest to the fact Gacy was in another state at the time the youths in question disappeared. In one case, that of 18-year-old Robert Gilroy, investigators found that on September 12, 1977—three days prior to Gilroy's disappearance—Gacy had flown to Pittsburgh and did not return to Chicago until the day after the youth had disappeared.

In a second case, that of 21-year-old Russell Nelson, Nelson's traveling companion gave differing accounts of the youth's disappearance to both Nelson's family and investigators. Nelson was apparently abducted from a crowd who had gathered outside a Chicago bar; yet investigators contend this could not have happened without his traveling companion noticing. Nelson's traveling companion later gave Nelson's mother differing accounts of Nelson's disappearance. Later, this youth offered Nelson's two brothers a job with Gacy's construction company.

In a third case, travel records indicate Gacy was at a scheduled job site in Michigan at 6 a.m. on September 26, 1977—the day following the disappearance of a 19-year-old youth named John Mowery. Mowery was last seen leaving his mother's house at 10 p.m. on September 25. His roommate was an employee of PDM Contractors who had formerly lived with Gacy and had moved into Mowery's apartment less than one week prior to the youth'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 prior to the youth's disappearance.

Gacy had repeatedly claimed in interviews following his arrest and conviction that he was not present in Chicago when a total of 16 of the identified victims had disappeared. In one interview, he had stated that at the time of his arrest, a total of four PDM Employees were also considered suspects in the disappearances of the missing individuals investigators had linked to Gacy—all of whom he stated were in possession of keys to his house.

Criminal defense attorneys investigating the possibility Gacy had not acted alone in several of the murders have stated there is "overwhelming evidence Gacy worked with an accomplice."