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Kennedy Eyberg

Art Gutierrez

UL 100B

7 November 2021

John Wayne Gacy: Annotated Bibliography

“Another Victim of Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy Identified through DNA Testing.” NBC

Chicago, NBC Chicago, 25 Oct. 2021, https://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/cook-

county-sheriff-to-update-on-effort-to-identify-john-wayne-gacys-unnamed-

victims/2654554/. Accessed 7 Nov. 2021. There is no author for this news report, but NBC

Chicago is a credible source. One of John Wayne Gacy’s victim’s, formerly known as

Victim #5, has been recently identified as Francis Wayne Alexander. This new information

still makes John Wayne Gacy’s crimes and case relevant to the general public and modern-

day society. This article would be perfect to use to explain victims and their identification

process. The article could also be used to explain the reopening of the case to give the

unidentified victim’s families closure. There remain 5 more victims in the killings of John

Wayne Gacy’s murder spree that are under current investigations that are in need to be

expanded on.

"Gacy, John Wayne." Encyclopedia of Capital Punishment in the United States, Louis J. Palmer,

McFarland, 2nd edition, 2008. Credo Reference, https://emporiastate.idm.oclc.org/login?

url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/mcfcpus/gacy_john_wayne/0?

institutionId=1040. Accessed 16 Oct. 2021. This book does not have a definitive author,

but the resource is highly credible considering it is an encyclopedia about criminals and

capital punishment. The subject is John Wayne Gacy, and it is a brief description of his
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life. There are limits to this book simply because it does not go into detail about John

Wayne Gacy’s life to get a full understand why he would kill so many boys. The book is

directed towards the generally audience as to just an idea who John Wayne Gacy was.

There are special features included, but they are not images of Mr. Gacy’s victims. Overall,

it is a decent source, but it is more foundational information that could be used to start the

general idea of Mr. Gacy.

James, Veronyka. "Denying the Darkness: Exploring the Discourses of Neutralization of Bundy,

Gacy, and Dahmer." Societies, vol. 9, no. 2, 2019. ProQuest,

https://ezproxy.jocolibrary.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-

journals/denying-darkness-exploring-discourses/docview/2318743698/se-2?

accountid=46208, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/soc9020046. Accessed 6 Oct. 2021.

Veronyka James works in the Department of Criminology and Crimes Justice at

Shenandoah University, which makes her more reliable since she specializes in dealing

with people like serial killer or at least in researching them. A scholarly journal called

Societies published the article and they are a journal that publishes information about

social sciences, making this source highly credible. While this academic journal does

relate to John Wayne Gacy it also talks about Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, two

famous serial killers. In the section about John Wayne Gacy, it highlights how he was

caught and how he tried to blame “his other identity” that may or may not have actually

existed. The was no biases or errors detectable. This source is likely to be used to

highlight after Mr. Gacy was caught and how he tried to make it seem like it was not his

fault that these crimes were committed. This scholarly article was directed towards

scholars and researchers due to the format and language.

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Janos, Adam. “John Wayne Gacy's Execution: What Were the Serial Killer's Final Days

like?” A&E, 17 Aug. 2021, https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/john-wayne-gacy-

death. Accessed 7 Nov. 2021. Adam Janos is a credible author who is a writer and report

working with big journaling companies such as Wall Street Journal and Budapest Times.

The news article talks about John Wayne Gacy’s last few weeks alive and how he reacted

to being in prison. Briefly, it is mentioned that Mr. Gacy painted in prison to earn money,

but the intentions of the usage of the income was conflicting. When it came to the talk of

Mr. Gacy’s final moments, the last meal was described before he faced lethal injection as

his punishment for the murder of 33 victims. This information would best be used for

describing John Wayne Gacy’s verdict after the trial and what his time was like in prison

and right before death. This article was made for the general public as just an informational

debriefing of Mr. Gacy’s life before death by lethal injection.

“John Wayne Gacy.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 5 Nov. 2021,

https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/john-wayne-gacy. Accessed 7 Nov. 2021.

Biography.com is typically a reliable and credible website that give the basic information

over a person’s life. John Wayne Gacy’s life was described in multiple segments, varying

from his childhood to his life as a serial killer. This foundational information is highly

valuable as because his childhood may answer the question of why he displayed such

violence as a person. When it comes to his later life, the information matches with various

source and would prove to be credible and valuable when describing his personal life and

work. This website is for the general public and they limit the information enough to not

have the fine details. This website would be used as gaining an understanding of John

Wayne Gacy’s personal life outside and before the murdering of his 33 victims.
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Long, Leann. “Killer Clown Leaves Mass Grave of Skeletal Remains.” Forensic Examiner, vol.

