Jeffrey Rignall had traveled to Chicago from Louisville in March 1978, ready to mix in some of the Windy City’s gay bars and clubs. The Associated Press reports that John Wayne Gacy saw the 26-year-old man walking, prompting him to pull his car over and begin chatting with him. Gacy invited the man to smoke marijuana, an offer that Rignall accepted. After taking several hits from a joint, Rignall later told a Chicago court that he “was hit in the face by a dishcloth or a rag. It had a cold feeling and I had a buzzing bee in my head and I went unconscious.”
Rignall was out for a time, only to have the rag once again pressed against his face when he began to come to. He remembers being carried into a house and laid out on the sofa. When he became fully aware, he saw that he was in a living room and that his abductor was standing behind the bar, making himself a cocktail. Gacy noticed that his captive was awake and said these chilling words: “There is a gun behind the bar, and I’d just as soon kill you as look at you.”
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Gacy hit Rignall’s face with the rag again, and this time when he woke up, he found himself secured to a board by chains. To his horror, a fully naked Gacy was standing in front of him (via The People vs. Gacy). Rignall slipped in and out of consciousness while Gacy sexually assaulted him. But he would live to tell about it.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
