John Wayne Gacy remains one of the most renowned serial killers in American history. He claimed the lives of 33 victims in nearly a decade of his killing spree. Born in Chicago Illinois, Gacy was a world war one veteran, a homemaker, and a known alcoholic whose motives for killing still puzzle the American public and the rest of the world to date (Cahill, 2011). Growing up, he was frequently scorned by his father. He was subject to beating and verbal insults, an environment that played a critical role in shaping his later personality. His criminal behavior started while he was a child. At the age of 6, he stole a truck from a truck store. At 7 years of age, he was accused of molesting a young girl (Davis, 2001).
Applying Holmes typology, Gacy was an organized serial killer (R. Holmes & S. Holmes, 2009). He was evidently intelligent, actively involved in the community services and was keen to hide his killing instinct for such a long time. He had a degree from Northwest Business College where he later graduated in 1963, met his wife and settled down as a family man. He became the manager of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and the president of Jaycee (Cahill, 2011).
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As such, Gacy was living a stable and rather normal life. Evidently, he was socially aware and highly intelligent gauging from several leadership roles both in the corporate world and at the community level that he successful held (Davis, 2001). From his organized and skillful life, Gacy was a highly organized serial killer who was selective on the victims of his crimes. Most of his victims were children below 20 years. His first victim was a 16-year-old Timothy Jack McCoy whom he murdered in 1972. He later confessed to having murdered 23 boys, all being teenagers. Concisely, according to Holmes typology, Gacy can be labeled an organized serial killer.
References
Cahill, T. (2011). Buried Dreams: Inside the mind of a serial killer . New York, NY: Premier Digital Publishing.
Davis, R. L. (2001). Duke: The Life and Image of John Wayne . Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Holmes, R. M., & Holmes, S. T. (2009). Serial murder . London, UK: Sage.
