Editing John Wayne Gacy (section)

==Potential accomplices==
One of the first things Gacy told investigators after his arrest was that he had not acted alone in several of the murders: he asked whether "my associates" had been arrested. When questioned whether these associates had participated directly or indirectly in the killings, Gacy replied, "Directly". He later claimed Cram and Rossi were involved in several of the murders.{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=166–179}} Some defense attorneys and investigators researching the possibility Gacy had not acted alone in several of the murders have said there is "overwhelming evidence Gacy worked with an accomplice".<ref>{{cite web|date=February 17, 2012|title=Did Gacy Have Help?|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1N1-13CF85F3996A5130.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213164552/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1N1-13CF85F3996A5130.html|archive-date=February 13, 2017|access-date=February 13, 2017|publisher=}}</ref>

In the 1980s, Gacy informed FBI profiler [[Robert Ressler]] that "two or three" PDM employees had assisted in several murders. Ressler believed there were unexplained avenues to the case and that Gacy had killed more than 33 victims in multiple states. Gacy neither confirmed nor denied Ressler's suspicions.{{efn|Several years prior to his execution, Gacy gave Ressler a painting with a written inscription reading: "Dear Bob Ressler, You cannot hope to enjoy the harvest, without first laboring in the fields".{{sfn|Ressler|1992|p=343}}}}{{efn|As a child, Ressler lived just four blocks from Gacy in Chicago and Gacy had delivered groceries to Ressler's family.{{sfn|Ressler|1992|pp=336–343}}}} Jeffrey Rignall, who had been assaulted and tortured by Gacy in March 1978, was adamant that at one point during his ordeal, a young man with brown hair had watched his abuse,{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=205–233}} and that he saw a light come on elsewhere in the house.<ref name=search/>

Three days before his arrest, two officers followed Gacy to a bar where he met two employees—Michael Rossi and Ed Hefner. An anxious Gacy was observed walking with the two out of earshot of the officers to talk before returning closer. Gacy said to both young men: "You'd better not let me down, you fuckers. You owe it to me." The officers then overheard sections of a hushed conversation between Gacy and the two during which Rossi asked Gacy, "And what? Buried like the other five?"{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|p=102}}

In interviews from death row, Gacy said that at the time of his arrest, three PDM employees were also considered suspects in the murders—all of whom he said were in possession of keys to his house.{{sfn|Ressler|1992|pp=336–343}} In addition to Cram and Rossi, Gacy named his former employee [[Phillip Paske]], who was an acquaintance of Cram and a close associate of [[John David Norman]]. In the late 1970s, Norman operated a nationwide [[sex trafficking]] ring based in Chicago known as the Delta Project with the help of Paske.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1977/05/16/page/1/article/chicago-is-center-of-national-child-porno-ring|title=Chicago is Center of National Child Pornography Ring|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=May 16, 1977|access-date=October 24, 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129011607/http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1977/05/16/page/1/article/chicago-is-center-of-national-child-porno-ring|archive-date=January 29, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> At least two victims believed to have been murdered by Gacy (Kenneth Parker and Michael Marino) had last been seen alive close to where Norman lived.<ref>{{cite web|last=True|first=Alison|url=https://johnwaynegacynews.com/2016/06/20/child-sex-trafficking-in-chicago-the-missing-link-in-the-gacy-mystery/|title=Child Sex Trafficking in Chicago: The Missing Link in the Gacy Mystery|work=JohnWayneGacyNews|date=June 20, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827120623/https://johnwaynegacynews.com/2016/06/20/child-sex-trafficking-in-chicago-the-missing-link-in-the-gacy-mystery/|archive-date=August 27, 2016}}</ref> This led to speculation that Gacy had been connected to this trafficking ring.<ref>{{cite web|last=Potash|first=Larry|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525000827/https://wgntv.com/news/cover-story/what-really-happened-to-michael-marino-investigation-begins/|archive-date=May 25, 2020|url=http://wgntv.com/2016/06/21/what-really-happened-to-michael-marino-investigation-begins/|title=What Really Happened to Michael Marino? Investigation Begins|date=June 22, 2016|website=WGN-TV|access-date=June 22, 2016}}</ref>

Gacy claimed that he was not in Chicago when sixteen of the identified victims disappeared. In 2012, two Chicago lawyers said travel records show that he had been in another state at the time of three of the murders, implying he had one or more accomplices.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.beckerstephenson.com/|title=Becker Stephenson – Attorneys at law|work=BeckerStephenson.com|date=January 1, 2009 |access-date=March 14, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508182752/http://www.beckerstephenson.com/|archive-date=May 8, 2013}}</ref><ref name=accomplices>{{cite news|last=Main|first=Frank |url=http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/news/10545326-418/lawyers-suggest-gacy-had-accomplices.html|title=Lawyers Contend Gacy Had Help in Some Killings|work=Southtown Star|date=February 9, 2012 |access-date=March 14, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214232313/http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/news/10545326-418/lawyers-suggest-gacy-had-accomplices.html|archive-date=February 14, 2012}} {{Open access}}</ref>

Investigators note that Robert Young, the traveling companion with whom victim Russell Nelson was visiting Chicago at the time of his disappearance, gave differing accounts of his disappearance.<ref name=22umn>{{cite news |url=https://www.twincities.com/2017/07/19/another-of-john-wayne-gacys-victims-a-22-year-old-umn-student/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214070018/https://www.twincities.com/2017/07/19/another-of-john-wayne-gacys-victims-a-22-year-old-umn-student/|archive-date=December 14, 2019|title=Another of John Wayne Gacy's Victims: A 22-year-old UMN Student|work=Pioneer Press|date=July 19, 2017|access-date=February 3, 2019}} {{Open access}}</ref> Young filed a missing person's report with Chicago police before unsuccessfully requesting money from Nelson's parents to finance a search. When Nelson's brothers arrived in Chicago to search for him, Young offered them a job with PDM.<ref name=accomplices/> Young was never summoned to testify at Gacy's trial.<ref name=22umn/>