In the early 1990s, Karen Conti, a fledgling lawyer, was asked to represent John Wayne Gacy, but she accepted the case because she “wanted to appear evil in people’s eyes.”
Conti, a fierce opponent of the death penalty, became the only female lawyer on the death row defense team and spent hours meeting with “killer clowns.”
“Gacy wasn’t scary,” Conti said during his talk. March 10th segment When asked on Chicago’s WGN radio if the scene was like “The Silence of the Lambs.” “Gacy wasn’t scary…He seemed like a very average guy, friendly, smooth-talking, intelligent and charming, which is obviously why he got away with so many (murders).
“No one could fix who he was. His one life, normal business going to church, charity work, political work. And the most evil deeds I could ever have imagined. The scary side of him that did some of that.”
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A photograph of John Wayne Gacy after his arrest in 1978. (Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images)
Gacy worked primarily as a contractor during a murder spree that included the rape, torture, and murder of at least 33 young men and boys in Norwood Park Township, a Chicago suburb.
He was finally arrested in December 1978, and police found dozens of bodies buried in his home and grounds, although Conti believes there are probably dozens more.
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Gacy hunted in an era before digital law enforcement databases. “Why did he stop (the murders) when he was out of town?” Conti said. us sun At the time of the interview in March.
“Things are different today, but it will take a lot of effort to connect the dots of Gacy’s journey.”
John Wayne Gacy was an amateur clown in the local community. (Marti Zielinski)
Conti and his partner, then 29 years old and six years into their careers, were called for the first time to defend Gacy in a First Amendment civil rights case.
She thought it was a “strange sentence” given that his execution was just seven months away, but she saw it as an opportunity to “resist against the death penalty.”
Conti was a member of Gacy’s legal team from his 1993 appeal until his execution by lethal injection on May 4, 1994.
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One of the things that struck Conti from her final meeting with Gacy was the serial killer’s humor, she said in an April 2 interview.fuzzy microphone” He still joked while being sentenced to death.
“At one point he said something like he wished there was an electric chair, and the guards were like, ‘Why?'” And he said, ‘Then I’d like you to hold my hand. ‘From,'” Conti said.
Karen Conti, prominent Chicago-area attorney and author of John Wayne Gacy’s Time Killer, discusses what it’s like to defend one of the most prolific serial killers in history. Masu. (Karen Conti)
Conti said on his YouTube show that in the last months of his life, Gacy “absolutely refused to accept[his impending death].”
“I tried to talk to him about it, and he said, ‘Are you OK? Do you need to get your affairs in order? Is there anything I can do?'” That’s what I do as a lawyer. That’s what you’re doing, and you’re legally supposed to help that person.
“And he didn’t want to talk about it, so I think that probably saved him a lot of mental pain.”
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Shown are mugshots of boys and young men who were positively identified as victims of John Wayne Gacy. Gacy was accused of sexually murdering 33 boys and young adults. (Getty Images)
Gacy killed over 33 people
Although Gacy was officially convicted of 33 murders, Conti believes there are more victims or politically connected people who may have turned a blind eye.
“While there are hints and suspicions, conclusive evidence remains elusive. Gacy’s records show he was out of town during one disappearance, and more co-conspirators are implicated. It’s possible that they did,” Conti told the US Sun.
“How many more bodies are there? I think there are 20 more.”
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Although there is no conclusive evidence that Gacy committed the crime with anyone, Conti told the Sun, “There is no question that there was a co-conspirator.”
On December 22, 1978, investigators remove the body of a man found under the garage floor of John Wayne Gacy’s home in Chicago. (Karen Engstrom/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
He said during Gacy’s trial, prosecutors did not want to “taint” the case by bringing in other suspects.
Death threats and Conti and Gacy’s ‘friendly relationship’
Mr. Conti said he and his law partners received death threats, bomb threats and intense scrutiny from judges during their time as Mr. Gacy’s attorneys.
“My reputation plummeted,” Conti said on “The Fuzzy Mike.” “After Gacy was executed, things changed completely. I think there was a sense of social relief that he was dead… and it became a novelty to this day. I was introduced to And he said, “This is Karen Conti. She was Gacy’s agent.”
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John Wayne Gacy created a self-portrait of himself wearing a “Pogo the Clown” costume. (Steve Eichner/Wire Image)
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Conti said he had a “friendly relationship” with Gacy, who he described as antisocial and narcissistic. “He has no real feelings for anyone or anything, so even if he says the right thing, he knows he should say it.”
“But he had a human touch, and he and I had a nice chat and talked about our families and different experiences,” Conti said, which she describes in her new book, “Killing Time with John Wayne Gacy.” ‘ is described in detail.
“I bonded with him to do the job,” said the eminent lawyer. “I was able to work with him because I was the only woman on the team, because he was very difficult and confrontational and rebellious, especially towards men.”
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The barren land is unpleasantly reminiscent of John Wayne Gacy’s “House of Horrors” that once existed there. (Bettman Archive/Getty Images)
However, she had the impression that he wanted to be caught by the police and was “relieved” to be in prison. She will kill again if she doesn’t.
“He was furious (when he was arrested),” Conti said. “Many serial killers start killing once a year, but then they ramp up, they need more violence, they need more victims,” Conti said. “So, Gacy, I think at the end of the day, it just hurt him.
“And I think he knew that if he ever went out again, he would go back to killing.”
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She said he had been sexually abused, suffered a head injury as a child and had repressed homosexual tendencies.
As for the murder, “I think he tried to kill himself multiple times,” she said.
