John Wayne Gacy AKA Pogo the Clown was an American serial killer and rapist that killed 33 teenage boys and young men in Illinois during the '70s.

Today we are going to look at his childhood, relationships, and the crimes he went o to commit later in life.

Childhood

John Wayne Gacy was born on the 17th of March 1942 in Chicago. He had two sisters, Joanne was the older sister, and Karen was the youngest of the family. His mother was called Marion Elaine Robinson and his father John Stanley Gacy, and they were of Polish and Danish descent. 

He and his siblings were subjected to regular beatings from their alcoholic and violent father whenever they did something wrong. As the only boy, Gacy was bullied by his father and when his mother protected him he would be called a sissy. 

As a child, Gacy was bullied at school because he couldn't play due to a heart condition and he suffered from seizures. This made him feel alienated further and when he was molested at 9 years old he was too scared of his father's reaction he never told him.

His Career and Relationships

After he had an argument with his father he fled to Vegas and worked in a Mortuary for a few months. It did not last long when he was caught sleeping in the embalming room with the corpses. He even admitted that he had slept underneath the body of a young boy whose cause of death had aroused him.

John Wayne Gacy in 1978. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Gacy studied at business college and graduated in 1964. He became a manager at a fast-food chain in the '60s, but he was reportedly molesting male employees and getting them drunk in his basement. He then went on to become a building contractor in the '70s and used this as another way to get close to young men.

Regardless of this, he was still respected and well-liked in the community. However, his relationships with his wives did not go well. He got married and divorced twice, and was the father to 2 children.

He would cheat on his first wife, attend swinging parties, take drugs and use pornography. During his second marriage, he came out as bisexual and started bringing young boys back to their garage and using gay pornography. 

Pogo the Clown

Gacy joined a clown club in Chicago called The Jolly Joker and began performing at children's parties. He would organise parties for the neighbourhood and dress up as Pogo the Clown to entertain the kids.

Pogo the Clown costume. Image credit: Steve Terrell @ Flickr

When he was performing he used the names Pogo the Clown or Patches the Clown. He painted his face white, his mouth red and his eyes blue. He wore a hat with colourful pom poms with his red and white suit.

He would also dress as his clown alter egos when he committed some of his crimes. Guests at his parties could smell something strange at his home, but they never suspected it was caused by anything sinister.

His Crimes

He lured his victims in with offers of construction jobs and captured them. Once he had them where he wanted them he would torture and kill them. His usual method of killing his victims was strangulation.

Gacy was first charged and convicted for sexually assaulting 2 boys and received a sentence of 10 years. However, he was released on parole after only 2 years in the Summer of 1970.

He was arrested for the assault of another boy a year later, but this time the charges were dropped as the boy failed to appear for the trial.

By the mid-'70s he would be accused several times of rape and be questioned by the police over disappearances in the area. He later went on to call these years his 'cruising years', as this was when he committed most of his crimes. 

His downfall began in December 1978 when a boy called Robert Piest went missing, and the police were told he was last seen going to see Gacy about a construction job.

The police searched his home and discovered evidence of murder. They also found bodies hidden in the crawl space under his house and in trenches.

Gacy confessed to approximately 30 murders. His first murder was of a boy called Timothy McCoy in 1972. He offered McCoy a bed for the night and paid him for sex, but the following morning when McCoy woke him up he thought he was trying to kill him. He stabbed McCoy in the chest repeatedly and hid him in the crawl space.

The 33 Victims

25 victims were identified and their names are listed below. Unfortunately, 8 of the bodies could not be identified due to the level of decomposition.

• Timothy McCoy, 18, disappeared January 1972.
• John Butkovitch, 17, disappeared July 1975.
• Darrell Sampson, 18, disappeared April 1976.
• Randall Reffett, 15, disappeared May 1976.
• Sam Stapleton, 14, disappeared May 1976.
• Michael Bonnin, 17, disappeared June 1976.
• William Carroll, 16, disappeared June 1976.
• Rick Johnston, 17, disappeared August 1976.
• Kenneth Parker, 16, disappeared October 1976.
• Michael Marino, 14, disappeared October 1976.
• Gregory Godzik, 17, disappeared December 1976.
• John Szyc, 19, disappeared January 1977.
• Jon Prestidge, 20, disappeared March 1977.
• Matthew Bowman, 19, disappeared July 1977.
• Robert Gilroy, 18, disappeared September 1977.
• John Mowery, 19, disappeared September 1977.
• Russell Nelson, 21, disappeared October 1977.
• Robert Winch, 16, disappeared November 1977.
• Tommy Boling, 20, disappeared November 1977.
• David Talsma, 19, disappeared December 1977.
• William Kindred, 19, disappeared February 1978.
• Timothy O’Rourke, 20, disappeared June 1978.
• Frank Landingin, 19, disappeared November 1978.
• James Mazzara, 21, disappeared November 1978.
• Robert Piest, 15, disappeared December 1978.

