John Wayne Gacy's Kids: What Happened To Michael And Christine Gacy?
If pop culture has taught the world anything, from "It" to "American Horror Story," it's that there may be nothing more terrifying than killer clowns popping up. Scratch that — there may be nothing more terrifying than your dad being one of those killer clowns.
That was the tough reality that Michael and Christine Gacy had to face when their father, the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, was convicted of killing 33 boys and men from the years 1972 to 1978, according to Biography, all while dressed in a clown suit and makeup. While most of the bodies of Gacy's victims were buried under his house, his two surviving children, Michael and Christine, had previously been completely unaware of their father's darker side. They, and the community at large, were also ignorant of the fact that Gacy had cheated on his wife continuously, or that he frequently used drugs and alcohol.
The 'perfect' family was a lie
Despite his notoriety as one of the most gruesome and horrific killers of the modern age, Gacy — sharing a trait that many other serial killers have in common — was carefully manipulative, according to experts like Tim Cahill, author of "Buried Dreams: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer." Gacy was described as a functioning member of the community, where he managed three KFC franchise stores owned by his father-in-law. He was touted as a hard worker by neighbors, and was even an active volunteer. Gacy's wife, Marlynn Myers, gave birth to son Michael in February 1966, and daughter Christine in March 1967. Gacy would later describe this period of his life as "perfect."
But after a November 1968 sex offense charge, and a subsequent 18-month stay at Anamosa State Penitentiary, Gacy's wife filed for divorce. She was granted sole custody of Michael and Christine. The children never saw their dad again, according to Terry Sullivan's book "Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders."
Gacy was married a second time
Following the divorce, Gacy married again, this time to a divorcee named Carole Hoff. They were married in 1972, which is around the time he is thought to have started killing. While the marriage didn't yield any additional children fathered by Gacy, Hoff had two daughters from her previous marriage (via The New York Times). That marriage ended in divorce in 1976, a few years before Gacy's crimes came to light. However, unbeknownst to Hoff at the time, he had been committing them during their marriage. She described an instance where she found a few wallets that appeared to belong to young men.
"He would throw furniture," Hoff told The New York Times in 1979. "He broke a lot of my furniture. I think now, if there were murders, some must have taken place when I was in that house." According to the book "Boys Enter The House," by David Nelson, Hoff remarried in the years that followed. She also said that while they were married, Gacy had been a good provider for her and her daughters, who even called Gacy "Daddy."
Hiding from the public eye
Gacy's children, and most of his surviving relatives, have not spoken publicly of their relation to the killer in the years since, with some of them taking active steps to hide from the public. The children have kept a low profile, and no clear information is publicly available about them. It's likely that they have changed their names, as various publications have speculated, in order to sever any connection to their father. It is rumored that the two are alive, now in their 50s, and living normal lives with careers and families of their own.
"I hated him. I hated him so much that he took a life, many lives," Karen Kuzma, Gacy's sister, told the LMN television show "Monster in My Family" (posted on YouTube). "I was angry at what he did to my family and my innocent children. How can you love somebody like that? How can you love somebody that is so evil, that you can love them but at the same time hate them?"