How a policeman’s bathroom break helped lead to John Wayne Gacy’s arrest

It’s difficult to believe that one of the most brutal killers from the latter half of the 20th century had his killing spree interrupted in part because of a police detective’s full bladder. But those were the breaks for John Wayne Gacy, the monster behind nearly three dozen murders of young men and teenage boys that rocked Chicago in the 1970s. Tucked away under the floors of his home on Summerdale Avenue, Gacy had buried the bodies of 27 of his 33 known victims in shallow graves. Covered with a layer of quick lime and earth, the remains would begin to emanate noxious odors over time. Gacy’s last victim was a 15-year-old boy named Robert Piest, whom police suspected had been kidnapped and possibly held captive by the Chicago contractor. Gacy had been in the pharmacy where Piest worked on the afternoon of December 11, 1978, and overheard Gacy discussing a remodeling project with the owner. After hearing Gacy mention that he often hired young men as laborers, Piest’s ears perked up. The teen got Gacy’s contact information and went to Gacy’s home that evening where he was drugged, raped, and strangled to death with a rope. <a href="https://medium.com/@brianjmyers/how-a-policemans-bathroom-break-helped-lead-to-john-wayne-gacy-s-arrest-8d824a06a372">Visit Now</a>