John Wayne Gacy's house

Why was Gacy's house demolished?

The house was not demolished for moral reasons.

The property was deemed unsafe after police excavations gutted the interior of the structure. At that point, investigators were unable to continue their work unless the building was torn down.

In other words, the police suspected that there might be more victims. However, there were fears that the house might collapse on top of them if they continued digging.

Consequently, representatives from Cook County petitioned the Circuit Court and asked for permission to level the site.

After the structure was demolished, the lot remained empty for a number of years. The current house was built seven years later, in 1986.

Aerial photograph

This is an aerial photograph of the current property.

Nisson Pharmacy

On December 11th, 1978, Gacy approached his final victim, Robert Piest (15), at the Nissan Pharmacy in Des Plaines.

These days, the building is home to a daycare center called Millie's House.

At the time, Piest was working part-time at the pharmacy.

Gacy, who owned a construction company called PDM Contractors, visited the pharmacy to discuss a remodeling job with the owner.

After noticing Piest, he loudly mentioned that his construction firm paid teenage boys $5 per hour—a very substantial amount back in 1975.

Later that day, Piest's mother arrived to pick him up. However, he asked her to wait a little while because he needed to talk to a contractor about a potential job.

Sadly, he never returned. Within an hour of leaving the pharmacy, the teenager was murdered at Gacy's house on Summerdale Avenue.

It was Piest's sudden disappearance that ultimately led to Gacy's arrest.

View Location

Crawlspace

These are crime scene photographs of the crawlspace beneath Gacy's house.

This is where investigators unearthed the remains of 26 young men.

Five of his victims remain unidentified.

Gacy's victims

These are photographs of some of Gacy's victims.

He murdered at least 33 teenagers and young men between 1972 and 1978. Their ages ranged between 14 and 21.

Although he committed his first murder in 1972, it wasn't until 1976 that his main serial killings began.

His murders became a regular occurrence shortly after his divorce from his second wife, Carole Hoff, was finalized.

Inside

These are colorized police photographs of his bedroom (top) and recreation room (bottom).

Notably, a painting of a clown is visible on his bedroom wall. Gacy would sometimes dress up as "Pogo the clown" and perform at parties, charity events, and business openings.

He was also a local precinct captain for the Democratic Party.

In May 1978, Gacy was photographed with First Lady Rosalynn Carter. His meeting with Carter took place because he was the director of the Polish Constitution Day Parade in Chicago.

Seven months after the photograph was taken, investigators were recovering victims from his crawlspace.

8215 West Summerdale Avenue

This Google Street View image of 8215 West Summerdale Avenue was captured in October 2022.

The current house wasn't built until eight years after Gacy's arrest.

It was last sold for $395,000 in April 2021.

Before and after

The lot was left empty until 1986, when a local woman built a new house on it for her retired parents.