Based on John Wayne Gacy’s map of the bodies he had buried, police were able to recover the remains of all 27 men and boys that were interred by the serial murderer in the crawl space (via Star Tribune). As this subterranean graveyard had limited space, Gacy was forced to bury bodies on top of each other. This helped investigators determine a pretty tight timeframe as to when many of the victims had been killed.
James Byron Haakenson, who was referred to as “Victim No .24” before he was successfully identified, was buried in between two males (per CNN). Beneath him was an unidentified boy known as “Victim No. 26.” On top of Haakenson was the body of Rick Johnston. Johnston was last seen at a concert he was attending at the Aragon Ballroom. Investigators concluded that Gacy killed the man on August 6, 1976. As Haakenson was beneath Johnston, it was easy to determine that Gacy had killed him before Johnston. As the last known contact from Haakenson was on August 5, it was established that Gacy murdered him later that day.
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While the investigation was unfolding, police were actively trying to identify the bodies of the eight poor souls they found under Gacy’s house. Knowing the approximate date of death provided some valuable clues, but to get the rest of the missing pieces, they would need forensic science. Public outreach, new technology, and a persistent relative of Haakenson combined to provide them.
