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John Wayne Gacy and his victims’ stories are being told in a new series, “Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy.” The 8-episode Peacock show, now streaming, takes a different approach than most true crime series based on serial killers. The drama instead focuses on the 33 young men Gacy kidnapped, murdered and buried in his home’s crawl space between 1972 to 1978. “Devil in Disguise” stars Michael Chernus as John Wayne Gacy, Gabriel Luna as detective Rafael Tovar and Marin Ireland as Elizabeth Piest, the mother of Gacy’s final victim, Robert Piest. The cast is rounded out with James Badge Dale as chief of detectives Joe Kozenczak, Michael Angarano as Sam Amirante and Chris Sullivan as lead prosecutor Bill Kunkle. The show explores the killer's twisted life, weaving in the heart wrenching stories of his victims and the systemic failures that delayed his arrest. "I hope that people who wouldn't normally be drawn to true crime or a story about a serial killer will check out this show because it is quite different," Chernus tells TODAY.com. "There isn't graphic violence shown. There's no murder shown on camera... That was one of the ways that helped me get into playing this character, was knowing that it was going to be this different point of view." Keep reading to learn more about the true story of John Wayne Gacy, who he was, how he was caught and what happened to him. Who Was John Wayne Gacy? Born in 1942 in Chicago, John Wayne Gacy was a building contractor who also dressed as "Pogo the Clown" for children's parties. According to History.com, he had a relatively normal middle-class upbringing, though there were accounts that he had an abusive alcoholic father. He got married in 1964 to Marlynn Myers, whose father owned a couple of Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises in Waterloo, Iowa. As seen in "Devil in Disguise," Gacy managed one of the restaurants. He was later charged and sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting one of his male employees in 1968. He was released early due to good behavior. Gacy and Myers had two children together, Michael and Christine, before they divorced following his charges. After his release, he moved back to Chicago and remarried Carole Hoff. Once there, he started his construction business and clown work. What Did John Wayne Gacy Do? From 1972 to 1978, Gacy lured young men and boys, oftentimes for sex before murdering them and burying them in his home's crawl space. His murders would go undetected for years until December 1978 when police started investigating the disappearance of 15-year-old teenager named Robert Piest. How Did John Wayne Gacy Get Caught? Robert Piest was last seen with Gacy. “Devil in Disguise” shows how he would lure young men with hopes of a construction job, taking him to his home before he killed them. Piest went missing on his mother Elizabeth Piest's birthday, when he never returned home for dinner. “There’s not a lot out there about Elizabeth, which is good for the Piest family, which I think really valued their privacy,” Ireland tells TODAY.com about portraying the victim’s mother. “For me, I focused on just telling a story of a woman who was going through this very sudden and intense grief.” Police began to look into Gacy after learning of his prior conviction. After obtaining a search warrant for his Norwood Park home, they discovered a foul smell and items from other missing men. According to NBC Chicago, Gacy's then-lawyer Sam Amirante shared in his book “John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster,” that Gacy confessed to him that Robert Piest was dead and “he’s in the Des Plaines River.” Gacy would go on to detail each of his murders and where he buried or dumped the bodies. “He went on, murder by murder, piece by piece, burial by burial,” Amirante wrote. “He wanted to prove that what he was saying was true. He wanted to take us to his house and show us the burial ground.” In 1979, Gacy was arrested in Cook County, Illinois. Police continued to find bodies in Gacy's home, as well as the river where he said he disposed of the victims. What Happened to John Wayne Gacy? In March of 1980, Gacy was convicted of murdering 33 young men, who ranged from 14 to 21. He was sentenced to death and transferred to death row in the then-new downstate Menard Correctional Center, according to the Chicago Tribune. More victims continued to be identified as the months and years went by. In 1985, an appeal was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court, upholding Gacy's death sentence. Gacy was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center in 1994. Five of his victims recovered from his residence remain unidentified. According to the Cooks County Sheriff’s Department, officials tested the remains using the latest technology and DNA profiles suitable for comparison have been obtained. “I really hope that (with this show) we can start to talk about changing the narrative around dehumanizing people who aren’t like ourselves,” Chernus says. “I really think we are trying to, in a way, address the systemic biases that allowed Gacy to get away with this for so long. And there are still unidentified victims that I hope, in some way, maybe this show allows someone to call in a tip.” The PD stated that after Gacy’s arrest, they learned that some of his victims were never reported missing by their families. At the time, many were estranged from the victims or were unaware that they were missing. The department is still accepting information from people who believe their friends or family members might have been one of Gacy’s victims.
