What Happened to John Wayne Gacy’s Real-Life House?
The subject of Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy turned his home into a mass grave.
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Peacock's new crime series Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy is a dramatization of the true story and crimes of its subject. An Illinois-based serial killer operating in the 1970s, Gacy really did murder at least 33 young men, then buried many of them in the crawlspace of his home in Norwood Park Township, near Chicago.
Gacy's house became a massive crime scene when he was arrested in December of 1978, and investigators worked for months to sort through all of the evidence inside. But what happened to the house after the investigation?
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With all eight episodes of Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy now streaming on Peacock, let's take a closer look at the fate of one of the most notorious murder sites in American criminal history.
What happened to John Wayne Gacy's house?
Gacy is believed to have committed all of his murders in his Norwood Park Township home (the exact address is something we won't disclose here) in Illinois, which meant investigators had their work cut out for them when Gacy was finally caught. After his arrest in December of 1978, investigators worked for months to identify, catalog, and move all of the evidence, including human remains, out of the Gacy home.
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After working for months in the crawlspace to recover bodies, tearing down structures in the yard, and removing Gacy's evidence and belongings, the Gacy home was finally empty in the spring of 1979. That left the state with the question of what to do with the property, and it was decided that the home itself could not remain standing. It was demolished in April of 1979, in front of a crowd of onlookers. The vacant lot where the house once stood was sold in 1984, and by 1988 the owners had begun construction on a new home.
What happened to John Wayne Gacy's belongings?
After the bodies of Gacy's victims were removed from his home, and the evidence -- including belongings of his victims -- was taken by investigators, Gacy's remaining belongings were meant to head to auction. The auction, originally planned for 1979 with the proceeds going to pay Gacy's legal team, was called off, and his property sat in storage for the next 15 years. In 1994, then-Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris filed a lawsuit to recover the cost of the state of Illinois storing the belongings for an extended period.
Gacy continued his hobby of painting while he was in prison, with many of his pieces selling at prison art shows and auctions. After his execution in 1994, many of his paintings were purchased at auction by the families of victims and then burned.
All eight episodes of Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy are now streaming exclusively on Peacock.
