Lullacide

John was a very busy man. He ran a construction company! He organized neighborhood barbecues! He dressed up as Pogo the Clown for the local children's hospital! The neighbors all agreed: 'What a wonderful fellow.' John smiled his big clown smile.

Gacy was a well-liked community figure who performed as 'Pogo the Clown' at children's hospitals and neighborhood events.

John's construction company always needed helpers. 'Would you like a job?' he would ask young men at the bus station. 'I pay very well.' Many young men came to John's house for job interviews. The interviews went well. The young men, however, did not.

Gacy lured many of his 33 victims with promises of construction work.

John's house had a funny smell. 'It's just the drains,' he told the neighbors. 'Old pipes, you know.' He poured bag after bag of lime into the crawl space beneath his house. 'Just doing some home improvement!' he explained cheerfully.

Gacy buried 26 of his victims in the crawl space beneath his home. Neighbors noted the persistent smell.

One winter, a boy named Robert didn't come home from his job at the pharmacy. Robert's mother was very worried. The police started asking questions, and the questions led them to John's front door. And then to John's crawl space. And then everyone stopped smiling.

15-year-old Robert Piest's disappearance in December 1978 led to Gacy's arrest and the discovery of remains.

Pogo the Clown never performed again. 'A clown can get away with murder,' John once said. But it turns out, he couldn't. Not even with thirty-three of them. The neighbors took down his barbecue pit and tried very hard to forget.

Gacy was convicted of 33 murders, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history. He was executed in 1994.