Experts analysing the behaviour of the notorious 1970s killer clown have branded him a ‘narcissist’ with ‘zero conscience’.
In a new Channel 5 documentary, titled The Killer Clown: 33 Murders & Counting, a group of psychologists analysed the behaviour of the infamous killer, John Wayne Gacy, in archived footage of an interview in which he denied his crimes.
During the documentary – which aired on Sunday night – experts dissected the cryptic behaviour of the infamous killer who violently raped and murdered at least 33 men during the 1970s.
In 1980, aged 38, Gacy – known as the Killer Clown due to performing as Pogo the Clown at charitable functions – stood accused of the rape and murder of 33 young men.
Thirteen years after the horrendous acts, in 1992, the killer agreed to an interview with the Chicago news anchor, Walter Jacobson – but shockingly denied his crimes.
Expert psychologists analysing the behaviour of the notorious 1970s killer clown (pictured) have branded him a ‘narcissist’ with ‘zero conscience’
While he had initially confessed his crimes to police, in the interview over a decade later, he denied the murders.
In an attempt to clear his own name, he insisted that the ‘proof’ of his innocence was that he had taken ‘truth serum’ and yet had ‘no knowledge’ of the crimes. There is no proof Gacy ever took truth serum.
Walter described how the killer was attempting to depict himself as a ‘good guy’ and ‘an ethical hard working family man’.
Walter said: ‘I spent two and a half hours with John Gacy listening to a whole new story in his case. He was rambling and sometimes inconsistent and always very cagey.’
He theorised that Gacy was trying his luck at freedom one last time before he was due to be executed. But his attempts fell flat and Gacy was executed by lethal injection in 1994.
During the documentary, expert psychologists looked back on the 1992 interview where Gacy attempted to clear his name. But to experts, his lies were blatant.
Archived footage saw the ‘clown killer deny claims he was a killer. He denied: ‘The idea that I’m a homosexual thrill killer and all that garbage. They painted this image of me that I stroll down the street and stalked young boys and slaughtered them.
‘Hell, if you could see my work schedule, you’d know damn well that I was never out there.’
In 1980, aged 38, Gacy – known as the Killer Clown due to performing as Pogo the Clown at charitable functions – stood accused of the rape and murder of 33 young men
The experts noted several tell-tale signs that Gacy was lying during the interview, as the documentary explained. ‘His tendency to laugh inappropriately or out of context was a cue he was deceitful’
Former agent and FBI behavioural science specialist Jana Monroe said: ‘This is humorous. He’s deferring say he couldn’t have possibly been the homosexual out there stalking boys because he was too busy.
‘There is zero conscience for what he did, no remorse. And looking at his ego, there is a trace of narcissism there. He’s always talking about himself.’
Discussing the same moment, body language and behaviour expert, Mark Bowden, said: ‘This idea of monster, you see full lip retraction there and a look after the side. So concern here around the idea that category of monster. There’s something he wants to say.
‘He is sorrowful about being seen as a monster. Being seen by society as something antisocial and awful. He doesn’t like that at all.
‘He doesn’t like that at all, homosexual thrill killer, there’s real concern there in the eyebrows. That will look bad for the rest of society so he wants to look the best possible member of society.’
The experts note several tell-tale signs that Gacy was lying during the interview. As the documentary explained: ‘His tendency to laugh inappropriately or out of context was a cue he was deceitful. And if you put him in the category of homosexual thrill seeker, he doesn’t like it.
‘While his shifting eyes during the interview indicate that he is in the act of lying. And his habit of turning away from the person he’s talking to, signals he’s being dishonest.’
His turning away from the interview and closed body language, also implied he was lying, experts explained.
Gacy (pictured in December 1978) was executed by lethal injection in 1994
John Wayne Gacy, above in 1978, would often sexually abuse his victims before killing them by asphyxiation or strangulation
Monroe said: ‘He believed that denying or displacing or deferring would be convincing.’
Mark Bowden, noted his hand gestures. He said: ‘His hands open and out is a case of what we might call the supplicant gesture, the eyebrows look “you know me, I’m a good guy” and he starts looking down at the paperwork as if saying “look it’s all there, there’s no way it can be me”.’
Gacy brutally murdered 33 young men and boys between 1972-1978. Five victims remain unidentified to this day.
He raped, tortured and strangled his male victims before disposing of them in the crawl space beneath his house. Gacy was executed by lethal injection in 1994 aged 52.
The first of his victims were discovered in December 1978 in the crawl space beneath his home and he was later charged for all of them. The jury took just two hours to convict him of all crimes and he was sentenced to death.
The serial killer was born in Chicago and was married to Marlynn Myers, with whom he had two children, from 1964 to 1969.
Active in local politics, he met then-First Lady Rosalynn Carter in 1978 as head of Chicago’s annual Polish Constitution Day Parade
The couple moved to Iowa, where Gacy agreed to manage Myers’ father’s KFC franchises.
Myers filed for divorce after Gacy was sentenced to 10 years in prison for oral sodomy against a 15-year-old boy, though he only served 18 months of his sentence.
He established a contracting company called PDM Contractors in 1970. The business would later lead Gacy to his final victim, a 15-year-old employee at a pharmacy that PDM had remodelled.
Gacy had led the teenager to his house by promising him a job.
His mother reported him missing that night, and Des Plaines police Lt. Joe Kozenczak discovered that Gacy was the last one to see him alive, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Cook County Sheriff’s deputies carry out a section of flooring from Gacy’s Illinois home in 1978 while looking for bodies. They found 26 under the home
Gacy brutally murdered 33 young men and boys between 1972-1978. Five victims remain unidentified to this day
The serial killer was born in Chicago and was married to Marlynn Myers, with whom he had two children, from 1964 to 1969. Pictured, excavation equipment works outside the Chicago suburban home of John W. Gacy
He was questioned by police and released. Gacy was arrested 10 days after Piest’s murder, when police saw him handing marijuana to a gas station clerk, with the scale of his more serious crimes subsequently unfolding.
He was married to Carole Hoff, whom he had dated in high school, from 1972 to 1976. He was politically active and was named the precinct captain for Norwood Park Township.
He supervised Chicago’s annual Polish Constitution Day Parade starting in 1975. He met, and took a picture with, then-First Lady Rosalynn Carter through the job in 1978, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The depravity of Gacy’s crimes shocked the nation, and he was executed at Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois in 1994 after spending more than a decade on death row.