Nisson Pharmacy

This is the former Nisson Pharmacy, where serial killer John Wayne Gacy encountered his final victim.

It is located at 1920 East Touhy Avenue in Des Plaines, Illinois.

The site currently houses a daycare center.

Robert Piest

On the evening of Monday, December 11, 1978, Gacy visited the pharmacy to discuss a remodeling job with the owner, Phil Torf. While there, he noticed a 15-year-old part-time clerk named Robert Piest.

When Piest was within earshot, Gacy raised his voice and told Torf that his construction firm, PDM Contractors, paid teenagers $5 per hour.

This piqued the boy's interest, as the rate was nearly twice his current hourly wage.

Shortly before finishing his shift at 9 p.m., Piest told his coworker, Kim Byers, that "the contractor" wanted to speak to him about a potential job.

Around the same time, his mother, Elizabeth, arrived to pick him up. It was her 46th birthday, and she was hoping to get home quickly so the family could celebrate with cake.

Piest asked her to wait while he spoke to a man about a construction job. Before going outside, he said, "I'll be right back."

Elizabeth sat in the drugstore for over an hour waiting for him to return. However, he never did.

Murder

After speaking with Gacy, Piest agreed to accompany him to his home on West Summerdale Avenue to sign paperwork.

Once inside, Gacy tricked him into putting on a pair of handcuffs under the pretense of performing a magic trick. He then tortured him, strangled him with a rope, and stuffed a paper towel down his throat.

Following the murder, he hid the body in his attic.

By then, Gacy's crawl space was filled to capacity with bodies. Consequently, he had started disposing of his victims in the Des Plaines River.

Investigation

The abduction marked the beginning of Gacy's downfall, as the Des Plaines Police immediately identified him as a suspect in the teenager's disappearance.

The Chief of Detectives, Lieutenant Joe Kozenczak, took a personal interest in the case. He found it difficult to believe that a reliable, college-bound honor student had run away.

After interviewing the owners of Nisson Pharmacy, his team learned that Gacy was the contractor who visited the store. However, when a detective spoke to him on the phone, he firmly denied meeting the victim.

Later that afternoon, Kozenczak ran a background check and learned that Gacy had sexually assaulted a teenage boy in Waterloo, Iowa, ten years earlier.

At approximately 9 p.m., Kozenczak and three detectives drove to Gacy's home in Norwood Park. Once again, he denied meeting the victim.

Kozenczak asked him to accompany them to the station to provide a witness statement. Gacy, however, claimed he couldn't go because his uncle had died and he was waiting for a phone call from his mother.

Unknown to the officers, Piest's remains were still in the attic.

Gacy promised that he would visit the police station later that evening. However, by the time he showed up, it was 3 a.m., and he had mud on his shoes and pants.

Later, investigators learned that Gacy drove 55 miles south before dumping Piest's body into the Des Plaines River.

Receipt

When detectives secured a warrant and searched his residence, they found a receipt for a roll of developed film in his trash.

The receipt belonged to Piest's coworker, Kim Byers.

On the evening of Piest's disappearance, Byers had borrowed his jacket due to the cold weather. However, she forgot to remove the receipt from the pocket before giving it back.

Following the discovery, Kozenczak's team kept Gacy under heavy surveillance and questioned his associates. They also learned that an 18-year-old named John Butkovich had disappeared in July 1975 while working for his construction company.

Gacy brazenly talked to the officers who were tailing him and even told them about his plans for the day.

One night, he invited two members of the surveillance team into his home to warm up. While one of the men was using his bathroom, the heating system turned on, and a strong smell of decomposition came through the vent.

Although Gacy attributed the odor to moisture buildup, the officer insisted it "smelled like a morgue."

The receipt and the odor provided investigators with the probable cause necessary to obtain another search warrant.

During the second search, they excavated Gacy's crawl space and unearthed the remains of 26 victims. Three more victims were found elsewhere on the property.

Piest's body was found in the Des Plaines River four months later. The cold winter temperatures had preserved the remains, allowing for a positive identification through dental records.