The Trial

His trial started on the 6th of February 1980, and he had already confessed to committing the crimes. However, the trial focused mainly on whether or not Gacy was insane when he committed them.

Gacy said the murders were committed by an alternate personality of his and mental health specialists testified for both sides of the insanity argument. 

Eventually, Gacy was found guilty of murdering 33 people and sentenced to serve 12 death sentences and 21 natural life sentences. 

The Execution

He was held at Menard Correctional Centre for a decade and a half, and he claimed he was innocent even though he had already confessed.

John Wayne Gacy was executed by lethal injection on May 10th 1994 at Stateville Correctional Centre.

Artwork by Gacy. Image credit: Pauk @ Wikimedia Commons

While he was in prison he started to paint and a few of them were auctioned off and made up to £4000. Many of his paintings were of his alter ego Pogo the Clown.

Final Thoughts

I think most people have heard of John Wayne Gacy and/or Pogo the Clown. He has probably been the biggest inspiration for most horror clowns, such as IT and Twisty the Clown in American Horror Story. 

Now, clowns do not scare me very much (except the weird clown ornaments), but what John Wayne Gacy did was and still is horrifying. The fact he used his jobs as a way to lure young men into his traps is disgusting, and the fact he got away with it for so long is shocking!

With his previous conviction, you would think the police would speak to him a lot sooner than they did when boys started to go missing. Especially when the parents of the missing children told the police to do so. So frustrating!

What are your thoughts on John Wayne Gacy and the crimes he committed? Let me know in the comments.

Kristy Bamu was a 15-year-old boy that visited his sister and her partner for Christmas in 2010 and was found dead on Christmas Day at their flat in London.

The case we are discussing today reminds me of the Sylvia Likens murder that I wrote about previously, and is just as horrific.

Attention! The content of this article or section may seem obscene or offensive to some readers.

The Nightmare Begins

Christmas is about spending time with loved ones and spreading joy. Unfortunately, the Bamu children their Christmas would not be a happy one. Kristy travelled from Paris with his 2 sisters and 2 brothers to Manor Park, East London. They travelled there to spend the Christmas holidays with their sister Magalie Bamu. 

Magalie aged 29 lived with her partner Eric Bikubi aged 28 in a flat in London. Her siblings were excited to spend time with their sister and enjoy Christmas with her. However, this is when the nightmare begins.

Kristy travelled to London from Paris, France.

It all began when Kristy wet himself and left the underwear in the kitchen. Bikubi insisted that the pants were sorcery and that the children were practising magic. 

He threatened to throw them out of the window to see how they would fly and started to torture them all until they admitted to practising witchcraft. Whenever their parents called to speak to them they were forced to lie, as they would have a blade held to their throats. 

They were starved and beaten until they admitted they were witches. In the end, the children admitted to the practice to avoid more beatings, except for Kristy. He continued to deny it, which meant Eric continued to punish him. 

The Murder of Kristy Bamu

The couple continued to torture Kristy and would use pliers, a metal pole, knives, a hammer, and planks on the defenceless and terrified boy. In total, they inflicted 130 injuries to his body and Kristy begged to die. They even forced his siblings to take part in the beatings. 

On Christmas Day they placed Kristy into the bath for what they called a ritual cleansing. At this point, Kristy was very weak and when they left him alone he slipped under the water and drowned.

When Eric found him he tried to resuscitate him but he was already gone. 

When the police and paramedics got to the flat they found blood everywhere and the children were hysterical. They tried to help Kristy too but was unable to save him. 

All of the children were hysterical. One of the sisters told them that they had been hurt, and another said they were forced to hit Kristy in the face with a hammer. 

Kristy's face and head were covered in cuts, his teeth had been smashed out with a hammer, ceramic tiles had been smashed over his head, and his ear had been twisted with pliers.

Magalie and Eric were arrested for the torture killing of 15-year-old Kristy Bamu.

The Trial

They stood trial at the Old Bailey and the defence argued that Bikubi suffered from mental illness and Magalie said she was forced to take part. However, evidence proved that she hit Kristy and encouraged his violence. 

The Old Bailey. Image credit: TQ3181 @ Geograph

They were both found guilty of murder and sentenced to a minimum of 25 years.

