John Wayne Gacy :serial killer
John Wayne Gacy hit the headlines in 1978 after confessing to the murder of 33 young males over a seven-year period in the state of Illinois. Gacy would later become known as the “Killer Clown” after it emerged he had often volunteered at fundraising events and children’s hospitals in a clown costume during the period of his murders.
The extensive list of John Wayne Gacy crimes, with a death count higher than any other killer in US history at the time, led to his becoming a household name and the subject of numerous documentaries, films and podcasts in the years that have followed. In this article, we’ll be focusing on how Gacy was portrayed by three New York newspapers – the Times, the Post, and the Daily News – at the time of his conviction and sentencing in March 1980, evaluating both cases put forward in court and the reactions of his victim’s families along the way.
