Editing John Wayne Gacy (section)

==Early life==
===Childhood===
John Wayne Gacy was born at Edgewater Hospital in [[Chicago]], Illinois,{{sfn|Cavendish|1997|p=5}} on March 17, 1942, the second of three children and only son of John Stanley Gacy and Marion Elaine Robison.{{sfn|Foreman|1992|pp=50–58}}<ref>"Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871–1920," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q21V-G1HK {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008222643/https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q21V-G1HK |date=October 8, 2021 }} : 28 November 2018), John Gacy and Marion E Robertson, 07 Jan 1939, citing Cook County Clerk. Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 102504570.</ref> His father was an auto repair machinist and [[World War I]] veteran, and his mother was a homemaker.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=24–26}}{{sfn|Amirante|2011|p=67}} Gacy was of [[Polish people|Polish]] and [[Danes|Danish]] ancestry, and his family was [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]].<ref name="auto">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522032202/https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/john-wayne-gacy|archive-date=May 22, 2020|url=https://www.biography.com/people/john-wayne-gacy-10367544|title=John Wayne Gacy Biography|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=February 11, 2019|website=[[Biography.com]]|publisher=[[A&E (TV network)|A&E]]|orig-year=April 2, 2014|access-date=April 5, 2019}}</ref>{{sfn|Cahill|1986|p=37}}

Gacy was close to his mother and two sisters, but had a difficult relationship with his alcoholic father who was verbally and physically abusive to his family.{{sfn|Foreman|1992|pp=50–58}}{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=256–278}}{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=17–21}}{{efn|Gacy's father would drink alone in the family basement almost every evening before dinner, where his family would frequently hear him talking aloud to himself or holding imaginary conversations with friends who had died in World War&nbsp;I.{{sfn|Hunter|2022|p=24}}}} The elder Gacy frequently belittled his son, calling him "dumb and stupid" and comparing him unfavorably with his sisters. One of Gacy's earliest childhood memories was of his father beating him at age four for accidentally disarranging car engine components.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=18–19}} His mother tried to shield her son from his father's abuse, which resulted in accusations that he was a "sissy" and a "mama's boy" who would "probably grow up queer".{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=24–26}}{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=256–278}}{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=40–55}} In 1949, Gacy's father whipped him after he and another boy were caught sexually fondling a young girl.{{sfn|Amirante|2011|pp=218–219}} The same year, a family friend began to occasionally [[Sexual abuse|molest]] Gacy.{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=256–278}}{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=17–21}} Gacy never told his father, afraid that his father would blame him.{{sfn|Foreman|1992|p=54}} Despite their challenging relationship, Gacy loved his father,{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=17–21}} but felt he was "never good enough" in his father's eyes.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=33–34}}

Gacy was an overweight and unathletic child. Because of a heart condition, he was told to avoid sports.{{sfn|Foreman|1992|pp=50–58}} In the fourth grade, Gacy began to experience [[Syncope (medicine)|blackout]]s. He was hospitalized on occasion because of these episodes and also, in 1957, for a [[appendicitis|burst appendix]].{{sfn|Linedecker|1980|pp=18–28}} Gacy later estimated that between the ages of 14 and 18, he had spent almost a year in hospital; he attributed the decline of his grades to missing school.{{sfn|Cavendish|1997|p=5}}{{efn|Gacy attended [[Cooley Vocational High School]], but transferred to [[Prosser Vocational High School]] after one year. He dropped out of school midway through his sophomore year.{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=256–278}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/10/archives/suspect-in-mass-deaths-is-puzzle-to-all-affable-driven-businessman.html|title=Suspect in Mass Deaths Is Puzzle to All|first=Douglas E.|last=Kneeland|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 10, 1979|access-date=April 23, 2022|archive-date=April 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408081807/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/10/archives/suspect-in-mass-deaths-is-puzzle-to-all-affable-driven-businessman.html|url-status=live}}</ref>}} Gacy's medical condition was never conclusively diagnosed; his father suspected he was [[malingering]]. On one occasion, he openly accused his son of faking as he lay in a hospital bed.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=31–36}}

===Career origins===
In 1960, at age 18, Gacy became involved in politics, working as an assistant [[precinct captain]] for a local [[U.S. Democratic Party|Democratic Party]] candidate. This led to more criticism from his father, who called him a "patsy".{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=36–37}} The same year, Gacy's father bought him a car. He kept the vehicle's title in his own name until Gacy had paid for it, which took several years. His father would confiscate the keys if Gacy did not do as he said. In April 1962, Gacy purchased an extra set of keys; in response, his father removed the [[distributor cap]], keeping the component for three days.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=40–55}} Hours after his father replaced the cap, Gacy left home and drove to [[Las Vegas]], Nevada, with $136 to his name in the hope of residing with a cousin.<ref name="Vegas">{{cite magazine|last=Wilkinson|first=Alex|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/04/18/conversations-with-a-killer|title=Conversations With a Killer|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=April 10, 1994|access-date=February 14, 2023}}</ref>

Gacy worked in the Las Vegas ambulance service before being transferred to Palm Mortuary. He worked as a mortuary attendant for three months, observing morticians [[embalming]] bodies and occasionally serving as a pallbearer.{{sfn|Hunter|2022|p=52}} He slept on a cot behind the embalming room and later confessed that one evening, while alone, he clambered into the coffin of a teenage male, embracing and caressing the body before experiencing a sense of [[Acute stress reaction|shock]].{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=256–278}}{{efn|Gacy later claimed to have engaged in acts of [[necrophilia]] twice while he worked at Palm Mortuary. He claimed the bodies were "just dead things" who "couldn't tell anybody".{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=342–351}}}} This experience prompted Gacy to return home.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|p=347}}

Shortly thereafter, Gacy enrolled at [[Northwestern College (Illinois)|Northwestern Business College]], despite having failed to complete high school. He graduated in 1963 and took a management trainee position with the Nunn-Bush Shoe Company.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=40–55}}{{sfn|Linedecker|1980|pp=18–28}} In 1964, the company transferred him to [[Springfield, Illinois]], to work as a salesman, and eventually promoted him to department manager.{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=256–278}} In March of that year, he became engaged to Marlynn Myers, a co-worker.{{sfn|Linedecker|1980|pp=18–28}}

During their courtship, Gacy joined the local chapter of the [[United States Junior Chamber|Jaycees]].{{sfn|Foreman|1992|pp=50–58}} That same year, he had his second homosexual experience. According to Gacy, a colleague in the Jaycees plied him with drinks and invited him to spend the evening on his sofa; the colleague then performed oral sex on him while he was drunk.{{sfn|Cavendish|1997|p=7}} By 1965, Gacy had risen to the position of vice-president of the Springfield Jaycees{{sfn|Linedecker|1980|pp=18–28}} and was named the third most outstanding Jaycee in Illinois.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=40–55}}