Their parents felt betrayed and could not believe what happened to their son. They said they have forgiven them, but they want to raise awareness for cases of torture involving witchcraft.

Final Thoughts

This case was shocking to me because it only happened in 2010, which is not really that long ago. I was upset by what I read, especially as it was his sister and her partner committing the crime. They were trusted to take care of the children but they did the exact opposite. 

Kristy was one of many children that died in voodoo rituals in the London African communities. I have read about the English witch trials and the Salem witch trials, but to think this kind of behaviour still exists baffles me.

What are your thoughts on this case and ritualistic murders? Please share in the comments below.

Fred and Rose West were a killer couple that abducted and killed a dozen young females in the UK during the '70s and '80s, including their own children.

Attention! The content of this article or section may seem obscene or offensive to some readers.

Fred West

Fred was born Frederick Walter Stephen West in September 1941. He had five siblings and was born into a family of farm workers. His father wasn't the best role model, as he encouraged incest and bestiality and always told his children:

"Do what you want, just don't get caught."

Fred's life changed when he had an accident at 15 years old, which left him with a fractured skull. That's when he started having violent mood swings.

His first marriage was to Catherine Costello in November 1962. Catherine was pregnant with another mans child and after they got married she gave birth to a baby girl called Charmaine and a year later she had another child called Anne Marie. However, their marriage didn't last long and she left after Fred's sadistic sexual desires became too much. Costello left Charmaine and Anne Marie with Fred when she left.

Rose West

Rosemary Pauline West was born in November 1953 and lived with her mother until she was 15 after her parents separated. After she left her mother she went to live with her father, but her father was prone to violence and sexually abusing her.

Rose met Fred and moved in with him not long after she turned 16. They had their first child within a few months and named her Heather. While Fred was serving a 7-month sentence for theft Rose was left with the children.

While Fred was serving his time Rose killed Charmaine but told Fred that she had been collected by her mother.

Their Marriage and Crimes

They got married in January 1972 even though West was still married to Costello. The couple had their second daughter Mae and moved to Cromwell Street. They converted the rooms upstairs into bedsits, and one room was for Rose to use for prostitution complete with a red light and peephole for Fred.

The couple took 17-year-old Caroline Roberts into their home and sexually assaulted her. They knew her because she had been their babysitter in the past. They threatened to kill her if she didn't do as she was told.

Roberts was let go when she promised to be their nanny, but she reported them both to the police. Unfortunately, she dropped the rape charges later and all they received was a fine for indecent assault. 

When Anne Marie turned 8 she became the victim of her fathers' sadistic fantasies. From 1973 - 1979 she was abused sexually by Fred, but at 14 years old she finally escaped.

The Wests would then go on to abduct and murder 8 young women while abusing their other daughter Heather. When Heather started to talk about the abuse at school it forced Fred's hand. He killed her while Rose watched, dismembered her and buried the body under the patio.

Heather's remains were the first to be found after the abuse was reported by her friends' mother.

When the police visited the property they discovered 2 other bodies in the garden, and 6 bodies in the cellar. They also found a large amount of pornography which included bestiality. They would also find a camera that had been used to record the torture of their many victims. 

The couple was arrested in 1984 for their crimes. Fred was charged with 12 murders and Rose with 10. When they were questioned Fred was willing to take the blame, but later changed his mind and accused Rose of the killings.

Before Fred could stand trial for his crimes he hung himself. However, Rose did go to trial and was found guilty. She was sentenced to life in prison and became the second woman to receive that sentence in the UK.

The Aftermath

The House of Horrors, 25 Cromwell Street, was demolished in October 1996 and is now a public footpath.

Several of Fred's family got their fair share of media attention for all the wrong reasons.

One of the videos found at the house was allegedly Fred's brother John West abusing his own niece. In 1996, just like his brother before him, John hung himself after being charged with rape. Another brother called Stephen West was jailed for sex with a minor.

The entrance to Parkhurst, Isle of Wight. Image credit: Ian S

Rose West is now 65 years old and serving her sentence at HMP Low Newton.

Final Thoughts

This case is well known in the UK and recently there was a documentary made about the couple. I knew about the horrific crimes they committed together, but I knew nothing about their childhood or their families.

It's clear they both had tough childhoods, and even though I do feel for Rose I do not condone what she did as an adult. They both took pleasure in causing harm to these women and their own flesh and blood. 

I think it is a big misconception to think that a woman couldn't possibly do this to their own children or other women, as there have been many women in history that have committed crimes just as wicked as this.

What are your thoughts on the couple and the crimes they committed? Let me know in the comments section.