Norwood Park

Norwood Park is an unincorporated township in Cook County, Illinois, situated on the northwest edge of the Chicago metropolitan area. The community occupies a residential stretch of bungalows and ranch-style homes between the city of Chicago and its northwest suburbs.¹

John Wayne Gacy

Norwood Park is the location where John Wayne Gacy lived and carried out all of his known murders. Gacy operated a construction contracting business and maintained a visible public profile in the community - hosting annual neighborhood parties attended by hundreds of residents, politicians, and business associates, and volunteering as a community entertainer in a clown costume under the persona "Pogo."¹

Gacy's home at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue was the site of at least 33 murders committed between 1972 and 1978. His victims were predominantly young men and teenage boys whom he lured to the house, often under the pretext of offering construction work. He would dupe victims into placing handcuffs on themselves as part of a supposed magic trick, then rape, torture, and kill them by asphyxiation or strangulation. He buried 26 victims in the crawl space beneath his house, three elsewhere on the property, and discarded four in the Des Plaines River.¹

Gacy was arrested in December 1978 following the disappearance of 15-year-old Robert Piest, the final victim. Police traced the last known contact to Gacy, and the subsequent investigation uncovered the bodies in the crawl space. He was convicted on 33 counts of murder and sentenced to death on March 13, 1980. He was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994.¹

The house at 8213 West Summerdale was demolished after Gacy's arrest. A new structure was built on the lot.²