In the 1970s, Illinois resident John Wayne Gacy kidnapped, raped and murdered at least 33 young men. While Gacy was eventually convicted of his crimes and received the death penalty in 1994, for years this serial killer was hiding in plain sight in the Chicago suburbs without repercussions. Despite some of his survivors attempting to come forward to the Chicago police and the fact that Gacy was arrested in 1968 for the sodomy of a teenage boy, he roamed free and collected the bodies of his victims in the basement crawl space of his home.
Why weren’t his victims or the family members who advocated on their behalf taken seriously by the police? Could those dozens of murders between the years of 1972 and 1978 have been prevented if law enforcement followed up?
That’s one of the matters on display in Peacock’s “Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy,” a scripted, eight-episode series that unpacks the many layers of Gacy, his victims and the cultural and societal institutions that enabled his killing spree of predominantly gay men.
Created by Patrick Macmanus (“Dr. Death”), the limited series took some creative liberties by fictionalizing elements of the storytelling while examining the real events that took place. It’s a character-driven show that introduces us to main players: Gacy (Michael Chernus), police detectives Rafael Tovar (Gabriel Luna) and Joe Kozenczak (James Badge Dale), Gacy’s defense attorney Sam Amirante (Michael Angarano) and prosecutor Bill Kunkle (Chris Sullivan).
The series opens with a mother, Elizabeth Piest (Marin Ireland), trying to report her son Robert missing, but when she goes to the police they tell her enough time hasn’t passed for Robert to technically be considered a missing person. Even though the police attempt to dismiss her, Elizabeth’s relentless insistence that something is wrong is what kicks off the search for Gacy. After some digging, detectives learn that Robert was last seen leaving his job with Gacy, who was supposed to hire him to work for his home remodeling business. If it doesn’t pull on your heartstrings to watch a begging mother explain to law enforcement, the people tasked with protecting its citizens, that her son wouldn’t skip town on her birthday and leave her waiting in the parking lot of his after school job, what does?
Over the course of the next eight episodes, we watch as detectives press Gacy to cooperate with them, discover the mostly decomposed bodies of 29 young men in his basement (with more likely placed elsewhere), and learn his backstory as well as the backstories of his victims.
It’s eerie to watch Chernus’s portrayal of Gacy as he casually walks around his home with detectives and points out where the bodies are buried. It’s also just as sinister to hear the actor explain his character’s actions to the defense lawyer when he finally confesses. Amirante is so disturbed by what Gacy tells him in his law office that he walks up to the cops who spent the night in the parking lot outside tailing Gacy and warns them, “If he tries to leave, shoot at his fucking tires.”
Another chilling element lifted from real life is Gacy’s alternate identity as Pogo the Clown. In the very first episode, viewers get a glimpse into the killer’s home and see framed photos of clowns, which is when we learn that Gacy dresses up as a clown for events in his local community like fundraisers. He would even visit children’s hospitals as Pogo the Clown. Later scenes also depict Gacy dressed in his clown costume around his victims, using puppets to act out crude and sexual sequences. Nothing is more creepy than a clown and “Devil in Disguise” illustrates just how unsettling Gacy’s clown obsession was, not to mention how he used it as a tool in his crimes.
There are plenty of flashbacks that detail the lives and experiences of Gacy’s victims, noting the moments that led them into harm’s way. What’s most heartbreaking of all isn’t just the fact that we’re watching these young men innocently fall victim to Gacy’s manipulation and criminal behavior, but the fact this could have been avoided — or at least, the damage mitigated — if the police paid attention to the claims made by some young men and their loved ones.
Central to “Devil in Disguise” is the deeply entrenched homophobia that was rampant in the 1970s. In the show, we see how this existed on a number of cylinders: Culturally, socially and even legally. The Chicago Police didn’t take Gacy’s victims seriously in large part because they were gay. There are a number of scenes that show how the legal system failed these men, but the most impactful one of all might be when Jeffrey Rignall (Augustus Prew), one of Gacy’s few surviving victims, receives heartbreaking news in his lawyer’s office. Rignall is being advised to drop his civil suit against Gacy because the serial killer entered a counter claim against him, alleging Rignall was the one who drugged him, got violent and blackmailed him. Despite having medical records and evidence of Rignall’s bruising and burns on his face from chloroform, his lawyer is saying that Gacy insists “it was consensual play.”
“We’re all friends here and I believe you, but as a lawyer all I’m saying is that it’s going to be hard to prove in court. It’s your word against his and even if we win the civil suit, you might not collect,” he explains to Rignall. “Cook County’s inundated and their priorities have shifted: Murder, drugs, prostitution, that’s where their personnel and resources are flying now. Given the nature of your case, the judge will likely toss it out as a petty dispute.”
Rignall sits in a corner of the office crying, insisting to his lawyer, “I was raped.” The lawyer then explains that according to the Illinois state attorney’s office, there isn’t a statutory precedent for the abuse against him.
“A man cannot rape another man,” the lawyer explains. “From a legal standpoint, anyway.”
Nearly 50 years later it’s still difficult for victims of sexual assault and abuse to come forward but “Devil in Disguise” illustrates how in the 1970s for gay men it wasn’t just hard; it was essentially impossible. Viewers do witness the police detectives played by Gabriel Luna and James Badge Dale grappling with their own shortcomings when it comes to how they failed the victims and their families; it’s telling to watch their growth throughout the series.
If we’re going to continue tuning into true crime series and serial killer narratives, it’s important to consider “Devil in Disguise” as it pertains to the targeting of young men who were ignored by police because of their sexual identities. We’ll never know the total number of Gacy’s victims, but the story teaches us enough to know the true weight of prejudice and bigotry.
“Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy” premieres Thursday, Oct. 16, on Peacock.