The Victims of John Wayne Gacy and the Lives They Left Behind
Starred review from August 2, 2021
Journalist Nelson debuts with a moving and meticulously researched account of the lives of the victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who brutalized and murdered 33 boys and young men between January 1972 and December 1978, burying most of them beneath his house on the outskirts of Chicago. Drawing on interviews with family, friends, and lovers, Nelson portrays each of the victims in full. Some had criminal records, some were gay sex workers, and many were regular kids. Gacy’s first victim, 16-year-old Timothy McCoy, came from an extended family and was taking the bus home from visiting cousins in Michigan when he accepted a ride from Gacy at a Chicago bus station. Nineteen-year-old Billy Kindred had a girlfriend, who to this day still wears his promise ring. And 15-year-old Rob Piest, a theater tech and gymnast, was described as shy and sweet by his co-workers at the Des Plaines, Ill., pharmacy where he met Gacy and became his final victim. (The efforts of the Piest family to find out what happened to Rob helped lead to Gacy’s arrest.) Gacy, who confessed to multiple murders, was executed in 1994. Nelson succeeds in giving Gacy’s victims a voice. This is a must for true crime fans.
October 1, 2021
Rather than focusing on the heinous crimes of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who in the 1970s preyed on more than 30 young men and boys, journalist Nelson explores the lives of Gacy's victims. He writes that most of these young men spent time in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, where some of them got into fights or were victims of gang violence; oftentimes their families moved frequently and struggled financially. Some turned to sex work, which Nelson argues left them especially vulnerable to a predator like Gacy. Nelson extensively interviewed family members and loved ones to examine the brief but full lives of these boys--their childhoods, first loves, jobs, dreams, and friendships with other victims. Many of the boys were free to hitchhike and roam the neighborhood and weren't reported missing right away, and investigations were frequently closed when mistaken eyewitnesses claimed to have seen victims after they were abducted. Nelson argues that Gacy flew under the radar because he targeted gay men and boys; due to bias and homophobia, police investigations were often lackluster. The book is compelling and moving, though hard to follow at times because it covers so many victims. VERDICT Heartrending and poignant, this is an excellent sociological examination of life in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood in the 1970s.--Karen Sandlin Silverman, Mt. Ararat Middle Sch., Topsham, ME
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