John Wayne Gacy’s Victim Total Is Far Higher Than We Thought, His Former Lawyer Claims

The Killer Clown's former lawyer Karen Conti claims that John Wayne Gacy's victim count is much higher than the authorities realized and that he may have murdered at least 20 more people than the 33 he was convicted of in 1980.

Public DomainThough the number of John Wayne Gacy’s victims has long been recorded as 33, new claims from his former lawyer state that the truth about how many people Gacy killed is actually much worse.

Karen Conti, one of the attorneys who represented the “Killer Clown” serial killer John Wayne Gacy, recently stated that she believes he may have been responsible for many more murders than previously believed.

The number of John Wanye Gacy’s victims has long been recorded as 33, the total count of young men and boys he was convicted of killing between 1972 and 1978. However, Conti says that the truth about how many people John Wayne Gacy killed is much worse than his convictions suggest.

Not only does she claim that there may be at least 20 more unknown victims of John Wayne Gacy out there, but that his murders may extend beyond the bounds of his native Chicago and that he may have had help.

Who Was John Wayne Gacy And What Did He Do?

John Wayne Gacy was an American serial killer active throughout the 1970s, primarily in the region around Chicago, Illinois. To his neighbors and acquaintances, Gacy was an active member of his community, generally well liked, and seemingly friendly. He also became known for his alter ego, Pogo the Clown, and performed at kids’ parties and other local events.

World History Archive/Alamy Stock PhotoJohn Wayne Gacy dressed as Pogo the Clown.

But behind closed doors, Gacy had intense, sexually-driven murderous tendencies. He is responsible for the brutal murders of at least 33 young men and boys, many of whom he would sexually abuse and/or torture before killing them and burying them around his property.

Police eventually found 26 bodies concealed in the crawl space of John Wayne Gacy’s house, as well as three more buried in the yard. The other four victims of John Wayne Gacy were dumped in the Des Plaines River.

The contrast between his murderous nature and his seemingly friendly persona, as well as his clown performances, has led him to be dubbed the “Killer Clown.”

Gacy even made numerous paintings of himself as Pogo, among other subjects, which have become a point of morbid fascination for some collectors. As a result, fascination with Gacy remains strong to this day, as true crime fanatics, psychologists, and criminologists continually study his life and crimes.

However, few people knew the real John Wayne Gacy as well as his death row lawyer, Karen Conti. Speaking with Gacy over the course of several years in the early 1990s as she tried to spare him the death sentence, Gacy no longer needed to hide his true nature. Thus, he spoke openly with Conti about both his crimes and who he was as a person, offering a clearer insight into the man behind the murders.

Why The Number Of John Wayne Gacy Victims May Be Much Higher Than Everyone Thought

It might seem odd that anyone would argue against the death sentence for John Wayne Gacy, whose crimes are objectively reprehensible by any standard. Conti herself admitted this in an interview with NewsNation: “If there’s anyone who deserves the death penalty, it would be someone like John Gacy.”

However, Conti also said she does not believe in the death penalty. “I never did,” she said. “And I never will.” And to her, that included John Wayne Gacy.

Karen ContiJohn Wayne Gacy’s death row attorney, Karen Conti, who claims that the truth about how many people Gacy killed is worse than the authorities realized.

Conti recently published a book about her time with Gacy, entitled Killing Time with John Wayne Gacy, in which she details her conversations with the infamous killer and offers insight into his psychology. In particular, she talks about the dichotomy between his heinous crimes and how he presented himself.

“Sitting with John Gacy was like sitting with your favorite uncle or a bus driver or somebody who you knew and saw everyday,” she said. “He did not appear evil.”

But as Conti can attest, appearances can be deceiving. John Wayne Gacy was responsible for the deaths and brutal torture of at least 33 young men and boys. Worst of all, those 33 victims of John Wayne Gacy may not represent the full extent of his crimes.

Conti has recently claimed that she is “almost positive” there are more John Wayne Gacy victims that haven’t yet been discovered.

Bettmann/Getty ImagesInvestigators at John Wayne Gacy’s home following his arrest.

“I’m almost positive about that,” she said. “Gacy traveled during his crime spree, and he traveled to rural areas to do construction work. I actually saw his business records, which were meticulously kept. He was gone for two or three weeks at a time, and he was in the middle of his crime spree. I just can’t imagine why he would stop killing during that time.”

While most of Gacy’s crimes occurred in his own home, Conti noted that his being in rural areas “would have made it easier to solicit, abduct young men and boys and to bury the bodies.”

Based on this and her conversations with the killer, Conti said she believes there are at least 20 more victims of John Wayne Gacy’s killing spree that haven’t yet been found.

“We didn’t have a database that was integrated at the time, but my guess is that if some podcast or sleuth were to go to these areas and look at these business records and try to figure out if there were people that went missing, they may connect the dots and conclude that what I’m saying is true,” Conti said.

The “Killer Clown” May Have Had Help Committing His Crimes

Karen Engstrom/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty ImagesInvestigators carrying the body of one of John Wayne Gacy’s victims out of his Chicago home. Now, his former lawyer claims that the truth about how many people John Wayne Gacy killed is even more horrifying than anyone thought at the time.

Karen Conti also said that she does not believe that John Wayne Gacy’s victims were his alone, and that he had help in some cases. During his killing spree, two men lived with him and had sex with him, and it’s likely, in her opinion, that they helped him commit his vile crimes.

“They were taking money and drugs from him, and they testified at trial that they actually dug the trenches underneath the house,” Conti said. “To me, it’s impossible for them not to have known what they were doing and why they were doing that. And it’s impossible for me to believe that Gacy, who was very portly, could actually go down into that crawlspace and carry bodies down there and bury them alone.”

This theory is seemingly corroborated by the testimony of one of John Wayne Gacy’s victims who escaped his clutches in 1978, Jeffrey Rignall, who said that Gacy was “aided at one point by an accomplice.” Potential co-conspirators were never brought up during Gacy’s trial, however, because prosecutors didn’t want to “dirty up” the case, Conti said.

NetflixProtestors holding signs calling for the death penalty for John Wayne Gacy.

“It’s my really strong feeling that these two young men helped procure the young men for Gacy and helped tie them down and maybe even help perpetrate the crimes, certainly helped bury the bodies,” she added.

Given how much time has passed and how difficult it would be to prove these claims, it’s likely that we will never know the true number of John Wayne Gacy’s victims or whether he had help. All we can say with certainty is that when John Wayne Gacy was put to death in 1994, the people of Chicago could rest a little easier.

After reading about this potential update on John Wayne Gacy’s victims, learn about the lives of Gacy’s children, Christine Gacy and Michael Gacy, as well as his wife Carole Hoff.