proving that people who act violently as children will most likely grow up to do the same. .
For instance, Jeffery Dahmer as a child liked to torture and kill animals. As an adult he .
did the same to humans. The way you are treated as a child does not always apply. Many .
insane killers did not have such a horrific childhood as Manson or Lucas. .
John Wayne Gacy for example was a respected member of the Junior Chamber of .
Commerce in Des Plaines, a performing clown at neighborhood children's parties, a .
precinct captain in the local Democratic Party, and the owner of his own contracting .
business. Many people who knew him would never have suspected he would come to be .
known as one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history. Gacy, a middle child, was .
born in Chicago in 1942 into a blue collar family. Gacy seemed to have a regular .
childhood with the exception of a turbulent relationship with his father, John Wayne Gacy .
Sr. (Killer Clown), a unpleasant, abusive alcoholic, prone to physically and verbally .
assaulting his children. Gacy deeply loved his father and wanted desperately to gain his .
approval and attention, but failed to win him over. On Dec. 22, 1978, Gacy went to the .
police to confess. Gacy waived his Miranda rights and told the detectives, "There are four .
johns." As he later explained the fourth person went by the name Jack Hanley. Jack was .
the killer and did all the evil things. Finally in April 1979, the remains of Robert Piest .
were discovered along the Illinois River. An autopsy later determined that he had died as a .
result of suffocation. Gacy was charged with his death.
Gacy tried the defense strategy to establish that he was insane and out of control at the .
time of the killings. The jury deliberated for only two hours before finding Gacy guilty of .
murdering 33 people. Just after midnight on May 10, 1994, Gacy was executed by lethal .
injection. For his last words Gacy snarled, "Kiss my ass.