The Brazen Bull

Also known as the Sicilian Bull, it was designed in ancient Greece. A solid piece of brass was cast with a door on the side that could be opened and latched. The victim would be placed inside the bull and a fire set underneath it until the metal became literally yellow as it was heated. The victim would then be slowly roasted to death all while screaming in agonizing pain.  The bull was purposely designed to amplify these screams and make them sound like the bellowing of a bull. [1]

Gacy, John Wayne


Born March 17th, 1942, John Wayne Gacy had an abusive childhood and conflicted with his sexuality. His drunk father would regularly beat him and his siblings with a sharp razor if they ever misbehaved. Gacy was alienated at school due to a congenital heart condition meaning he could not play with other children; his father seen this as another failing. Gacy later realised that he was attracted to men and this caused great turmoil over his sexuality.

John Wayne was married and divorced twice and had biological children and stepchildren. He was convicted in 1968 and given a ten year term for sexual assault on two teenage boys. He was released on parole in the summer of 1970 but was later arrested in 1971 after another teenage boy accused Gacy of sexual assault; these charges were dropped when the teenager failed to appear in court. Two more males accused Gacy of rape in the mid-70's.

John Wayne Gacy as Patches the Clown
July 1975, John Butkovich disappeared, he had recently left Gacy's employment after an argument over back pay. Butkovich's parents begged police to check out Gacy but nothing became of it and Butkovich's disappearance went unsolved.

December 1976, Gregory Godzik, another employee of John Wayne, disappeared. Again, the parents urged police to check Gacy out as he was one of the last known people to of spoken to Godzik but the police failed to purse the lead.

January 1977, John Szyc disappeared. He was an acquaintance of Butkovich, Godzik and Gacy. Later that year one of Gacy's employees was arrested for stealing gasoline; the car he was driving belonged to Szyc. Gacy is said to have told police that Szyc sold him the car before leaving town - the police didn't pursue the matter further.

Gacy started getting tired of digging holes in his crawlspace - he wanted space that was always available. He hired David Cram, one of his employees, to make more space. He stayed in Gacy's spare bedroom and one night Cram came home to find Gacy drunk and his clown costume. They had a few drinks and then Gacy managed to trick Cram into handcuffs. Gacy started growling and spinning Cram around the room whilst shouting "I'm going to rape you". Cram managed to push Gacy away and some how managed to grab the keys to the handcuffs and escaped to his room.

Not all of Gacy's victims died. In March 1978, Gacy lured Jeffrey Rignall into his car, He chloroformed the young man and took him back to his house in Summerdale where he raped and tortured him and dumped him in Lincoln Park. Rignall remembered some things from the night although his memory was hazy - Gacy was arrested on 15th July. He was facing battery charges.

15-year-old Robert Piest disappeared on December 11, 1979 from Des Plaines pharmacy where he worked after school. Just before he left work that day, Piest told a co-worker that he was going to a house down the street to talk about a possible job. Gacy has been in the pharmacy the night before taking about a remodelling job with the owner. Gacy denied talking to Piest when the police arrived but this time, the Des Plaines police did what the Chicago police failed to do and checked his record - they discovered that he had done time for sodomy.

Some of the items that were found in Gacy's home
A search of Gacy's house on December 13th turned up some suspicious items:
  • A 1975 high school class ring
  • Drivers' licences registered to other people
  • Handcuffs
  • A two-by-four with holes drilled in either end
  • A hypodermic syringe and needle with a small brown bottle
  • Clothing far too small for Gacy
  • A photo receipt from the pharmacy which Piest worked
  • A switchblade knife
  • Police badges
  • Nylon rope
  • Seven erotic movies


Police noticed an odour coming from the crawlspace beneath the house. Further investigation revealed that the high school ring belonged to Szyc. On December 21st, 1978, an employee of Gacy's told police that Gacy has confessed to more than 30 murders. Shortly after this, Gacy was arrested for marijuana possession. Police saw their chance and took out a second warrant. When they went back to the house in Summerdale they found human bones in the crawlspace.
The crawlspace in Gacy's home (left) and the human bones of one of his victims (right)
John Wayne Gacy confessed to killing 25-30 people, telling investigators that most were buried within the crawlspace and on his property. He also told police that after the crawlspace became full with bodies, he threw the last five bodies off the I-55 bridge and into the Des Plaines River, one of which was Piest. Gacy drew a diagram of the crawlspace to show police where the bodies were buried.
He told police that he wold pick up male teenage runaways or male prostitutes off the streets and take them back to his house after promising them money for sex. Once he got them back to his house he would handcuff them or tie them up in another way. He would often stick clothing in their mouths in order to muffle their screams. After this, he would choke them with a rope or a board as he sexually assaulted them. He would keep the bodies with him for as long as decomposition would allow.
Over the next four months, police would find a total of 29 bodies between December 1978 and March 1979.
The youngest victim to be identified were Samual Stapleton and Michael Marnio, both 14 years old. Eight of Gacys victims were so badly decomposed that they were never identified. Robert Piest's body was discovered on the banks of the Des Plaines River in April 9th.

The known victims of Gacy are:

Some of Gacy's victims
  • Timothy McCoy, 18, January 3, 1972 
  • John Butkovitch, 17, July 21, 1975
  • Darrell Sampson, 18, April 6, 1976
  • Randall Reffett, 15, May 14, 1976
  • Sam Stapleton, 14, May 14, 1976
  • Michael Bonnin, 17, June 3, 1976
  • William Carroll, 16, June 13, 1976
  • Rick Johnston, 17, August 6, 1976
  • Kenneth Parker, 16, October 25, 1976
  • Michael Marino, 14, October 25, 1976
  • Gregory Godzik, 17, December 12, 1976
  • John Szyc, 19, January 20, 1977
  • Jon Prestidge, 20, March 15, 1977
  • Matthew Bowman, 19, July 5, 1977
  • Robert Gilroy, 18, September 15, 1977 
  • John Mowery, 19, September 25, 1977
  • Russell Nelson, 21, October 17, 1977
  • Robert Winch, 16, November 10, 1977
  • Tommy Boling, 20, November 18, 1977
  • David Talsma, 19, December 9, 1977
  • William Kindred, 19, February 16, 1978
  • Timothy O'Rourke, 20, June 1978
  • Frank Landingin, 19, November 4, 1978
  • James Mazzara, 21, November 24, 1978
  • Robert Piest, 15, December 11, 1978
Eight of Gacy's victims are still unidentified to this day. It is also believed that there may have been other victims that have never been identified or found who were buried at other locations. The ninth unidentified victim was identified in June 2007 as Timothy McCoy from Nebraska.

 John Wayne Gacy was executed on 10th May, 1994 by lethal injection.
Crime Stories: John Wayne Gacy