Carole Hoff
Carole Hoff was the second wife of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, married 1972 and divorced 1976; she is significant as a witness who observed suspicious behavior during their marriage including Gacy's practice of having young male employees live in their home, and whose testimony contributed to the trial record and public understanding of Gacy's concealed criminal activities during the marriage years.
Carole Hoff (née Sundby) was the second wife of John Wayne Gacy, whom she married in 1972 and divorced in 1976. The couple had two daughters together. Carole Hoff had known Gacy previously and married him while he was establishing his construction company, PDM Contractors, in the Chicago suburb of Norwood Park, Illinois - the period during which Gacy began the murders that would eventually total at least 33 young men and boys.1
Observations During the Marriage
Carole Hoff's significance in the Gacy case is primarily as a witness to the domestic environment in which Gacy concealed his crimes from a spouse and family. During the marriage, David Cram (aged 20) and Michael Rossi lived in the Gacy household and worked for PDM. Both later admitted during trial proceedings to awareness of aspects of Gacy's activities. Carole Hoff reported that Gacy changed significantly during the marriage - becoming increasingly remote, absent, and interested in the company of young men.
She later stated that she had discovered photographs she described as pornographic in the house and confronted Gacy, and that Gacy smelled strange on occasions she later understood in retrospect to be connected to the bodies buried under the crawl space of their home. The unpleasant smell she had noticed - which Gacy attributed to moisture and drainage problems - was discovered after the 1978 investigation to be the decomposition of victims buried in the crawl space.2
The marriage ended in 1976. Gacy continued his murders after the divorce, and the bodies discovered under the house and at other locations were those of victims murdered both during and after the marriage years. Carole Hoff was not charged in connection with any of the crimes and was considered a witness rather than a party to them.
Testimony and the Gacy Trial
Carole Hoff's testimony at Gacy's trial in 1980 contributed to the portrait of a domestic life in which Gacy successfully concealed mass murder. The case of John Butkovich, a 17-year-old PDM employee who disappeared on July 31, 1975 (while Carole was still married to Gacy), was directly connected to the marriage period; Butkovich's murder occurred when Carole was living in the household. Joseph Kozenczak, the Des Plaines Police detective whose investigation of Gacy's final victim Robert Piest led to Gacy's arrest, documented the Carole Hoff marriage period in his account of the investigation.1
Sources
Local network
Carole Hoff's direct connections. Click any node to navigate, drag to pan, scroll (or pinch) to zoom. + 2‑hop expands the neighborhood one level further.