This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the John Wayne Gacy article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the subject of the article.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Crime and Criminal Biography, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of crime and criminal biography on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Crime and Criminal BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject Crime and Criminal BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Crime and Criminal BiographyCrime-related
This article is of interest to WikiProject LGBTQ+ studies, which tries to ensure comprehensive and factual coverage of all LGBTQ-related issues on Wikipedia. For more information, or to get involved, please visit the project page or contribute to the discussion.LGBTQ+ studiesWikipedia:WikiProject LGBTQ+ studiesTemplate:WikiProject LGBTQ+ studiesLGBTQ+ studies
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Chicago, which aims to improve all articles or pages related to Chicago or the Chicago metropolitan area.ChicagoWikipedia:WikiProject ChicagoTemplate:WikiProject ChicagoChicago
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Illinois, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Illinois on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.IllinoisWikipedia:WikiProject IllinoisTemplate:WikiProject IllinoisWikiProject Illinois
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Death, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Death on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.DeathWikipedia:WikiProject DeathTemplate:WikiProject DeathDeath
This article was copy edited by Twofingered Typist, a member of the Guild of Copy Editors,on September 5, 2020.Guild of Copy EditorsWikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsTemplate:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsGuild of Copy Editors
Latest comment: 3 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
It is a shame there is so little to say about him, as a once living soul, and as the beginning of Gacy's post-divorce, ramped up killing spree. Just abducted and killed. I seem to find conflicting reports about whether he worked for Gacy, but I suspect he did. That would obviously explain more about how he was abducted. Cake (talk) 17:29, 6 June 2026 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 3 months ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Hi, @Kieronoldham:, I recently added some info about the number of paintings Gacy made and the amount of money he made from them, and I cited it to Encyclopaedia Britannica. I think that info is worth including because the scale of his art "business" (for lack of better word) was quite immense and isn't mentioned elsewhere in the page. I think the fact that he made thousands of paintings and earned about $30k is a pretty big deal worth noting. You removed the sentence and source, saying Is that largely a mirror article?. I don't really understand what you meant by this, would you mind clarifying? I hope we can come to a consensus on if that info should be included and if so how. ArtemisiaGentileschiFan (talk) 23:22, 10 June 2026 (UTC)Reply
Sorry, ArtemisiaGentileschiFan. What I meant by "mirror article" was that isn't the info. on that webpage originally taken from Wikipedia? Looks very much like it does. An alt. webpage or news article could be found? (Gacy's paintings sold for a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars apiece. His charging price for commissioned works started at $225.00.)--Kieronoldham (talk) 23:36, 10 June 2026 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 3 months ago1 comment1 person in discussion
The top section says this about Gacy's method of killing, "He would then rape and torture his captive before killing his victim by either asphyxiation or strangulation with a garrote." This seemed to me to say that asphyxiation and strangulation are two different things. After some reading, it seems like the best understanding is that strangulation is one particular way of asphyxiating. I think the intent might have been to say that he always killed by asphyxiation. Sometimes it was by strangulation, and sometimes by other means (e.g., stuffed cloth down some victims' throats). I would propose something like this, "He would then rape and torture his captive before killing his victim by strangulation with a garrote or some other method of asphyxiation." Bt1159 (talk) 15:49, 23 June 2026 (UTC)Reply