Killer Clown:The John Wayne Gacy Murders

by Terry Sullivan

For at least the last fifteen years, they said, Gacy had demonstrated a “mixed personality disorder,” which included obessive-compulsive, antisocial, narcissistic, and hypomanic features. He abused both alcohol and drugs. The crimes he committed resulted from “an increasingly more apparent personality disorder dysfunction, coupled with sexual sadistic preoccupations within an increasingly primary homosexual orientation. “Narcissistically wounded in childhood, by a domineering and at times brutal father figure and inability to physically participate in athletics, [Gacy] continued to fail to master psychosocial milestones, in part because of a series of apparent psychosomatic disorders. Increasingly obsessed with his sense of failure (constantly emphasized by his father), he dedicated himself to a career of productive work,” which brought him positive social feedback. “Simultaneously, however, his rage at his presumed powerlessness, due to a pervasive, defective self-image, began to merge with sadistic elements in a slowly unfolding homosexual orientation. [This] began to center upon young men with whom he re-enacted the projected helplessness and sense of failure that he himself continued to experience. His sadistic, homosexual conquests were much more gratifications through the exercise of power than erotic experiences motivated by unmet sexual needs. Murderous behavior became the ultimate expression of power and control over victims rendered helpless.... “With each murder...