14, no. 4, Winter 2005, p. 32-38. EBSCOhost, https://emporiastate.idm.oclc.org/login?

url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edo&AN=58593013&site=eds-live. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021. Leann Long is

unknown on credentials. She is possibly just a writer for the Forensic Examiner. The

Forensic Examiner is a magazine company that does research on scientific article and case

studies. The company publishes four times a year and the work is peered reviewed. This

academic journal talks about John Wayne Gacy and how he was caught for all the serial

killings. It also goes into how forensic scientists tried to identify all 33 of Gacy’s victims.

This academic journal supports who John Wayne Gacy was as a serial killer and how he

murdered a lot of his victims. There were no biases detected and all the sources used were

referenced and stated as facts. This article was written for the general audience as it does

not use complex language. As a special feature the article includes a picture of John Wayne

Gacy in his clown costume. This scholarly article shows a great understanding on the

forensic side of the victims and the bodies being identified, which could help support how

long Mr. Gacy had been killing.

Miller, Wilbur R. “G Chapter.” The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An

Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications, Inc, 2012, p. 661-662. EBSCOhost.

https://emporiastate.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=525902&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_66. Accessed 4

Nov. 2021. Wilbur Miller has no special qualifications that appear from the book, but his

information and quality of the work matches with other sources to make it credible. Wilbur

Miller also cites his resources correctly at the end of the paper. The book talks about John
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Wayne Gacy and how he killed all of his victims, plus his prison life with artwork and his

death. It would be great to use to support his killings and what happened before and after

he was captured and died. The limitation is that it is a summary of John Wayne Gacy’s

killings and death. The chapter is intended for the general public. There is a lack of special

features, but overall, the source is knowledgeable with information.

“Monster in My Family: Full Episode - Killer Clown: John Wayne Gacy (Season 1, Episode

6).” YouTube, LMN, 17 Oct. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=W8ZMegqlzeE. Accessed 17 Oct. 2021. This video includes John Wayne Gacy’s sister

and what it was like to be in the family and her opinions on what John Wayne Gacy was

doing with his life. The purpose of the video was to give insight on John Wayne Gacy’s

home-life and personal relationships. It was to give victims’ families recognition on the

pain that they still feel decades after the events. It was an informative video, but it was

made more to entertain viewers, as TV does for the general public. This video would be

great to use to describe John Wayne Gacy’s personal life and his relationships. It could

also give a closer insight into how his childhood affected him.

Rogers, Phil. “Secret Gacy Tapes Reveal Killer’s Casual Approach to Murder.” NBC Chicago,

30 Apr. 2021, https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/secret-gacy-tapes-reveal-killers-

casual-approach-to-murder/2498596/. Accessed 15 Oct. 2021. Phil Rogers is an

investigative reporter for NBC television in Chicago (WMAQ-TV). He typically

discusses the news that is criminal based and that gives his credibility because he knows

what to look for when doing a news story. NBC is a reliable company for news when it

comes to case studies, making it credible. This news article is related to John Wayne

Gacy and his evaluation with the police and attorney. It gives insight to how Gacy was a
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psychopath and manipulative. It gives the perspective of those who examined Mr. Gacy

and Mr. Gacy himself. It does support “Denying the Darkness: Exploring the Discourses

of Neutralization of Bundy, Gacy, and Dahmer” by Veronyka James because it talked

about Gacy blaming his supposed other identity. It supports my topic on Mr. Gacy, and it

helps to have quotes from other people. It would be useful in describing the interrogation

and his trial. The news article incorporated videos of the story to make it easier for the

general public to access and understand.

Rumore, Kori. “Timeline: Suburban Chicago Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy and the Efforts to

Recover, Name His 33 Victims.” Chicago Tribune, 17 Dec. 2018,

https://www.chicagotribune.com/history/ct-john-wayne-gacy-timeline-htmlstory.html.

Accessed 15 Oct. 2021. Kori Rumore is just a journalist for the Chicago Tribune and

doesn’t have any credentials in criminology or psychology. The article is a timeline of

events that have been previously covered in the news. The Chicago Tribune published

this article, and they are credible because John Wayne Gacy’s crimes took place in

Illinois. The news article is a timeline of John Wayne Gacy and some of his victims’

disappearances. The article supports the time of Mr. Gacy’s crimes and how they found

evidence to support the case of him being a serial killer. This source gives an outline of

events which can give the reader more of an idea of John Wayne Gacy’s timeline for his

33 victims. This would be useful in outlining the events in chronological order and giving

dates to when parts of investigations happened or when people started going missing.

There are many pictures included throughout the article and gives the general public an

idea of the timeline of events.